My Absence

As my girls are currently taking a MONSTER LONG nap, I figured I'd better blog just a little. Things have been a little busy around here. With our trip up to Virginia and me reading Breaking Dawn, I just haven't been staying on the blogging bandwagon very well! Plus, my newest little internet addiction ... Facebook. Pretty cool to get back in touch with people from the long lost past ... and cool peeps from the present. So does that account for my lack of blogging? I hope so. As soon as we get some pictures (our camera is lame!), I'll post something about Ray's brother's wedding reception in VA.

On Becoming your Mother ...

I had one of those funny (not ha-ha) moments today when I had the sharp realization that I had just done almost EXACTLY something that my mother had done when I was young ... and that I have teased her about many, many times since.

For those of you who know my mom, you know, as I do, that there are few people in the world more patient, kind and soft-spoken as she is. I truly aspire to be more like her. I can count on ONE HAND the times I remember her raising her voice at me and getting angry (I've already far surpassed that and I've only had kids for 3 and 1/2 years!). One of those times, however, is still etched in my memory.

This is how it went down ... I was about 9 or 10 and was immersed in reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It must have been a Saturday or during the summer because I was home during the day, and my mom asked me to do some chores around the house while she went outside to do something (we lived on a 30+ acre chicken farm at the time -- there was always a lot to do!). Well, instead of doing whatever she had asked, I ran to my room to keep reading. When I heard the door and knew that Mom was back inside, I jumped up and tried to LOOK as though I had been industrious ... but like all good moms, she was not fooled!! And boy, was she mad!! She tore my book right in half!!! And I've never let her forget it. Well, as they say, what goes around, comes around.

Today, Cady was reading her new Snow White book that we had gotten yesterday at the dollar store. Maddy was trying to grab the book and Cady was vehemently protesting and yanking it back. In the ensuing tug-of-war, a page tore and Cady freaked out. "She tore my book!!" If this had been an isolated incident of not-sharing gone awry, I may have reacted more calmly, but Cady acts as if every toy and book in the whole house are hers and I lost my temper and ...

yep, you guessed it, I grabbed the book and tore it in half. I immediately froze and my heart sank, because I knew that I could never, ever tease my mom again about her totally understandable actions over 20 years ago!!

A Quick Commentary

I saw a few gas stations today with regular Unleaded priced at $3.54 and got pretty excited. That's sad, huh?

My Handy Husband

I was reminded yesterday of what a incredible blessing it is to have such a handy husband. Due to a big storm on Saturday night, our A/C compressor stopped working. We suffered through Sunday and, after some trouble shooting, Ray OK-ed a phone call to a local A/C repair company. The technician came out yesterday afternoon (did I mention the house was getting HOT!!!??!), looked at the compressor for about 3 minutes and then wrote up a bill for over $500 dollars, to include parts and all labor.

$500!!!!

I called Ray to give him the details and he told me to find out what parts were needed, but that he would do the repair himself, thank you very much ... AND HE DID!!! The diagnostic by the technician was $89 and the parts were $30 ... you do the math. Ray saved us $400!!! It's so comforting to me to know that I do NOT have to subject myself to highway robbery. And if Ray doesn't know how to do it, he'll figure it out, that's for sure!

Not to mention that he's saved us thousands of dollars by doing so much of the labor during our home improvement phase on this house. He's learned plumbing, electricity, carpentry and more. The only thing, he says, that he hasn't learned YET is masonry ... and I don't doubt that he will!!

It's pathetic that, of the dozens and dozens of pictures we have of the remodeling process on this house, we have so very few shots of Ray actually working. They're mostly before and after shots of various rooms, but hardly any of Ray doing the work to get it from the before to the after. In fact, the top one is one of those rare shots but the one below is, well, if I tell you that baby is Cady, you'll know how old that picture is!!

Our "little" mouse

For several weeks now, we have been aware of a little freeloader living in our house. Yes, we have a mouse and not by choice! We don't know where he came from but he seems quite content here and is unconcerned by Ray's efforts to end his life. Up until two days ago, Ray and I had both seen him once. He was a an itty, bitty thing (not that that derailed our efforts to kill him ... I'm so grossed out by him, no matter his size, that I couldn't even choose a picture for this entry of a REAL mouse without my skin crawling).

Everything changed, however, two nights ago. Ray heard him in our baking cabinet. As with most old houses, the kitchen is NOT laid out like a modern kitchen and the cabinet space is minimal and spread out throughout the kitchen. The cabinet that holds the baking supplies is not adjoining any other cabinet and is, as Ray pointed out, hardly ever opened by me. So Ray carefully opened the cabinet door and spied the little rodent holed up in a bag of flour. He called me downstairs from midst of putting Cady to bed, with the instructions to "leave Cady upstairs", which of course she would have none of. So we both came down.

Ray asked, "do you wanna see him?"

We both say "NO" but cautiously approach.

Ray had a 2-cup measuring cup in hand to catch our little buddy. He reached into the cabinet and the thing jumps out and runs like a big, fat bat outta hell. Munching his way through a bag of flour had increased his size dramatically. And I regret to tell you that

ALL THREE OF US SCREAMED LIKE LITTLE GIRLS!!!

And I regret even more to tell you that I was the first one out of the room, leaving my daughter unprotected, in the company of her screaming daddy. As I write this, I laugh at the vision of it in my head but it was NOT funny at the moment.

Cady was quite upset by the whole episode. Not just by seeing the mouse, but even moreso by the sight of her daddy screaming and just as scared as the next person (don't let him tell you otherwise!!). As we went into Round #2 of putting her to bed, she kept asking why he was screaming and who was going to take care of her now. We're trying to re-establish her confidence in Ray's prowess as Daddy by lying to her and telling her that Daddy chased the mouse down to the basement and killed him. Is that wrong??

We'll keep you posted as to when Mr. Mouse REALLY meets his end. I hope it's soon!!