Patience: A Lesson In Joy: uh-oh

Showing posts with label uh-oh. Show all posts

Birthdays

Growing up, birthday parties were generally a family affair. I did have some memorable “friends” parties (my 16th birthday Hawaiian murder mystery party comes to mind), but generally birthdays were my favorite dinner cooked by Mema, blowing out candles and opening presents from family both present and not, and then playing with Nate.

Here, there is no family. Just friends. I wanted to celebrate Harper’s birthday and didn’t know how to do it without family (Tom’s family came to celebrate Harper’s birthday last year). So we went with the friend birthday party.

Preparations were done – but the big one I neglected was that by choosing the park that does not require reservations for their shelters, I had completely missed there was MS Walk-A-Thon that was going on that day. The parking lots as far as the eye could see were packed. People were everywhere. Shelters were full – there were tents and booths everywhere. I have to admit – panic mode commenced!

There were crowds and live music and finally we found a little out of the way shelter, with the tiniest picnic tables I’d ever seen and overrun with ivy. But it was beautiful, far enough from the crowds to not be bothered, but close enough to hear the music. And so the show went on.

The party itself was a success. I got some cute decorations, had goodie bags and hidden “dinosaur eggs,” Tom grilled some wonderful burgers and we all played and talked in the park. Harper had a lovely time and we made some wonderful memories! But maybe next year, we’ll just do the family party…

Victory!!

Earlier this week, our washing machine gave up on us. After filling with water and agitating, it stopped in udder protest, completely full of water. It taunted us with half washed, sopping wet clothing. So we did what any good handy people would do – an internet search. After much debating, we figured our problem was most likely a faulty lid switch.

However, during the debate, our first possible solution was to check the hose that the water pumped out of for clogs, which of course, was full of water. While we had buckets handy, we still managed to soak our utility room floor in determining that was NOT the problem. Awesome.

Next was taking off the cabinet. As someone whose expertise in home repair is limited to fixing a running toilet, this, well, sucked. It didn’t help that our utility room is not wide enough to allow us to remove the cabinet. We had to shimmy the washer to the door of the kitchen and pull the shell into the kitchen. Where it has sat for 3 days. Once we determined the lid switch was broken (at least, that’s what we figured the rattling noise was when we shook it) we had to replace the part. Which they don’t make anymore. Le sigh.

Tom however, found a local appliance shop that still had some old parts, and thankfully, they had ours – for a fraction of the cost of the newer compatible “replacement part.” Tonight we managed to get all the parts together, the screws tightened, the cabinet shimmied, and all the hoses connected. We plugged it in, and started her up.

Ka thump thump thump.

Well crap. The cabinet was definitely not aligned. We decided that since, technically, the washer was working, we’d let the cycle continue to drain all the water out and finish the days old load of laundry.

So, back to the internet! With a quick jog over to youtube we found a visual for the “stupid thing you were doing wrong.” After the washer did its thing, we tackled the cabinet again. Armed with our new knowledge, we finagled that beast into submission. It is currently re-washing the days old load (5 days of wetness in a dark room *shudder*) and Tom and I have the sweet sense of victory over the world of broken appliances. Maybe in 5 – 10 years we’ll be ready to tackle home ownership!

Mailman

This is the best description of my mind racing at night I've ever found:

Back on the couch, he counts. One little sheep, two little sheep, three little sheep. Why not? The sheep trot up the fences - he's got their fat-assed waddle down cold - but he can't make 'em jump. Do sheep jump? They're unaerodynamic, their legs are too short. And so after imagining a few sort of levitating over the fence- their little legs dangle, wobbling back and forth in a light prairie breeze - he gives up and lets them walk along it. the way real sheep might, and munch on the grass that rings the posts. It's a split-rail fence: he knows real sheep would be penned behind a wire fence, or perhaps an electrified fence, but how relaxing are realistically restrained livestock? The split-rail fence is idyllic, rough-hewn, it allows him to imagine the sheep scratching themselves against the coarse-grained wood. But wait: they're scratching a bit too hard, aren't they? In fact, some of them have got these bald patches, and their skin in pink and inflamed...oh, no! These sheep have scrapie, the ovine mad cow disease - they're doomed! And sure enough, as he comes to this grim realization, the scrapie-afflicted sheep begin to collapse, until they have formed a large fluffy pink-and-white pile at the edge of the meadow.

~Mailman, J. Robert Lennon

Commence Panic Mode?

Well, for those of you who are interested, my boss resigned and/or was fired today.

My head is spinning, but it might mean that I have the opportunity to focus solely on research. I know the Lord will take care of me, and I can only hope that this is what He has in mind for me. We'll see, but until then, I'd been lying if I said I wasn't terribly anxious.

The Pros and Cons of Air Travel

Pros:

Making a two day trip in 5 hours.

I don't have to drive.

Airports are fun.

Can feed Harper without stopping.

Cons:

Small seats.

Expensive food.

Being stuck in a big metal tube with dozens of people for 5 hours in the middle of flu season.

My poor baby is sick.

My poor Tom is sick.

I am sick.

And I thought stupidity couldn't sink any lower.

And then I saw this product on Amazon.com:

Hair Tourniquet

So, a few weeks ago, the wierdest thing happened. I was cleaning out Harper's toes when I found this:

It kind of freaked me out. I was able to pull a strand of hair out, but it was so deep, I couldn't tell if I had gotten it all, especially since it didn't seem to get any better (by forming back into place). It looked like it might have broken the skin it was so red, so then I was also worried about infection. It was a Sunday afternoon though, so the only place I could go was the hospital. The doctor called it a "Hair Tourniquet" and confirmed that I did get everything out of it, the skin was not broken, and that the line may take several days to go away.

It took over a week for that line to go away!! I'd never seen anything like it (aside from a tight hairband on the wrist, which hardly compares) and I have 8 siblings and my mom did daycare!

At least our first ER visit was a mellow one.