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Murphy's Law rules
We woke up to a steady rain falling, the second time in less than a week. Honestly, we almost never have rainy days around here. We normally have a bit of rain, clouds, sun, more clouds, rain, sun…ad nauseum. I hardly ever use an umbrella due to this environmental feature. Even more interesting is that we’ve already had one really rainy day this year. Our rainfall for today stands at 48.8mms (1.92 inches), which is more than the average for the month of April around here.
The rain wasn’t really a problem since we’ve been expecting it and it will save us watering the garden later. The story of our day actually goes back a day to when the Scientist arrived home and realised he had left a required portable hard drive at work. A plan emerged to drive down to collect it today, go into Perth to eat lunch at one of our favorite eateries, then return home to relax. The family waited in the car while I checked doors and windows and activated the alarm system. As I got in, the Scientist commented that he wished he had known we needed petrol. That was my fault because the fuel gauge had just dropped down as the kids and I returned from the Game Fanatic’s science class yesterday. I never went out again and completely forgot.
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Odds and ends
I’m feeling as though there aren’t enough hours in a day right now. I don’t seem to have time to do everything I’d like to do ..sigh…I think maybe I am a bit run down at the moment. I had a few days of improvement on the cough but it’s gotten worse again…not so bad as before but definitely worse than last week. Fun!
We had a very rainy day on Monday…steady rain all day long. I didn’t water our yard on Saturday (our watering day) with the forecast of the almost definite rainfall on Monday. My gamble paid off this time. Everything is looking a bit greener right now. The darkness from my early awakening continued most of the day.
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Rain
I was abruptly awakened this morning by the sound of rain outside. As soon as my mind registered the rain, I jumped out of bed and ran outside to bring in the clothes I had hung up two days ago. Of course they are now damp so two days obviously wasn’t long enough to dry them. :)
In my early morning bleariness, I looked at the clock and it said 8:30. But as I was rushing outside, I thought to myself that with the time change it should be much brighter than it was. Once I was back inside, I checked it again to discover that it was actually 6:30am instead.
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A very surprising visitor
Last night, either the Scientist or Game Fanatic opened the door to let the cat come in. I’m not quite sure what eventuated, but our cat was scared off by a puppy that had gotten loose. At some point, the puppy raced into our house and chomped a couple bites of cat food, then raced through the house. Lego Lover practically jumped into my lap in fear while the Scientist and Game Fanatic chased the puppy. They eventually caught it and went to try to locate its owner. Game Fanatic carried the puppy for quite some time while they went to a few nearby houses to find the owner. None of the neighbors knew anything about it. Eventually they moved down the street where some kids were playing outside. The puppy got excited near the kids and ran off towards them. Game Fanatic was feeling quite attached to the little puppy already so was very sad when it ran off. We do plan to add a puppy to our family some time soon, but it will have to be a bit less excitable than this one.
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Earth Hour
We participated in Earth Hour tonight and we had a really great time. We set up candles in our living room. The games fanatic played on his Nintendo DS and the Lego Lover played with his Lego. The Scientist and I played a quick game of dominoes. Then we decided to play Triominoes. We never remember exactly how to play so we had a trial game first, which Game Fanatic joined and subsequently won. Then the Scientist and I played a second game which I came from way behind to win. By the time we finished the second game, the hour was up.
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Together time
Tonight, the Lego lover and I spent an hour watching his Spongebob Squarepants dvds and eating popcorn to excess. He now knows how to make the popcorn in our air popper without any help and we ended up with three big serves of it by the end. We had a really nice time, just the two of us. We’ve done this a few times lately and it has been a good way to spend time with him.
LL has been somewhat clingy lately, repeatedly asking where I am when I go out. He told me recently he felt like there was a string connecting us and later elaborated that it was like a string of Lego that breaks apart when I am away. His psychologist suggested at a recent appointment that I write down where and when I am going so that he can see where I am at all times. That was the first really good appointment for LL and he seemed pleased with the suggestion. So far, he says it’s helping him to feel better when I am away. I’ve just taken a small exercise book and written down day, time and my location most times when I am out.
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Solitude
The Scientist took the boys out to do some shopping this afternoon for a couple of hours. I didn’t do anything particular while they were away but I found it very blissful to be alone in the house for that time. The funny thing is that I often do get time late at night when everyone is finally asleep. But I find it’s a very different feeling to the solitude of the empty house. Even the cat was out while they were gone.
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Trauma
I tried to cut the Lego Lover’s hair a couple nights ago but I quit in frustration after about an hour. I can’t cut hair and he was too wriggly and I wasn’t up to spending hours on his hair as I’ve done in the past. I told him we were going to the barber. He wasn’t happy about it but eventually accepted it (after a meltdown, of course).
I took both boys yesterday afternoon. LL was first and the hair stylist wasn’t very good, in my opinion. She was impatient and rough with him. This might have been partially my fault for not briefing her more appropriately on LL but I still think she was pretty poor. LL was in major stress by the end. I spent the whole time just tyring to get through it but I wish that I had just shouted at her to behave professionally with her customer. Fortunately the torture only lasted about ten minutes. I think it seemed far longer to both of us.
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New parts
I was just getting ready to have a shower before taking the Lego lover to an appointment when there was a knock at the door. It was a postal delivery. Of course, all my clean clothes were hanging outside, well out of reach. I rushed to find something, taking clothes off, eventually putting them back on and settling for a robe over top and a super quick brush of the hair. There’s nothing like that mad scramble for appearances when a delivery is being made.
I was perplexed as to what was being delivered but all became clear on seeing the return address. It’s a replacement part for our exercise bike. The pedal came off a few weeks ago and the threads were stripped so it could not be replaced. The bike is still under warranty for parts so they sent out the pedal and crank. Actually, now that I have opened it, I find there are pairs of each. Good. We have a spare for the other side should we need it.
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Cough and splutter
I think the laryngitis is settling down a bit but the ear problems and the coughing are still driving me batty. The reflux is not a constant problem right at the moment either. I finally have been able to stay at home and rest instead of running around.
We were kind of forced into it by our car deciding that it is going to sputter a bit and threaten to collapse. Apparently it’s a cylinder problem. The scientist took the car in yesterday and it won’t be ready until tomorrow afternoon. Another $200-300 out of pocket. Apparently we’ve had a good run with ours since most cars would require replacements long before now. We are now getting more serious about finding a new or newer car. The repairs are starting to add up.
So the only place I’ve been this weekend is the video shop. We had a dvd due back yesterday so I had to cycle there. Not something I really wanted to do but I was best equipped to do it. I made the trip without too much drama and picked up a few groceries at the shopping center to bring home in my basket. My cough didn’t bother me much until the last fifteen minutes…but no major coughing spasms.