Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Here come the Diggers

So here is a run-down of activities since September:

1. 5-year old starts school- hard for her and even more for me (whole other story)
2. I get sick- allergies, stomach flu, gastritis, H1N1, strep throat, chest cold (in that order & its now only November)
3. List house for sale, finish renovations, keep house tidy (with 3 tiny children) for what feels like constant-showings, pack with ...
4. A 5-year old asthmatic who gets sick- H1N1, anaphylactic reaction to peanuts (2 ambulances, 2 hospitals involved)
5. Start painting & cleaning new house before we move into an already full house
6. Try to clean out & up remainder of old house & move things into new house- get all paperwork in order for sale & purchase

... which brings us to yesterday when our electrical panel was being switched out.

I looked around the chaos of my house shortly after my 2-year old had found her way into a series of problems. Overwhelmed by the mess and stress I thought it might be a nice time for a good-cry. Unfortunately the tears just wouldn't come...

My brother-in-law, an electrician, came into the house to report on the activities of the panel change. I fully expected some sort of "unexpected" news- he told me of a few small problems, but said there was nothing major. Good. WOW- that's actually great.

A few hours later he came back in the house. His face looked grave this time (not a joke) and I knew something was wrong. Our street wiring is underground, and because of a problem with the meter base the power company informed him that they would have to send out a crew and digger to unearth the connection by the road. My heart sunk. I don't know if you've ever had to hire excavators- but it's a lucrative business for those who own- not those who pay.

We've been finding a number of need-to-be-resolved issues in the house and the thought of paying oodles of money for a machine to dig a hole outside, when there are so many problems inside was very discouraging.

My brother-in-law said it would be a few hours for the diggers to arrive. I got busy sorting and tidying my daughters' room. I saw the first truck arrive and didn't think much of it. A few minutes later I looked out the window to see if the digger had arrived... the power company sent not ONE but TWO diggers! I giggled with relief as I saw the heavy, duty-equipment get to work... two, blue-clad workmen with shovels and a metal detector! The best looking-diggers I've ever seen! I guess it's not all bad!





Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Quotes of the Week

I was getting my 5-year old to make her Christmas list yesterday. She struggled to think of anything. Finally after prodding her with toy flyers, online sites, and questions she came up with about a dozen things including stocking stuffers. I explained to her that (although her list was short) she might not get everything on it (she had asked for a trip to Disney). She kind of crinkled her nose and waved her hand around and said, "I know. I know. It's okay. I wouldn't be mad if I got three or four things. I would be happy. Then she paused. Her face lit up and she said,

"I would be so surprised if I got cash or money or something!"

****

Last night my brother was over. I offered him some homemade soup.

He looked at it and said, "no thanks".

About an hour later I guess he decided to sample it and then asked,

"how is it that you can make things that look so disgusting and taste so good?"