Thankful Tuesday

1. Last Tuesday we had a wonderful time at DelGrosso's. The weather was perfect, which was a huge relief after having been rained out recently at Knoebels. Tab, Micah, Isaiah, Dad, and Margie joined us there to celebrate Oliver's 7th birthday. Parking is free, we received five free wristbands, and my Dad treated everyone to pizza for dinner. Our only costs for the outing were buying two wristbands (for Micah and Isaiah) and one funnel cake that we all shared!

2. When the first air conditioning man came to our house he told me the estimate would likely be between $7-10K, at which my heart sank as I had been hoping we wouldn't have to pay more than $5K. Last week on Monday we got the first estimates, which were from $6-7K. On Tuesday as we were driving home from DelGrosso's the second one came in at $4,460, which was such a relief! The third man took longer to give us the estimate, but it was worth the wait. For just air conditioning, his was $4,080, but he recommended we get a heat pump instead, which would bring the total to $4,920. So we have made the decision to go with the heat pump even though it's $840 more. Basically if the air temperature is above 35 degrees, the heat pump (which will be cooling our house in the summer) will be used. Our natural gas furnace will only turn on when the outside temperature is below 35 degrees. Considering our current air conditioning system is 20 years old, it's not nearly as energy efficient as the newer air conditioning units plus with the heat pump we'll really be more energy efficient. Hopefully this will lead to lower natural gas bills in the years to come and we'll be grateful we spent that extra $840. I'm thankful that my original estimate of $5K was accurate. Hopefully in early September our air conditioning will be working again. Paul's parents loaned us an old window unit that Paul's grandmother had used. We haven't turned it on yet because thankfully it's been getting cool at night which with leaving the windows open has helped keep our house from turning into a sauna.

3. Three of the neighbors on our street replaced their roof within the past year. One neighbor had said theirs cost $10K, and their roof is simpler and smaller than ours. I was figuring we'd have to pay at least $10K. The neighbor who had their roof done most recently used an Amish company. I asked the neighbor this past Saturday if he was satisfied with their service, and he said he was very satisfied and that it only cost $4,600 for a new roof and gutters! This put a HUGE smile on my face to find out that we probably don't have to spend $10K on the roof. I have put a call in to the company he used and am hoping the estimate will be closer to $5K. If so, maybe we can afford to have something done to help keep our basement dry. The next appliance that I think we'll have to replace is the oven. It's also 20 years old. The hood (fan/light) already stopped working, but the range and oven haven't given me any grief yet. There are times when I wish we had a landlord who could handle all of this, but then I think of the fact we aren't paying any rent (and don't have a mortgage payment), and I know in the long run it's better to own than rent.

4. The kids had fun roller skating on Wednesday night and also were glad that Paul's parents came to our house for dinner that day. Oliver liked his birthday presents, cake, and chocolate covered pretzels!

5. Nadia learned CPR and such at her Safe Sitters class at the hospital last Friday.

6. We went swimming for about an hour for free at a local pool on Saturday as the library was having a pool party. The cooler temps at night lowered the water temperature in the pool so the boys didn't last too long, but Nadia had fun playing with one of our neighbors who was also there. Nadia swam for about 5 hours on Sunday as she attended a pool party at the home of one of the youth group leaders. She also got to make smores, eat hot dogs, etc. I don't think we'll use our bathing suits again until September when we travel to New York to visit Saratoga and Ticonderoga, as I made our 2 night reservation at a hotel with an indoor pool.

7. As of Sunday Paul and I have been married for eighteen years! Dad and Margie got us a grill for our anniversary! Paul gave me a new lawnmower for our anniversary. It was getting really, really hard to mow the lawn. Clippings have been part of the problem so I raked up a lot of the grass clippings this past weekend. I filled 17 big garbage bags with grass clippings and dumped them in an unused field near our house. The old mower was about to be the death of me. The new one I ordered from Home Depot is supposed to be delivered next week! Have I mentioned owning a house is expensive? I haven't been exercising this summer so I'm grateful that yard work (mowing, raking, cleaning the fence) gives me opportunities for exercise.

8. The boys have spent three days with their grandparents. Paul was going to wake them up at 5:45am on Sunday to drive them down, but since Ian hadn't been feeling well on Saturday, he changed his arrival time at work and asked me to wake the boys up at 7:00am. The boys went to church with Grandma and Pop Pop and have been at their house for three days. I miss them SOOOOO much! I can't wait to give them big hugs when they come home this evening. Selfishly I didn't want them to be at their grandparents for that long of a time period, but I am sure they are thrilled to be down there, and it has meant they didn't have to take Nadia to camp yesterday or today.

9. I very rarely purchase any apps for myself, but I bought one recently (Tody) to help with knowing when it's time to accomplish certain cleaning tasks. Years ago I used Motivated Mom, but that one had to be purchased every year. This one is also more customizable. In some cases I think a task needs done more frequently than what the default was set for (ex. how often to clean the bathtub), and in other instances I thought the default was too frequent (ex. how often to wash the bedding). I am not using the app for things I do on a daily basis such as loading the dishwasher, sweeping the kitchen floor, etc. but rather for things that sometimes I let go too long such as cleaning out the microwave, dusting the vents, clipping the boys' fingernails, etc. Yesterday Nadia started her theatre camp. I was planning to hang out in the Lock Haven area, but because Ian wasn't feeling well, I drove home after dropping her off (and ordering tickets to the shows which took about 30 minutes as the line was long). Paul had said he might pick Ian up and bring him home so that I could take him to the doctor. That didn't happen for two reasons #1 Ian was feeling better and #2 Paul was feeling worse which seemed to indicate that it was a virus not bacterial. Ian had complained on Friday of a headache. Saturday he complained of a headache, sore throat, and stiff neck, and he was very lethargic on Saturday - even took a nap which is unheard of for him. I kept taking his temperature, and he never had a fever. I did give him Tylenol for the headache. While he was at Grandma and Pop Pop's on Sunday, he said his ear was also hurting. Anyhow since I drove the extra 90 minutes (round trip)  yesterday to come home while she was at camp, I decided to tackle some cleaning projects. I swept the entire garage floor and organized everything - which included doing some purging. I vacuumed the minivan, and I cleaned the fence. That is one of my least favorite projects. I rue the day we bought a fence. It has never been helpful, and it creates more work for me (weed whacking plus cleaning it). This means it's just clutter at this point - creating extra work and not beneficial in any way. There are times I'm tempted to just remove the fence, but I haven't because if we ever do end up getting a dog, then the fence will come in handy at that point. I am happy our fence is back to being white (mostly - I am not a perfectionist).  Here's to hoping this app will help me keep the house cleaner!

10. Today I opted to stay in Lock Haven. I am at a public library. My goal today is to do work on meal planning and find some recipes to try. Last year I had plans to have us try foods from the 1700's, but very few of those plans actually came to fruition. I think we'll have more success this year in terms of me actually following through and also of the kids liking what we try. I was looking up what were some of Abraham Lincoln's favorite foods and found several the kids would like. Staying in Lock Haven means I won't drive for 3 hours like I did yesterday. Another reason I'm glad I stayed here is evidently Nadia isn't feeling well. Someone from the camp called me at 10:00 to tell me Nadia was sick but she thought she could stick it out. I'm happy I'm only 10 minutes away from the camp if I need to get her sooner than planned. Here's to hoping and praying that Oliver and I escape this bug and that Ian didn't give it to Grandma or Pop Pop. I'm thankful that this is the LAST camp of the summer. When Nadia did a theatre camp here in 2017 I said I'd never do that again. I should have known better than to use the word "never." Here I am doing it again two years later! I do hope though that this is the last time. I'm really hoping to sign the kids up for the Christian theater camp in Montoursville next summer (much closer) put on by the Family Life Network in NY. On Friday I'm definitely driving home after taking her to camp as Paul is going to the first performance at 6:30 on Friday and bringing her home. I will leave it up to the boys as to whether they want to hang out at a state park the next two days or spend more time in the car so they can be at home for 5.5 hours.

11. Yesterday we sold Nadia's softball bat, bag, helmet, and glove for $30. I gave her the money. I have been suggesting she buy a scooter (she often uses Oliver's), but I think her first priority is to buy extenders for the stilts that Dad and Margie got her for her birthday.

12. The boys have been asking me to read a lot of picture books lately. Ian has really been into Dr. Seuss. Nadia and Ian have been playing chess more, and we've played other games as well such as the past two nights we did Monopoly and Rummikub. I have fond memories of playing Rummikub with my Grandma Lillian. Hopefully Nadia will have fond memories some day of playing games with me! :)

13. Last Thursday we had a nice time at Reptiland. Nadia's favorite part was feeding the birds. I was surprised that Oliver didn't want to be squirted by the dinosaur (that squirted Nadia) as usually he loves to get wet! It's nice that it's only six minutes from our house.

14. I'm still thankful for my camera. I thought for sure when I went back to work that I'd buy myself a new lens. I didn't. It's been three years since I got a new lens, and in light of what we need for the house (roof, air conditioning, etc.) I'm glad I hadn't made that splurge. I don't use my camera every day, but when I get some good pictures of the kids, it brings me great joy. I know there are many ways I could improve my photography skills, but I am pleased with the progress I have made over the years. I'm looking forward to teaching Nadia some photography skills this school year!