final conclusion

Today I laughed. Not at the circumstances, but at the way life goes. Today was a "top off the week" day.

At church our son's number came up for a parent to come get him out of class. This is the first time this has happened in the six years he has been living. Ed dashed down there (I'm guessing as the number disappeared pretty quickly). My mind was racing. Did he get in trouble? Did he get injured?

Afterwards, I found Ed and Sam sitting on one of the steps towards the rear of the room we were attending service in and Sam wasn't looking too great. He didn't even want a cookie.

So we made it out of church in record time with only chatting to a few people and Sam was half asleep by the time Alina and I got to the truck.

It takes 10 minutes to get home. Two minutes into the drive, Sam started crying saying he felt like he was going to throw up. Sure enough. Breakfast from yesterday came up (eggs look the same before and after being eaten) with lots and lots of water. Of course we had no towels in the truck or anything to give him. And it kept coming and coming and coming. Ed pushed the speed limit hurrying to get Sam home as he was soaked and everything around him was soaked.

I stripped him down and took him to the shower. Then the fun job started. Cleaning up. Puddles. Dripping. Chunks. All in the fabric of the car seat. Thankfully the regular seat is leather so I could sop everything up. I almost did lose it. Almost, but held it together.

A good dose of Frebreeze later, everything smells lovely and all is back to normal.

Even Sam. His words getting into the shower were, "What are we going to have for lunch? I'm getting hungry".

I knew I should have knocked on wood or something along those lines before writing the last line on the post below. It has been an adventurous couple of days already!

The vehicle did get fixed. But now needs repaired again. Ed and I were up at 4:15 Thursday trying to see where the very strong odor of gasoline that was filling the house was coming from. The blue beast was sitting looking all innocent in the garage, but the puddle under it was all the evidence we needed.

It has been a very rainy week with some strong storms. One such storm knocked our power out again Thursday night right at dinner prep time. Thankfully, the pizza place was open as I was not able to make anything. So it was bon appetit by candle lite. Followed by a camp out in our room. I had forgotten how loudly Sam breathes so I was up the majority of the night and even attempted sleeping in his bed with little success. I tried to wake him up to go into his bed, but he was almost in tears as he loved the adventure of slumbering in his sleeping bag in our room and didn't want to leave.

As of right now, this weekend is looking uneventful but as always, that could change in the blink of an eye, or the flicker of lights.

wrap-up

A catch-up post if you will:

Clean-sweeping the garage that resulted in an entire bin full of garbage, a pile of freecycle items and a pile of items to sell.
Cleaning out the pantry that I kept shoving things into only to find new habitants, in the form of white worms, had set up dwellings. Bleach and a trash bag full of food later, the pantry was clean.
Waking up to an amazing thunderstorm this morning only to have the power go out, and later hearing and watching a pine tree topple in the neighbors yard.
Having the other vehicle fixed. Hopefully no more fixing anytime soon.
Seeing a door firmly close with a polite "no thank you" spoken concerning a job that may have not transpired anyway and being very ok and at complete peace with that decision.
Visiting a church that we have never been to and actually running into people we know.
Having half of the basement ceiling on the floor. Intentionally.

It has been an exciting four days. Should be interesting to see what the rest of the week holds!

friends

This past weekend was trip #3 for Ed and the final trip. To fill the days until he returned home, one day the kids and I took a trip to Lansing to visit our good friends Nathan and Kerry Lynne. We've known this fantastic couple for 10+ years and even though they moved to VA 6 months after we met them, we've kept in contact with them over the past several years. Taking trips to VA, meeting a couple times in OH for weekends and several phone calls, e-mails and now instant messaging (YAY for THAT!!). They happened to be vacationing in the great U.P. (eh!?) and stopped in Lansing on their way back and invited the kids and I to come down for lunch and visits. It's been just over 3 years that we've seen each other, so I jumped at the chance to see them when they're only an hour away!!

Their son Josh is one year younger than Sam and those two are like two identical peas in the same very small pod. It was humorous watching them and seeing how much they are alike but yet they each portrayed their uniqueness and awesome boyness. No wonder their dad's are such good friends!! We ventured to the park after the little cutie patootie Eva was put down for a nap and Nathan pulled out the camera and took some absolutely amazing shots of the kids. Which of course I need to share... Thanks for letting me copy these Nathan!!

The hours flew by and it was time to leave. Already talks of Thanksgiving in VA are being discussed.

What does $47 get you?

It is fix up time around here this week. Car, sink, door jamb, and the furnace. The furnace was our biggest worry with how expensive it was going to cost. A ticking noise could be heard through the house every time the air conditioner came on. The heating/cooling company came out yesterday morning (the last time they came here, we had no hot water resulting from a chipmunk/red squirrel deciding that the chimney was a water slide and ended up in the water heater, clogging up the air flow). The guy said, "it sounds like something is hitting the fan in there." He took off the cover and looked in. Nothing. He couldn't find a single thing wrong. He then reached both arms in up to his elbows and viola! He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was an insurance policy. It didn't belong to us. Nor to the previous owners (who were here for 16 years). It belonged to the Werners. How much did they pay for this insurance? $2. What was the insurance for? Halloween Disaster.

Halloween Disaster Insurance
$2
This policy entitles the holder to post-Halloween relief as follows:
1. Wash soaped windows, home, auto, (etc.).
2. Clean waxed windows (except screens).
3. Remove garbage from lawns.
4. Remove "T.P." from premises (except trees, power lines, roofs).
5.General clean-up.
The Senior Youth Group is not responsible for damage done on said premises as a
result of Halloween pranksters. To schedule a clean-up crew, please call the
church office on Sunday, November 1st, between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm. Senior
Youth Group representatives will be at the church to take calls.

Policy holder:
Address:
Youth signature (needed to be valid):

Thank you for your support.
Keep this policy to present to clean-up crew.

You never know what you'll get for $47.