Stop and Smell the Chicken Soup

If there is a Murphy’s Law of appliance breakdowns, it is this: Appliances always break down on Fridays.

Our 3 month old Maytag front-loading washing machine, which has cut our water bill almost in half, blew a gasket Friday. Literally. Somehow the sheets that Fatso was washing got caught in the rubber gasket around the door, got all twisted, and pulled the gasket and some round wire thing away from the door.

Being a Friday, I could not get an appointment until Monday. Being that we are gone all day on Monday, I scheduled an appointment for Tuesday (today).

The good news: the washer is still under warrantee, so we do not have to pay anything. The bad news: it will take about 5 days to get the parts, so the repairman is coming NEXT Tuesday.

Tonight was our Homeschool co-op’s Thanksgiving Dinner. We were all looking forward to going. The high school history class was demonstrating different craftsman’s skills from Colonial times. Fatso’s was glassblowing, which obviously he could not really do, but he downloaded some videos to show on the laptop, and made a really nice display.

But he got sick this morning (upper respiratory stuff) and couldn’t go. Space Cadet wasn’t feeling well either.

I discovered there is a Laundromat close to where the dinner was being held, so Czarina, Hoodie Girl and I went there this afternoon to do about $16 worth of laundry. Our timing was pretty good for getting to the dinner on time. But while at the Laundromat, I noticed Czarina’s voice was getting hoarse, and Hoodie Girl’s nose was a bit sniffley. They insisted they were fine and wanted to go to the dinner. I’ve had a low-grade headache all day, and an occasional cough.

At the dinner, Hoodie Girl’s home-made ginger snaps were a big hit. Some of that is probably due to Czarina standing by the dessert table, telling everyone, “Try my sister’s ginger snacks! They are really good!” Well, that got people to try them. . . but then lots of the middle school boys went back for more. (If the way to a man’s heart is really through his stomach, Hoodie Girl is making quite an impression!)

After the dinner they went home with Prince Charming, who’d met us there, and I stopped by Wal-Mart for a “sick person run”. I got two chickens, ginger root, garlic cloves, different juices, Kleenex®, and some vitamin C.

Tonight I am making chicken broth in the crock pot. . . tomorrow I will turn it into chicken soup. Instead of complaining that we don’t have time to be sick, we will be taking it easy, eating chicken soup, drinking lots of fluids, and watching a movie or two. Hopefully we will bounce back and get to do all the neat Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating type things we hope to do next week!

Heroes

more animals

Christmas Shopping

I just overheard this conversation:

Fatso: I could get Dad a Jonas Brothers T-shirt for Christmas.

Hoodie Girl: That's a great idea! Make sure it's in my size, though.

The Day After the Election

I do not know who wrote this. I read it on one of my Myspace Friends' blogs. (I also don't know why some of it is highlighted. I have tried to change it with no results.)

Day after election....

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as Christians will not have changed one iota.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women through the gospel, not legislation.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my primary citizenship will still be in this order – (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) America, not vice-versa.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the tomb will still be empty.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the cross, not the government, will still be our salvation.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our children will still be more concerned with whether or not we spend time with them than with who is President.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my neighbor will still be my neighbor, and loving him/her will still be the second greatest commandment. (Do you know the first?)

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life through the gospel of Christ.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of marriage through the gospel of Christ.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not match my treasure in Heaven.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, "Jesus Is Lord" will still be the greatest truth in the Universe.

The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God is in control.

Remember who you are and who He is.

Wrap Rage

Last week I did something I've never done before. . . I made the minimum payment on one of our credit cards. We have ALWAYS paid our cards off each month. However, due to factors such as price hikes in gas and groceries this year, high medical costs, feeding 2 adults, 4 teenagers and 2 cats, and having a higher mortgage payment because we refinanced to pay for the adoption, things have been rather tight.

It's not a good feeling.

We have some medical things we HAVE to take care of, but I'm not sure how. I get frustrated with myself for not trusting God. He has always taken care of us before.

On Thursday evening I put a bunch of books, DVDs and CDs for sale on Amazon.com. So far I have sold 7 items! That has been a blessing. It is not a huge amount of money, but it helps.

Remember my post about trying to open new CD's? Today when I logged on to Amazon.com to print out a packing list for one of my sales, I saw this:
(You have to click on it to get it big enough so you can read it.)

"Wrap Rage". What a concept. . .