A full week that was

There have been a couple of hair raising moments for me today. Two people told me my blog was gone and the message said my posts had been removed. I insisted on not panicking but when I checked, they were indeed correct. In the last 30 minutes it's come back from wherever it went. I'm very relieved. I started this blog in September 2009 and since then, I've labored many hours over it. If it disappeared forever, I'd be very sad. A few stories are backed up, but 90% of these posts aren't. Wouldn't even know how to go about doing it. Lord, please protect my blog.

Some events of this past week:
I took my car to the shop Monday morning and as I left the driveway, it began to rain and IMMEDIATELY I realized windshield wipers aren't just decorations for cars. But, I made it safely to the car place and since John's the "car person" in our family, I haven't talked to a mechanic in years and it took me 6 seconds to remember why. Men talking to women about any form of car issue is the most aggravating thing in the world. They over exaggerate and obfuscate and.....well....lie. It makes me want to punch people. Here's an example, "Weeeellllll, if your car is worth this much and the insurance company.....blah blah blah blah." I start to lose focus, my eyes glaze over and before you know it, I have NO IDEA what they said, but I know it annoyed me. Thankfully, John arrived soon after I became enraged and took over. He knows I need to be as far from mechanics as humanly possible. By Wednesday they had determined the dollar amount of the damage and it was only when John called them on Thursday that they told us they had actually started work on the car and it would be 10 days to do the fixing. Insurance companies are a piece of work. And that's all I have to say about that.

On Monday night, we had the awesomeness of continuing plumbing problems with water coming out of all openings in the bathroom. It's really the MOST FUN THING in the world. I'll spare you the major details except to say we've been having these problems off and on for about 3 years now. The plumbers came Tuesday, conquered and left victoriously.

On Wednesday, John and I went to an awards assembly at Neville High School to see Owen receive his gold Renaissance award for straight A's. When we arrived, we had no idea it was as big a deal as it was. He was only one of 5 freshmen to have all A's. He got some free stuff and gets to be exempt from 2 semester tests. It made me have a little tear. It also allowed me to see the impact he's having on his place in the world. I didn't want him to go to public school but he had to go. He told me the other day that he loves it. He's thriving in something I dreaded from the instant I realized he was probably going to do it. I knew in the back of my mind over 2 years ago he was probably going to public school. Kent Henry had come to our church and in a conversation, he said something to me about his own daughter going to public school and when he did, I thought, "Oh geez Owen's gonna end up in public school." I just knew it in my gut but hoped it wasn't what would happen. How shocking it is when something I've been dreading ends up working out wonderfully. It's VERY VERY possible God's 500,000 trillion times wiser than me. In case anyone was wondering.

On a side note, about the gathering, the Wednesday morning of the assembly, it was very cold so I dressed accordingly with a double layer of sweaters as well as a scarf and wool coat and warm boots. Well, Neville's auditorium has a balcony and we were directed to go upstairs to spectate from above, which was fine, until....we remembered that heat rises and we were very high up. It's possible I sweated off 10 pounds as we sat through the 1 1/2 hour assembly to listen and watch for Owen's name to be called and walk across the stage. About 30 minutes into the thing I was sweating in any and all areas and began shucking as much extra clothing possible without calling attention to myself. I turned to John and said, "Are you hot?" To which he calmly replied, "I can see heat lines like in the desert." It had become unbearable. I considered taking my shoes and socks off but thought better about it and when the event had almost come to a close, we bolted out in 2 different directions looking for water and cool air. Even though a bikini and a speedo would have been the coolest best attire for the awards' assembly, something inside tells me it wouldn't have been appropriate. However, next time I will be dressed for summer even if it's 20 degrees outside.

John went back to Magnolia Arkansas Thursday night, worked Friday and came home that evening. On Thursday before he left, it was the first time I can remember ever asking him if he remembered to pack clothes. In case you didn't know or didn't read about it here on my blog, the last time John went to Arkansas, he forgot to pack clothes. He then had to go purchase a shirt at the local Wal Mart that Emma said reminded her of scotch tape. She was correct about the assessment. But this time, he went, took clothes, worked and returned home safely. All in all it was a successful trip.

But on Thursday night, the plumbing blew up again just about the time Caitlin decided she had to be sick. Once again I'll spare details but let me just say, vomiting causes me to gag as quickly as it did when my kids were babies. It's the worst. And the whole time Caitlin was in the bathroom, Emma was walking down the hall with her shirt shield over her face and saying worriedly, "Uh uh, uh uh, uh uh, uh uh." So, the plumbers came back on Friday and discovered the city pipes under the city sidewalk are city broke. Would anyone care to speculate as to whether the city has come yet to see their broken city pipes? I'll break up the city suspense by telling you.....ummmm no they haven't. We shall see what happens this week.

Saturday consisted of icicles being hung on the front of my house with care. OK they weren't so much hung with care as it was hurriedly and thrilled to pieces when it was completed. But they look fab. And then Saturday night we had our first viewing of White Christmas. I considered it a day well spent.

Our Christmas tree's decorated but the house is coming together slowly. We're still not at the photographic stage yet. It's been a slow process this year with multi light issues but mostly just the fact that I don't enjoy decorating. I really ascribe to the Charlie Brown Christmas theory of decorating which is to just stand in front of the tree and move your hands quickly from side to side and magically everything comes together and it's all lovely. So far, that hasn't happened, and for that reason, the house still need some work.

Newsflash Christmas is less than 3 weeks away. I haven't finished my shopping yet. I'm not really worried.

On New Year's Eve a group of 7 of us will be making a road trip to North Carolina. I'll have more details later but this trip is making Duke and UNC loving girls' basketball dreams come true.

It's now 3:58 and I've had no nap.

That's not good.

I will now have to sleep fast.