Logic

I don't know if two year olds are supposed to be constructing logical arguments yet but here is a constant theme in my life...
Realize that we just recently gained modifiers in our speech so Andy is no longer just "big" he is "really big" or he is no longer "hungry" he is "really hungry."
We are driving in the car...
Andy: Mommy I really hungry
Mommy: You are?
Andy: Food, mommy, food.
Mommy: Do you want a snack..I have granola bars or crackers. We could get something when we get back to the trailer.
Andy: Donalds, mommy Donalds.
Mommy: But we can get something back at the trailer, there is no need to go to McDonalds.
Andy: No trailer mommy, no no. Yes Donalds, yes, yes ,yes...

So the story goes that Andy doesn't really want McDonalds, what he really wants is the playground at McDonalds. The child has figured out that you cannot go to McDonalds to just play on the slide, but that you have to buy food when you go there. If we go he wants to play before he will even stop to eat anything and he gets upset if we go through the drive through.

One of the McDonalds we have been to a couple of times has an outdoor playground and then I sometimes get this argument:
Andy: Eat outside mommy, eat outside.

Fools & Babes

I don't know which category I fit in, but here is another example that God is watching out and can see the big picture.
We finally got the truck back from the dealership that was fixing it (this is after 2 weeks of them having the truck...if you want to make some big bucks, apparently there is a shortage of technicians trained to do muffler work).
Now, back in June when we got the house fixed up to sell we refinanced the truck because it was faster and less complicated then doing a home equity loan. We had intended to get a home equity loan but the loan officer talked us into the refinancing especially because we knew we would pay off the loan as soon as the house sold. As part of the refinancing we had to get an extended warranty on the truck and we also got the roadside assistance plan (which covers us no matter what vehicle we are in).
Well, we made a few payments on the loan, the house sold, we paid it off and then of course since you buy these things on a yearly basis we still had the roadside plan and the warranty.
Well, we have had to use the roadside assistance at least 4 times and we have used the warranty at least twice. I don't remember the exact amount that we had to pay for the warranty but the first time we had to use it the warranty covered part of a repair and the cost it covered was almost half the amount that the warranty cost. Well, the warranty covered all but $150 dollars of the latest truck repair and turned out that it paid out more than what I believe we had to pay for the warranty. In addition to that it will cover the cost of the rental car. I don't know what we would have done without the warranty and I never would have predicted that we would have had to use it so much. Usually I am the type that is skeptical about extended warranties but this is making me rethink my attitude.

Do to this experience I have also been thinking that if God could foresee the advantage of having an extended warranty on a truck I am sure that he must have an extended warranty on me. I find that thought very comforting.

House Update III- The Saga Continues...

So our realtor delivered a very nicely written letter to their realtor basically saying that we are not interested because there are too many issues with the safety and functionality of the house that $500 just won't cover (she said it a lot nicer...she definitely deserves the big bucks). Then we get this phone call saying that we should go price cook tops and that she is going to have a handyman do an estimate and that she is going to call the structural engineer to see what else she can get out of him. Apparently their agent really wants this to work out so I am not quite sure where we are at now.
We did find out that cooktops similar to what was already in the house start at the amount they had capped their cost at....not including any labor to install it.

Under Assualt

I can tell that it is Fall even with my eyes closed. As I sit in the trailer you can hear acorns hit the roof of the trailer and roll off. It is not quit the pleasant sound of rain on the trailer, but they sort of make a loud "thunk" and then you can hear them rolling off. It is an interesting sound and I think a long term memory that I will take away from this experience.

House Update II

After spending some more money to get the chimney check-out on the potential house, we did hear back that they are unwilling to change the spending cap they put on repairs. We weren't looking for cosmetic things, just things that keep the house safe and basically functional (like electric issues and working stoves, etc.) So unless they have a drastic change of heart, we will be back looking at houses. In some ways I am relieved because I had some concerns about the settling of the house even though they had a report saying that it was done settling.

House Update

I realized when I posted the Weekly Update that I forgot to include information about the house (but that is what I get for doing it quickly while I was in the Krispy Kreme parking lot waiting for Jim...yes...Krispy Kreme has free Wi-fi also....)

We had the home inspection, we made a list, we sent it to the people....we haven't heard anything back yet. We did get the HVAC further inspected and even though it is old (and has rust) it appears to be in working order. Tomorrow morning (bright and early) I meet with a company to give an estimate on the chimney.
Basically we have a contract on the house. We are waiting to have the appraisal done until we can be sure that everything is going to work out. If the people selling the house won't go for the necessary repairs (things that make it possible to live in the house...like having a fully working stove, and anything that is a safety issue) then we will start back looking at houses. If they agree to the repairs then it will be a matter of how quickly the mortgage can be done for us to close. Of course the other thing at the moment is the fact that we are dependent on either hiring people or friend volunteering to help us move because Jim cannot lift anything very heavy with his broken bones.

Week in Review

So here is our status on things...
Jim is recovering but still gets tired easily. His doctor's appointment recheck said that he was "recovering as expected."
I am tired and behind on my homework but that is normal.
Doug and Andy are doing fine. They lobby for Halloween candy everyday starting from the time that they get up. We have our normal dispute over toys and we both like to make up songs.
Jo is not only rolling over but is getting up on hands and knees and manages to stay up longer. She has two teeth coming in and it appears that there are more on the way shortly and she is miserable at the moment because last night she evidenced her first full fledged cold.
We are still surviving with one car because we went to try to go pick up the truck yesterday and apparently the brake module was wrong and won't get here until Tuesday. I wonder if I can start charging them a per diam.

Bright and Curious

I am constantly having to remind myself that it is actually a good thing to have 2 bright and curious 2 years. It can, however, also be kind of wearing because it also means that they do things that others might not dare (or even think of).

In the trailer the bathroom sink has a stopper that is either all the way in or completely out. There is no in-between. When we had only been in the trailer for about a month I accidentally knocked the digital ear thermometer in the sink and the batteries came out and one went down the sink. Jim had to take apart the pipes to get the battery out.

Well, tonight the boys were brushing their teeth and I turned around to grab something in the main part of the trailer. I hear this "uh oh" from Doug. These are never good sounds when they come out of the mouths of a two year old who has been unsupervised for even a fraction of a second. I turned back to look in the bathroom to find both boys with their heads bent over the sink.

Doug had dropped his toothbrush down the drain. Of course I could just barely touch it. At least it couldn't go any further because there is the standard U bend in the sink. Of course the toothbrush was also head down so I was dealing with the trying to get the handle end.
Fortunately the toothbrush in question had a bit of a suction cup on the bottom of the handle. After about 5 minutes of fishing down there, brushing off offers of help from Doug ("I get it mommy"), and trying a variety of things, I was finally able to use the handles of two table spoons like chopsticks and grab just enough of the suction cup to pull it out.

Now if I could just figure out how to get the penny out of the floor heating vent without having to go buy the special square screwdriver to take the vent apart. You see, Andy had the vacuum cleaner extension and dropped a penny down it and it just happened to be right over the heating vent....

"Coins in a fountain (...and the street, and the...)"

So one thing I have noticed since we moved is that I have found an unusual number of coins. I am used to finding the occasional penny or maybe better in a parking lot or on the floor near a cash register, but I have just been feeling like I am finding an unusual number of coins. I seem to find pennies or dimes in particular, but the occasional nickel or quarter has snuck in there. If I had realized how many I would find I would have started keeping track of how much I have "made." I really started paying attention to it when I found three coins at separate places one day, and two of them happened to be in a huge parking lot that I cross but don't park in.

I have always been the type to bend over and pick a coin up...even if it was just a penny. One time someone sent me one of those email story forwards where it talked about someone who was really rich taking time to pick up a penny because he felt that the words "In God We Trust" was a reminder to pray. I liked that idea so every time I find a coin I say a small prayer. I guess I am taking my coin finding extravaganza as God telling me that a) I am in the right place right now for my life, and b) I might need to pray a little bit more.

Full Circle

So lately I have had this feeling that my life has come "full circle" in many ways.

One large circle is that I am a twin and I am now the mother of twins. It is really cool for me to see Doug and Andy interact. They are similar to my sister and I because they can be the best of friends and then sometimes I see them doing things to purposely aggravate each other. Even at age two they know what "buttons" to push. Being a twin is fun, but now I have the utmost respect for parents of twins (and a little bit of awe for those at there that parent even greater numbers of multiples). I take my hat off to my parents for surviving the early years with Lisa and me.

Another circle is my school/career life. When Jim and I were first married I drove to the University to be a graduate assistant and to take classes toward a graduate degree (at that time a Masters degree). We lived in a small living space (on campus apartments) with a small oven and no dish washer. We had to do laundry at the laundry mat , money was tight, and I had to balance homework and family life. I also worked as a graduate assistant for a professor by finding articles and I did a little bit of work at analyzing perservice teacher's mind webbing (or mapping) of developing ideas about teaching.

So right now I am still driving to the same University to be a graduate assistant in the same building. The degree I am working on is now a doctorate PhD in a different area of education than before. I live in an even smaller living space with a small oven, no dish washer, and I have to go to the laundry mat with 2 two year olds. Money is tight, I have an even harder time balancing homework and family life. I work for 2 professors finding articles and doing other things to support their research and articles, and just yesterday I found out that I might be analyzing mind mapping of teachers working on gifted education certification.

Life can be very strange at times...