16 January, 2010

Jan. Adventures

These have been such happy busy days, made all the more interesting by the trials & setbacks that have come up. To sum up the first half of the month:

Our midwife will be unable to attend our birth, (I'm about 34 weeks or so) so we're looking into a better hospital w/ nurse midwives on staff a bit further away. This is a very male dominated area in regards to female specific health care & I want nothing to do w/ that. The new clinic is very accommodating.

I was robbed for a day at Aldi's. My billfold fell out of my pocket after I paid for my purchases & a gentleman behind me turned it in. I know this because I saw the security tape. This was on one of those 20 degree windy days when we were finishing our shopping into nap time having passed lunch by. Victor & Charlotte were better than I hoped as I unpacked, searched & repacked the groceries several times out in the wind & unharnessed all of the carts in two's & three's (the chained quarter carts) thinking perhaps it was wedged in the seat top. No avail. The cashier hadn't seen it the first I asked her, the second time I asked her no one had turned it in. I was in a panic, we've taken a 70% loss of income w/ retirement. I didn't know how I could face Mike w/out the debit card or remaining cash & especially w/out my military dependent ID. There's no place to get a replacement around here & it doubles as an insurance card. The wonderful manager took me into the back to check the security cameras & we watched it all on tape. The gentleman handed it off to the cashier as it was the the proper thing to do & she put it on the counter. The manager sent me home & said he would watch to see if anyone took it off of the counter. I borrowed the store phone & called Mike to cancel the bank card. He was predictably unhappy. After feeding the children & laying Charlotte down the manager called to see if I could come to the store as they had it!

I did & was welcomed by the police, manager & district manager. Apparently the employee (Jennifer Crump, 27 yrs old, beware of her!) had palmed my billfold & got nervous when they kept looking & threw it in the trash. It probably helped that I called Mike & had him cancel the card right in front of her. They had discovered that not only was she guilty of petty theft in my case, but had been pilfering money from the store for a long time too. The police escorted me to the magistrates to file a complaint & Aldi's (I love you Aldi's; where but you can I feed a family of 4 for $60.00 a week?) comped my fuel in the form of $10.00 off my next grocery bill & gave me a free gallon of milk besides. Anyway, nothing was missing & I had a very rare opportunity of being in town w/out children so instead of going to the library by myself (what I really wanted; what does the adult section look like I wonder?) I went to the bank to see if I could still keep my card. No, they had cancelled it promptly which I really enjoyed knowing. The banker very speedily hooked me up w/ a temporary card & said my new one would come in the mail. All in all it was a happy report to take home.

Mike started school this week & his first day away the house sort of fell apart. The toilet clogged & I had eggs boiling on the stove. I realized that if Iwas going to the hospital I should pack a bag. I had no idea what to bring, only that the list in What to Expect When You're Expecting was entirely too long. So I got lost on the internet looking things up & let Victor pick out coming home outfits for the baby. We were in my bathroom packing toiletry thing when I kept hearing these weird pops & saw the cat come streaking around the corner. I figured she had done something & started to check it out when the smell hit me. Had I cooked something?

I totally forgot about making eggs. The memory had to be searched for, it was weird. Is this what they call mommy brain? I've heard of (& experience) absentmindedness all of the time, but this was a whole different level. Egg was everywhere. 5 half eggs burned to the bottom of a very dry pan & exploded egg on all of my condiments, coffeepot, vent hood, cabinets, floor, etc. It was very cold outside, but the windows had to be opened to get that smell out. I opened them & started some hot chocolate on another burner & the smell increased. I played musical burners, but I guess egg &/or egg water had gotten down into all of them. Victor & Charlotte very nicely ate their lunch while chanting "Eggy, eggy, eggy!" I can't explain it, they have some kind of Eggy game they play that involves running.

Today (the 15th) was Victor's birthday & though we didn't have the party he was expecting, he thoroughly enjoyed the day. I think he thought he was getting a party because he attended his cousins birthday last spring & it left an impression. He & daddy went squirrel hunting & I guess Mike did some kind of land nav w/ him which he excelled at. They chopped wood for a fire that night & as they did their outside things Charlotte & I made a peanutbutter cake. It was very gooey in the middle, like a melted Reeses Peanut Butter Cup.

Disclaimer: I have permission to mention this.
I had cookies in the oven after that. I used a different recipe & figured that that accounted for the extra crispiness, I just couldn't bake them gooey how I like them. The bread followed suit, very brown & done on top but when I flipped it out of the pans it wasn't cooked through at all! I flipped the loaves on their backs & asked Mike to watch it while I ran to the store. He assented so I left. However, he had to unexpectedly run to the bathroom & being a responsible man turned off the oven first. Right as he realized that we were out of toilet paper in our bathroom he was assaulted by a burning smell from the kitchen & was forced to make a mad dash across the house to the other bathroom for the toilet paper to take care of himself before rescuing my loaves which had gone up in flames. He had accidently turned it to broil instead of off. They are right next to each other. He sawed off what he could, a raccoon or possum has been eating the burnt pieces at night. I've been drying out the rest & making bread crumbs & croutons out of the remainders.

We did a thorough investigation after that & realized that the bottom heating element had completely melted through & burned in half; praise God that our house has been spared & all we've had to put up w/ are crispy goods & skillet meals! We like skillets, it just took some rearranging of my menu for the week. Today (the 25th, I never finish a post when I start) we got a new element & I could bake again. I had my first appointment at the new clinic today too, they operate out of a magnet hospital w/ a very low c-section rate which is very reassurring.

We've had alot to be thankful for this month so far; I've got more to say but will try to get another update in this moth.

1 comment:

Heart of Wisdom Academy said...

I'll continue to pray for your upcoming birth. Glad you all survided Jan. It was good talking to you. Love, Kristal