Actual Photos Laundry room

I loved the washing machine/ dryer until recently I've realized that our clothes all stink.  Like they're not getting dried or something.  I smell mildew wherever I go. 

The day we moved the washer/dryer in

Less than 1 week later.

 And Adam doesn't agree that we need a bigger laundry room.  ha!  He even does quite a bit of laundry!

Washing Machine Drama

Sometimes, I think life would be so much easier, if I wasn't such a planner.  I mean, to buy a washing machine, took me hours and hours of research.

• Talking to people in the office, back home, on the internet
• Buying a subscription to Consumer Reports to get other reviews
• Research online reviews, exhaustively
• Looked at warranties that come with the item

Then, realized that these are so different than the 13 year old one currently have, that we should get the matching dryer as well, because that is also 13 years old and who knows if we can find a matching one when that one goes.  so...

• Research dryers, and make sure they are good as well.  Don't want to buy a good washing machine, but the dryer suck

Decide on what we want.  Got prices in Cinci at the Home Depot, but didn't buy.   Went to Lowes to see if it's cheaper - they don't have it, it was discontinued, they have the newer model.   Go to Sears Appliance, they don't have it, but they have the newer model.    Researched the newer model - it's crap, went to Home Depot in town, they don't have the other model either in the color we want, AND the color we don't want is $200 cheaper each (so $400 total). 


Went to Amazon to see what's there.  They have the model we want, but also another model that we're interested in.   Decide to go with the original model we wanted.  Went to Giant Eagle, got $1k in gift cards (for gas points), and then put the rest on our credit card.   Whew, we bought a washer/dryer set.


Next morning, phone call.  That set is no longer in the warehouse, but we have the upgraded one.  (Uhm, no, that has crappy reviews).   I ask for the other set, that we were debating about last night, the same company has it online at Amazon.  Nope, that's not available either - but we DO have this one....    OK, well, I need to research it, I'll call you back....


..... 20 minutes later - appears to be a good set.  I call back - phone lines are down.  I try for 45 minutes, all lines are down. Were we duped?  I send email through Amazon.   20 minutes later, the guy calls me back. 


So I believe - that we will be getting a WT7600HKA (unfortunately, it's black in color).  The electric dryer that matches should be a pretty good one too (after all, I did the research).  


The prices were the same for us, so I surely do hope this works out.


I wish I were one to just buy one from the store because I liked the way it looked.  *sigh*  that would be so much easier, and who knows which one would actually last longer? 

Spontaneous Movie Night!

I did something that is completely out of character for me.  I convinced Adam, on a work night, to take us to the drive in movie theater, for the first time ever!  The kids have been begging to see Captain Underpants for months now (ever since they knew a movie was being made) so we got home from Cinci, took about 10 minutes in the house to get the kids in their pajamas and we were off.  (Still not telling them where we were going).   We got there and the kids were SO excited to learn what we were doing.   The movie began at 9:30.   The boys laughed so hard, they loved it.  We were having a good time, and decided that we'd stay for the second movie, Wonder Woman.  It was fantastic.  So good, Ares even stayed awake (movie ended at 1:40AM).   The only bad thing about the evening was all the mosquitos at the very beginning.  It was bad, but we didn't realize HOW bad until the next day.   For 4 years, I kept bug spray in my car.  I'm not sure what happened to it this week. 

Reading

Not bad for a 2nd grader!

Update - 9 days

We moved the RV pickup to next Friday!   I'm beyond excited, and have spent even more $$ on things to put in it!   eeeks!!!  

32 More Days!!! Stock Photos

It's not like we've not been waiting for nearly FOUR MONTHS!   I'm so impatient, I want to get in and measure, and organize and.... and.... and....   however, until then, I guess I'll just post stock photos.

Wow - January is 1/2 over

I can't believe it's only January 18th.   It's been quite a month.    I got the boys back from their places (aunt cindy/mom for Atlas, grandma Karen for Ares) and life started again.  I'm being real here, not complaining, just the facts.   School was a rough start for Ares, (well, actually, it's not really gotten better) and soccer wasn't going super well, because most of the kids on his team moved up to the u-9 and he did not.  Now he complains that he's with the 'babies' although, quite honestly, he's  the only baby on the team.    He plays the games well, the first game he played after a sprained ankle the night before, he limped the whole game (he legitimately hurt his ankle, poor kid), but still managed to score a goal and hustle and play awesome the whole time.  The second game they started him in the goal.  He played great, until a kid scored on him.   Then his head was out of the game and he got scored on again.  In his defense, not once has he ever played, or even trained to play goal, he's an offense guy, who plays defense well, but goal, well, might not be for my perfectionist 7 year old with an attitude. 

Ares got a new bedroom set this past weekend.  It's this exact one.  Bookshelf head board, side table, dresser (without the mirror) and it's a full sized bed.  We got him a mattress that he picked out, and he wanted to go back to the space bedspread he had before he had the super hero room.   It's awesome, he loves it - and sleeps pretty well in it.  Calls it his 'college room' because I mentioned that the room will be good for when he comes back from college on breaks.  I love it too, although, his room looks small now.   Hopefully he can keep the room pretty clean.   First, we need to put his clothes back in his room.  

Atlas got the old bedroom set in his room.  He seems pretty happy about it too.   I have two big boys  now.   We gave the nursery stuff to Katie in hopes that she and Justice can use it sometime.  *fingers crossed*.  She's painting the cherry with chalk paint, I bet she'll make it look great. 

Other big news!!! we bought an RV!  Kind of, but not really.  In fact, we did nothing yet, but my parents  bought an RV!  Once we get our tax $$ back, and other stuff, we'll be partial (unofficial) owners.  We're super excited about it.  I have charts, and graphs and I've done a little research.  Anyone surprised?   I'm sure you're not.   I seriously have plans to use it 4 times already this year.  We got the OK for 3 of those (all 3 night weekends)  We'll see on the 4th one, that'd be a real 'vacation'.   Although, sans kids.

 

And Adam made my weekend by helping me (by doing it all) hang up the stuff I've had in the hall, on the stairwell.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and he hated me for a few hours, (I did help, but it was mostly him).   Isn't it amazing!!?!?!

.... and Trump gets sworn in on Friday.   I'm not excited, although, none of the alternatives were any better.  Let's just hope these 4 years go well, and there's a candidate that we're excited about in 4 years (and they win).   Hoping this guy quits twitter and proves everyone who is rooting against him wrong.  Not holding my breath, but who wants their own president to fail?   That'd be dumb. 

It's Christmas!!

Update on Atlas - I kept him home from school on Monday, and he was completely normal- annoying even, and went to school on Tuesday.   You'd never know anything was wrong, aside from the fact that I waited an entire week to let him take another shower/bath.  It's winter, he didn't' go outside at all because of the cold and snow, so I don't feel too bad about it.  But yeah, 7 days of no shower. 


Christmas nice.  We were in Cinci this year, and got into town late (as usual) Friday night.   The boys slept most of the way, but I'm really looking forward to their gift from 'Santa' - DVD players for the car.   Sometimes you just need silence, and with my boys - we don't get that.  


I only took a couple photos with my camera phone.  The camera is terrible, and the pictures always come out blurry.    ALWAYS.  Naturally, no photo of the 4 of us, because Atlas wouldn't cooperate.


The big gift that was played with constantly?  these little beaded guys on elastic string with suction cup hands/feet.  $7 for 3 of them, and they were played with all weekend.   Also popular:  Trucks, Legos, OSU costume (with helmets) and all things Paw Patrol (Atlas). 


I got Adam a Jeep belt and something else I can't even remember, (something small) and he got me some prints based off of Disney watercolors that he put in frames for us to put in the new laundry room (That's not started, or even designed yet).  A nice Christmas with the inlaws (and Leah/Amanda).  We had fun, it was pretty relaxing - and now we're back at work.  *sigh*.   Wish I could take a 3 day weekend this coming weekend, but HUGE deadline, on a project that's not even mine, it was given to me last week, with 6 workdays to complete - oh, and it's workday #3 and I still dont' have access to the database I need to use.   LOVELY. 

I think there were 28 people playing.  
Adam's cousin Rob won.  So happy for him. 

This kid - so handsome.

This kid just had so much fun. 
He was certainly enjoying the party.

These guys  <3 td="">

 


Atlas opening his scooter.

my MIL knows me well

Scariest Moment of my Life

Tonight,  after a shower, Atlas was sitting in my lap while I was drying him off.   All of about sudden,  his eyes roll back,  he loses consciousness, goes limp and starts seizing.  He was naked, so I could see that he wasn't breathing,  but then a few seconds later he starts on his own.   Insert mommy freakout.  I started screaming his name.  Apparently loud enough to freak Ares out downstairs and have him running up scared to death.  He wasn't sick that we knew of, a little warm at times of the day,  but completely normal at other times.  Put him down, got him on his side, and though he was breathing,  completely unresponsive.   Called mom, and we ended up calling the squad to come get him.

104* temperature after the shower (EMT told me that), high HR, but otherwise ok.  He started crying once the EMT held him,  which sounded awesome.   He was out of it and drooling the whole drive, but at least holding his head up on his own.  

A popsicle,  Motrin, IV fluids and blood draw and chest X-ray later, he's sleeping soooo well under a warm blanket. Now we're just waiting on him to go potty so we can leave.  

Christmas Card from the Millers...

... came in the form of a Facebook post.  




You know those people who only send Christmas cards to those they receive them from first? Well, we don't even do that. Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season to everyone. #thatisallyouget #notgoingtopretendiamsorry #lifewithkidsandacrappycameraphone #nophotocardsfromus

After this lovely morning we had with Ares, I realized I can't do it all, and neither can Adam,  and we're not even going to try.  Our job is to survive this Holiday Season.   Like, 4 people, all still alive and living (and under the same roof) in January.  We can do this, right?!? 



• 2 more swim lessons next
• 1 more soccer season (he told Adam to sign him up again, we'll go as long as he can, although, I tend to push soccer a lot more than Adam does.)
• 8 more days of school left