Hot Water

Oh my gosh.  We have hot water again.  I am in heaven!!!  I'm going to go do dishes right now and I'm going to smile the whole time I do them.  After that, I'm going to take a long, LONG hot shower.

Thank you for putting up with me.  Boiling water for baths was beginning to drain me.  Even with the new stove.

It's good to be hot.

He is here!!!

The guy is here to install the new hot water heater.  Tankless baby!  I hope a hot shower, in my own house, is in the cards for me later today.  I'm boiling a pot of water to wash my hair right now.  I hope this is the last one.

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

The company we had planned on using to replace our water heater - - well, um, Mr. B fired them on Friday.  They were in no hurry and hadn't even been bothered to give us an estimate yet.

He found another company.  They came by that day.  They should be here this morning to get busy.  If I don't have hot water by later today, I will by Tuesday for sure.  So far.

I will do all sorts of a victory dance if this all happens.  Believe me - - I will get my groove ON!

My New Mantra

"If you want crappy things to stop happening to you then stop accepting crap and demand something more."

~Cristina Yang, Grey's Anatomy

Cowgirl

Look what I bought today:

How *cute* are these?  I absolutely love them.  I couldn't find the all pink ones that I was originally looking for.  But when I saw these - - it was love at first sight.

Plus - - they were ON SALE!

I'm not gonna fight the inner cowgirl in me that is trying to claw her way out.  I caved.  And I'm not ashamed to admit it anymore.  I'll be sure to post pictures of me and Cameron when we are all decked out and ready for the rodeo.  I can't believe I'm doing this.  And that I'm so stinkin' excited about it!  Well, excited and nervous.  I forgot about the clowns.  Those dang clowns.  Dang I hope they leave me alone.

Birthday Fairy

Mr. B and I were sitting in the living room watching The Good Wife  last night.  Our front door was open and the screen window was open.  I heard the occasional car drive by.  We've usually closed it by this point in the evening.  But meh, no big deal.  I thought I heard something and then chalked it up as the wind.  Then I got a text from Heather telling me to go look for a Month of Becky surprise on my front porch.

I jumped up to go look and this is what I found:

How awesome is this?

A box of Diet Coke w/Splenda, a box of Girl Scout cookies (Lemonades - - yum!) and the cutest insulated tumbler with the letter "B" on it.  Does she understand me or what?

The thing is - - timing was everything.  Here's why.  Have you ever just felt like your spirit was crushed?  I was just having a bad "friend" day.  The dynamics of several of my friendships have changed over the past few months and the weight of it seemed to hit me yesterday.  I was frustrated over what, to me, was a stupid argument, and just basically felt vulnerable and weak.  (I am not fond of feeling that way.  At all.)

But God, in His timing, used a friend of mine in a unique way.  She had no idea that I had gone through such a bad day.  She just had a special treat to share with a friend.  A friend.  A very good friend.  One I don't see often enough.  I need to work on that.

So - - Heather - - thank you.  More than you'll ever really know - - thank you.

It's the simple things in life...

I may not have hot water.  Yet.

What do I have?  What I've wanted for a LONG time.

Isn't she beautiful?  I named her Laverne.  She makes me so happy.  Look how clean and shiny she is.  Buh-bye coil burners.  And, and - - her heating element inside the oven part is concealed.  *giddy*

Can you name the two other things in this picture that make me happy?  I will send a Sonic gift card to the first person who can properly identify both of them.  Go!!!

Loud Music

Have you ever just needed to listen to music really loud on your iPod/mp3 player?  That's how I am.  I need to escape through music.  I'll post my play list later.  It should be interesting.  I'm in a weird mood.

More whining.

Captains log:  This is B.  The household conditions have taken their toll on my mental state.  I find myself craving hot water.  I fantasize about washing dishes by hand now.  I remember the happy days when we owned a hot tub.  I look at my shower and sigh.  I'm beginning to hate boiling water.  I long for a long, hot soak in the tub.

I wish...

Please send help.  I feel as though I've begun to curl up and rock back and forth.

Netflix Streaming Video

We just got it on Monday.

Holy crap.  I hope I can get something done around here.  I've been wanting to watch this show for a while now:

I started Season One this morning.  I've watched three episodes.  I am addicted.

I finally get it.  I understand the McDreamy love.  I'm feelin' it.  I've got it.  I'm headed back for another episode.  I'll fold a load of laundry while I'm watching and call it good.

My name is B - - and I am now addicted to Grey's Anatomy and Afrin Severe Congestion.  Thank you for loving me anyway.

Lifting the Ban

As much as it kills me to tell you this, I think I am temporarily lifting my rodeo ban.  If you've spent much time on my blog, you know that I hate the rodeo.  I've been once, a calf had his neck snapped and was killed.  I haven't been back since.  I don't like that part of it.

But.

Mr. B's company offered us box seats.  Those are hard to pass up.  So we took them.  I don't know what to think or what to expect.  I just hope that no animals are hurt during our performance.

On the upside?  It's the rodeo.  That means cowboys.  I like most cowboys.  Jeans and boots.  I love the look.  Well, on most people.  Mr. B isn't one of them.  He's a jeans and tennis shoes kind of guy.  Very Jerry Seinfeld. Not George Strait.  It ought to make for some good viewing at least.  The trouble is - - I don't have rodeo gear anymore.  Yep, I used to be a "kicker."  I wore boots to school nearly every day in high school.  I've found some boots that I really want.  And I'm tempted to buy them.  Because I know I'll wear them for more than just the rodeo.  This is West Texas.  Boots are a staple in one's wardrobe.  Plus, look how cute they are?

It's hard to justify spending that much money on shoes.  I don't know...  Maybe I should just borrow boots from someone.  They sure are cute though...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So - - yesterday started out well.  Started.  Not finished.

I was getting ready to go to Kiwanis.  It was about 11:00.  I got out of the shower, dried my hair, put my make up on and got dressed.  I had just grabbed my tennis shoes when I heard "the noise."  I wondered what in the world it was.  As I walked out into the living room, it got louder and louder.  I rounded the corner to the hall to the kids room and immediately saw the problem.  The HUGE problem.  I could hear water spraying inside the water heater closet and the carpet was soaked.

I called Mr. B and asked him how to shut the water off to the unit.  He told me and I did it.  He then scurried home.  Yep, water heater number four (I think, I'm losing count) went out.  This time, it did damage.  I used the steam cleaner and sucked up about ten different buckets full of water.  I had to empty Justin's closet out and pull the carpet and the padding up in there.  In the mean time, Mr. B is disconnecting and draining the piece of crap water heater.  He finally got it out and loaded into his truck.  (It went back to Lowe's where we got a store credit.  We're gonna need that credit.)

I think we're gonna go tankless this time.  It's ridiculous.  And the builders here should be shot for putting the water heaters inside the house.  They are ticking time bombs.  We are going to see how expensive it would be to re-route it to the garage and turn that closet into a linen closet.  (Which I don't have.)

On top of all of that, I just didn't feel good yesterday.  Congestion was kicking my butt and I just hurt all over.  It was terrible.

We're not completely dry around here, but we are calling off our order for an ark.  What we are calling for is some stinkin' hot water.  We will be without for a few days.  At least.  And that sucks.  I'm sorry.  I'm not Laura Ingalls Wilder and I like my indoor plumbing just fine and dandy, thankyouverymuch.  I want to go turn on a hot shower but I can't.  I could go over to Mom's.  And I probably will later.

It's just a pain.  Certainly not something we were ready to move on.  We've discussed replacing the carpet in the bedrooms and putting wood floors down in other rooms.  Now we need to start deciding.  We're planners.  Big time.  Not - - "go buy today" kind of people.  I don't think I want any carpet anywhere in this house.  It's gross.  It gets so funky.  I really think I'm cool with sweeping every single day if it means we don't have dust and crud on (or in) our floors.

Gah.

While I am being pissy...

Can I add something else to the "What Pisses Me Off" list?

People that won't speak to you in person - - or while playing Bunco (former group) - - yet they stick you on an invite list to some stupid home business type party.

I'm about to type in all caps because yes, I am yelling.

IF YOU DON'T SPEAK TO ME WHEN YOU SEE ME OR IF YOU NEVER E-MAIL ME FOR PERSONAL REASONS, THEN TAKE ME OUT OF YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.  I FIND YOUR INVITE TACKY AND RUDE.  I'M NOT EVEN SURE YOU KNOW ME.  QUIT TRYING TO DRUM UP FREEBIES FOR THE PARTY YOU ARE HOSTING.  ALL YOU'VE DONE NOW IS PISS. ME. OFF.

/rant

Whew.  That feels better.

Valentine's Day Hater

Not a big fan.

Stupid commercialized holiday.

It just makes single people feel like crap.

For me, today is just another Monday.  Back to the grind.  And speaking of that - - I believe I have a cup of coffee to go pour myself.

Signed,
The Valentine's Day Scrooge

:(

For a number of reasons - - I'm sad and I'm disappointed.

Silence is deafening.

Full use of the turn lane is key to the success of said turn lane. I'm just sayin'.

Rude? Oblivious? Both? I vote for straight up dumbass.

For Uncle Bobby

Cameron's t-ball tryout. He knocked the stuff out of that ball. I loved it!

Valentine's Day

Cameron asked Moe to be his Valentine tonight.  It was so sweet.  He told me that Moe said yes.  All I heard was a meow.  But I get it.  They dig each other.  It's sweet.

For Stephanie

Take me out to the ballgame...

Or tryouts really.  This is the day where you go and show all the coaches your skills.  Then they have the "draft."

Here are a few pictures of my littles today at tryouts.

Cameron and t-ball:

Justin and coach-pitch:

We're going to be a little more spread out this year.  Two different practices, game conflicts...  But we love it. I love watching baseball.  Things are cute with the t-ballers.  And things will take a faster pace with coach pitch.

After watching Justin play basketball this morning, I determined I enjoy watching baseball more.  I think I'm so into basketball that it stresses me to watch the sport I love being played with such chaos.  I know it's his first year to play.  But it was crazy.  We've had the stuff beat out of us every single game.  It's been brutal.  I dread playing the Wall team two weeks from today.  They are hard core.  That can be good and bad.  The score isn't kept on the board at this level.  But trust me - - I'll hear from the fans (during the game) what the score is.  Trust me, they are keeping score.  They know.  And it's serious to them.   Major eye roll.   Would it be wrong to skip it?  I'm seriously considering it.

This house is a wreck.  I feel like I'm always having to pick crap up.  Gotta get busy.

3-D!

I saw my first 3-D movie last night.

I know.  Kind of late to the game.  I've never had much desire to see one.  But the movie I wanted to see was only showing in 3-D.  So - - I went.

I saw Sanctum!  It was intense.  To say the least.

I seriously had to focus on my breathing for most of the movie.  If underwater stuff freaks you out - - do not go see this movie.  If you hyperventilate easily - - do not go see this movie.  If you suffer from any form of anxiety or panic attacks - - do not go see this movie.  If the thought of watching someone drown makes you sick - - do not watch this movie.

It was harsh.  There were two scenes that were particularly disturbing.  Like gory disturbing.

I did scream out loud once.  T laughed her butt off at me.  It wasn't even a pretty scream.  It was an ugly scream.  It's funny now.  But it scared the ever livin' out of me at the time.

I enjoyed this movie.  Nerves and all.  But truthfully, I'll never watch it again.  There are some of you that I know will like it.  And there are others that definitely won't.  So ask me and I'll tell you.

I give it a B+.

Best movie trailer I saw:  the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  I love me some Captain Jack Sparrow.  I saw that trailer in 3-D.  I'll be going to see it this summer.

Worst movie trailer I saw:  Cowboys and Aliens.  Shame on you Harrison Ford.  You just tipped off that you are washed up and can't get good movie roles anymore.

Funniest moment at the theater:  right after I donned my 3-D glasses and they showed a commercial with snow in it.  They threw a snowball at the audience.  I ducked.  Funny stuff.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a good day.  I took the cabinet in my kitchen from this:

To this:

You have no idea how happy this made me.

I didn't stop there.  I moved across the kitchen to where are plates and cups/glasses are.  Same thing.  It looks so nice and organized.  It makes me happy.

I never made it to my dresser.  That's today's project.  As soon as I'm done with it and a few other chores, I'm going to reward myself by scrapbooking.  My scrap space is all organized now (see my Creative Blog for pictures of that.)  With a little luck, I'll have some pages done this weekend.

Well, my coffee cup is empty.  I must remedy that.

Have a glorious Friday!

Back at School, Back at Work

It's time to be productive.  Everyone is out of the house.  So time to get my work on...

Today's project:  Cleaning out the kitchen cabinets that have food in them.  (Our pantry is too small.)

If I have enough time when I finish that, I'm cleaning out my dresser drawers.

That ought to keep me hopping.

What a CRAZY day!

Sometimes I'd love to be a fly on the wall of my day.  I think it would be hilarious to just sit back and watch the insanity unfold.

It all started yesterday.  I noticed that we had a late start at school today.  Awesome.  That's the best of both worlds.  Right?  Sleep later and then send the kids to school.

Enter this morning.

We woke up about 7:30.  Not too bad.  The boys normally leave at 7:30.  I'll take it.  Anyway, I waited a bit and then turned the TV on just to see if we were still on track for a late start and not a cancellation.  I watched the crawler on the TV and finally saw it.  That's also when I saw that there would be some "rolling brown outs" during the day.  They would last for fifteen minutes.  That doesn't seem long.  And if it helps some area in Texas that is in a major pinch, I'm cool with that.

Not five minutes later - - the power shut off.

That was fast.

I curled up under the blankets and waited.  And waited.  And waited.

Mr. B finally decided to use the emergency release on the garage door so that he could manually open it and go to work.

I waited some more.  I saw a notice on FB (through my phone) that said for outages longer than fifteen minutes to call AEP (the power company.)  So I called.  No answer.  Just some automated answer about Laredo.

I tried to call the school.  Busy signal.

I tried to call the power company again.  Busy signal.

Are you kidding me?

I then called Cam's kindergarten teacher's cell.  I got through to her and found out there wasn't power at the school either.  (That's why their phones weren't working.)  She said she didn't think they'd punish anyone who didn't make it in for the day.  It was cold.  And before any of you from more northern climates start to make fun - - know that we aren't used to this kind of weather.  At all.  I know that if my kids are at home, they can be bundled up under blankets.  Being at school would suck.  And what would they fix them for lunch?

I finally got through to the power company.  She said that we should have power by 10:00.  This was at 9:45.  At 10:30, I decided enough was enough.  It was cooling off inside fast.  By 11:00 we were loaded in the van and headed to Little Caesar's to grab a couple of pizzas and take them over to my parent's house.  (Not a hiccup in the power there at all.)

At 12:00, Mr. B called me and said that a friend of ours, who lives close to us, texted him and said that the power was back on.

Fifteen minutes turned into four hours.

When I had left the house, I had to manually open the garage door.  That meant anyone could open it.  So I locked the house door.  I took the keys for the front door and figured I could get in that way.  (I don't even have a key to the garage house door.)  When we got home, I got to the front door and guess what?  The freakin' screen door was locked.  (We do that now because of the neighborhood hellion.  Yes, he still walks right in.  That's another story for another day.)  The glass was pulled up, so there was no breaking in.  We were locked out.

I tried every key I had on every door.  No suck luck.

I finally called Mr. B.  He said he had a key but wasn't sure to which door.  He came home and sure enough, it was to the back door.  BUT - the alarm was set.  So it triggered the alarm.  (That door doesn't give you time to turn off the alarm.  It's an automatic trigger.)  The alarm company didn't call.  (They normally do and you give a code word that everything is okay.)  Instead, the police department did.  I told them I was fine.  But they said they had to send an officer by to do a safety check, just in case I was being coached on my wording.  The alarm wasn't the burglar alarm.  It was the panic alarm.  Who knows why.  This was the live police alert that showed up online.  They didn't have our house number right.  Hmmmmm.

The officer showed up and was very nice.  I explained the situation to him and he went on his way.

About an hour later, the phone rang again.

This time it was a reporter from our local paper.  He said that some lady had referred me to her.  He started asking about my day.  I was confused as all get out.  How did they know about me?  Are there cameras following me around or what?  I finally figured out it was Facebook.  A friend of mine told a reporter about me.  I wish I'd known to expect the call.  I feel like I rambled a lot.  I hate it when I can't form a coherent sentence.  Call me "Obama", I need a teleprompter.  LOL!

Things have settled down since then.  No more power outages.  I hope that holds true during American Idol tonight.

Whew.  What a day.

Ice Day!

Mommy and Daddy!  It snowed!  No school today!

(It started out as a two hour delay.  I groaned at the thought.  Then they called it for the day.  A lot of ice.  We did get snow.  But it's on top of a lot of ice.)

Can you see the snowflake about to touch his tongue?

Ready, aim, FIRE!

I told you.  Lots of ice.  This last picture was taken about ten minutes ago.  The stuff on the asphalt has melted.  But the concrete and other stuff?  Not so much.  It is COLD outside!  And gonna get colder.  The high tomorrow is 20.  The low tomorrow night?  8!  

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I made a pot of turkey chili and cooked cornbread in the cast iron skillet.  Yummmmmmy.  Mr. B worked from home.  I folded laundry and laid around under an electric blanket.  It was nice.