Last Night Off (the Market)

Tonight we rest. Tomorrow we wake up on the market. The blitz is over. Now starts the battle to maintain. I'll post pictures from the profile after it goes up.

Mysterious Note

They struck again. There were no witnesses, but the evidence speaks for itself!

These girls are awesome. I need to come up with a Moriarty meme rebuttal. 

Play Time

I left work earlier today. I stopped at home before grabbing Shane. The plan was to do a little packing and then pick him up early. I accidentally fell asleep instead. The power nap (30 mins) did give me more energy than usual to play tonight.

Shane made me do voices until I was hoarse. Frank, Bertha, Chuck Garbage, and Jose caught many boulders and crushed them in their hoppers. Rocket provided the music. 

Then he made music in the kitchen. He's a percussion wonder on the vacuum. Shane provided the vocals and I made the garbage trucks dance. 

Later, I needed a rest. I took a fishing break.

My favorite moment was when I tricked Shane to let go.

Me: How many fingers do you have?

Shane: 10!

Me: Can I see them?

Mwa ha ha!

This happened later.

I get bored of things much quicker than Shane does. I try to spice things up or surprise him when my interest wanes.

We finished the night with a little reading in bed.

The extra time at home and nap really helped. I even cooked mac and cheese. Most of the single dad nights so far involved a very tired me, an episode of TV, and less active play.

Of course, now I have to stop posting and start packing and cleaning. Friday is almost here.

Single Dad = Lots of Daycare

Shane's spent a lot of time at daycare lately. The past Tuesday and Thursday and then this Monday he clocked 11 hours a day (~6:30 AM -5:30 PM). He spent between 9-10.5 hours at daycare the remainder. I feel a little bad about it, but that's the life of a single dad. He goes to daycare, I go to school, and I pick him up on the return. I wake Shane up at 6:00 AM to get breakfast and get ready. Shane complained to his teacher this morning. "I got up before the sun."

Shane only spent 3.5 hours awake at home those days. From 6:00-6:30 AM (if you count that as awake and at home) and then from 5:30 - 8:30 PM (bedtime). It's hard to believe.

I can start to jailbreak him earlier now that wrestling is done (and I played catch-up on paperwork Monday). I picked him up at 4:00 PM today. Nana and Pop offered to take him one night this week, too. 

It depends on the house, but I don't think Shane will go to this daycare for much more than another month. If the house sells, we will give our two weeks notice and he will go to Grandma and Grandpa for a Shanecation. If the house doesn't sell quickly, we'll still probably ship him off and work on relocating Shane to Charlottesville. We've had a good experience, but things should be cheaper 100 miles south. 

It's Cold

It's cold. The house is set at 60 degrees F.

Mid-December, our electric bill spiked. It was enough to catch my attention, but not enough to panic. I figured we had the heat up too high as the weather turned. We set the house lower and even spent a week on vacation Christmastime.

Then late-January our next electric bill hit and really raised eyebrows. $488 worth.

I called the electric company and had them come out and check our meter. Everything panned out, so we had to find the power drain. I felt like the house stayed cold and the auxiliary heat came on far too often, so I called Dan.

Dan came out the Thursday I was at a meet. January was filled with 80 hour weeks for him, so it was the first time he had a chance. He didn't see anything wrong with the system.

Carrie and I scratched our heads, but I still thought something was off with the heating. I was not home to talk things over with Dan, but we talked online and I took a picture of the aux heat kicking on (at 60 when the house was set for 60). Dan agreed it was weird, and came back out last Saturday. He realized that our refrigerant had leaked out.

The power drain was from the HVAC cutting on and trying to work. After a few minutes of futility, it would switch over to emergency heat (which is incredibly inefficient). In effect, our house system became a giant electric space heater that kicked on continuously. Bah humbug.

Unfortunately, Dan forgot to bring some of his tools and he did not have any refrigerant with him. He wanted to come back Sunday, but was unable to get his hands on refrigerant. Tuesday was the next available day, but Dan ended up pulling three more hours of overtime and didn't make it. He's going to try for Wednesday next. If that falls through, Thursday is on the docket. I hope he gets out here before we go on market Friday! A cold house won't sell! (and it's cold!)

In the meantime, Shane and I live in a house set a 60. We dress warm.

Our next electric bill is still going to suck. It might have been worth it to pay for someone to come out earlier, but once we started to wait for Dan (who I'd rather talk to and visit with) it didn't make sense to throw more money at the problem. Say a prayer that we get things sorted out soon!

One Last Weekend War (At This Address)

7:00 AM Saturday, Nelson, Rene, and Salmone showed up to finish the garage. I loved the stilts.

While they worked in the garage, Carrie and I worked all over the place.

And I do mean all over.

We made multiple runs to the dump. First, we offloaded trash. Then we refilled the truck with free mulch. As you can see, It's a lot easier to drive the truck right up to where you want to dump than it.

The weather was too perfect, though. The ground started to thaw and Carrie had a little trouble getting back out of the back yard!

Sunday, Mike and Daniel made a mark, too. He was very careful until just before the back wheels got back on the road!

Honestly, I am happy to have avoided the extra hauling. No HOA means fun shenanigans. I could care less about a few marks in the yard. I doubt it's enough to sway anyone who considers making us an offer.

We didn't want to tear up the yard anymore, though. I had to play with the wheelbarrow from then on out.

While I did the grunt work, Carrie did the skilled tasks.

Carrie designed and installed a his-and-her closet system for upstairs.

I find it ironic we finished our closets four days before trying to sell.

Later, Carrie hooked up our new washer and dryer.

But wait! Why on earth would we get a new washer and dryer right before moving out?!

When we first moved in, our home inspector missed something. The dryer was not properly vented. There was a hole cut in the wall and the excess heat and moisture was pumped into a crawl space under the house. We researched what it would cost to build a vent or to move the washer and dryer inside long before deciding to sell. None of the options were price effective. However, we figured we would not be able to easily sell or get past another home inspector without a solution to the problem. We sold our dryer and washer to cover almost all the cost of a smaller, but vent-less system.

I don't think I like them as much, but they do make the garage look bigger.

The garage is mold free and no longer covered with peeled and cracked paint, as well.

We were anti-social for the weekend, but we didn't have much of a choice. I had to pass up on a surprise burrito and laser tag party for Matt's birthday, the family birthday dinner the next day, and an x-wing extravaganza. There was too much to be done. There's still a lot to be done! At least we got to see Daniel's family in church. 

This week is the final hurrah. There will be time to rest....later!

Radio's Not Dead

Shane really likes music. I knew he really listened when he started to hum tunes when he was younger. Then, he'd try to sing (many words were fudged).

Lately, Shane asks to "finish" a song when we park. Sometimes he'll ask for "two songs."

It's pretty cute. Carrie's got an ear for music. Perhaps Shane has it, too.

Friday Night

Shane and I went by the storage center Friday night. He enjoyed riding his trike all the way in.

He left me to do all the work.

It's been like that a lot lately.

Afterwards, we went to ChicFilA to eat and play. I let Shane play with the other kids for an hour.

Then we skipped down the street to the Conference Wrestling Tournament. Shane was all for it. He wanted to "sit next to all the wrestlers!' He was upset when I said "No."; They were by the mat cheering. When we went down later,Shane said, "Can someone give me a phone?" He didn't want my phone. It had to be a wrestler's phone. I said, "No." He wasn't too interested in the wrestling tournament after that.

Thankfully, Carrie made it home safely. She called us at the tournament. "Where are my boys?!" We missed her, too!

Twas a busy, productive, and fun night. It helps when you divide up the task. I was busy and productive, and Shane had fun! Carrie and I have a lot to do this weekend. It's the last weekend rush before market.

WRESTLING - My team came in 3rd out of 6th. It's a small conference based on the number of schools. Each school easily has over a couple thousand kids, though. One has four thousand if you count the attached middle school! We had a couple of district champions and a lot of 3rd place finishes. Only two kids were eliminated from Regionals next weekend.

Top of the Morning to Ya, Old Chap!

A pair of girls surprised me this morning. They knocked on the door to my classroom. I had no idea who they were. The girls were older than most of my students, looked normal, and pronounced my name correctly.

I had no clue what they wanted. 

"Have you seen Sherlock?" one girl asked. 

Oh, I wore my cap today. Maybe they're going to ask where I got it?  

"Yes," I replied.

"Can we put this sign up in front of your door?" she asked.

She held up a piece of paper. I laughed. "Sure!" 

Not what I expected, at all. That made it more epic. Those girls made my morning.

Straight From My Inbox

I thought this was awesome, so I posted it here. Cole's very imaginative and a talker. I didn't realize he was also very observant and in possession of a good memory, too!

Kathleen
to Tim, Debbie,...

Subject: Conversation with Cole

Cole: Hi, I'm Shane.

me: Hi Shane. What's up?

Cole: I like tornadoes, hot lava, and storms!  

me: Oh nice. Do you like planets too?

Cole: Yes! This is my space room. Do you like my space room, Poppy Pop?

(apparently I am Pop, lol)