Good evening everyone. Today went pretty well. I met up with my stephen minister, as I do now every other week. Then came home to grab lex and head to soccer practice. Lex came down and was like "Daddy? I can't find my socks, shinguards, or shoes." I was like "Well then you have a problem. You need to find them."
About 2 minutes after practice was already going, Lex came down and had her shoes, shinguards, and socks. I said "Put them on in the truck. Lets go." When we got there, the girls were doing passing and shooting drills. After just a little while, it was time to scrimage again. Once again, me and the coach against the 8 girls. I can tell that with it having been a few days of having not exercised, I was more winded than I was last week. So, after we got home from soccer practice, Erin and Zoe were still down for naps, and I went to put hercules on for lex and I, and the batteries in both the remotes were both dead. I thought "crap, do we have any other devices that use AA batteries that I can steal the batteries from for one of our remotes?" Then I remembered, I had a $5.00 in my id holder. I was like "Lex, change out of your soccer gear and get normal tennis shoes on, and that I was headed to Jewel to see if I could get some cheap batteries.
On the way to jewl, we jogged most of the way. I would run and pass her, her yelling "HEY! NO FAIR!" and then she would pass me. On the way back, we ran till we got onto 3rd st coming up to the house, and I walked half the way. Lex was like "I'm going to get to the house sooner!" She ran till she was a block and a half ahead of me, and then was walking. I waited till she wasn't paying attention and then I sprinted. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see me fly by her. She was like "NO!" And ran to try to catch up with me. It was me first running up our front porch steps, her right behind me. I touched the door a second before she did. She was like "AH MAN!" I was like "I WON!" and then collapsed down on the steps sitting down trying to catch my breath. Inside I could hear her breathing really hard, and I said "Slow your breathing Lex." She was like "Huh?" I was like "The faster you breath, the worse it is. Take a breath, hold it for a second or two, then breath out. Do it like that and you will catch your breath."
Being winded makes me worry about the testing for the deputy sheriffs position. Only worry because of hating how it feels to be winded from running. That makes me not really enjoy running in general. But I guess I just need to try to do it more, because hopefully it will get easier the more I do it. So I think I will call that it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Day 42
Good evening everyone. This morning I woke Lex up by 6:45. I went downstairs, got her cereal on the table, and came back up. She was laying back down. I was like "Lex! Get up!" She jumped up, got out of bed, and walked to her closet. At this point, usually she is good to go. I climb back into bed for abotu 20 minutes. She gets dressed, goes down and eats her breakfast, and then when it is time she comes up and is like "Daddy, it's time to go." Sometimes I even set a time for about 20 or so after 7 so she comes knows when it is time for us to head to the bus stop.
Today I fell back asleep, and then I realized what time it was a few minutes before 9AM. I went into Lex's bedroom and looked in her closet. She was still sitting there, still mostly in her pj's. She had a t-shirt on but still had her pajama pants on. I was like "Lex! What's going on? What have you been doing?" She was like "I've been looking for my shirt." I was like "for the past 2 hours? It's 9AM!" She was like "It is?" "Yes! You're already a half hour late for school! Get downstairs, we have to go NOW!" When we came downstairs, I noticed that her cereal was still on the table. She had not been downstairs at all.
Tonight around 8pm, I paused the netflix, and we chatted with Lex. It was mainly about how she has been in 3rd grade for about 9 months so far *she has about 2 weeks to go*, and she has always had problems getting up in the morning. We send her to bed early and she still takes a while to get up. So tonight we told her that no more staying up till 10. We plan to have her in bed by 8:30 or 9. Also I replaced a bulb in her room so hopefully that'll help. She has my old alarm clock in her room but has yet to use it. So tonight i set two alarms on it and put it full volume. Of course, we will see what happens tomorrow morning!
I logged onto my class at the community college website and checked my grade. I had a B at midterm and I ended up with a C over all. It would no longer show me the individual grades so I have no idea what brought my grade down. It could have been my attendance the past 2.5 weeks, or it could have been my final grade. The last paper was worth 100 points. If she didn't score me very much on it, that could have dropped my grade an entire letter. Oh well. I'm not too worried about it for 2 reasons. 1) a C is perfectly fine to me. It means a passing grade, credit for the clas, etc. 2) I'm switching schools to AMU for my hospitality major. so I mainly wanted to successfully complete the class with at least a C. I figure if after I get my bachelors in hospitality, if I decide I want to complete the nursing degree then at least I have it started.
In closing, my days off are definetely different without having to head to the college on monday wednesday and friday to go to class. I'm looking forward to being able to complete my classes simply by logging online. That'll be great. I should hopefully be receiving my books in the next two weeks I think. The only other thing I will write about tonight is Lex's soccer. Tomorrow we have practice. The last game is scheduled for this coming saturday. The only thing is there is still 2 games that have to be rescheduled. Since we all had to pay a fee at the beginning of the season, I'm hoping that it they will not just forget those games. I think the kids really should be allowed to play every game that was scheduled. I think that will be it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Today I fell back asleep, and then I realized what time it was a few minutes before 9AM. I went into Lex's bedroom and looked in her closet. She was still sitting there, still mostly in her pj's. She had a t-shirt on but still had her pajama pants on. I was like "Lex! What's going on? What have you been doing?" She was like "I've been looking for my shirt." I was like "for the past 2 hours? It's 9AM!" She was like "It is?" "Yes! You're already a half hour late for school! Get downstairs, we have to go NOW!" When we came downstairs, I noticed that her cereal was still on the table. She had not been downstairs at all.
Tonight around 8pm, I paused the netflix, and we chatted with Lex. It was mainly about how she has been in 3rd grade for about 9 months so far *she has about 2 weeks to go*, and she has always had problems getting up in the morning. We send her to bed early and she still takes a while to get up. So tonight we told her that no more staying up till 10. We plan to have her in bed by 8:30 or 9. Also I replaced a bulb in her room so hopefully that'll help. She has my old alarm clock in her room but has yet to use it. So tonight i set two alarms on it and put it full volume. Of course, we will see what happens tomorrow morning!
I logged onto my class at the community college website and checked my grade. I had a B at midterm and I ended up with a C over all. It would no longer show me the individual grades so I have no idea what brought my grade down. It could have been my attendance the past 2.5 weeks, or it could have been my final grade. The last paper was worth 100 points. If she didn't score me very much on it, that could have dropped my grade an entire letter. Oh well. I'm not too worried about it for 2 reasons. 1) a C is perfectly fine to me. It means a passing grade, credit for the clas, etc. 2) I'm switching schools to AMU for my hospitality major. so I mainly wanted to successfully complete the class with at least a C. I figure if after I get my bachelors in hospitality, if I decide I want to complete the nursing degree then at least I have it started.
In closing, my days off are definetely different without having to head to the college on monday wednesday and friday to go to class. I'm looking forward to being able to complete my classes simply by logging online. That'll be great. I should hopefully be receiving my books in the next two weeks I think. The only other thing I will write about tonight is Lex's soccer. Tomorrow we have practice. The last game is scheduled for this coming saturday. The only thing is there is still 2 games that have to be rescheduled. Since we all had to pay a fee at the beginning of the season, I'm hoping that it they will not just forget those games. I think the kids really should be allowed to play every game that was scheduled. I think that will be it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Day 41
Evening everyone. We were up late last night, so today I slept in a little bit instead of getting the girls up for church. Today we continued our Sliders marathon. I think we are, so far, near the end of the 2nd season. There are a total of 22 episodes that consist of seasons 1 and 2. We just started episode 21. Erin just told me that she already added seasons 3,4, and 5 to our que.
Tonight was a pretty good night. Before Erin got home, I set out the hamburger to thaw. It was a 5 lb package. I figured I wanted to use roughly about 3 lbs of it and make two pans of meat loaf. Erin asked me if I was making two, and I said yes. She said that making two, we could put one batch in the freezer and bake it up a day or two later. To go with it, I made garlic and cheddar mashed potatos. I used the grease from the meatloaf and diced up onions and made a beef gravy. It all was really good. The only one that really didn't seem at all interested in eating it was Zoe. When I showed her her plate she seemed excited but then she wouldn't touch it. While the rest of us were eating, I diced up and microwaved a hotdog for Zoe and she gobbled that right up. That told me that it was not that she was not hungry, it was more that for whatever reason, she just did not want the meatloaf and potatos. That surprised me a little bit though because Zoe is not normally against meat and potatos. But she also has not been feeling well so that may have something to do with it.
It is 11:50 PM currently and we are starting episode 22. I really like this series. It's action packed so it keeps Erin and I enjoying it, but it is also good for the kids to watch too. Lex seems to have been enjoying it also. As far as WoW, I really haven't played a whole lot lately. I want to, but at the same time I just don't feel motivated to play. I'm not sure why. Erin on the other hand plays a little more than I do. Maybe it's just how differently we are both wired. I'm wired to be an occasional video game player, but I also have trouble staying motivated to keep playing.
So in closing, today Lex had the game called "Farkle." She asked if we could have a family night tonight and play together. Erin and I looked at eachother and were like "Sure, that'd be great hun!" When we played, I was the first one to 10,000 points, and then I said "Ok, it's between you two. I will take Zoe up to bed." When I came down, I was like "So who won?" And Erin was like "Lex won!" Then she was like "Ally, thanks for recommending a family fun night. It was really fun! We should do this more often!" Lex was like "YUP!"
So with that, I will call that it for tonight. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Tonight was a pretty good night. Before Erin got home, I set out the hamburger to thaw. It was a 5 lb package. I figured I wanted to use roughly about 3 lbs of it and make two pans of meat loaf. Erin asked me if I was making two, and I said yes. She said that making two, we could put one batch in the freezer and bake it up a day or two later. To go with it, I made garlic and cheddar mashed potatos. I used the grease from the meatloaf and diced up onions and made a beef gravy. It all was really good. The only one that really didn't seem at all interested in eating it was Zoe. When I showed her her plate she seemed excited but then she wouldn't touch it. While the rest of us were eating, I diced up and microwaved a hotdog for Zoe and she gobbled that right up. That told me that it was not that she was not hungry, it was more that for whatever reason, she just did not want the meatloaf and potatos. That surprised me a little bit though because Zoe is not normally against meat and potatos. But she also has not been feeling well so that may have something to do with it.
It is 11:50 PM currently and we are starting episode 22. I really like this series. It's action packed so it keeps Erin and I enjoying it, but it is also good for the kids to watch too. Lex seems to have been enjoying it also. As far as WoW, I really haven't played a whole lot lately. I want to, but at the same time I just don't feel motivated to play. I'm not sure why. Erin on the other hand plays a little more than I do. Maybe it's just how differently we are both wired. I'm wired to be an occasional video game player, but I also have trouble staying motivated to keep playing.
So in closing, today Lex had the game called "Farkle." She asked if we could have a family night tonight and play together. Erin and I looked at eachother and were like "Sure, that'd be great hun!" When we played, I was the first one to 10,000 points, and then I said "Ok, it's between you two. I will take Zoe up to bed." When I came down, I was like "So who won?" And Erin was like "Lex won!" Then she was like "Ally, thanks for recommending a family fun night. It was really fun! We should do this more often!" Lex was like "YUP!"
So with that, I will call that it for tonight. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Day 40
Good evening everyone. Tonight I'm thinking I will at least do a short entry. I'm not sure what to write about today. The main reason is that I have not really done a whole lot today. Ok, Friday was a bit rough. I ended up not going to sleep until 3 in the afternoon. Around 7, I woke up, showered, got ready for work, and headed out.
Then this morning, I got off at 6. By 6:30 I was laying down in bed. About an hour later, I was partially woken up by Erin. She told me that the coach was on the phone, and that she was sick with strep or something. She was asking if I would be able to coach the team for the game. I said "sure, I can do that." But of course, being that I was very sleep deprived, and was only partially awake, one thing slipped my mind. Here's what happened. I had my alarm set for juts before 11. Her game was scheduled for 11:30. Well my alarm went off, and I must have hit snooze because I remember it being just before 11, and then next thing I know it was 11:45. I jumped out of bed and quickly getting dressed, yelling "Shit!"
Coming downstairs, Lex and Zoe were watching a show on Netflix. Right by the TV is a clock. Technically, Lex should have been able to see the time and know when she needed to leave. I was like "Lex, what time is your game?" She was like "11:30?" I was like "yeah? What time does the clock say?" And she was like "11:45. uh-oh!" I was like "yeah. I over slept. Why didn't you come up and say anything?" She was like "I forgot?" So we headed out really fast. By the time we got to the field it was after 12PM. They were on their 3rd quarter of the game. One of the parents had stepped in and were acting as ref/coach for our team. I would have taken over for her, but the thing that I didn't think about when Laura called and talked to Erin was this. We were on the drive to the fields when I thought "crap, I can't coach them anyway because I have to watch Zoe also, since Erin is at work today." So when we got there, I coached and supported from the side, but didn't actually do the official coaching.
When we came home, I baked up the $2.00 pizza we had gotten from Aldi's. Next time I will put it in for 20 minutes instead of the 17 it called for. Some of the cheese wasn't completely melted, and the crust was not crisp. I like my pizza crust to have a nice little crunch. Not be burned necesarily, but to be crispy. Then I turned on the streaming netflix through the wii and started trying to hunt for a new series to start. Erin is doing a lot of Buffy while i'm gone, so I'm completely lost on that. I've been doing hercules when I get home from work in the mornings, and occasionally with Erin some days. So lately I have wanted to start one that is completely seperate, but also one that the kids can watch. The one I decided on was the series called Sliders. I watched some of those episodes a while ago, and really loved the series. Lex, Zoe and I started it, and then we restarted the episode we were on when Erin came home from work. We literally were watching that till just a little while ago. It was after 11 when Erin and I turned on something else. I think we are on episode 14 of season one.
I could have kept going, but Erin told me she added a few new movies to the que, so I selected one of those. So far the movie is pretty good. I'm definitely going to bed afterwards. Would like to not only be able to wake up around 9 or 10 and feel rested, but I would like to take the girls to church this weekend. Erin is working tomorrow. In fact, since they have trained her in the kitchen working with the pizzas, she has been scheduled much more. In fact, she worked today, she works tomorrow, and I believe monday through friday. I'm sure she will feel better about the improvement in her paychecks. That will be nice.
Last night at work, I changed things up a bit. Usually when I start unlocking, I always begin at North campus, and when it is completely unlocked I then drive to south and unlock that. Usually I am back at North campus by 4:45AM. Today instead of starting with north, I left north campus around 3:55, and had south campus unlocked by 4:15, then drove back to north and had it unlocked by 4:35. That is the earliest that I had ever been done unlocking and the best part about it was that I was already at North campus. I didn't have to drive back since I was already there. It gave me some extra time to dive back into the book I'm reading. I'm working through the house of night series, and I'm on book number 3. I'm probably half way through it, and it's the most intriguing thing ever. It's like every time I finish a chapter, no matter if I need to go to bed, need to head home, need to do anything, I want to keep going. The end of each chapter leaves me wanting to see what is going to happen. So there have already been a few times when I put the book down, telling myself "ok, it's alright, you will read more later."
In closing, today I sort of did not worry about my diet. I snacked and ate the pizza, and stuff like that, and the thought of how I was straying from the diet today crossed my mind. I guess with the lack of sleep lately, I needed to just take my first day off from work and relax and unwind. Some days I guess you just need to let loose. So I think I will call that it for now. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Then this morning, I got off at 6. By 6:30 I was laying down in bed. About an hour later, I was partially woken up by Erin. She told me that the coach was on the phone, and that she was sick with strep or something. She was asking if I would be able to coach the team for the game. I said "sure, I can do that." But of course, being that I was very sleep deprived, and was only partially awake, one thing slipped my mind. Here's what happened. I had my alarm set for juts before 11. Her game was scheduled for 11:30. Well my alarm went off, and I must have hit snooze because I remember it being just before 11, and then next thing I know it was 11:45. I jumped out of bed and quickly getting dressed, yelling "Shit!"
Coming downstairs, Lex and Zoe were watching a show on Netflix. Right by the TV is a clock. Technically, Lex should have been able to see the time and know when she needed to leave. I was like "Lex, what time is your game?" She was like "11:30?" I was like "yeah? What time does the clock say?" And she was like "11:45. uh-oh!" I was like "yeah. I over slept. Why didn't you come up and say anything?" She was like "I forgot?" So we headed out really fast. By the time we got to the field it was after 12PM. They were on their 3rd quarter of the game. One of the parents had stepped in and were acting as ref/coach for our team. I would have taken over for her, but the thing that I didn't think about when Laura called and talked to Erin was this. We were on the drive to the fields when I thought "crap, I can't coach them anyway because I have to watch Zoe also, since Erin is at work today." So when we got there, I coached and supported from the side, but didn't actually do the official coaching.
When we came home, I baked up the $2.00 pizza we had gotten from Aldi's. Next time I will put it in for 20 minutes instead of the 17 it called for. Some of the cheese wasn't completely melted, and the crust was not crisp. I like my pizza crust to have a nice little crunch. Not be burned necesarily, but to be crispy. Then I turned on the streaming netflix through the wii and started trying to hunt for a new series to start. Erin is doing a lot of Buffy while i'm gone, so I'm completely lost on that. I've been doing hercules when I get home from work in the mornings, and occasionally with Erin some days. So lately I have wanted to start one that is completely seperate, but also one that the kids can watch. The one I decided on was the series called Sliders. I watched some of those episodes a while ago, and really loved the series. Lex, Zoe and I started it, and then we restarted the episode we were on when Erin came home from work. We literally were watching that till just a little while ago. It was after 11 when Erin and I turned on something else. I think we are on episode 14 of season one.
I could have kept going, but Erin told me she added a few new movies to the que, so I selected one of those. So far the movie is pretty good. I'm definitely going to bed afterwards. Would like to not only be able to wake up around 9 or 10 and feel rested, but I would like to take the girls to church this weekend. Erin is working tomorrow. In fact, since they have trained her in the kitchen working with the pizzas, she has been scheduled much more. In fact, she worked today, she works tomorrow, and I believe monday through friday. I'm sure she will feel better about the improvement in her paychecks. That will be nice.
Last night at work, I changed things up a bit. Usually when I start unlocking, I always begin at North campus, and when it is completely unlocked I then drive to south and unlock that. Usually I am back at North campus by 4:45AM. Today instead of starting with north, I left north campus around 3:55, and had south campus unlocked by 4:15, then drove back to north and had it unlocked by 4:35. That is the earliest that I had ever been done unlocking and the best part about it was that I was already at North campus. I didn't have to drive back since I was already there. It gave me some extra time to dive back into the book I'm reading. I'm working through the house of night series, and I'm on book number 3. I'm probably half way through it, and it's the most intriguing thing ever. It's like every time I finish a chapter, no matter if I need to go to bed, need to head home, need to do anything, I want to keep going. The end of each chapter leaves me wanting to see what is going to happen. So there have already been a few times when I put the book down, telling myself "ok, it's alright, you will read more later."
In closing, today I sort of did not worry about my diet. I snacked and ate the pizza, and stuff like that, and the thought of how I was straying from the diet today crossed my mind. I guess with the lack of sleep lately, I needed to just take my first day off from work and relax and unwind. Some days I guess you just need to let loose. So I think I will call that it for now. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Friday, May 14, 2010
Day 39
Morning everybody. Yes, that's right, I said morning. It's just before 7 AM. About 2 am this morning while I was walking around patrolling outside at work, I thought about the blog and then thought "Oh shit!" I had briefly thought about logging on earlier in the day before work, but never did, and then completely forgot. So, in almost 40 days of writing in the blog, I made my first slip up. So, as it turns out, for the first time, I forgot to write my blog entry. The funny thing was it really didn't bother me too much. I guess the fact that I have gone almost 40 entries so far makes me not feel so bad about one day of accidentally forgetting.
So yesterday, I picked up a new adapter and clamp for my tail pipe around 6:45PM. Lex rode with me to Autozone. When we got back here, I immediately climbed under the truck with a set of plyers, and began working on getting the tailpipe reconnected to my cat converter. When I did that about 2 1/2 months ago, because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do to fix it, it took me about 2 hours. This time I climbed under my truck at at about 20 after 7 PM, and by 7:35 I was done.
This morning, after sending Lex to the bus stop, I am going to do my best to stay awake for however many hours I can. Erin is working 9-2 again today, and normally Zoe would be in Day Care. However, the daycare, I believe, was not going to be taking any kids for today. I'm not sure what the reason was, but we knew about it for the last few days, so at least we knew in advance.
So yesterday I kept saying to myself "Ok, you will be able to deal with the sleep issue tomorrow. No problem." At least tomorrow (Saturday) the soccer game isn't until 11:30. So when I get off at 6, I will need to get home, put the dog out so he can go to the bathroom quickly, and then go to bed asap. That will give me till 10:45 or 11 to sleep before having to get up and load the kids in the truck to head to the game. That was one of two big reasons I needed to get my tailpipe re-secured on. Reason #1: I messaged Eric a few days back saying "I hope you guys are having a good week!" We don't hear from him often, yet alone see him, and so lately I have made it a point to text him every week wishing him well. I just had a voice inside me telling me that I should do that. So, every week, that's what I do. I message and wish him well. It took about 2 days but I did eventually get a response back from him. It said "We are good! How have you guys been?"
I responded back, telling him about the truck. He said "The car pit is still an option if you are interested." I asked him what he had in mind, and he said that I was welcome to come down and that he'd help me secure the tail pipe on permanently. I asked him, if I came down, would he also help me swap out my rear gas tank for the new one I bought when I first bought the truck. He said he would. I'm pretty sure he said also that Sophie would be gone for a little bit so we'd all have the house to ourselves. I told him I would try to see if Erin and the girls could come down too. I already know that Lex wants to go with me. She was like "Daddy! I want to go see uncle Eric too!" I was like "no you dont! :P" lol.
Oy. Staying awake when you're tired and you have already been up all night working is not the easiest thing to do. Here it is, now 8:27, I have been casually writing this blog entry for a little over an hour. I write a little bit, and then focus on the episode of hercules that I'm watching. I'm thinking that if I sit here reclined too much longer I might end up falling asleep anyway. I'm much too comfortable, and tiring fast.
So, if I can summon up the strength, I might do some minor cleaning in the kitchen and out here in the family room. I already got rid of the trash bags outside. That was the first thought I had when I got my truck back in running order again was "Hey, now I can take care of the trash!" We didn't have a 'ton' of trash bags filled, but there were enough. When I got off work, I loaded all the trash into the bed of my truck and got rid of it all.
So in closing, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to being able to go to bed. I figure I will wait till it is as close to when Erin gets home as I can get. I figure on getting Zoe up soon so that the closer it gets to Erin getting home, the better time it will be for laying Zoe down for a nap and hense myself laying down. Even if I end up sleeping till 6 or 7 tonight and getting up to shower and get ready for work, oh well. My mind is really foggy right now so I will call that it for today. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
So yesterday, I picked up a new adapter and clamp for my tail pipe around 6:45PM. Lex rode with me to Autozone. When we got back here, I immediately climbed under the truck with a set of plyers, and began working on getting the tailpipe reconnected to my cat converter. When I did that about 2 1/2 months ago, because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do to fix it, it took me about 2 hours. This time I climbed under my truck at at about 20 after 7 PM, and by 7:35 I was done.
This morning, after sending Lex to the bus stop, I am going to do my best to stay awake for however many hours I can. Erin is working 9-2 again today, and normally Zoe would be in Day Care. However, the daycare, I believe, was not going to be taking any kids for today. I'm not sure what the reason was, but we knew about it for the last few days, so at least we knew in advance.
So yesterday I kept saying to myself "Ok, you will be able to deal with the sleep issue tomorrow. No problem." At least tomorrow (Saturday) the soccer game isn't until 11:30. So when I get off at 6, I will need to get home, put the dog out so he can go to the bathroom quickly, and then go to bed asap. That will give me till 10:45 or 11 to sleep before having to get up and load the kids in the truck to head to the game. That was one of two big reasons I needed to get my tailpipe re-secured on. Reason #1: I messaged Eric a few days back saying "I hope you guys are having a good week!" We don't hear from him often, yet alone see him, and so lately I have made it a point to text him every week wishing him well. I just had a voice inside me telling me that I should do that. So, every week, that's what I do. I message and wish him well. It took about 2 days but I did eventually get a response back from him. It said "We are good! How have you guys been?"
I responded back, telling him about the truck. He said "The car pit is still an option if you are interested." I asked him what he had in mind, and he said that I was welcome to come down and that he'd help me secure the tail pipe on permanently. I asked him, if I came down, would he also help me swap out my rear gas tank for the new one I bought when I first bought the truck. He said he would. I'm pretty sure he said also that Sophie would be gone for a little bit so we'd all have the house to ourselves. I told him I would try to see if Erin and the girls could come down too. I already know that Lex wants to go with me. She was like "Daddy! I want to go see uncle Eric too!" I was like "no you dont! :P" lol.
Oy. Staying awake when you're tired and you have already been up all night working is not the easiest thing to do. Here it is, now 8:27, I have been casually writing this blog entry for a little over an hour. I write a little bit, and then focus on the episode of hercules that I'm watching. I'm thinking that if I sit here reclined too much longer I might end up falling asleep anyway. I'm much too comfortable, and tiring fast.
So, if I can summon up the strength, I might do some minor cleaning in the kitchen and out here in the family room. I already got rid of the trash bags outside. That was the first thought I had when I got my truck back in running order again was "Hey, now I can take care of the trash!" We didn't have a 'ton' of trash bags filled, but there were enough. When I got off work, I loaded all the trash into the bed of my truck and got rid of it all.
So in closing, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to being able to go to bed. I figure I will wait till it is as close to when Erin gets home as I can get. I figure on getting Zoe up soon so that the closer it gets to Erin getting home, the better time it will be for laying Zoe down for a nap and hense myself laying down. Even if I end up sleeping till 6 or 7 tonight and getting up to shower and get ready for work, oh well. My mind is really foggy right now so I will call that it for today. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Day 38
Well it is official. Today was my last day of class for now at the community college. For a few weeks, I have nothing school wise. However, come June 7th, I will be diving back into American Military University in my Bachelors of Hospitality major. I already have 9 credits completed with them. When I take two rounds of classes, which will be 2 classes each, I will be able to modify my plan. On top of my major, which I intend to keep, I want to minor in English, and complete a certificate of Human Resource Management.
Will the certificate help me? I'm not sure. I'd like to think that it will. More training and all. Basically my plan is to get a good enough education under my belt so that I will be marketable. Through my military background, and security background, the fact that I worked for Schwans, etc, those are all things that make me look good as an employee. But is it enough? My personal feeling is, I don't think so. Plus, my goal is to own at least one business, and my degree will prepare me for that. That reminds me of something.
Today, Lex, Zoe, and I went to Aldi's with a small list that Erin had written. We had about $24.00 left on food stamps and so Aldi's was the perfect place to go. Very good prices. For any of you who don't have aldi's near by, that really sucks! When we go there and have budgeted say $100.00 out of a paycheck for groceries, we come out of there with a ton for what we pay. If you go to a hyvee or wal mart with $100.00, depending on what you get, you might get a lot, but at the same time, you don't get that much. At aldi's, there are a ton of stuff like boxed dinners for 1.99, packs of turkey and regular bacon for 1.99, boxes of cereal for 2.00, etc. When we go there with a budget larger than the girls and I did today, for instance, if we go with $100.00 or even more in cash specifically for groceries, it makes you feel like you did really well.
A side note, which is what I was reminded of when mentioning my hospitality degree and wanting to own a business, right next to Aldi's there is one really big building. It looks like it may have been a grocery store at one point. It is really huge, and has the usual glass automatic doors at the front entrance. It even has a window on the side of the building that may have been for a pharmacy or something. Since we have lived in clinton, the building has been boarded up with a "for sale or lease" sign posted on the front. Being the wanna be business owner that I am, I look at that building every time with the thought going through my head saying "That building would make an excellent bowling and entertainment business. Be it, bowling and arcade, go-carts, lazer tag, etc." Now, the big question, with the assumption that I would ever have the financial means to purchase the building and turn it into something like that is this. Would that kind of business survive the current economy in Clinton? Would many people go out and go bowling or playing at a state-of-the-art arena? Hell! It could even be a large skating rink/gaming place. I would love to buy a good building and open a good roller rink here in Clinton. It doesn't have any kind of roller skating rinks, and if it did, I would so be taking the girls there regularly. I was a big roller skater a while back, and some day, just like soccer refereeing, I plan to get back into it.
Next to the big possible skating rink/bowling alley, etc building, there is another big building. Half of it is one big unit that is a big furniture store. The other half again has the glass automatic doors, appears to have been empty a while, and just like the other building, has a big "for sale or lease" sign on the doors. Alley, at both buildings was like "Lets look in the windows! How much do you think it'd cost for that one daddy?" I was like "I don't know. It'd make a good bowling alley though!" I'm glad lex seems excited about both mine and Erin's individual business dreams. Some day I know we will be able to look back and say "remember when all this was a dream?" Maybe I should try to find a cheap but decent size space and actually give clinton a good affordable skating rink. Being the only one in Clinton, people could skate in clinton without having to drive to davenport. It may be possible. Who knows?
So anyway, back to the original subject I was writing about. =)
I'm the type of person that, if all the money has gone out on bills and we are, for lack of a better word, broke, then how stressed out I am depends on our situation. To be broke, but have gas in our vehicles so we can get to work, and have a good stock of food at home, I'm good. I'm ok with being broke if we are being able to pay the bills for the most part, have gas in the tanks and food in the fridge,freezer, and pantries. There have been a few times in the past where it felt like we were so broke. What I mean by that is this. For whatever reason, we had pennies to our name because of payments we had to make or whatever, and we had not been able to get too much gas and did not have groceries. Those times suck! You find yourself thinking "how are we going to make it to pay day?" Thankfully we have been blessed to the point where even with our income being what it is, God gives us the means to get to work when we need to, and enough money for groceries, not to mention the wisdom of a place like Aldi's to get lots of groceries at very good prices.
For example, when we were there today, I did get one extra thing. We got the stuff on the list Erin wrote out. I walked by the section that had a few kinds of frozen pizzas. they were your usual family size pizzas. For 2 or 3 people, they will fill ya up. So for right now with Zoe only being 2, it works out for us. When she gets bigger and is a bigger eater, we may have to get 2 of the pizzas, but at just over $2.00 each, that's not bad at all! At regular grocery stores, the cheaper pizzas are still around $3.50, and I believe those are red barron, which are still really excellent frozen pizzas. Personally, when I'm able to, I like to buy the packs that have 2 pizza crusts, packs of mushrooms (for people that are mushroom fanatics like myself ;) ) , sliced pepporoni, shredded cheese, plus whatever topping you want to put on it. You could go all out and brown hamburger meat and add that to the pizza. I even fried up bacon one time a long long time ago and added that to it. Knowing my wife, carmelized onions are really good on pizzas too.
So anyway, point is, Aldi's rocks. Enough said. ;) So today, I didn't actually 'go' to class. Nope. What I did was this. Because we were turning in the official final draft of the paper we have been working on for a few weeks, this morning when I got off of work and was watching hercules waiting for Lex, I quickly typed the 'conclusion' and emailed the finished work to my teacher. In the email I told the instructor "I appologize. I do not know if I will be able to make it to class today. If not, I wish you a very happy summer!" My thought was that if given the chance, I was going to try to get maybe an extra hour of so of sleep.
I first came downstairs around noon because the dog was pacing, which means he needs to go outside. I let him out, noticed that Erin was napping on the recliner while Zoe watched Vegitales. She was rubbing her eyes, so I told Erin I would take her up and lay her down for a nap, herebye giving me an excuse to be able to go back to bed. I layed there for half an hour and didn't think I was going to go back to sleep. Next thing I know it was after 4 in the afternoon and Zoe was coming in the room. So, I got up. ;) Mainly watched an episode or 2 of buffy with Erin, did the grocery shopping, then got ready for work. Fun day eh? Yeah.
In closing, I keep thinking about the sheriffs deputy position. I keep wondering to myself "is it still good to go for a good paying position like that when a) i'm happy with my current job as a means to an end while I work on getting my degree, and b) when my real dream is to be a business owner? I don't know. I am still going to turn in the application and do the testing. The thing that bothers me is, I've been working here now for 6 months. I don't want to make another "Schwans" kind of decision. I don't want to decide to switch jobs just because the pay is a lot better, hereby starting over. Just my mind going into hyper drive. I'm not sure what to expect as a sheriffs deputy if I even get hired, but hey, I guess I will have the opportunity to find out eh? So that will be it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Will the certificate help me? I'm not sure. I'd like to think that it will. More training and all. Basically my plan is to get a good enough education under my belt so that I will be marketable. Through my military background, and security background, the fact that I worked for Schwans, etc, those are all things that make me look good as an employee. But is it enough? My personal feeling is, I don't think so. Plus, my goal is to own at least one business, and my degree will prepare me for that. That reminds me of something.
Today, Lex, Zoe, and I went to Aldi's with a small list that Erin had written. We had about $24.00 left on food stamps and so Aldi's was the perfect place to go. Very good prices. For any of you who don't have aldi's near by, that really sucks! When we go there and have budgeted say $100.00 out of a paycheck for groceries, we come out of there with a ton for what we pay. If you go to a hyvee or wal mart with $100.00, depending on what you get, you might get a lot, but at the same time, you don't get that much. At aldi's, there are a ton of stuff like boxed dinners for 1.99, packs of turkey and regular bacon for 1.99, boxes of cereal for 2.00, etc. When we go there with a budget larger than the girls and I did today, for instance, if we go with $100.00 or even more in cash specifically for groceries, it makes you feel like you did really well.
A side note, which is what I was reminded of when mentioning my hospitality degree and wanting to own a business, right next to Aldi's there is one really big building. It looks like it may have been a grocery store at one point. It is really huge, and has the usual glass automatic doors at the front entrance. It even has a window on the side of the building that may have been for a pharmacy or something. Since we have lived in clinton, the building has been boarded up with a "for sale or lease" sign posted on the front. Being the wanna be business owner that I am, I look at that building every time with the thought going through my head saying "That building would make an excellent bowling and entertainment business. Be it, bowling and arcade, go-carts, lazer tag, etc." Now, the big question, with the assumption that I would ever have the financial means to purchase the building and turn it into something like that is this. Would that kind of business survive the current economy in Clinton? Would many people go out and go bowling or playing at a state-of-the-art arena? Hell! It could even be a large skating rink/gaming place. I would love to buy a good building and open a good roller rink here in Clinton. It doesn't have any kind of roller skating rinks, and if it did, I would so be taking the girls there regularly. I was a big roller skater a while back, and some day, just like soccer refereeing, I plan to get back into it.
Next to the big possible skating rink/bowling alley, etc building, there is another big building. Half of it is one big unit that is a big furniture store. The other half again has the glass automatic doors, appears to have been empty a while, and just like the other building, has a big "for sale or lease" sign on the doors. Alley, at both buildings was like "Lets look in the windows! How much do you think it'd cost for that one daddy?" I was like "I don't know. It'd make a good bowling alley though!" I'm glad lex seems excited about both mine and Erin's individual business dreams. Some day I know we will be able to look back and say "remember when all this was a dream?" Maybe I should try to find a cheap but decent size space and actually give clinton a good affordable skating rink. Being the only one in Clinton, people could skate in clinton without having to drive to davenport. It may be possible. Who knows?
So anyway, back to the original subject I was writing about. =)
I'm the type of person that, if all the money has gone out on bills and we are, for lack of a better word, broke, then how stressed out I am depends on our situation. To be broke, but have gas in our vehicles so we can get to work, and have a good stock of food at home, I'm good. I'm ok with being broke if we are being able to pay the bills for the most part, have gas in the tanks and food in the fridge,freezer, and pantries. There have been a few times in the past where it felt like we were so broke. What I mean by that is this. For whatever reason, we had pennies to our name because of payments we had to make or whatever, and we had not been able to get too much gas and did not have groceries. Those times suck! You find yourself thinking "how are we going to make it to pay day?" Thankfully we have been blessed to the point where even with our income being what it is, God gives us the means to get to work when we need to, and enough money for groceries, not to mention the wisdom of a place like Aldi's to get lots of groceries at very good prices.
For example, when we were there today, I did get one extra thing. We got the stuff on the list Erin wrote out. I walked by the section that had a few kinds of frozen pizzas. they were your usual family size pizzas. For 2 or 3 people, they will fill ya up. So for right now with Zoe only being 2, it works out for us. When she gets bigger and is a bigger eater, we may have to get 2 of the pizzas, but at just over $2.00 each, that's not bad at all! At regular grocery stores, the cheaper pizzas are still around $3.50, and I believe those are red barron, which are still really excellent frozen pizzas. Personally, when I'm able to, I like to buy the packs that have 2 pizza crusts, packs of mushrooms (for people that are mushroom fanatics like myself ;) ) , sliced pepporoni, shredded cheese, plus whatever topping you want to put on it. You could go all out and brown hamburger meat and add that to the pizza. I even fried up bacon one time a long long time ago and added that to it. Knowing my wife, carmelized onions are really good on pizzas too.
So anyway, point is, Aldi's rocks. Enough said. ;) So today, I didn't actually 'go' to class. Nope. What I did was this. Because we were turning in the official final draft of the paper we have been working on for a few weeks, this morning when I got off of work and was watching hercules waiting for Lex, I quickly typed the 'conclusion' and emailed the finished work to my teacher. In the email I told the instructor "I appologize. I do not know if I will be able to make it to class today. If not, I wish you a very happy summer!" My thought was that if given the chance, I was going to try to get maybe an extra hour of so of sleep.
I first came downstairs around noon because the dog was pacing, which means he needs to go outside. I let him out, noticed that Erin was napping on the recliner while Zoe watched Vegitales. She was rubbing her eyes, so I told Erin I would take her up and lay her down for a nap, herebye giving me an excuse to be able to go back to bed. I layed there for half an hour and didn't think I was going to go back to sleep. Next thing I know it was after 4 in the afternoon and Zoe was coming in the room. So, I got up. ;) Mainly watched an episode or 2 of buffy with Erin, did the grocery shopping, then got ready for work. Fun day eh? Yeah.
In closing, I keep thinking about the sheriffs deputy position. I keep wondering to myself "is it still good to go for a good paying position like that when a) i'm happy with my current job as a means to an end while I work on getting my degree, and b) when my real dream is to be a business owner? I don't know. I am still going to turn in the application and do the testing. The thing that bothers me is, I've been working here now for 6 months. I don't want to make another "Schwans" kind of decision. I don't want to decide to switch jobs just because the pay is a lot better, hereby starting over. Just my mind going into hyper drive. I'm not sure what to expect as a sheriffs deputy if I even get hired, but hey, I guess I will have the opportunity to find out eh? So that will be it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Day 37
Good day everybody. Today was quite the interesting day. It was stressful in a way, but in another way it was also God's answering of prayers. Allow me to explain. Every day when I pray, I continue working to give all "our" cares, worries, and stresses to God. I know there are worries that we might have that are harder than others to let go of and give it completely over to Him. So what I ask from Him is that he simply take those stresses from us. We are not meant to be stressed over the little things in life, and there fore we must give it all over to him, and He will take care of us. It takes patience, and a lot of faith. Every day I would continue to pray to Him, and continue to have faith that the things that we worry about are small, and that He has a plan for us, and that eventually when it's right in God's eyes, things will line up the way he means them to be, and everything will make sense.
Well, for a while now, our electric bill has been apparently extremely high. We received assistance a few months back, and with that payment we were under then impression that our remaining bill would be about 1 month's payment. Well, a month and a half later, we received a few bills from my parents *the current account is in their name, but payed for by us, and is delivered to their address*, and suddenly we owed $1500.00. Of course, we were like "OmGosh! Holy Crap!" I'm the kind of person that although yes we may have had $100.00 or whatever here or there, but hardly the $280.00 per month, and especially nowhere near $1500.00 or whatever it was at then, and to me, if we have a huge bill that keeps accumulating I find it hard to make a small payment when it doesn't even make a dent. It's like, paying $50.00 on a loan that just keeps getting $150.00 interest per month. Yes you have payed $50.00, but then you are still going negative another $100.00. Well, that was where we were. We had times when we could pay small payments, even the $280.00 maybe, but the bill was still upwards of $2,000 by today.
So this morning, Erin left for work. When she left, all was well. I told you all recently how I have had some really intense dreams lately. Very vivid, very detailed, etc. Do they mean anything? Has God spoken to me or tried to help me figure things out through these dreams? I don't know. I did not get a clear message from any of them, although I woke up from each going "OMG!" Well, to describe for you how detailed and crystal clear some of my dreams have been, here you go. This morning after I got Lex off to the bus stop, I came back to bed. Not even an hour later, I was having a dream that Zoe was making her way down the stairs. Some times I am scared to death when she is coming down the stairs by herself because I don't want her to end up taking a tumble, and getting badly hurt. Well in my dream, she was carrying a blanket or something and before I could get to her she went rolling down the stairs and landed at the landing. I actually chirped because in the dream I was screaming "NO! ZOE!" Erin rolled over and partially woke up. She was like "What was that?" I was like "It's nothing. It was just a dream. I dreamed Zoe slipped on the steps."
Well, some time shortly after that, I remember feeling like our electricity was off. Part of it was a dream, but it was like somehow I felt like that was going to happen specifically today. Shortly after that, Erin left, and the electricity was still on. I know it was because Erin's alarm clock woke her up. Plus we have a ceiling fan going usually. Well about 30 minutes after she left, I remember randomly waking up and thinking "the power is off." I did not know for certain yet, but I had this strong feeling that it was. I looked up and the ceiling fan was still spinning but was slowly slowing down. I looked over to the wall and the switch was still flicked into the "on" position. I went over and flicked it up and down, nothing. "Shit!" I said. How did I know? I wondered. I had no idea. Somehow I had known before I was able to confirm it. Somehow I knew even before it happened. Strange? Yes. Coincidence? Maybe.
So I ended up grilling hotdogs for Zoe and I because our stove and microwave are electric obviously. I texted Erin about what was going on. I tried to call the electric company but they wouldn't talk to me because the account was in my dad's name. When Erin got off and came home, we went to the agencies in town that help with stuff like that, but the most they could do was $100.00. Our balance was apparently over $2,000 and $100.00 was not going to be enough. I ended up having to call my dad and having him call them so we could get the figures and information about what we would need to do to get turned back on. He was upset of course, but at the same time I was not asking him for money. I avoid that like the plague usually. Well he gave me the amount that we needed to pay, which was over $1,700.00 in order to get it turned back on. He said that after we pay the entire thing bringing the account current, that he was going to close it in his name and that we could open a new account in our name so the bill would come to us, and that we would be able to access the account. Within an hour, by the grace of God, we found a way through another bank account where the $1,700 ish, could get wired to us by tomorrow, and we would pay the bill plus the $160.00 reconnect fee. I texted my dad at 3:55 telling him the update, and he called. Apparently if we took care of it by 4, the reconnect fee was only 59.00 instead of 160.00.
He was like "you're 'certain' you are getting the money wired to you?" I was like "Yes we are." He was like "I have not payed a few bills yet. Let me call them in the next few minutes and see if I can pay the $1,700 for you, if you are willing to send me the money when you get it." I mentioned it to Erin, and we both said "That sounds great. Yes we would wire the money directly to you as soon as it is in the account." So, thank God, our power is back on. Now after tomorrow when we forward the money to pay my dad back, we will owe less than $300.00 left towards the electric account. We both get payed in a little over a week and we will pay the remaining balance so we can open an account in our own name instead of having to do the 3-party system again. The way I see it, and know in my heart, God meant for this whole little ordeal to happen, because through it, my worries about how we would end up taking care of the outrageous electric balance have been lifted.
So tonight, while Erin was emailing the bank giving them the information so they could wire transfer, I gave Lex some Mt Dew. Only a little bit, maybe like an ounce or two. I said "Drink for 5 seconds." To my knowledge, she had not had mt dew before. I told her how a coach I had when I was young some times brought small cans of coke to the game or practice and said it was good for quick energy for a brief period, such as a game or practice. I think it worked, because tonight she was a force of nature. The way we scrimmaged tonight was me and the main coach on one team, and all 8 of the girls on a team and they were playing against us. The coach said "Any time Chris or I score you guys have to run a lap." The girls did end up scoring about 3 times on us, but they ended up running I believe 8 laps. Every time they ran a lap, even after they had run several already, Lex was the leader of the pack. I was so impressed! Usually she is a great runner, but lately tires out quick and lags. Now I'm thinking we'll give her a small cup of dew before the game and see what happens. I'm so anxious to see! :-D
Erin had to run home to take care of something, but when she got back, it was just lex and I still at the field. While we waited, I kicked around with Lex. When we got home, I told Erin how I think Dew was a great idea, and told her how awesome lex did. She gave her a high 5 and told her how proud of her she was. By the time we came home the lights were back on. That felt good to see the electric on again. I had been preparing myself all day for the house to be lit by candles. Plus, no power would have meant our freezer and fridge slowly getting warmer, and having only the grill as a means to cook dinner. We got home, I ran up stairs, showered and got ready for work. When I came back downstairs, it was 7:30. I was starving and tired! I got busy right away. I put water on to boil, I started quickly dicing up the potatos, and then I started breading the cube steaks. By the time I left to come to work, the potatos were done, I strained them, and the cube steaks had been flipped once already. I went into the family room and told Erin that the meat just needed a little more time, that the potatos were boiled and ready to be mashed and just a few other things left, but that I did what I could to make things easier on her.
Meat and potatos. Mmmmmmmmm. Nothing helps you feel energized better than a hearty meal of meat and potatos that fills ya up. So in closing, it has been an eventful day indeed. It's amazing how many different things life throws at ya, but the great part is as long as you are giving yourself and everything you have over to God, and having faith that anything bothering you he will deal with, there is nothing that you can't handle. There is something that we were told in church. God doesn't give us anything that we can not handle. That is a very true statement! Everyone may not have experienced anything that makees them believe this, but Erin and I have. With God in our lives, today was not stressful at all. In the past, we would have been so stressed and upset, but we both knew that everything was going to be ok. So that will be it for tonight everyone. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Well, for a while now, our electric bill has been apparently extremely high. We received assistance a few months back, and with that payment we were under then impression that our remaining bill would be about 1 month's payment. Well, a month and a half later, we received a few bills from my parents *the current account is in their name, but payed for by us, and is delivered to their address*, and suddenly we owed $1500.00. Of course, we were like "OmGosh! Holy Crap!" I'm the kind of person that although yes we may have had $100.00 or whatever here or there, but hardly the $280.00 per month, and especially nowhere near $1500.00 or whatever it was at then, and to me, if we have a huge bill that keeps accumulating I find it hard to make a small payment when it doesn't even make a dent. It's like, paying $50.00 on a loan that just keeps getting $150.00 interest per month. Yes you have payed $50.00, but then you are still going negative another $100.00. Well, that was where we were. We had times when we could pay small payments, even the $280.00 maybe, but the bill was still upwards of $2,000 by today.
So this morning, Erin left for work. When she left, all was well. I told you all recently how I have had some really intense dreams lately. Very vivid, very detailed, etc. Do they mean anything? Has God spoken to me or tried to help me figure things out through these dreams? I don't know. I did not get a clear message from any of them, although I woke up from each going "OMG!" Well, to describe for you how detailed and crystal clear some of my dreams have been, here you go. This morning after I got Lex off to the bus stop, I came back to bed. Not even an hour later, I was having a dream that Zoe was making her way down the stairs. Some times I am scared to death when she is coming down the stairs by herself because I don't want her to end up taking a tumble, and getting badly hurt. Well in my dream, she was carrying a blanket or something and before I could get to her she went rolling down the stairs and landed at the landing. I actually chirped because in the dream I was screaming "NO! ZOE!" Erin rolled over and partially woke up. She was like "What was that?" I was like "It's nothing. It was just a dream. I dreamed Zoe slipped on the steps."
Well, some time shortly after that, I remember feeling like our electricity was off. Part of it was a dream, but it was like somehow I felt like that was going to happen specifically today. Shortly after that, Erin left, and the electricity was still on. I know it was because Erin's alarm clock woke her up. Plus we have a ceiling fan going usually. Well about 30 minutes after she left, I remember randomly waking up and thinking "the power is off." I did not know for certain yet, but I had this strong feeling that it was. I looked up and the ceiling fan was still spinning but was slowly slowing down. I looked over to the wall and the switch was still flicked into the "on" position. I went over and flicked it up and down, nothing. "Shit!" I said. How did I know? I wondered. I had no idea. Somehow I had known before I was able to confirm it. Somehow I knew even before it happened. Strange? Yes. Coincidence? Maybe.
So I ended up grilling hotdogs for Zoe and I because our stove and microwave are electric obviously. I texted Erin about what was going on. I tried to call the electric company but they wouldn't talk to me because the account was in my dad's name. When Erin got off and came home, we went to the agencies in town that help with stuff like that, but the most they could do was $100.00. Our balance was apparently over $2,000 and $100.00 was not going to be enough. I ended up having to call my dad and having him call them so we could get the figures and information about what we would need to do to get turned back on. He was upset of course, but at the same time I was not asking him for money. I avoid that like the plague usually. Well he gave me the amount that we needed to pay, which was over $1,700.00 in order to get it turned back on. He said that after we pay the entire thing bringing the account current, that he was going to close it in his name and that we could open a new account in our name so the bill would come to us, and that we would be able to access the account. Within an hour, by the grace of God, we found a way through another bank account where the $1,700 ish, could get wired to us by tomorrow, and we would pay the bill plus the $160.00 reconnect fee. I texted my dad at 3:55 telling him the update, and he called. Apparently if we took care of it by 4, the reconnect fee was only 59.00 instead of 160.00.
He was like "you're 'certain' you are getting the money wired to you?" I was like "Yes we are." He was like "I have not payed a few bills yet. Let me call them in the next few minutes and see if I can pay the $1,700 for you, if you are willing to send me the money when you get it." I mentioned it to Erin, and we both said "That sounds great. Yes we would wire the money directly to you as soon as it is in the account." So, thank God, our power is back on. Now after tomorrow when we forward the money to pay my dad back, we will owe less than $300.00 left towards the electric account. We both get payed in a little over a week and we will pay the remaining balance so we can open an account in our own name instead of having to do the 3-party system again. The way I see it, and know in my heart, God meant for this whole little ordeal to happen, because through it, my worries about how we would end up taking care of the outrageous electric balance have been lifted.
So tonight, while Erin was emailing the bank giving them the information so they could wire transfer, I gave Lex some Mt Dew. Only a little bit, maybe like an ounce or two. I said "Drink for 5 seconds." To my knowledge, she had not had mt dew before. I told her how a coach I had when I was young some times brought small cans of coke to the game or practice and said it was good for quick energy for a brief period, such as a game or practice. I think it worked, because tonight she was a force of nature. The way we scrimmaged tonight was me and the main coach on one team, and all 8 of the girls on a team and they were playing against us. The coach said "Any time Chris or I score you guys have to run a lap." The girls did end up scoring about 3 times on us, but they ended up running I believe 8 laps. Every time they ran a lap, even after they had run several already, Lex was the leader of the pack. I was so impressed! Usually she is a great runner, but lately tires out quick and lags. Now I'm thinking we'll give her a small cup of dew before the game and see what happens. I'm so anxious to see! :-D
Erin had to run home to take care of something, but when she got back, it was just lex and I still at the field. While we waited, I kicked around with Lex. When we got home, I told Erin how I think Dew was a great idea, and told her how awesome lex did. She gave her a high 5 and told her how proud of her she was. By the time we came home the lights were back on. That felt good to see the electric on again. I had been preparing myself all day for the house to be lit by candles. Plus, no power would have meant our freezer and fridge slowly getting warmer, and having only the grill as a means to cook dinner. We got home, I ran up stairs, showered and got ready for work. When I came back downstairs, it was 7:30. I was starving and tired! I got busy right away. I put water on to boil, I started quickly dicing up the potatos, and then I started breading the cube steaks. By the time I left to come to work, the potatos were done, I strained them, and the cube steaks had been flipped once already. I went into the family room and told Erin that the meat just needed a little more time, that the potatos were boiled and ready to be mashed and just a few other things left, but that I did what I could to make things easier on her.
Meat and potatos. Mmmmmmmmm. Nothing helps you feel energized better than a hearty meal of meat and potatos that fills ya up. So in closing, it has been an eventful day indeed. It's amazing how many different things life throws at ya, but the great part is as long as you are giving yourself and everything you have over to God, and having faith that anything bothering you he will deal with, there is nothing that you can't handle. There is something that we were told in church. God doesn't give us anything that we can not handle. That is a very true statement! Everyone may not have experienced anything that makees them believe this, but Erin and I have. With God in our lives, today was not stressful at all. In the past, we would have been so stressed and upset, but we both knew that everything was going to be ok. So that will be it for tonight everyone. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
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