Through The Darkness Comes ...

DONE

This summer has been all about cheap - and free, if possible. The kids were signed up for a few activities; swimming lessons, a basketball camp (oldest),  and gymnastics (youngest) but basically we've tried to do things that cost us little if any money.

We've gone to the health club pool which is free along with our membership and we don't buy any food there.  We did Vacation bible school at our church and it didn't cost us a cent except for the food we donated and the time I volunteered.  It was well worth it to me to get in some well needed adult conversation and companionship. We did the reading program at the library and all got free books and earned many free coupons.  After our weekly library trips we went to the park by the library. We also discovered art in the park there.  This was not free but  a very inexpensive fun thing to do with the kids and we've only done it two weeks out of the many weeks they've offered it.

Today I officially finished the reading program at the library.  For the adults they give you the free book for signing up and then we had to read six books to finish. If you read the genre they chose for the level you were on you got two raffle  tickets for the gift baskets they were giving away.  If you read a book of your choice you got once raffle ticket.  I read all of the suggested genre except the first one which was an audio book.

These are the books I read:

Queen of Bedlam - Robert McCammon

On Pine Tall Lake-Dorothy Garlock (Romance)

The Darkest Evening Of the Year-Dean Koontz (Suspense/Thriller)

We'll Meet Again- Mary Higgins Clark (Mystery)

Peony -Pearl S. Buck (Historical Fiction)

The Host- Stephanie Meyer (Science Fiction)

Of all the books I read Peony was my favorite.  The Host was the hardest to get into but turned out to be very good.  We'll Meet Again was not one of Mary Higgins Clark's best novels.  The other ones were good as well.

25 Days till school starts!

Epi center

In the beginning of July we had a huge storm that came through our area with hail.  It hailed several times that day and several times that week ,I think.  It turns out the one day was the worst hail storm our area has seen in 15 years. Our area wasn't hit with the worst of it by any means but my area is constantly hit with the worst wind when storms hit at any time.

Any way, some houses sustained major damage and all anybody has been talking about around here is how much damage their house has and did your house have any.  I decided it was time to check ours out.  My husband didn't think we had any but when I looked at our roof some of the shingles looked funny and our screens have these weird lines in them plus some holes.  Upon further inspection my husband decided the vents looked dinged so he asked me to call the insurance company.  I did.  They told me to get some estimates and call back but they were kind of mean to me on the phone.

I asked around at VBS last week and finally got the name of a company and they came out on Saturday.  Two guys came out and did and inspection and told us we did, indeed need a new roof, and they would be upgrading us to a better roof for free! They would also fight for new screens and two windows that had lost their seals. We had the guy from the insurance company and the roofing company back on Sunday to work together and the guy from the insurance company said our roof looks fine and only a few singles are damaged so no new roof.  They did agree that the screens are damaged, they don't agree on the windows, they found damage on the air conditioner, the vents on the house, the gutters, and our fence.  Basically they gave us a check for $1500.

I don't know why I'm so upset we aren't getting a new roof, I guess it's because  my husband says he's going to buy the stuff and fix the screens himself and he says he'll also paint the fence himself. I'm afraid that stuff will never get done and then we'll have a horrible storm and have even more damage and have to file another claim and they won't pay.  I can't wait to see what my neighbor says ~the roofing co. was just at his house.

Top Heavy

Well, the top floor of my house is clean.

I made my oldest vacuum and then had both kids help me dust.  I also managed to get both bathroom floors washed, which is something I hate, HATE, to do.

Today I need to do the downstairs and I also need to wash the floor downstairs so we can walk in a straight line without trying to avoid all the sticky spots.  I'm assuming they are drips from Popsicles. 

I also need to bake the rhubarb that I picked at my parents a couple of days ago.  My youngest is chomping at the bit to have it.  I need to make it crystal clear to my husband that it is for my parents and not his since the last time I made it (for my family) he went and offered it to his parents to take home.  Luckily they forgot and I didn't need to explain to my dad why I didn't have any of his rhubarb crumble for him.

I guess I should stop procrastinating and get this done.  I also promised my oldest I would take them swimming if it ever stops raining.

Maybe Today?

Maybe today I will clean my house.

By the time we got everything together and made it to the library yesterday it was noon.  We did our library day. The kids officially finished the reading program the week before, but they are still able to earn raffle tickets towards prizes until the program ends in August so I'm encouraging them to do that.  I'm still finishing up the adult reading program, I started my last book last night.

After checking out books at the library we headed over to the park next to the library.  The park is great -it has lots of wonderful equipment and a  covered pavilion  with picnic benches to sit at.  Best of all it doesn't seem like to many middle schoolers or high school kids hang out there. In fact, I haven't seen one yet. From 12:30 - 1:30 they do art in the park and kids can choose from different projects that range from .75 -$3.  My kids each did a project and played a little at the park and then we headed home because of the heat. 

 My oldest wanted to go swimming at the health club but the youngest didn't.  I would have pushed the issue except I have a little visitor this month and it was the middle of the afternoon. By the time we got there it would have been time to come right back home.  My husband was taking my youngest to the peanut free day at the ballpark.  Since my oldest didn't want to go with them we went to a movie.  We saw  Indiana Jones and then we also stopped at Best Buy to check out some digital cameras for my parents who are in the market for their first one. Any suggestions?  I'm leaning towards a Sony Cybershot.

Today we had Gymnastics this morning and then I took the kids for McDonald's.  Now we're home.  Still NOT cleaning my house!

Half Way There

We are half way through the summer. I was doing so well, going outside everyday, the house was relatively clean, we were going places.  In the last week we have done practically nothing, my house is a mess, and  all the kids want to do is stay inside and play video games.

I'm not sure if this is because the temperatures have finally made it past ninety here in the Midwest or if we are all just bored with the summer.  I know I have been staying up way to late reading or watching TV and sleeping in  and then not getting going in the morning.

Last week I thought I had a kidney stone or a gallbladder problem it lasted about four days and the problem seems to have resolved itself but in the mean time my house looks like a tornado hit it and I truly don't feel like cleaning it.  I suppose I should since we'll probably be hosting a birthday party for my MIL here on Sunday.

I suppose I should get dressed and get the kids ready for the day.  It's library day and if we go to the park by the library between 12:30 and 1:30 they do art in the park.  We discovered that last week while we were there.

Dream State

Last night I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that my parents came back from a vacation and handed me two checks. One I can remember quite clearly was for $100,000.  The other, while I can't remember the amount was for the kids and only the kids. There were other odd things in the dream, odd as only dreams can be.  To make a long story short my parents had won some kind of lottery while they had been on their trip and where sharing their winnings with all of their kids, meaning me and my two brothers.

 Getting this money was a godsend because we could pay off not only all our credit card debt but our home equity loan as well plus have money left over. In the dream I can remember actually depositing the check into our checking account  and telling my husband about the money but sadly I woke up before I wrote out the checks to pay off the bills.

To me this whole dream is weird and I wonder what it means.  The waking up before actually paying off the bills., I mean.  I think I've mentioned before that my husband is working on a new project.  One that if when it is successful should allow us to pay off all our debt. Everyday he comes closer to realizing his dream. I have been cautiously optimistic when it comes to this project, almost afraid to hope so I hope that this dream means something positive instead of negative. I promise when I can share the details I will.  Any idea what the dream meant?

Ireland , The End

We still got up fairly early even thought there was no crashing around downstairs.  We wanted to get an early start so we could make the most of the day in Dublin once we got there.  I got a horrible nights sleep.  I was was worried about our oldest son and his earache.  I was really dreading having to take him to a doctor if we needed to.  I was also worried because when we were packing up the night before the one thing I couldn't find was his camera.  It turns out he was sleeping on top of it! He also felt much better that morning.

After breakfast of whatever was leftover in the fridge we packed up the car and headed off the Dublin.  We stopped a couple of times along the way and tried to top up our minutes on our cell phone but that turned out to be a lost cause.  If we ever go back we will definitly do the cell phone thing again but next time we will be experts in how to do it.

We arrived in Dublin mid afternoon.  The kids mostly played their games in the car and I read my book when I wasn't helping my husband navigate.  By some miracle and the help of a cab driver we found our hotel and when we got there our room wasn't ready so we waited in the hotel restaurant until it was. My husband wanted to go explore Dublin but I really wanted to relax at the hotel but since they didn't have a pool I got talked into walking to downtown Dublin.  It was supposed to be a 10 minute walk but it was more like 30 minutes.

 

Buy the time we got to the down town area it pored rain for about twenty minutes so we ducked into a tourist shop and did some last minute shopping and then after that we found a book store and got the magazines the kids had been looking for. 

 Then we walked another 20 minutes to Thornton's for Chocolate for ME! YUM!  We tried finding a restaurant for dinner but nothing looked appealing so we took a cab back to the hotel and ate at the restaurant there and then went and relaxed in our room and bathed the kids before bed.  I read more of my book and we went to bed fairly early.

The next morning we got up early so we got get to the airport  on time we also needed to get gas for the car. Can you believe that we could not find a gas station near the airport? My husband was furious that we had to pay the price of turning in the car at the airport with the car not topped off.  Usually he cleans the car out and gets it washed too but after they screwed us out of the mini van we should have gotten when we first arrived he didn't care what it looked like when we gave it back to them.

We finally made it to the actual airport and through security.  It was a joke buy the time we actually got on the plane how many times we had to show them our passports and tickets.

 Right up until we actually boarded th plane! Usually flying doesn't make me nervous but this flight made me extremely nervous, I was literally almost having a panic attack it was that bad.  I had all kinds of horrible thoughts going through my head.

Mostly I read my book, which I finished.  I would highly recommend  any of the books I read. We also ate.  the food was horrible on this flight.  The last meal was cheese and mushroom pizza.  Seriously, do you think everybody loves mushrooms?  There were lots of kids on the flight too.  Most kids don't like mushrooms.

Needless to say I was very relieved to be home.  I can't believe it's taken me  a little over three month's to write this all up!