I have to say that I love our home and am thankful for it. It was built in 1921, which should tell you something. It has a lot of what Realtors like to call "character." Truly it seems to have a story all it's own in ways that contemporary houses rarely do. On the positive side, it has a beautiful front porch with a swing which, with the perpetual mountain breeze, unfailingly takes me back to the similarly constructed porch of my grandparents' beach house in Groton, Connecticut and all the younger days I spent there. Of course, the porch is by no means level but, again, that's character! I love all of the woodwork and moldings, the hardwood floors and the beautiful large windows. I love the sliding doors and the old grate in the entryway. I love the large rooms and our amazing, well-landscaped yard. I've even learned to live with having only one bathroom and no dishwasher. We've been here almost two years and, though I wasn't sure I would survive at first, I have miraculously done just that!
Now, with all that being said, as with ANY home, regular maintenance and upkeep is required. It just seems like our dear old home has needed an awful lot of it lately, and in spite of my adoration for it, there are some days where the irritation just MUST be vented!
It all started with the discovery that my oven had acquired a mind of it's own, and it's a very unpredictable and fickle one at that! It's quite frustrating to bake something or prepare a meal and have no idea if it's going to be overdone or undercooked, regardless of how often you check it or how often you adjust the temperature. With a new internal thermometer in hand, I decided to test just how inaccurate the infernal thing was recently and was surprised, or rather, NOT so surprised, to find out that any given time it can range from 25 to 75 degrees OFF from the desired temperature, and it's almost impossible to predict by how much at what time and adjust accordingly. But, it still cooks. And, I still manage to get relatively satisfactory meals on the table. So, that is one replacement that, in light of all the other things that we've also dealt with, has been put to the back burner (no pun intended!)
As much of a joy as that's been, it's moderate functionality has redeemed it's place in the household for the time being. However, I did not feel nearly so...understanding...when I no longer had a washer and dryer. Again. You see, the laundry room, for some reason, was never insulated. It's along the exterior wall of the house and yet, no insulation whatsoever. Nothing between you and the cold wintry chill except a pretty thin sheet of drywall and some old windows. Needless to say, doing laundry in the winter always required a nice heavy coat and a pair of shoes. But that was really beside the point. The more frustrating repercussion of this anomaly was the tendency of the water pipes accessing this room to freeze. Now, we were assured upon purchase that the homeowner had taken measures to guard against such occurrences by wrapping the pipes with electrical heating tape. So it came as quite a surprise to me when, the first winter, I discovered, about seven months pregnant and with Mike out of town for work, that water and steam were pouring from the room! (Believe me, climbing behind those appliances at that stage was an acrobatic feat!) Thankfully, Mike is a very handy guy and was able to replace the busted pipes, staving off further disaster for the rest of that winter. Now, with new pipes in place, we didn't expect much of a problem this winter. Mike even put a small space heater in the room for extra measure. And yet, disaster struck yet again. This time it wasn't an "easily" replaceable pipe. The freeze blew out an actual part of the washing machine. So...Mike, again, being handy, was able to work it out so that we could manage to do laundry, manually. Meaning, he had to turn the water on, fill up the machine with a hose and then run the cycle. (And, yes, there were a few occasions when we just didn't keep a close enough eye on the process and an overflow resulted. Joy.) Considering the technicalities of it's limited operation, I really required Mike's assistance with the laundering, thereby restricting the time and frequency of my ability to do the wash. I tried very hard not to complain about this, but I will admit to the situation being quite inconvenient! So, Mike decided it was probably a good idea to invest in a new washer and dryer. (Yay me!) However, like any smart investor, he wanted to ensure that we wouldn't run into these problems in the future and ruin the new products...
Thus began the remodeling of the laundry room. He has torn out all the drywall, installed insulation, installed new drywall and, last weekend, painted the room. Now, this process has taken...months. In the span of that time, all of the cleaning products, towels, sheets and other bedding and all other manner of miscellanea have been piled in our bedroom, all over the floor, and in the kitchen. Thankfully, the only obstacle we now have to a completely restored laundry room is the installation of cabinets and shelves!
Now, all this I have really striven to handle graciously. Sometimes I have been successful in this...other times a little less so...although I really am grateful for a husband who is able to do all of this work himself and make a point to tell him so! But, last week, we had another problem, the straw that broke my proverbial back of patience and restraint. The bathroom. Yes. The ONE bathroom. We've had bathroom issues before. With small kids, it's bound to happen at some point. A car accidentally dropped down the potty. Half a roll of toilet paper tossed in. Something indistinguishable. You name it. Not a horrific ordeal if you have a bevy of bathrooms in the house to choose from. When you have ONE, you need it functioning. When you have a house full of seven people, you NEED it functioning! So, to discover last week that it was stopped up by who knows what...well, I cannot even express the height of pregnant emotions that I felt! The last time this happened in this house it literally took weeks before the toilet was working properly again. In spite of all Mike's best efforts last time, multiple plungings and snakings, taking it apart and putting it back together, it was all to no avail. No, we had to wait until the offending item, a toothbrush, became dislodged on it's own, and floated up to the surface as if something so innocent couldn't possibly have inflicted so much grief and angst! To reflect on the possibility of WEEKS in this situation, again...there are just no words!
It was so bad that the first Friday evening, the day that Mike and the older boys don't get home until 7:30 pm, I actually put all the kids in the car and drove them up to Walmart so that we could all use the restrooms there. Yes, I actually PREFERRED those bathrooms to ours! When you can't flush...well, use your imagination! Plunge you say? I wish! With every attempt I only managed to make the problem worse, if that were even possible! On Monday I was so dreading the prospect of taking the boys home after school that I, knowing their "routines" and after-school habits, took them to Mike's office and told them both they needed to go to the bathroom and that we weren't going home until they (TMI alert) had pooped! We were making it through the week with sanity hanging by a thread until Thursday when, in the midst of another attempt on my part at plunging, McCrea sauntered into the bathroom and for no reason whatsoever tossed a Hotwheel into the swirling toilet! I literally flipped out! I was sure that the whirlpool before me would suck that Hotwheel straight down and simply compound the current problem. So, it was a relief to me, small though it was, to see that car through the murky water at the bottom of the toilet. My next thought was to fish it out as quickly as possible before one of my children accidentally flushed the potty again. Simple enough...IF I had been able to find a pair of cleaning gloves, which were buried or lost somewhere amongst the piles of laundry room paraphernalia spread around my house. I may have owned a pair at one time, but they were nowhere to be found on that day. And thus, the maintenance problems collided! I had to call my dear neighbor to borrow a pair, and she sent her poor husband over on his day off to deliver them. When I inquired whether he would like to me try and clean and return them, he just kindly smiled and said, "No thanks, you feel free to keep those." I can't blame him!
To make my long story...short-er...I called my husband to vent, which resulted in him coming home from work in the middle of the day and spending over two hours taking the toilet apart! As before, it is not completely 100 percent, but is functioning, moderately, for the time being. I'm sure in a few weeks we'll discover a bath toy or action figure floating in there...and I'll have the inclination to pulverize it.
So, for all of you prospective homeowners out there, just be aware...and be prepared!
(Why, you may ask, do you not just buy a new toilet and replace the old thing? Because, it is bolted into the floor at the base and the wall at the tank, through the tile. Therefore, replacing the toilet would also require...re-tiling the bathroom. And that's one project neither of us are ready to tackle! One thing at a time...PLEASE!)
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Trouble with Denial
So, sometimes denial can be a good thing. Not in the ascetic, Monkish way, but in the manner of self-discipline and self-control. Sometimes it IS better to say no to that slice of chocolate cake or bag of pretzel M&Ms. But, I'm pregnant, and I'm not sure that I'm completely pleased with the results of my financial and caloric frugality.
During the first trimester, when I could hardly stomach the thought of eating anything, there was always a nebulous list of food items which, if I could only procure, would DEFINITELY be THE thing that was SO appetizing it would most certainly be immune to my nauseous state. I indulged as many of these whims as was possible. Meaning, as many as I could find when planning my weekly shopping.
This was a hit or miss situation though. In some cases it backfired. For instance, just because I wanted almonds while at the store did not guarantee that I would want them when I got home (or any other time for that matter. I'm now six months pregnant and still have that bag of almonds in my cupboard!) In other cases, this plan-ahead-for-the-craving strategy was successful, either because they were generally reliable choices or because I developed a genuine appreciation for that item. For example, I've always had success with cherry pop tarts during my pregnancies. No-brainer there. I also had great success with homemade chocolate milkshakes. How could you go wrong? Other new cravings, such as salt and vinegar chips, have stuck with me, and I'm LOVING them. (I wish I had a bag right now, actually.)
The hard part was satisfying the cravings that were more transient in nature. In these cases I had to rely on the willingness of my husband to head out at random times in the evenings. (I know he loved that!) Mostly this centered around baked potatoes or junior bacon cheeseburgers from Wendy's. Go figure. For some reason, however nauseous, I could still enjoy these, at least for that moment, when the mood struck.
Indulging at this point wasn't a problem, because I gained nothing during that trimester. I would not say there was anything blissful about it, because I don't care to relive the all-day-long sickly feeling, but I can't say it wasn't nice to prolong the scale-tipping days ahead. However, no sooner had my nausea subsided, than I started gaining 5 lbs per month. In an effort to maintain a healthy pregnancy and not double our grocery bill by buying every little thing I'd really like to have, I've taken to denying myself more often than not. I pass by the bags of Twizzlers, chips, Combos and dried cherries, Diet Root Beer and donuts, jars of sweet gherkins and maraschino cherries. I talk myself out of mozzarella cheese sticks and cinnamon rolls. I practically put on blinders through the cookie aisle. Oh, and who can forget the ingenious goodness of Ben & Jerry's or the European sensation, Magnum Bars? Can you imagine the toll to the pocketbook and the waistline if I filled my cart with all that stuff?! Sigh...and yet...
The sad, sad side effect of this (it's really borderline tragic) is that I rarely actually crave anything anymore! There are things I would like, of course, but not many things I NEED. I'm not sure if this is just my fate for the next three months because I've gone and, horror, maintained decent eating habits, thereby overriding the physiological inclinations I'd otherwise have, or if it's purely psychological. Either way, I'm not sure I like it. While I might not ALWAYS indulge myself, for good reasons, what's the point of enjoying being pregnant if you don't have an excuse to have that random item that is absolutely NECESSARY because you can't be satisfied without it!? (And, I have to admit, there's also something satisfying about watching my husband trek out into the night to fetch these things for me. It's like a journey of love, right?) What makes it all the more irritating is that, regardless of my attempts to be good, I'm STILL gaining that monthly five (sometimes six)! So that's the trouble...has my denial negated my ability to crave? Oh, I hope not! Now I'm off to eat a junior bacon cheeseburger. Maybe all I need is a little inspiration!
During the first trimester, when I could hardly stomach the thought of eating anything, there was always a nebulous list of food items which, if I could only procure, would DEFINITELY be THE thing that was SO appetizing it would most certainly be immune to my nauseous state. I indulged as many of these whims as was possible. Meaning, as many as I could find when planning my weekly shopping.
This was a hit or miss situation though. In some cases it backfired. For instance, just because I wanted almonds while at the store did not guarantee that I would want them when I got home (or any other time for that matter. I'm now six months pregnant and still have that bag of almonds in my cupboard!) In other cases, this plan-ahead-for-the-craving strategy was successful, either because they were generally reliable choices or because I developed a genuine appreciation for that item. For example, I've always had success with cherry pop tarts during my pregnancies. No-brainer there. I also had great success with homemade chocolate milkshakes. How could you go wrong? Other new cravings, such as salt and vinegar chips, have stuck with me, and I'm LOVING them. (I wish I had a bag right now, actually.)
The hard part was satisfying the cravings that were more transient in nature. In these cases I had to rely on the willingness of my husband to head out at random times in the evenings. (I know he loved that!) Mostly this centered around baked potatoes or junior bacon cheeseburgers from Wendy's. Go figure. For some reason, however nauseous, I could still enjoy these, at least for that moment, when the mood struck.
Indulging at this point wasn't a problem, because I gained nothing during that trimester. I would not say there was anything blissful about it, because I don't care to relive the all-day-long sickly feeling, but I can't say it wasn't nice to prolong the scale-tipping days ahead. However, no sooner had my nausea subsided, than I started gaining 5 lbs per month. In an effort to maintain a healthy pregnancy and not double our grocery bill by buying every little thing I'd really like to have, I've taken to denying myself more often than not. I pass by the bags of Twizzlers, chips, Combos and dried cherries, Diet Root Beer and donuts, jars of sweet gherkins and maraschino cherries. I talk myself out of mozzarella cheese sticks and cinnamon rolls. I practically put on blinders through the cookie aisle. Oh, and who can forget the ingenious goodness of Ben & Jerry's or the European sensation, Magnum Bars? Can you imagine the toll to the pocketbook and the waistline if I filled my cart with all that stuff?! Sigh...and yet...
The sad, sad side effect of this (it's really borderline tragic) is that I rarely actually crave anything anymore! There are things I would like, of course, but not many things I NEED. I'm not sure if this is just my fate for the next three months because I've gone and, horror, maintained decent eating habits, thereby overriding the physiological inclinations I'd otherwise have, or if it's purely psychological. Either way, I'm not sure I like it. While I might not ALWAYS indulge myself, for good reasons, what's the point of enjoying being pregnant if you don't have an excuse to have that random item that is absolutely NECESSARY because you can't be satisfied without it!? (And, I have to admit, there's also something satisfying about watching my husband trek out into the night to fetch these things for me. It's like a journey of love, right?) What makes it all the more irritating is that, regardless of my attempts to be good, I'm STILL gaining that monthly five (sometimes six)! So that's the trouble...has my denial negated my ability to crave? Oh, I hope not! Now I'm off to eat a junior bacon cheeseburger. Maybe all I need is a little inspiration!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Off the Grid...and Finding My Way Back
Well, what could possibly explain a seven-month hiatus from the blogosphere? In a word, gestation. (If you don't know what it means, look it up!) Seriously though, we found out December 13 that we were expecting again, our sixth (yes, you read that correctly!) Almost immediately I began to experience nausea and extreme fatigue which lasted until about 13 weeks, at which time I happened to get very sick, which lasted for another two!
Granted, that doesn't account for the subsequent two and a half months I was off the grid. Would it be believable to simply say I was busy? And then, although there was certainly NO LACK of bloggable happenings, time continued to slip by, day piling upon day piling upon day, and the prospect of being able to adequately catch up seemed...monumental!
Since Christmas and the beginning of my horizontal expansion, we have also celebrated three birthdays. Brynnley turned four in January, Declan turned seven in March and Kennedy celebrated her very first birthday only a few days prior. Oddly enough, the child didn't like her cake! Now, allow me to explain. She was served a perfectly delectable yellow cake. I mean, I enjoyed it. (Although, I am, admittedly, NOT picky right now.) Apparently, she simply suffers from an ingrained affinity for chocolate, which we have now discovered. Takes after her Daddy in that respect!
Declan and Keller have also participated in the spring soccer season for NRUSA in Blacksburg, so we've been busy with practices and games. I've been traveling to and fro to Charlotte on a regular basis in an effort to stay as involved as possible in the planning of and showers for my sister Pam's upcoming nuptuals later this month. In April we had a high-tech look at our little peanut, around the 19-week mark, and discovered we clearly have yet another boy! Keller adamantly insisted that he was privy to this information all along, he just chose to keep us in the dark about it. Maintain the suspense and all that, I suppose. ;) We HAVE selected another good Irish name for this little lad, which I do not yet feel compelled to reveal to the masses. However, suffice it to say that his future initials will be R.E.J.!
The boys continue to do well at Dayspring Christian Academy, Brynnley is enjoying preschool and McCrea's conversational skills improve by the day! In addition, my sweet little Kennedy, who can bring out the drama queen to rival her big sister, began to walk before her first birthday and has since been into everything. Literally. I spend the majority of my days chasing her around to keep her out of trouble or evading her in my fleeting attempts to accomplish a minimal number of tasks that cannot be done with a baby on the hip or latched around the ankles. (Honestly, I can do most things, including going to the bathroom, dressing children, making dinner, etc., one-handed, but sometimes two are just preferred.) So, I pass the days attempting to educate, play or just (who am I kidding?) survive the hours until Kennedy naps so that in the ensuing span of a couple hours I can squeeze in exercising, bed-making, dishwashing, clothes-folding and the like in a mad flurry of activity. Is it obvious to anyone why I've not had much time for blogging? ;)
In addition to regular day-to-day life, we've also had an inordinate number of house maintenance issues in the last few months, mostly involving the breakdown of appliances, which I will have to detail in another blog, because a small paragraph here would not do either the descriptions of the circumstances nor my frustrations justice! Sigh...
So, that's where I've been for the first half of 2011. Here, in Dublin, continuing to hang in there and love and mother my children as best I can, praying for God to graciously work out His will in the midst of the mess I inevitably make of things.
And why, you may be tempted yet too polite to ask, would we add a sixth addition to the mix? Well, we consider ourselves to be amazingly blessed to parent all these incredible, amazing, beautiful(and, yes, sometimes infuriating) children and would not change any aspect of the life God has allotted to us in the least. However, I will say, as I admitted to someone recently, this will be the last. Because, honestly, I'm finally starting to get tired! (It was only a matter of time really...did I forget to mention, in April I turned 31 and, oh, how my pregnant self is feeling it!)
Granted, that doesn't account for the subsequent two and a half months I was off the grid. Would it be believable to simply say I was busy? And then, although there was certainly NO LACK of bloggable happenings, time continued to slip by, day piling upon day piling upon day, and the prospect of being able to adequately catch up seemed...monumental!
Since Christmas and the beginning of my horizontal expansion, we have also celebrated three birthdays. Brynnley turned four in January, Declan turned seven in March and Kennedy celebrated her very first birthday only a few days prior. Oddly enough, the child didn't like her cake! Now, allow me to explain. She was served a perfectly delectable yellow cake. I mean, I enjoyed it. (Although, I am, admittedly, NOT picky right now.) Apparently, she simply suffers from an ingrained affinity for chocolate, which we have now discovered. Takes after her Daddy in that respect!
Declan and Keller have also participated in the spring soccer season for NRUSA in Blacksburg, so we've been busy with practices and games. I've been traveling to and fro to Charlotte on a regular basis in an effort to stay as involved as possible in the planning of and showers for my sister Pam's upcoming nuptuals later this month. In April we had a high-tech look at our little peanut, around the 19-week mark, and discovered we clearly have yet another boy! Keller adamantly insisted that he was privy to this information all along, he just chose to keep us in the dark about it. Maintain the suspense and all that, I suppose. ;) We HAVE selected another good Irish name for this little lad, which I do not yet feel compelled to reveal to the masses. However, suffice it to say that his future initials will be R.E.J.!
The boys continue to do well at Dayspring Christian Academy, Brynnley is enjoying preschool and McCrea's conversational skills improve by the day! In addition, my sweet little Kennedy, who can bring out the drama queen to rival her big sister, began to walk before her first birthday and has since been into everything. Literally. I spend the majority of my days chasing her around to keep her out of trouble or evading her in my fleeting attempts to accomplish a minimal number of tasks that cannot be done with a baby on the hip or latched around the ankles. (Honestly, I can do most things, including going to the bathroom, dressing children, making dinner, etc., one-handed, but sometimes two are just preferred.) So, I pass the days attempting to educate, play or just (who am I kidding?) survive the hours until Kennedy naps so that in the ensuing span of a couple hours I can squeeze in exercising, bed-making, dishwashing, clothes-folding and the like in a mad flurry of activity. Is it obvious to anyone why I've not had much time for blogging? ;)
In addition to regular day-to-day life, we've also had an inordinate number of house maintenance issues in the last few months, mostly involving the breakdown of appliances, which I will have to detail in another blog, because a small paragraph here would not do either the descriptions of the circumstances nor my frustrations justice! Sigh...
So, that's where I've been for the first half of 2011. Here, in Dublin, continuing to hang in there and love and mother my children as best I can, praying for God to graciously work out His will in the midst of the mess I inevitably make of things.
And why, you may be tempted yet too polite to ask, would we add a sixth addition to the mix? Well, we consider ourselves to be amazingly blessed to parent all these incredible, amazing, beautiful(and, yes, sometimes infuriating) children and would not change any aspect of the life God has allotted to us in the least. However, I will say, as I admitted to someone recently, this will be the last. Because, honestly, I'm finally starting to get tired! (It was only a matter of time really...did I forget to mention, in April I turned 31 and, oh, how my pregnant self is feeling it!)
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