I’m SO ready for 2012 to be OVER!!

Okay, here is my super-long ranting post.  Some people have heard rumblings from Alicia, but my patience is SERIOUSLY getting tried right now.  Here we go. (and just be grateful you are not me)

Let’s start with the pipes.  We have had 3 floods in the basement in 3 weeks.  Yep, pretty much every Monday since JANUARY 1st my storage room has flooded.  Is it coincidence that Monday is laundry day?  The 4th time the plumber came out he finally shoved a camera down the pipes, and promptly found a rock.  (ie, hardened cement/grout that some nameless soul washed down my bathtub…last year.)  So the plumber took out a nice “chunk” of cement in my pipes, and has once again proclaimed them “clean”.  (Let’s just say that was the 2nd time in the past 3 weeks they found the grout in the pipes.  Alicia is not holding her breath at this point).  I did get an estimate of completely ripping out my pipes and starting over, so that is definitely a possibility if we still have problems.  Up side to this whole thing---I am completely turned on to the removable ceiling tiles that are throughout my basement.  We have not had to replace any drywall…yippee!

Now, in the midst of the flood last Monday we found out our dishwasher was no longer working.  No relation at all to the flooding.  It just gave up the ghost.  LOVELY.  With the busy week we had we figured we would hand-wash dishes for a week or two and then start shopping for a dishwasher.  Until Friday we found out the refrigerator, that was installed with the dishwasher, gave up the ghost.  The circuit panel had gone completely out and would cost over $300 for the parts alone. (I will never recommend GE to anyone.  Seriously?! 2 major appliances gone within 3 days of each other!)

So Friday night we take a trip to Home Depot and Lowes to pick out a new refrigerator and a new dishwasher.  I was just laughing by this point.  Thankfully they let us purchase a floor model, and our friend happened to be at Home Depot at the same time and he let us borrow his truck and trailer the next morning to haul it to the Orem house, rather than waiting 2 WEEKS for one to get to Utah!!  (yep, our dishwasher won’t be here until Feb. 7th.)

Oh, and we should add to this Alicia threw out her back Friday, and it got progressively worse until she was completely bedridden on Sunday.  Oh, and then Sunday she started bleeding.  I got into the doctor this morning and heard the heartbeat, but have been put on a '”modified bedrest”  for a couple of weeks, just to make sure there is no more bleeding.

translated:  “Alicia please have a lazy week.” 
“But I have a race on Saturday”
”I said to take it easy”
”It’s only a 5k”
”No, there is no race this Saturday.  Maybe next time.”

So, now my plans for this weekend are finished.  I guess it is probably good to not run since I’m still consistently taking meds for my back. 

Oh, and here is the kick in the pants – I got summons for Jury Duty today.  For 2 weeks from now, on the same days I have been hired to teach an Excel class. 

I hope we are getting all the bad karma out of the way for the rest of the year. Time to go celebrate the Chinese New Year with my boys.  (I know I’m a day late.  Give me a break!  Did you read this post?!) 

Here’s to a Fresh Start…Right?

Book Review: Unbroken

I realized I haven’t done a book review in over a year, and I don’t know why.  Probably because, looking back over last year, I had a hard enough time keeping up with blogging life period.  Anyway, a few people have asked the name of the book that enticed me to join my neighborhood book club.  Here it is:

All I have to say is AMAZING!!  Wow, I couldn’t put it down, which is unusual for me when reading nonfiction.  It is a fascinating story of a former Olympic runner who becomes a bomber in the Pacific Theater during WW II.  Let’s just say if you have ever seen to movie Mission of the Shark, times it by 10 and that is only the first 1/3 of this book. 

To say I was profoundly touched, is putting it lightly.  My biggest disappointment was that I hadn’t read the book in time for the meeting so, although I really enjoyed the discussion, I didn’t understand it fully.  I will definitely recommend this to anyone, and it will become part of our library.  I want my children to read and understand the “unspoken” horrors of the war their relatives fought.

A heartfelt thanks goes out to all who have and do serve in the armed forces of this great nation.

2011 “Fun” Reads

So I had a great discussion with a bunch of neighbor ladies at the Space Derby last night.  I found out about the neighborhood book club, and am hoping to get started with it this week.  (I was really excited when I found out the book this month was one that I put on my “must read” list just a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, it seems to be pretty popular right now, so I won’t be able to finish it in time for the meeting.)

Anyway, we were sharing our favorite book titles, and I was chastised for not being on Good Reads.  (Okay, I am on Good Reads, just have never done anything with it.)  I have been keeping track of my reading lists in Excel (hey, I teach the program okay!).  One of them asked my Top 10 favorite books.  I came up totally blank.  Still, I am totally blank.  It depends on my mood.  So I started reviewing my book lists from last year, and could EASILY come up with the books I loved reading last year. 

So here are my 2011 ”Fun” Reads.  I am still going through my “required” for 2011, and trying to remember what I liked, so hoping to post something about those in the next week or so.

The rating is totally arbitrary.  It was my initial impulse when I saw the title when reviewing them today.  I did go through and bold my absolute favorites that I could just gush about to anyone interested in books.

Just a note: Yes, I did read “A Season of Gifts” 2 times this year.  I received it in a book exchange for Christmas 2010, and then my Orem book club read it this year for our December book.  Didn’t matter to me….ABSOLUTELY loved it.  It reminded me that I need to go buy “A Long Way from Chicago” to make it a set. 

2nd note: I did bold all 3 books in the Airborn series.  I loved all of them.  There are a few other series in here that I liked the first book, but Airborn was definitely one that held strong through all the books. 

There we go.  One more thing off my to-do list.  I’m loving these short moments of motivation!

It Has Been Awhile

Here’s my post from Facebook.  (yes, I am finally turning to social media…gasp!)

Joined Pintrist at the beginning of Dec...Never been back. Received a Silhouette as an early Christmas gift...haven't turned it on. Scheduled to teach an Excel class...haven't cracked open the manual. Have 8 books left on my required reading list (of 162)...have yet to pick one up this year. We have had spring-like weather for the last month and a race in 2 weeks. How many times have I been outside running? 2.

Dear baby: I would like my motivation back. Oh, and my brain would be nice too! :)

So there is my excuse for not posting.  I realize I have Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays, and a Baptism to cover, and I will try my best to do something about them.  But at this point I’m not holding out hope.

Due date: August 3 but we are anticipating between July 20-24 (hopefully after the 20th since Dan bought me Wicked tickets for that night)  We ended up having an ultrasound this morning due to trouble finding the heartbeat.  Everything looked great.  The baby is really spinning in circles…which my boys say explains Mom’s throwing up! 

Here we go again!