Burning Down the House

We've had problems with our hot water heater for quite some time. We knew the thermostat was going out, but instead of looking into what it would take to fix it, we just kept hitting the reset button whenever we needed hot water. It was very annoying when you woke up and realized that the hot water heater needed reset, but you needed to be somewhere NOW. Looking back, I'm really embarrassed that we rigged it for so long. But after a while, we stopped talking about fixing it and it just became part of our day.

Knowing our hot water heater was on the fritz, you would think that when I smelled burning plastic I would immediately check there first. Negative on that. I unplugged EVERYTHING. Smelled every outlet. Walked around the house several times to investigate the scent. I finally determined it was the furnace, which is close to the water heater. I mentioned it to Jeff and he checked out the furnace and found nothing wrong. So we just figured it was one of those weird things and stayed on alert for a few days, sniffing around to see what it was. Fast forward to Christmas Day when our water would not heat. At all. So we start thinking of how we're going to squeeze a hot water heater out of our budget while calculating how much hot water you can get from the kettle on the stove. We FINALLY decided to actually take a look at the hot water heater and found this:

This is the lower thermostat and plastic covering from our hot water heater that had apparently CAUGHT ON FIRE. The thermostat is completely gutted and you can see the plastic is melted. We are seriously lucky we didn't catch the house on fire! We think the only thing that prevented it was the fact that since we kept hitting the reset button, we didn't have the front panel on the unit. The fire burnt itself out because it didn't have any where else to go. With the panel on it, it would have immediately caught the insulation and Styrofoam and who knows what else!

So this goes to prove, delaying home improvements CAN be helpful sometimes! (or just really stupid and lucky!)

Theme song for today's post: Burning Down the House by The Talking Heads

Save a Place for Me

I had several family members lose loved ones this Christmas. It's hard to lose someone at any time, but I can't imagine losing someone during such a happy season. I pray for their comfort during this hard time and that they are always able to see the joy in the season despite their loss. Will you please pray the same for them?

Menu Plan Monday

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We certainly did, but now I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet week. We're going to put away Christmas decorations, relax at home and probably watch "Dispicable Me" a few hundred times.

Here's what we'll be having to eat this week:

Breakfasts:
Pancakes
Scrambled Eggs
Cinnamon Toast (a very popular favorite!)
Oatmeal
French Toast Sticks

Lunch:
Grilled Cheese
 Frozen Pizza
Soup
Quesadillas
PB&J

Dinner:
Chicken and Rice Bake
Enchilada Cassarole
Beef Stew (crock pot meal)
Bow-tie lasanga
Chicken Spaghetti - the last time I made this, I froze the leftovers. So all I'll have to do is thaw and heat up!

One of "Those People"

You may remember that recently I hit a deer. During this fiasco, I was given an ultra cool, red 2010 Dodge Charger to drive while my car was being repaired. I had originally hoped for a minivan from the rental company, but I was SUPER excited to ditch the "mom boat" I normally drive and speed around (to preschool). The excitement didn't last long because as it turns out, a 2010 Dodge Charger is small and not at all practical for a mother of three kids. I know if I would have gotten a van, I would have done whatever I could to buy one for us. My car works for us now and is nearly paid off, so buying a new van 'just because' wouldn't have been a good financial decision. Also, my husband loved Dodge Chargers and really wanted one. But he drove the rental once and didn't like it at all. It was so small! Putting all of this together, I remember thinking, "God must have really had a hand in this!" And then I thought, "WHAT?"

Flashback to about ten years ago -  I was telling a friend about how our neighbor's house caught on fire but ours wasn't damaged at all. She responded with, "Oh, Praise God!" and I thought it was so weird. Really? Praise God that my house didn't catch on fire? I suppose so, but I'm sure he had better things to do that night. And I thought, "Man, I'm glad I'm not one of 'those people'." You know, the people who think God has a hand in everything. That nothing is a coincidence. And who make people who don't have that kind of thought process feel uncomfortable.

As it turns out, I am turning into one of 'those people'. I'm not sure what has changed exactly, but I no longer see things as luck or circumstance. I think He does have a hand in everything. (And I sincerely hope that I don't make people feel uncomfortable!) So when I came across not one, but TWO blogs about unrealistic expectations at Christmas, I knew He was telling me something. And He is so right.

I read this post first and felt like I'd been smacked in the head with a holy 2x4. Did I have some out of body experience and write this? Because I could have...

Because nobody ever lives up to my expectations.... By giving the perfect gift,  I’m showing that I know them better than anyone else...I’m showing them that I can love them (love as a verb, of course, not a mere emotion) better than anyone else...I have perfectly ridiculous expectations of those who give me gifts. Because if they can’t give me something that illustrates how well they know me, how much they love me, how important I am, then clearly something is wrong.

The first Christmas Jeff and I spent as a married couple, he bought me the movie "Dumb and Dumberer" for Christmas. And I cried. How could the man I just pledged to spend the rest of my life with buy me that movie? I didn't even like the first one! It was like he didn't know me at all.  (To this day, he swears I told him it looked like it would be funny. I'm pretty sure I didn't.) Instead of our first Christmas being sweet, it will forever be remembered as the Christmas that I cried. (We can joke about it now, thankfully!)

And then there was this post. I'm pretty sure I'm the Grinch in this whole situation. When things don't live up to my expectations (which are impossible) I steal the joy from the season and my negativity leaks all over everyone. (Enter sad trombone sound - whhaaa whhaaa) I am officially a holiday Debbie Downer. After reading this, I put up the white flag and surrendered. Okay God! I get it!


So this season, I'm working extra hard at remembering the importance of gratitude and trying to be less Grinch-y.

“Gratitude is the key to happiness and anything that undermines gratitude must undermine happiness. And nothing undermines gratitude as much as expectations. The more expectations you have, the less gratitude you will have.” -Dennis Prager

Have you learned any hard lessons this year?

Book Review: A Time To Dance by Karen Kingsbury

A Time To Dance focuses on Abby and John Reynolds, a couple that has been married for 20 years. Now that their children are grown and starting to leave the nest, Abby and John find their marriage crumbling. Just as they come to the conclusion to end their marriage, their daughter announces her engagement. The Reynolds decide to try and keep their plans to divorce a secret until after the wedding, but their anger and suspicion of infidelity make it difficult to keep the peace. They both turn to God for the first time in a long time to seek answers and direction during this difficult time of their life.




This was my first Karen Kingsbury book and I wanted to like it, but was very disappointed. The characters were frustratingly stubborn and clueless. I felt like the book could have been half as long as it actually was because the author kept repeating the same things over and over again. The book wasn’t as predictable as I expected, but instead of being intrigued by things I didn’t expect, I just didn’t care. I couldn’t find a character to relate to or even root for. I had to force myself to finish the book and was relieved when it was finally over.



* I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.*

It's So Fluffy I'm Gonna Die!

Saturday afternoon, Jeff bravely took Brenna and Riley with him to finish Christmas shopping for me. We all met up afterwards for lunch together. During lunch, I kept teasing Riley and asking him what daddy bought me. He was so good and kept saying, "I can't tell you! It will ruin the surprise!"

So Saturday night as I was putting them to bed, Riley comes running out of the bathroom, rounds the corner into his bedroom (where Brenna and I were) and says:

Mommy! I'm gonna tell you what I bought you! Aspicable Me! You know, the movie where that yellow guy says, "WHAAAA?"

And then ran back into the bathroom. It was like his little body could only hold the secret in for so long and he just burst.

So we watched it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Here are two scenes that were our favorites...

Three Months

• Almost 13 pounds (according to my bathroom scales)
• Falling into a routine finally
• Sleeping better at night
• Still hates to take the bottle

• Still cries quite a bit
• Smiling sporadically - especially at her big brother

Gracie's shunt is still pretty visible, but I feel like I've found a way to handle the questioning looks. Recently we were at a party and the gentleman across from me kept glancing at Grace's head, then quickly looking away. He wasn't gawking or pointing, but I could tell he was curious. So I just struck up a conversation with him by saying, "She gave us quite a scare before she was born..." and elaborated from there. It turned out to be a very nice conversation about Gracie and her health. He admitted that he was curious, but was afraid it would be rude to ask. I hope that I'm able to handle other situations so well.

Grace is doing really well health-wise. So far she's meeting all of the milestones but one. Her eyes wander quite a bit and she has trouble focusing. Her left eye is especially weak and doesn't always move with the right eye - as you can see in the picture. Her pediatrician in the NICU said she may experience some weakness on her left side and it seems that weakness seems to be mostly in her eye.   (While not as bad as Gracie's, I also have a weak left eye and had to wear a patch in kindergarten to help strengthen it - some of you may remember that :-) ) Physically, she moves her arms and legs quite a bit and shows no weakness there. She also has a very strong neck and can hold her head up for quite a while.

She tends to favor laying her head on the left side and we were told to expect that. It's something that happens quite a bit with babies who have been shunted. Both 'issues' are most likely things that will just take some strengthening exercises and we'll be working with First Steps to help her out as much as possible.

Meanwhile, we'll keep cuddling, playing and we'll soon be breaking out the 3-6 month clothes. She's growing so fast!!

*Post Theme Song - "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift*