Glimpsing the Light
At the end of this long, dark tunnel. Things are starting to look up here, or at least settle a little...for now at least. Forever grateful for the growth that could have only come from being on this journey!
"But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
-John 3:21
Giving Myself A Hand...
for doing one of the dumbest things possible....ugh!
Yes, I know it's been a LONG while since I've blogged, but in my defense things have been very crazy here...including a sick child with a mysterious illness and countless other things that would keep me here for hours trying to list them all...that have left me trying to ride out the roller coaster of life without getting thrown off! I am so thankful that He is bigger than all of this!!
Ok, back to my 'dumb' moment....have you ever had one of those moments where you do something and as your doing it your screaming inside your head "DUMB, DUMB, DUMB! That was the DUMBEST thing you could've done!!!" Sadly to say I had one of those moments tonight.
I was making dinner for us, spaghetti and I had bought some dinner rolls to heat up in the oven. So I pre-heated the gas oven...which now after 2 months is finally working (but that's an even longer story!). And I get the water on the stove to boil. The oven pre-heats for at least 20 mins as I'm doing other stuff to get dinner ready. Then I go to get out a cookie sheet from the drawer under the oven...you know where we always keep them. And since it's been a LONG time since I've had a gas oven and a few months since it's even worked properly I didn't even think twice about reaching into the drawer to grab the cookie sheet....
Imagine my horror as I realize that the cookie sheet feels like it's literally on fire and my inside voice starts screaming the "Dumb" mantra above while my outside voice is saying "Snap, Snap,that's HOT, Snap!" Yes, Disney shows can apparently rub off on parents too! As I hastily throw the pan onto the stove I wonder if it's possible that I could've have singed my finger prints off, cuz it sure feels like they've been singed OFF! Thankfully despite this dumb moment there is no pain but instead a vague tingling of numbness and a mental scar that will last a lifetime.
There appears to be no visible damage despite the slick fingers that feel as though the fingerprints have melted away...and truthfully I'm too
So note to all those Gas Oven owners, if you store pans in the drawer under the oven make sure to get the pan out BEFORE pre-heating the oven...well unless your trying to get rid of your fingerprints ;p
Evening with Bubbyl
Yesterday Bubby and I had the rare treat of being able to enjoy an evening together, just he & I. So we headed over to IHOP to grab some dinner and chat. We had a great time talking and eating. Then we headed home for a game of Yahtzee before calling it an early night.
We were both exhausted as the night before Bubby was up all night coughing his head off and I too was keep awake by the sound. I didn't realize how horrible I looked until Bubby took some pics of me at IHOP and they are BAD...so no they will not be featured here, LOL!
While I did sleep better last night, I still look a bit rough, and told Mr. B it was probably a crime for me to go shopping at the commissary looking like this, LOL! I think I have finally found something that is helping to control it now and hope to feel much better by tomorrow.
Us, looking rough ;)
Bubby wanted to come here because he'd heard about this deal and me being thrifty, who was I to argue? LOL!
An old IHOP menu
Me, hiding my scary mug behind my shades :)
Smile and pretend like you feel good :)
Bubby just had to set up his timer on the camera and take this shot, from far away I don't look too scary, it's the up-close assault that is horrendous, LOL
Sick Day
Today Bea is having a sick day, she woke up not feeling well this morning, so she stayed home with me today. I went to check on her and found her snuggled and snoozing in my bed with her bowl and a box of tissues :)
Truthfully we've been very blessed and this is the first 'sick day' in over 7 months that has required one of the kiddos to miss school. I'm hoping it's just a 24 hour bug, although her BFF here just had a 'sick day' and ended up with emergency surgery for appendicitis!
Wallowing In Woes
Do you ever have one of those days where all the woes in your life suddenly feel like they are pressing down on your body where you feel forced to wallow, if only for a few minutes...or often a few hours?
Yesterday was that day for me, which frankly left me quite annoyed that I was annoyed by all the woes, I mean really don't I have better things to do than sit around and count up all the current annoyances? I guess yesterday I didn't stay busy enough, LOL!
This 'new to us' house finally won the battle of trying to provoke my emotional state, and yesterday it won, so what brought on this state of wallowing in my woes?
Lets go back to about 8 weeks ago when we first moved in....there were some initial 'issues' that were noted by the person who signed off on the house and they were supposed to be submitted for being fixed. One was the clock timer and another was addressing the mold issue in the bathrooms, there were a few others but these were the ones that did not get addressed. Hence over a month passes and I call the lady and ask about these issues, she assures me she'll get them fixed. Then I tell her about our fridge issue and she says she'll get it taken care of, this was 2 1/2 weeks ago. Then my garbage disposal breaks on Saturday, I put in a work order and they finally get around to coming out on Wed. No biggie the food in the disposal didn't smell too horrid after several days but it sure looked like barf every time I had to use the sink. So when I call Wed am to ask about it I am told that they have 72 hours to come after I put in the work order and that someone would be out that afternoon. Great, it gets fixed.
The next week Boo goes to flip on the light in the bathroom and the light bulb goes out, no biggie right? Well he says he needs me and I go check it out and the bulb is hanging by the wires inside, it had separated from the metal part and was hanging by a thread! We get gloves and try to get it out without breaking it, but that would be too easy...so it promptly releases from it's wire where it shatters all over the sink, floor, and Boo's feet. We stop to clean up the mess and I realize that the other 2 bulbs are hanging the same way! So I spend another 20 minutes delicately removing them and putting new bulbs in, praying that I managed to clean up all the minuscule pieces of glass from the bathroom. Weird, huh? Truthfully all the weird stuff seems to happen to us, so while I was quite preoccupied with resolving the issue I didn't even let myself get annoyed by it.
Then once again on the following Saturday the bathtub drain in the kids tub breaks OFF, literally off and we can't stop the tub for a bath. So I proceed to put in a work order for it and the other things that have NOT been fixed that I told them about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I also put in a work order for the gas oven as I've been having problems with it since I moved in but since I was subbing so much I wasn't baking a whole lot to notice it. So Wed comes around and I've seen or heard from no one about fixing the issues so I log online to check the status and I'm surprised to find that the tub drain one is marked and completed. So run upstairs and am shocked when I still find it broken and lying beside the tub, nowhere near close to fixed! I call the management office and the guy tells me he has no idea why he put it as completed. This is the same guy that also told me he would fix my fridge and then forgot about me for a MONTH, so you can see how I may be a be apprehensive at taking him on his word. So I ask him about the 72 hour policy as it's Wed and been 3 business day and he tells me that basically I must have missed something in math class because 72 hours REALLY means 72 BUSINESS hours and since they work 12 hours a day, they have 6 days to fix the problems. So my math of 24+24+24=72 was faulty because I was not doing 12+12+12+12+12+12=72, sigh....so I resolve to it not being fixed for a few more days and move on.
Then I get ready to go to bed and I notice that it's hot in the house, I really have a hard time sleeping when it's hot so I always crank the air conditioning at night. I got to turn it down and find that surprise, surprise, the air conditioning is NOT working, not even one tiny bit...ugh. So I go to bed and toss in turn through what I would call a Misawa night. I get up and call them at 7 am the next morning to get it resolved, but truthfully I think it was the AC that just made the final crack in my attitude of extending grace, I just want someone to do the job they are getting paid to do, is that too much to ask?
So Mr. B calls and the waterworks start, I have no idea why and I get even more mad with myself that I'm upset about all this 'dumb' stuff! After we get off the phone he calls the management place and they call me about getting the issues fixed. I had been taking the attitude of extending grace and accepting that they would eventually get around to fixing my issues, he on the other hand decided that was not the best method to get the issues resolved, and woe and behold his method did get an immediate and apologetic response.
As for resolving the issues, progress is slow but steady. Yesterday the AC was fixed. But the others did not get resolved, despite being told they would be. Then someone called last night saying they would be here between 8:30-9:30 am, Boo fielded the call as I was in reading with Bea and told me it was the plumber. So when someone rings the doorbell at 9:20 am I think to myself that I hope he's fast as I need to leave for work and I answer the door. The guy asks what problems I've been having and I tell him about the bathtub drain, in which he continues to stare at me like I have an extra eyeball in the middle of my forehead...then he says "Bugs" and I'm like what is he talking about, I don't have bugs in the bathtub?! Then it slowly dawns on me that Pest Control was schedule to come today as I called Monday to get on the list with housing. So I promptly apologize and tell him I would like him to kill the spiders and wasps, which neither are located in the bathtub, LOL. I really think he thought I was a nutcase, which may not be far from the truth at this point, LOL!!
Back to the original issue of what has/has not been fixed. The oven was fixed today, it had a faulty ignitor, I feel so vindicated that there was actually something wrong with it and it wasn't just me being so slow that I didn't know how to properly turn on a gas oven. I mean I know it's been several years since we had one but from what I googled it's so easy a chimp can do it, so I was baffled why my attempts were resulting in temperamental cooperation of this modern contraption! The timer is still broken and to be addressed on Monday, but really why does one need to fully see the numbers on a clock or timer, aren't partial ones acceptable? LOL! In all truth all items were supposed to be addressed yesterday and then today, yet once again I somehow managed to fall in the cracks of invisibility and the issues are left unresolved. I have talked to whom needs to be talked to and while they are apologetic the best they can do is Monday, I hold close to the fact that indeed it could be worse. Today the guy checked the fridge door (this makes guy number three to check it, and after 8 weeks of living here...) and while he admits that there is a problem with the door, he (like the 2 preceding him) is at a loss for how to fix it. Needless to say the best fix will be a replacement fridge, to arrive on Monday of course. Also the bathtub drain which broke off last Saturday did NOT get fixed or even looked at. Apparently they lost or forgot to send the work order with the guy when he came, so once again Monday it'll be addressed. Nothing like another weekend without a tub for the kids but once it could be much worse. And the timer appears to have been forgotten about as well, but I guess I got 1 out of 4 so I'm doing good right?
So here's to hoping that Monday will bring resolution but also staying realistically cautious as the past 8 weeks have left me reserved at least with their ability for them to promptly attend to issues.
Ok, I am now stepping out of the pity party room and will wallow in these woes no longer, I'm off to continue reading a book that has brightened my mood and left me laughing out loud several times, and at one point laughing so hard I was crying, I love the healing power of a good laugh! Bea just looked at me like I was a nut and said "you laugh weird" which made me laugh harder! If you want a good chuckle you should check it out:
The Year of Living Biblically
Easter 2010
Happy Easter!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." -1 Peter 1:3
We went to the Easter hunt here on base, here are some pictures:
Bea getting ready to blow bubbles, it was sunny out (can you tell from her squint) but there as a breeze that kept it from being too hot.
Bea with her bubble
Having fun with bubbles!
Bubby talking to Mr. B who was at work
Bea sure made her brother, Boo, proud during the egg hunt. Not only was she running sans flip flops (that got left behind at the starting line) but she was diving and sliding to get to the eggs, it was hilarious! Too bad I chose white capris for her to wear, LOL!
Evidence of her effort to get the eggs
Boo was being camera shy AND the battery on the camera was super low so we only took minimal pictures.
