Sunday, September 11, 2011

Never Forget

Ten years ago today, I was driving to work, having dropped off several of my kids at school.  All of you have the same kind of story.... something on the news about a plane crashing into a building.  By the time I walked into my office building, which is literally across the river from Barksdale Air Force Base, someone had located a small TV, and we watched as the second plane hit.  The news kept getting worse and worse, until I finally heard the "talking heads" postulate that the Pennsylvania plane was "aiming" at the Capitol in D.C.  That's when I started panicking, and wanted to grab my kids from school, run home, and hide from the world.  I didn't, of course.  That would be silly - but human!  We all calmed down, dealt with the feelings of loss and anger, and watched as President Bush dealt with the situation. 


BTW, I stood in my office parking lot, and watched Bush's Air Force One 747 take off from Barksdale, after he spoke to the nation from the base.  I have friends who lost dear friends in the Pentagon crash.  My sister was on a plane that was grounded when the attacks started.  It took her two days to get home to Virginia, from Chicago, I think.  I didn't lose a loved one, but it still hurts me.  A lot.

Here's what we need to do for the next 10 or 100 years:  wear your good clothes/shoes. Wear that perfume you were saving for special occasions.   Eat dessert first sometimes.  Make and eat cookies a lot more often (we have "Cookie Day" every Sunday afternoon).  Show love to your family as often as possible.  Pray to God.  And, NEVER FORGET!!!!
 

Friday, September 2, 2011

And then there's the rest of the story....

Did I forget to mention yesterday the FUN adventures we had all summer? Probably not, so let me catch you up....

The fun and games began one day, when the house seemed hotter that it usually does. Granted, we have very high ceilings, so it's never 70 degrees in the house. But even factoring that in the equation, it was warm. Going outside & checking the A/C units revealed that: of the three outside units that we have, only one of them was running. One's permanently out of commission right now, but the 3rd one should have been running. So we call our friendly neighborhood home warranty people to get some help.

Long story short: the condenser/compressor (don't ask me) was shot. It took a week for them to arrive at that conclusion, get an new one, and install it. One week. One hundred degree days. Hotter than hell INside! But, eventually, the new unit was installed on a Friday morning, the angels wept, the mama did the happy dance, and all was well.

Three hours later: I walk into the house, expecting much coolness, and the A/C had stopped running. I go upstairs to the air handler, put the fan belt back on (are you impressed yet?), and turned it back on. Belt goes flying through the air (NOT literally) and the A/C stops again. I know when I'm licked. I call mi esposo, who comes home and runs level three diagnostics on the air handler (yes, I'm a Trekkie).

NEXT long story short: a major component part, which makes all the air move throughout the house, has broken - almost in half. So, my wonderful, handy, BRILLIANT husband takes the entire handler apart, removes the broken part, and takes it to a sheet metal shop for repair and rebuilding. Five days later (the weekend intervened), he brings it back home, better than new, re-installs it, puts the entire air handler back together, and turns it on.

I can not emphasize to you just how GLORIOUS the feeling was to have cool air running through the vents once again. Our dogs plopped themselves back down on the floor registers and SMILED at me.

So, to recap, one week for the outside stuff to get repaired, then another full week for the inside stuff to get rebuilt. Hot. Miserable. Stifling. It was so bad that our youngest, HRH, took herself to her brother's house to sleep at night. I don't blame her. But I felt a certain responsibility to our pets (and husband) and stayed the course.

Why, you might ask, didn't the inside parts fail, and get repaired, at the same time as the outside ones? We have no clue. God obviously meant for it to happen this way, and so it did.

Let me just mention in passing that during this time, we had scheduled our trip to Mexico, sans kids, and were leaving in about 2 weeks. The stress level was quite high, and getting higher every moment.

Next up, our fun and games with the water! Stay tuned!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

What a long, strange trip it's been....

Hello, everyone! Without really meaning to, I have managed to take an almost four MONTH vacation from blogging. Completely accidental, I assure you! But, let me just review a bit of what's gone on during that time, and maybe you'll understand, and forgive me.....please?

In May, my sweet husband & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by going on an overnight trip. Four days later (no joke), our second child and first daughter, PWTH, got married. Be aware, I was still working full-time when all this happened. Oh, and the night of the wedding, I broke my pinkie toe - good timing!

Right after that wedding, our oldest, BBE, got engaged to his girlfriend. I can see right now that I'm going to have to come up with more nicknames for our new family members. That wedding is scheduled for November, just before Thanksgiving.

June gave us Vacation Bible School, where I again led the music rotation. Fun times!

In July, we celebrated third child, WD, birthday. Milestone: 21 years old! (I'm getting old). Around that time, it became apparent that barring a miracle, mi esposo & I were not going to have a vacation to Mexico the way we have for the past 7 years. Cue the grumpy music - I was NOT happy. Then, the miracle happened: we got a baby windfall, planned and paid for a trip, and left 2 weeks later. God is good! I still have some leftover tan and tons of memories from a great trip. The trip was in August, and we got back exactly ONE week before I went back to work.

Last weekend, we took our youngest child, HRH, back for her sophomore year of college. We walked into a mostly empty house and realized that we WERE on the road for the long-awaited empty nest.

To say the summer FLEW by is an understatement. To say I accomplished anything substantial would be a LIE! But relaxation was had by most, parties happened (more to come), and a good time was had by all, I think.

Coming soon to a blog near you (right here): updates on the wedding festivities, anniversary trips, birthday parties, AND a DaySpring review. See you soon, and thanks for sticking with me!