Sunday Stress

While I was happy my Vikings were televised early since the Packers played mid-afternoon, I didn't welcome the stress.

I forgot how close our Central Division games can be. And was so grateful we finally have a field-goal kicker on our team who can make the shot. So we won! Beating my father-in-law's Bears in overtime. Sorry, not sorry, Johnny.

Other the stress of singing in choir and then that game, Sunday was pretty easy. 

Put a few things away for the winter – like golf clubs and cart – from the garage to the basement. And put a few boxes of leftover garage sale stuff I never did sell – so it went from garage to my trunk, destined for GoodWill.

It just wasn't warm enough to tackle much else out there. Maybe this week yet when I'm off. If not, the stuff will just stay by the wall and out of the way until spring when we either have the time to deal with it or be empowered to just get rid of it!

Hope you addressed and released all your Sunday stressors today! And if you're lucky like me, you can do it gradually during some time off this week. 

Weathering the Storms

My trip up to Luck and back can pretty much be illustrated in this photo of a very flooded farm field. Rain, rain, and more rain! Insane!

At home we got 2 inches overnight and I have no idea what they got at my sister's house, but it was 100000% humidity and wet garage floors today.

Our goal in "Luck Cardinal Country" was to move enough of Rachel's furniture out of her house and into her garage so she'll have room for a "hospital bed" in her living room and very few pieces of furniture in the way of her wheelchair - when she gets released from Regions Hospital in a week!

It sounds like good news but it's a bit disconcerting since she can stand on her right foot and leg but hasn't been able to take one step yet since she can't put weight on her left leg until August. Frustrating how quickly insurance companies ASSUME a person should be ready to go home. We'll all do what we can to make this transition work!

It was helpful that for the heavy lifting today that we had some strong Luck firefighters helping. (Flashback to my fun newspaper reporter days! IYKYK!)

Anyway, it's going to be a lot of "learn as we go" while we see how she adjusts. Rachel's doing so amazing, we don't doubt her determination. It's just, like I've said before, the little things we take for granted - like making a cup of coffee or heck, just showering. 

Continued prayers are always welcomed. 

P.S. We will have a benefit for her and her friend/passenger Brian in Luck in late October, so if you want to contribute anything toward raffle baskets (or create one), let us know. It's quite a ways away, but I'm mentioning it now as a reminder to get my crochet hook hookin'!

Spring is Marching In

Just a few days out of February and it seems like March is marching in to the tune of spring! For the second day in a row, Wisconsin Rapids set a record for high temperature. It was 72 and sunny here this afternoon, but there was another factor...

It was super windy! Like enough to create a "wind chill" or a feeling of not quite 72 degrees. I still got a few things cleaned up in the garage (just a few) and mopped the kitchen and dining room floor so the wind could air dry it quickly through the two open doors!

It certainly did!

Obviously this nice weather won't last long, but at least it should stay above freezing for this week anyway. And we have no place to go anyway. Winter sports are officially done as of last night and spring sports won't have any outdoor competitions scheduled for a month.

I don't mind the down time, but we really hoped the girls would've pulled off the sectional championship yesterday. We rode a fan bus down to Hartford and we took on another Royal Blue team – Albany-Monticello. Very close game throughout. Tied with 10 seconds to go, a layup by the other team put them up by 2 and they ended up winning, 47-45. Dang. What a great season, though! 

I suppose with my "free time" I should start getting rid of clutter in the house. Because that super fun, doesn't it?

I did actually price one box of books for the upcoming garage sale at Carter's former babysitter's in April. Lots more to sort through and price. Not my favorite pastime. But I did catch up on The Voice from last week while I was doing it. Hopefully my multi-tasking didn't make me put $50 on a book instead of 50 cents! (Audrey: If they ask, we'll take less!)

Alright, I am stepping away from the computer. I have my back to reality alarm-setting and waking and working tomorrow and after being off for 10 days. How do people do this?!

Breathe in some fresh air. And let's have a great week!

Spring Broke

Starting to think Sylvester had the right idea: Just hide out in her human's closet until he comes home from Louisville. That may or may not have avoided some of my roller coaster today.

First off, it was a great day at work. How it could it not be when I was armed with my new coconut creation I like to call the Coppertone Trifle. Perfect for our Spring Break-themed celebration at work today! We have an annual day to eat cake and other treats while we celebrate successes of the previous year and get a bit of a bonus if it was a good one. It's pretty awesome.

We also have some fun, too. Because you know, all work and no play make for a dull Robyn Rae. So we got to dress up like spring breakers – no bikinis or short shorts allowed. It was pretty cool.

From there I went straight to a dental appointment – without the fancy glasses. Then I had to high tail it home to pick up my choir stuff since we were singing at the 6:30 p.m. Ash Wednesday service.

I pull into the driveway and my garage door wouldn't open. Well it did part way and there was some chord that showed up out of nowhere on the outside of the door. I tried a few more times and it would close and open only partway. I knew I was pressed for time, so I went into the garage to open from the inside. I remembered I needed to pull on the red "release chord" thing to disconnect it. That just about took the skin off my fingers, so I said screw it (maybe a stronger word), grabbed my choir music and sped to church. Yup, still wearing my Hawaiian shirt and Spring Break clothes. Thank goodness for choir robes.

Meanwhile, hubby has had a nightmare of a travel schedule on this trip. Delays on the way down and delays on the way back. He may not get home tonight. I, of course, want to prove I am independent in his absence, so I attempted to get that garage door open. When I told him about it, he insisted it's a light, aluminum door and it should be no problem to open manually. Well it was for me. And I probably pulled some muscle or something. Finally I raised the white flag and good neighbor Mike came over. (Yup, I will still a Spring Breaker plus ashes on my forehead.) He was able to muscle it open but we realized that extra chord that was hanging around was due to some spring that broke or is somehow malfunctioning. Any fix is gonna have to wait.

Conclusion: I may have to join kitty in the closet. If Jim does make it home at 2 a.m. or so, he'll have to park outside. I took his spot in the garage. Sorry, hon! Not much you can do if your Spring Break turns into a Spring Broke. Just hope I don't have to use my bonus for a new garage door!

Defrosting at Forty

You know what brings a smile to my face after another night of coughing? Seeing the sun shine... and feeling it!

Forty degrees in January is like no-jacket-required weather. Not quite warm enough to bring out Mr. Deck Chair from hibernation, but mild enough for a major outdoor project.

And I mean major.

At a glance, can you guess how many Diet Cokes exploded in our garage refrigerator during the recent Polar Vortex?

What a stinking -- or sticky, I should say -- mess. Somehow I drew the short straw for this one. In a moment of weakness, I agreed when hubby asked yesterday, "So, do you want to clean toilets or the fridge out in the garage?" I hadn't seen the fridge, only knew of the explosions, so I said yes to that.

Silly.

Thankfully, I wasn't freezing my butt off because it did take awhile! Now it's good to go until the next Polar Vortex swoops down from the North Pole.

Since it was so nice out, I did get a pleasant non-treadmill, outdoor walk in as well. For indoor fun, we watched some of the football games, played cards and did some work.

Still have to turn on my blanket tonight. The warm spell is over and we'll be getting some freezing drizzle in time for my morning commute. More slushy mess.

At least this time it's outside of the garage!

Next Stages

We entered the next and final stage of Summer tonight -- signing Carter up for Fall sports. Now we have it in writing that he officially is going to put some effort into it before cross country practice starts Aug. 19.

That's how it works, right?

It better. He does need to log his daily running activity so the coach can see he is in training. So I will have to be the nagging drill sergeant mother getting him to do it. Yesterday, for example, I had a good lunch-hour run. I texted Carter: "Ran 4 miles. No walking. Your mom rocks."

I did not get a response but he did tell me when we got home from work that he ran 5 miles -- not just 4. Geez, he needs to have a better motivation than beating his old lady! For now, though, we'll take whatever helps him get to and through the next stages of competition. The REAL competition.

After the sports signup meeting, Carter went over to a friend's to stay the night. So hubby and I had the night to ourselves! What to do, what to do. Well, we did spend an hour very close to each other.

...Cleaning out the chest freezer in the garage. Whoo-hoo!

Well, I also needed to move onto the next stage of my Big List. After cleaning out those cupboards of expired food and orphaned containers last week, it was time to move onto the next chore. Since tomorrow is garbage day, the timing was perfect.

Not exactly the bonding we might have wanted. But we crossed something off the Big List and we have a few fun items to cross off soon, too.

Just give us a few days and we'll get to that stage!

Murphy's Stinkin' Law

I now realize Murphy's Law applies to vacation planning, too!

So we dropped our Civic off for an oil change this morning since we knew we'd be driving it to the airport in Madison in the morning, plus I'd be taking it up north for sister weekend. About mid-morning, the garage calls Jim at work and tells him we need new brakes and more.

There goes our "hotel budget" for the trip! I sure hope our rental car in Vermont can sleep 2 comfortably!

Oh well, I guess we'd rather know now then after the vacation was over then fret about having spent too much. Now we'll still spend too much but know we'll be paying for it one way or another! Ha. Seriously, our plans aren't changing.

Tonight we are going over our list of lists and making sure everything is packed up. We were interrupted for awhile getting all of Carter's stuff packed and over to Grandpa and Grandma Austin's. Sure enough, we get there and realize Carter left his dress shirt and tie for Homecoming back in his room. So there will be some extra running around while we're gone.

The important things left are closing the suitcase, running the dishwasher and remembering to take out the garbage! We're leaving the house at 6 a.m. sharp so I better go.

So long for awhile, maybe. No idea what sort of Internet connection we'll have in the mountains, etc. Oooh, just typing that gets me excited. I've never seen mountains except from a plane!

I better sleep fast so we can get this vacation started!

Flipping Out

There are television shows now that refer to "Flip this" or "Flip that" -- and what they mean is they are totally changing around the appearance of something by cleaning it, organizing it or gutting it. We flipped our garage today. And boy is my back sore!

This project wasn't really on my agenda today, even though it is on the "to do" list before graduation. I just thought we'd wait until next weekend when it is going to be nicer. But by the time I got home from Sunday School this morning, it was nicer. And hubby was standing in the garage saying, "Are ready to help? This is a big project." And we were off...

We started organizing stuff in 3 piles: toss it; Goodwill it; organize it (later -- and maybe toss it). It's remarkable (not in a good way) what can accumulate in 8 years. Really, how many inflatable pools does one need? Since Carter has been going to Kidz Camp in Iola the last few summers -- and swimming every day -- we've had no need. So those were easy (until Mr. Goodwill told me later they don't take those).

The embarrassing stuff was boxes or plastic containers of stuff we've moved out of old vehicles and just dumped in the garage. (We now have enough bug spray to protect Wisconsin this summer.) And a few boxes I've moved from move to move to move. When I stumbled upon a bag that had the very first shirt I made in high school Home Ec, I can tell you we both said, "Oh my god" and so much more. I had to take a picture to prove my saving sickness. Hubby says, "Is there a meeting for people like you?" I don't think he was kidding.

When I talked to my mom a few times today. I told her I certainly didn't inherit her sewing skills, but I am the super-saver like her. I'm trying to change that. In fact, it felt good saying "Toss it" a lot today. I took a car full to Goodwill and that was cleansing, too. The garage is as good as our garage can get. Not totally flipped, but a partial rotation anyway.

Carter even helped by staying out of the way, mostly, and washing the car in the back yard. Hubby worked far harder than me -- I got caught up in the memory boxes -- so when Carter and I were in town on one of our errands, we stopped at DQ to get us all Blizzards. (Like I needed an excuse. I wonder if there's a meeting for people like that!) I did go for a good 3-mile run/walk later to ease that guilt.

This evening, I made chili for supper then got back to my "creative" computer project. I can't believe the day is almost over. It was very productive, though. And I'd say that's flippin' great!

Worthy Donation

Carter has accumulated some birthday money, which apparently is already burning a hole in his pocket.

We've been having trouble with one of our garage doors opening and closing consistently. On Sunday night we discovered the culprit. One of the sensors -- which happens to be located right where Carter parks his bike -- had been knocked down. On Sunday, he said he was pretty sure he didn't knock it down. But yesterday at some point, he relented and said he "probably" was the one who broke it.

When Daddy informed him it costs a hundred bucks to have someone come fix it (yes, they charge a lot for labor), Carter said, "I'll help pay for it. If it costs $100, I can pay $92. Then you only have to pay $8."

Wow, that's a lot of money. He explained: "Well I have $75 in birthday money and $17 in quarters." (Maybe that Tooth Fairy has been overpaying him after all.)

Of course, we're not going to make him use his birthday money for this. But it is refreshing to have him take ownership and show the willingness to correct it. ... And astonishing, too, that we are already entering into the stage of our lives where our kids have more money than us!

Tell me again why we're both here at work before the crack of dawn...

To know me is to embarrass me...

Some day my son will find my backlog of blogs and be embarrassed at the stories I'm sharing with the world. By then I will know it is not the first time I have embarrassed him. In fact, I know as of today, that first time has come and gone.

Carter was invited to a birthday party today. At least we think he was invited. Although we received no formal invite, he says the birthday girl (whose identity I will protect in case she's my daughter-in-law someday) asked him. I said, "Are there any other boys going?" He said he wasn't sure. I said, "What if you are the only boy invited. Won't you be embarrassed?" Nope, he said.

To back up a minute. The girl next door was having a sleepover last night involving several of the girls from his class, including the not-to-be-named birthday girl. Since it was raining, they were stuck inside in the "garage turned slumber party headquarters" next to our property line. Occasionally we would hear giggling and screaming, as girls are known to do. Boy, did Carter spend a lot of time standing by that window, waiting for the girls to run outside -- or did he say he was keeping an eye on the rain clouds? In fact, he was up before 6 a.m. today, sitting on the couch with the TV off -- I'm guessing so he could hear the first sounds coming from that garage this morning!

So I guess we weren't surprised that when we dropped the ladies' man off at the skating rink that he was indeed the only boy at the party. He insisted he still wanted to stay (of course), so Daddy and I went golfing.

The party was supposed to go until 4 but we arrived shortly after 3:30. That's just how it worked out with our golfing. Without mincing words, Carter said it was embarrassing to have us there and we should come back at 4. Wow. Apparently, we were invading his turf!

We decided it wasn't worth a battle so we left for 20 minutes and came back. We sat in the parking lot and let him come find us. We certainly didn't want to embarrass him again!

Yes, I know. We've all thought that about our parents at one time or another. I just thought that came at a much later age. And how does our mere presence embarrass him? Next time I'll be sure to give him a big hug and kiss!

Signs of spring

Not sure if the mercury kissed 70 today but it was good enough for me to see 60s and sunshine.

It rained all night and into the morning. Still was drizzling this a.m. when we tried for "one day only!" to have that garage sale again! Wasn't as cold as last weekend, that's for sure. And the sun was trying to shine by the time I left at 11 for Carter's soccer game.

Today was his first game of the season. Last week's was postponed due to snow. (Why do we live here, again?) Since all of his games will be at noon we assume it should be warm enough weather going forward. But I wouldn't dream of assuming anything about the weather in Wisconsin.

The game was pretty good today. This was the first time Carter has played on a team where they really get the concept of passing. Carter's team won 2-0 and he had two assists (that means he passed to the guy who shot the goal). One thing about Carter and soccer -- he's always had quite a powerful kick. Now the trick will be to use that ability to actually kick it with some control. When he played goalie the second half he had to "punt" it quite a bit. Every time it sailed over heads and landed in front of the other goal. It would have been nice if there had been a teammate there to finish the job. Maybe next time. It sure made us wonder if punting will be his thing when he plays football this fall.

The rest of the day was spent doing spring things. Hubby cleaned out the garage and I took a walk. Wait, I know that doesn't sound balanced, but I did do some indoor cleaning and then grocery shopping first.

It felt great to be walking in shorts and not be cold! Maybe spring is here for real! The high Sunday and Monday is supposed to be in the 70s. If I'm not careful, I might find myself with a rake in my hand. Ugh. I never said I loved everything about spring!

Panic Button

Forget caffeine. Nothing gets your heart going in the morning like a good old-fashioned panic attack. You know the kind that happens when, say, you realize you've locked the keys in the car... when it's running...

Like most cars these days, one touch of a button locks all the doors. I'm an especially careful, paranoid freak about this in the winter time when we often warm up the car. (Yes, this has happened to me before.) I always be sure I hit the unlock button before exiting the car so I am sure we can leave it running and not get locked out.

This winter, we've learned that Carter is old enough now to start the car for us on the cold mornings while Mommy and Daddy are still getting ready for work. It's not like the old days when we had to worry abouut hitting the gas just right to get the old engine going. He can just turn the key, crank the heat and come back inside the house.

This morning, he went out to start it when I was packing my lunch. A few minutes later, I was going to put my stuff in the car and come back in to get my purse. I grab the handle of the passenger side door. It won't open. I glance at the back door and see that it is locked, too. "Oh poop, poop!!" I said. (Though you know I didn't say "poop"!)

I carry my stuff back in the house, still saying "Poop!" Carter's like "What?" and I said, "The keys are locked in the car and it's running and I don't know what to do." (See, the problem is that the other set of keys are in Florida with Jim.) Carter breaks down crying immediately and keeps saying, "Mom, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

I go back out to the garage and walk around the back of the car, trying the trunk (not sure why), then the back door on the driver's side. No luck. Then, as I glance at the driver door, it looks unlocked! Could it be possible? It opens! Carter must have somehow hit the lock button while inside the car so the driver door stayed unlocked after he opened it. Whew!

Of course, my heart is still racing and Carter is still crying. I'm trying to calm us both down. Deep breaths, deep breaths. I tell Carter it's OK now. We just had a scare. It's not his fault. He was still a bit upset, though, when I dropped him off at the sitter's. It might be awhile before he volunteers to start the car for us again.

My heart was still beating a mile a minute on the drive to work. I can tell you I've never been so wide awake on a Friday morning, that's for sure. I think I'll stick with my morning cup of coffee, though, from here on out.

Worth the wait

It's like our birthdays and anniversary all over again. Our new garage doors and garage door openers arrived! They were installed yesterday.

This is what we considered our birthday and anniversary presents combined -- so we've been waiting since the beginning of July. At first, I pooh-poohed the idea of something so practical. But, after nearly a year of only one "working" stall, it was a pleasure to press a button and be able to drive in today.

The old doors were so heavy that I couldn't even lift the one on the side that didn't work. Jim was the only one man enough to do it. Carter and I combined did it one time, but then my back regretted it immediately. So yes, it's a practical thing, but worth the wait.

And that's not all ...

As luck would have it, my (I mean our) Dyson finally went on sale today. So I am the proud owner of the dream of all vacuum cleaners. I worked hard for it, too. Seriously, I've been doing some freelance editing to afford this massive sucking machine. I earned it! I (I mean we) deserve it! Plus, now the cat gets to stay -- an added bonus.

And that's not all ...

At our company Christmas party last year, I won the grand prize: A gift certificate for Door County. (If you can believe, it has taken us this long to find a day we both can take off.) Jim and I will be cashing that in the next two days, treating ourselves to 18 holes of golf on the way up the peninsula, staying on Washington Island, then ferrying back on Monday morning for 18 more holes.

It'll be just the two of us so that could count as a belated anniversary getaway in conjunction with the garage doors. Does the excitement never end for us?! We did nothing to earn this one but, yes, I think we deserve it!

And ... if the Powerball numbers go our way tonight, we might just stay over there. Now that would really be worth the wait! For now, we'll take what reality gives us and enjoy it.

Signing off for a few days ...