Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Unbelieveable

I am convinced that most people would not believe all of the things that happen in my life....

When I got the mail yesterday, there was a letter from the IRS. This is not who you ever want to get a letter from. Apparently there was some kind of mistake on our 2006 taxes having to do with our FSA account and daycare and we owe then $1100. YIKES! So, I called the accountant told him about the letter, blah, blah, blah and we do actually owe the money. Then, to make matters worse, we also owe another $620 dollars because the same mistake was made on our 2007 taxes. Seriously? Seriously.

Back to the car situation...We had a friend of ours take a look at it to give us some kind of idea of what the problem was and how much it would take to fix it. Well...the belt was missing (meaning that the bang, smell and smoke was the belt burning up). But, he thought that we would have enough of a charge left in the battery to make it to the dealership. So, we had Drew and Christy Beth (wonderful friends of ours) come down to watch the girls and I was going to follow Chris to drive it up to the dealership to do the night drop for our 9am service appointment. Well, we made it to the intersection of Hwy 53 and I-85 when the battery died. Because we live in small town, USA, we had 3 police officers come to help us. It was a blue light special. We stood out in the road for almost an hour waiting for the wrecker to get there. About 30 former students drove by during that time, rolling down the windows, waving and hollering hello to us. It was a very humbling experience. We finally got it towed to the dealership in Gwinnett. We now know that the gas crisis is very real there. The lines into the few stations that had gas were hours long.

This morning Saturn called to tell us that in addition to the belt, the air conditioning compressor was locked up and the battery would need to be replaced. Big sigh. So, we went to the Honda dealership, talked them into having my car towed to them, giving us a small amount for a trade in, and then lowering the price on a used Accord that we liked there. All in all, I am very pleased with the 2007 Accord EX that I bought with 15K miles on it and 34 MPG rating.

And there you have it. Maybe the weekend won't be that bad after all.

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Weekend Has Started With a Bang!

Literally. My car has been making some noises lately - it has a 120,000 miles on it and is 7 years old - so it didn't really worry me too much. Chris took it in for an oil change last night and there is apparently something more wrong with it than I thought - possibly the compressor. So, we made an appointment to take it in Saturday morning, but I don't think its going to make it.

Ok, change of topics, so stick with me. Casey showed me this "rash" on the inside of her thighs last night and said that it itched and burned, so we tried some Benadryl, which made it sting and burn even worse, so since we're going into the weekend, I decided to take her to the doctor today. BUT, I wanted to go into work this morning because I didn't know when the doctor's office would be able to fit us in. So, I got her in at 10:30 and left school to pick her up and take her.

Back to the car....when I started it in the parking lot there was this really loud noise, horrible smell and smoke coming out from under the hood. Yes, smoke...from under the hood! It started and the battery light came on. I called Chris at school and he basically told me "Good Luck." I was a nervous wreck driving the 22 miles from my school to his so that I could get the van to take Casey to the doctor. I have no idea what is wrong with it.

I traded vehicles with him, checked Casey out of school and headed over to the pediatrician. Diagnosis: chapped skin. No, I am not kidding. I took my child to the doctor for dry skin. I felt like such a moron.

So, now I am at home, on the phone with the bank trying to figure out how much we can afford for a new car if it comes to that. Argh! I have class tomorrow for grad school and there is a Georgia came tomorrow night, so going to a dealership in Athens is going to be next to impossible.

Wish us luck!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Weekend Update




Sorry to say, but this weekend felt like a major bust.

1. Friday night - I did massive amounts of laundry to ensure that what I wanted us to wear for family picture day on Saturday was all clean, laid out and wrinkle free.

2. Saturday a.m. - The girls raced up the stairs, squealing with excitement, to their room because I told them that the remote to their t.v. was in the top drawer of the dresser. (They had supposedly lost it weeks ago.) They sounded like a herd of elephants. Then, there was a massive boom followed by silence. Chris and I took off, full speed. Once we hit the foyer there was a second massive boom...and still no sound from the girls. As we took the stairs two at a time I hollered up to them. Only Casey responded. My heart filled with dread...I just knew that the t.v. had landed onto of Chandler, and I prepared myself for the worst. Casey was holding up the tall dresser with her arms, standing in a pile of movies and clothes that had spilled out of it. Chan was in the middle of the pile with a completely dazed look on her face. To make a long story short (or at least shorter), they were both ok. Casey has a bruise on her arm and Chan has a knot on her head (or blow hole as she likes to call it). Casey had tried to climb up the drawers, even though she can reach the top when she is on her tip toes. The dresser start to lean, the t.v. fell off the top and the cord ripped out of the back of it. It is now officially a dead soldier.

3. Saturday afternoon - After cleaning up the damage from the t.v. incident, we began to prepare for the family pictures. Mom and Tom arrived. The girls showered, dressed, had their blow dried and fixed. Quinn had an afternoon bath. Chris and I both got ready. We headed into Athens. We began the picture taking festivities (with our favorite photographer and close friend, Frankie). About 5 minutes into it, Chan had to go to the bathroom. She came back, took another picture, and had to go again. And again. And again. She kept holding herself and saying that it was hurting to pee. Big sigh. So, the big family photo shoot ended much earlier than I had planned. We went to the Med First - me, Chan and Chris, while Mom and Tom went to our house with Casey and Quinn. We spent the next two hours there, while our child refused to pee in a cup, and then proceeded to tell us that she felt much better once we were in the car. In the end, she peed 3 drops, they looked at them under the microscope and found nothing. She has also been fine since.

4. Saturday night - We were supposed to go to Chili's in Athens after the photo shoot, but with all of the issues, dinner ended up being at 8pm and was take out Beed O'Brady's. My parents stayed for the first half of the UGA game, then left, and we were asleep within minutes.

5. Sunday a.m. - Homecoming at church. It is difficult to get everyone ready and out the door.

6. Sunday afternoon - Homework, and Quinn - off schedule and not wanting to nap. :(

But, the girls are about to go to bed and Quinn is almost ready for his night time bottle. So, I guess we have survived. I am slightly more tired now than I was Friday night.

2.5 months old and already bored

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Apparently we are bad parents

Over the weekend Chris asked if I could pick up the girls on Wednesday because he had a meeting after school....but, I thought that I also had a meeting. So he said that even though his was at the high school he thought that he would just bring them and that they were old enough to sit in the back and color or read or write and not distract people. That was how we left it. I got his email when I got home that he would be a little later, but with no mention of the girls. I foolishly assumed that he had them. Now, we all know what happens when you assume things....

He just walked in. He looked at me. I looked at him. He was wondering why the house was so quiet and I was wondering why he closed the door to the garage before letting the children in.

Yep, we both failed to pick them up. Apparently, we are bad parents.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Big Boy


The Beatles

Another moment from Aunt Janet and Uncle Martin's visit...

Aunt Janet and I were inside with Quinn when Chan came running in from outside...

Chandler: Mama, I've got some very bad news.
Me: You do? What is it?
Chandler: Bend down, I need to whisper it in your ear.
Me: Ok.
Chan: (whispering) Two of the Beatles are DEAD.
Me: (trying not to laugh) Yes, Honey, I know.
Chan: They don't make any more new music.

Thanks, Uncle Marty, for ruining her childhood. :)

Saturday, September 13, 2008

A story about hamsters

In May, the girls won a big award in kindergarten and Chris and I were so proud of them that we let them get hamsters. Casey named hers Gia Sassafrass and Chandler named hers Rosabella (although her first name choice was Black Love...not kidding). Rosabella turned out to be mean - she would bite - HARD - and a little on the crazy side. Her favorite thing to do would be to climb on the bars of the cage, gnawing off the coating on the metal. The week before school started, Rosabella died. It was very traumatic. We had a funeral in the backyard. And, we got a new one...Isabella. She was much calmer than Rosabella and somewhat tame. Everything was going great until last weekend when I noticed that she was running in her wheel much, much more than usual. I told Chris that I thought she was losing it. Which, apparently she was, because Wed night we found her dead in her cage. Big sigh. Seriously? So, we've had yet another funeral and pet burial in the backyard. Now she is holding out, begging us to get her a kitten. What to do? What to do?

My aunt and uncle have been in town this week to stay with my cousin, Chantal, who had her baby boy last week. Rebel Lawson is his name. No, not kidding about that either. Anywho, they came to have dinner and visit with us last night. The girls were thrilled because Uncle Martin let them play with iphone...they took about 50 pictures of their stuffed animals.

We have been glued to the Hurricane Ike updates. My youngest brother, Matt lives outside of Houston and decided not to evacuate. We are praying for his safety.

I will write more over the weekend...I have to go get ready for class now!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

What are chicken nuggets made of?




For dinner we had bratwurst, sauerkraut, and potatoes (a favorite in our house). This led to a discussion about sauerkraut being cabbage...which then led to a series of questions - What is a hamburger made of? (cow), etc. etc. And then Casey asked, "What are chicken nuggets made of?"

Me: Seriously? What do you think they are made of?
Casey: ummmmmm......pig?

At this point, Chris and I died laughing.

Chandler: Duh, Casey, chicken nuggets are made out of chicken.
Casey: Oh, so that's why they're called chicken nuggets.

Chris and I decided to not mention the fact that in our house we actually eat the Morning Star chicken nuggets, which of course, have no chicken in them. :)

I am also attempting to take pictures of all three children every weekend. It is really difficult to get all 3 children to do what you want them to....



I also had a little mishap with the van today. I dropped the girls off at a friend's birthday party and as I was backing down their driveway I realized that their driveway was actually a little bit trickier than I first thought. Towards the bottom of the driveway, I could no longer see the pavement out of the side mirrors. There were also large vehicles parked on either side of the driveway and a huge honeysuckle plant covering the mailbox. So I decided to just back up as straight as I possibly could to avoid hitting anything and making myself look like an ass. So, instead of hitting anything of theirs, I crashed into the mailbox across the street. Yep, backed right into it. So much for not looking like an ass. I jumped out and surveyed the damage. Luckily for the homeowners they have one of those really fancy black iron mailboxes, so it could stand up to a crappy driver in a minivan. Unlucky for me, it was one of those really fancy black iron mailboxes....the back of the van is scratched and slightly dented. :(

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Excellent Work


Georgia just kicked some Central Michigan tail! Awesome work! 56 - 17

It's About Time...




I must admit it...I am a blogaholic. I LOVE reading other people's blogs. I pretty much check my friend Jessica's blog everyday (and usually laugh out loud), along with a variety of other people's, blogs for school, blogs in the SLM field, random blogs that I stumble upon...essentially if I know that you have a blog, then you can count me among your readers. Why has it taken me this long to start writing my own blog? I have no idea. So, it is definitely about time.

We are actually in the middle of a busy weekend and I am procrastinating. I have a TON of homework to do for grad school (class on Monday night) and we have been on the go, and are of course, watching the Georgia game, but starting the blog sounded like a really good idea. :)

The girls went to softball camp at the high school today. They have decided that they definitely want to be cheerleaders more than they want to be softball players. Chris and I were completely expecting a phone call this morning to come and get them because of some crazy injury. There was an injury, but no phone call. :) Casey decided to catch the ball with her forehead - she has a lovely purple bruise. She wanted to know why its called "softball" when the balls are not soft at all.

The weekends are hard with Quinn. He was 4 1/2 weeks old when I went back to work, so we never really got an "at home" schedule worked out. At the sitter's he takes good long naps everyday and we have a pleasant evening together, but over the weekends we're all off schedule he sleeps in these little nap segments that end up not doing anyone any good.

We had a great long weekend last week - I'm going to attempt putting up some pictures from it. :)