Cooking, new dryer

I've been working on a dinner to take to a lady from playgroup who had a new baby (her 4th) late last month. I'm making a chicken pie with broccoli and cheddar cheese and a buttermilk-biscuit "crust" on top, and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I'm also bringing along a bagged salad she can assemble. I guess we'll have something similar for dinner. I roasted two chickens after dinner yesterday and picked them apart this morning after dropping off J at preschool. I also blanched the broccoli this morning, and got the cakes baked. I'll frost them once they are cooler.

Meanwhile, K has been getting into things, chewing playing cards, and finding all sorts of "treats" on the floor. It's very hard to cook with a baby on the go, but it would be a lot harder if J were home to nag me to do things for her. She has "Lunch Bunch" today so she'll be at school until 2 p.m., which will allow me to get a lot of the prep work done for the dinners in peace.

Our new dryer arrived late yesterday evening. It's too big for the spot, so I'm hoping Mr. K can move the track for the bifold doors a couple inches out. If he can't, I think I'll need to make some kind of a curtain to hide the washer and dryer. I haven't even had the dryer 24 hours yet, and I've used it for two loads. I've got a third I want to get done before Mr. K comes home, and he will need to do two loads this evening (or one tonight and another tomorrow night) since he couldn't wash his clothes last Sunday.

Just for fun, I've added a picture of K taken around New Year's day.

Done at the Laundromat

The kids and I are back from the laundromat. It took me three quarters at about 10 minutes per quarter to get my stuff dry. Even though it was two loads of wash, it fit into one dryer easily. I also had to spend $0.75 on both N and J, buying them a can of pop at the vending machine. N dropped his on the floor so I made him wait until we were outdoors before he could open it. It sprayed everywhere, including his face. It was a good thing I had baby wipes in the diaper bag in my trunk.

There was a thin, obviously pregnant woman at the laundromat. I asked her when she was due. I'm not sure what her answer was, but it wasn't an answer to my question. I asked again in Spanish and found out she was due in March, it was her first baby, and that it was a boy. She asked if I was hispanic, I guess because I was speaking Spanish (although very poorly). It certainly wasn't because I look hispanic. I'd say I pretty much look like what I am for the most part--about of half British ancestry and half German ancestry. My coloring is much more Honey Wheeler going gray than anything else.

Anyway, I told her (of course all in Spanish) that I had studied Spanish in high school twenty years ago. She asked the name of my baby and told me Kate was beautiful. She introduced me to her sister who was doing laundry with her.

It was certainly interesting. Although I speak Spanish very poorly, I am so glad I can still speak it at all. Generally I only speak Spanish when I conclude someone's English is worse than my Spanish, which seldom happens. Otherwise communication in English is a much faster way to get things done for me.

I've got all my laundry put away now. Hopefully I can get a dryer in here before I need to do laundry again. Generally I do laundry ever day except Sunday, which is Mr. K's laundry day. Mr. K is talking of running clothes line in are basement to hang his stuff. Our basement has a very low ceiling. In places even I (5'6") hit my head on the beams. It's not in the least bit finished off. It has spiders, crickets, and occasionally frogs, snakes, and mice. Mr. K seems very opposed to going to the laundromat. Well, he'll probably find that a) his clothes aren't dry by morning if he tries to dry them down there, and b) everything needs ironing when it finally is dry. I'm hoping he'll either come up with a way to fix our own dryer or just run to the laundromat with his stuff if he decides to wash his loads. He may have enough clean clothing to hold out for an extra day or two, long enough to get a new dryer here. We'll see.

Appliance trouble again

Last night as I was drying some sheets, I smelled the burning smell of stuff being over-dried in the dryer. I checked my sheets, and they were still wet. I kept on drying, but kept an eye on the drier to be sure it didn't catch fire.

Later, I checked the sheets. They were cold and damp. I think the heating element on the dryer burned out. I also had a load in the washer. Now I have a damp load of sheets and a wet load. I've hung some ligher things (like pillow cases) up in a clothes line in my bedroom I ran between my vanity and my headboard. Anyway, after lunch N, J, K, and I need to go to the laundromat to see about drying my stuff in a dryer. This evening, when Mr. K is home from working on our rental, I'll need to go to Lowes or Home Depot and look into purchasing a new dryer.

This is very inconvenient (not that any time is convenient for a broken dryer). I think I know of a laundromat not far from here. Hopefully they'll have Sunday hours. I'll have to get N to push K in the stroller so I can carry the laundry basket full of wet clothing. If for some reason this laundromat is closed, I'll have to haul out the phone book and find another. I haven't ever been to a laundromat in Virginia. I've been fortunate. I think it's been about twelve years since I've gone to one. I love having my own washer and dryer.

How annoying

I was forced to create a Google account to get to my blog. I tried to use it yesterday, but I didn't have time to mess around with it. I really don't right now, either. The time I had planned to type was mostly spent creating the new account and trying to figure out how to get to the place where I can type.

We're having pretty cold weather. I think it was 19 °F while I was out with N, waiting for his schoolbus to pick him up. Instead of my usualy stretch pants I wear to the gym, I'm wearing some gaudy purple sweat pants, which are much warmer.

Mr. K made a fire in our wood-burning stove last night, and I went out yesterday and got a down comforter and a duvet cover. I think the cover might be a bit large, but I figured it was one of those things I could probably modify with my sewing machine if I found it impotant enough. The cover still needs to be washed and ironed, but I used the whole mess last night like an extra blanket and was quite warm. Also, I've pretty much always used bedspreads so I really don't know what I'm supposed to do with a comforter to make my bed.

Stick a fork in me...

Yesterday I tossed my copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting. I ran into it when I was getting a book off the bookshelf that mostly has the kids' books. I didn't even try to pass it on to anyone since it's left from N and has been updated since then. A lot of things in the book aren't accurate any more.

Then I got on the phone and I made an appointment for the end of February to meet with my ob/gyn about sterilization. I do not want to be changing diapers when I'm 40. I'll try to arrange an sterilzation surgery for a time when my mom can be here to watch the kids and drive me to the hospital and back.

When this is all done, Brenna (my cat) and I will have more in common. She can't have kittens.

Lots of running around

K and I just got done dropping J off at preschool and then going to the lawyer's office to meet up with Mr. K so we could sign our wills, living wills, and durable powers of attorney. That's done. Now we need to get a fireproof box large enough to hold legal-sized papers. Our state will only honor the original of a will so locking it up in a safe deposit box won't work because if Mr. K and I die together, our executor will need the original of the will to get the safe deposit box opened in a timely fashion. If the original of the will is in there, they won't be opening the safe deposit box any time soon. It's sort of like locking your keys in your car.

In order to try to get us to back an increase in the minimum wage, our church (Catholic) printed up something showing the median price of housing in the country, state, and area, and the wages needed to afford it. I don't back increasing minimum wage. Very few people make that little, and those that do only do for a short while. Mostly they are high-school kids starting their first job. Right now, Virginia has very low unemployment, and you just can't hire someone competent for minimum wage. The most interesting thing I saw in that sheet from the church is that our house is worth quite a lot less than the median value of a home in the area. I guess we're poor. I don't feel poor, but I sure don't feel rich.

Yesterday N's school was delayed two hours because of the ice we got during the night before. J's school was closed since hers closes if the local school is delayed or closed. K had a 9-month check-up that morning, and I had to take both kids with me. N was a little late to school since the time of K's appointment interfered with the revised start-time of his school.

K has an ear infection. I had no idea. I had noticed she's been crying in her sleep a bit in the night lately. I've gone in and found her wimpering while asleep. I just thought it was bad dreams. It was probably a sore ear. Now she's taking liquid amoxicillin and will have to go back to the doctor's in a couple weeks. If her ears are okay, she'll get the shots she was supposed to get at this appointment.

Stormy Weather

The kids and I were just at our new rental. We had to drive throught the sleet to get there. Mr. K doesn't have time to meet with plumbers to get estimates for what needs to be plumbed, so I had to go today so he could show me all the things I'll have to show the plumbers when I meet with them. I'm going to have a lot of trouble meeting with plumbers, too, because I only have small two-hour windows in which I can wait for them because of all the waiting for N's bus and hauling J to and from preschool I have to do. I may not find a plumber willing to deal with me. Also, there is no working plumbing there right now so there is no toilet to use while I wait.

After church but before the sleet started, I gathered three bags of kindling so we can have a fire if this becomes an ice storm that takes out our power. Our heat pump is electric. Ideally, it will just end up rain, and the roads will be fine tomorrow.

J is supposed to have a friend over after preschool tomorrow. That will be cancelled if there isn't school tomorrow. I'll have to figure out whether or not school closes. I just checked the bookmarked link I used last year, and now it is a dead link. I'll need to figure this out tonight so I can check quickly in the morning.

K has a 9-month checkup tomorrow morning so hopefully school will be on as planned. Otherwise I have to take all the kids with me to the doctor's office, and that's always miserable. Probably K will get some shots, and that will make her miserable enough.

I had a dream last night that I was using the computer, and K was in her mint green footy pajamas and she walked across the floor. I don't usually believe dreams predict the future, but I'm pretty sure this one does. ;)

Thanks, President Clinton

I see yesterday that China used a ballistic missle to blow up one of its old weather satellites. I imagine the missile guidance technology that President Clinton illegally sold to China in exchange for campaign contributions came in handy for that task.

It snowed today!

The weather got cold, and we had some snow today. It didn't accumulate at all, but it sure made J happy to see the snow. I'm not sure if N got to see any. It started around the time his bus probably got to school. If he was already in his classroom when it began, he'd have missed it since his classroom has no windows.

My nose started running again in the night. I wasn't quite over the last cold. I skipped play group this morning since I'm just not feeling up to it.

Instead, K and I went to Sam's Club where I was supposed to get AAA batteries, which I did. I also picked up over $60 of other things, such as frozen cod, frozen fruit, a bag of avacados, a bag of plums, trash bags, and dish washer detergent.

J's been invited to a friend's birthday party next month. I'll probably take her out to Target tomorrow to pick out a birthday present for her friend. As far as I can tell, it's her favorite friend at preschool; they never fight with each other. We've invited her friend over to play next week after school.

Once preschool is over for the summer, J will only see a few of the kids occasionally in her religious education program at church. None of the kids in her preschool class are going to attend her elementary school. They won't meet up again until middle school (if no one moves and if they don't switch the attendance boundaries--neither very likely). J's preschool is about five miles from our house, which I think is too far. I'll probably try to get K into something closer to our home (and located in or closer to the attendance zone for our elementary school). I won't worry about that, though, for a few more years.

We are having homemade (bread machine makes the dough) whole wheat dinner rolls for dinner, along with baked cod (from Sam's Club). I've been trying to find a good recipe online. What it comes down to is that I'll probably just wing it.

I don't think I remembered to post about it, but a few days ago (Sunday, I think), when I called my mom, she told me her boyfriend (he's 76) had proposed to her that morning and she had accepted. They haven't set a date or made any plans yet for their wedding except that he's going to be moving into her house. I think I'll be getting a some step-brothers and/or step-sisters, and I'll probably be a step-great aunt (or perhaps it's a great-great aunt since this fellow is a great-grandfather, I think). It doesn't matter much since as far as I know, they all live 700 miles away so I'll never know or see them.

None again

J has "Lunch Bunch" at preschool today. She'll be there until 2 p.m. I don't have any appointments today, and I'm not going to the gym, so I thought I'd get caught up on my bills and reconciling my checking account statements to the check book registers. Because of K needing attention and the phone ringing a lot, it took me over an hour and a half to get this done.

Then I took the bills to the post office to mail them while heading to the bank to deposit a check into one of Mr. K's accounts.

Finally I got to the mall to return one of J's birthday presents from an aunt. It had a cute hooded sweatshirt and pants. The pants were brown. J doesn't like athletic wear much, and she won't wear brown. When I got to the mall, I couldn't find the store. I went to the information desk and learned that the store had left quite a while ago (I don't shop much so I don't keep up on what is where). I borrowed a phone book and found the only place around that store remains is in a northern suburb. It would probably take me half an hour to get there. I have better things to do with my time and gas so I returned home with the outfit and put it in a box of clothing for K someday. Perhaps she won't mind brown pants and will be happy to have a brand new outfit for herself.

We've been having lovely warm weather lately. I think we got into the mid-70s yesterday. Today it's all over. I think it was about 65 °F this morning, and the temperature is dropping quickly. While I prefer the warmer weather, I really can't complain because we are right in the middle of winter.

J thinks she's a super hero named Fire. She's waiting for her super powers to come in. She'll be able to fly without wings. Then she's going to go to California and rescue the orange crop from the freezing weather that's destroying it. Then she's going to catch bad guys. J confuses me because we are so different.

None

I've got a moment at the computer. K is napping after a bottle, and J is quietly watching our Sleeping Beauty video. It's about her favorite Disney princess. I don't wish to discuss Disney princesses right now. It probably raises my blood pressure (not that I have blood pressure problems).

I'm in the middle of cooking some cod for lunch and baking some corn tortillas into tortilla chips (hopefully). N and J raided my bag of Tostitos, so now I have nothing to go with chili, and I'd like some for lunch tomorrow. This is a test run. I coated them with chili powder along with salt and oil, which will keep the kids from eating them, I think.

K had a checkup this morning. Unfortunately, I took her to the wrong office (her pediatrician has two offices). Now I've rescheduled her appointment for a couple weeks from now. I always do checkups at the office near me, so I just went there, forgetting that I'd had to reschedule her appointment a few weeks ago because the doctor needed to cancel, and for whatever reason, I picked the other office. I even had it written down properly on my calendar, but I didn't look because I never do checkups at the other office--only sick visits when I'm desperate to see any doctor anywhere.

Instead, K, J, and I went to the gym. They stayed in the child care area while I did my workout. I don't work out long or hard, but I do go very consistently--three times a week.

A friend of mine got me a carniverous plant terrarium kit for Christmas. I opened it and started it last night. Unfortunately, I found out that I'm supposed to keep the kit in the refrigerator for eight weeks before actaully trying to get the seeds to grow in the sun. It's about the size of a basketball. I don't have that kind of space in my fridge. My husband took it over to my neighbors (the one who always has a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other). I was hoping he had space in his fridge. He did. I don't think he keeps a lot more than beer in there. He has a full-sized fridge for just himself. Well, when I get it back in eight weeks, I'm hoping it won't smell so much like cigarette smoke that I can't keep it in the house. It was very nice of my neighbor to share his fridge space with me.

Sunday

I've got a quick moment at the computer. K is asleep in her carseat. She fell asleep on the way home from church. Mr. K has gone to retrieve N and J from Sunday School. He'll be back soon and the chaos will begin.

Mr. K spent all of yesterday (until dark) at our new rental house. It is in very bad shape. I'll see if I can post a picture to give an idea of what he's up to.

That room with the wall and part of the floor missing is the kitchen. There is no plumbing in the kitchen right now, and no cupboards (except the ones in boxes that I ordered and that Mr. K will install). It is true, I picked the worst wall in this photograph (no wall), but even where the walls are (most of the rest of the room), they'll need work. Anyway, Mr. K has a lot of work to do, and I can't help since I'm always watching the kids. This picture I took when N and J were at school. I brought K along, and I measured the kitchen so the person at Lowe's would have the measurements to work with while she tried to figured out which cupboard pieces we would need.

Mr. K will spend the afternoon at the rental, I expect. The kids and I will entertain each other. I'd like it if we cleaned the house up, but I seldom get assistance from them when I want to do that. I have some ice cream treats (the warm weather yesterday convinced me I needed some). I may bribe them with those to get the place picked up.

Another chance to work

I just got another call from the plant manager where I used to work. There is some reporting due March 1 and more yet due in July. They haven't found anyone they want as plant environmental engineer. The plant manager wanted to know if I'd be willing to do their March Ti*er II reporting and the July Tox*ic Rele*ase Invent*ory (TRI) through a temp agency. My work would be reviewed by their corporate enviromental person (whom I know) before the plant manager would sign it.

I really don't want to. Since I have K during the day still, it gets very hard for me to find computer time sometimes. Also, we only have one computer hooked to the Internet, and at times my husband ties it up with his own work all evening. Ti*er II is much easier than TRI. I could agree to do the one but not the other. I haven't followed environmental regulations for the past six years, though, and I don't know how much has changed and how the processes at the plant have changed.

I will think about it more than the last offer I had to return as an employee. I can figure out how much it's worth to me to go to the trouble, and include money to pay friends to watch K if I need to do that. If K were in preschool and J and N were in regular school, I could probably swing it.

I just don't know. I'd like to help them out, though, since I know they're in a bind. These reports must be turned in on time. You don't tell the government, "Sorry, we couldn't get to it because we didn't have an environmental manager at the time."

I don't even know how to guess how much time this would take up and how hard it will be to gather the needed information. I'd have to guess that and let them know so they'd approve enough money to pay both me and the temp agency.

I just don't know. I really don't want to with K so young. It's been rough in the evenings already at the times I have a lot to do for his business.