Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing

Back in May or maybe June, our dishwasher developed a problem.  It would continually try to add water.  It is as if the inlet valve never closes.  After some online research, it seems like a fairly common problem and probably related to our hard water.

Well, rather than bite the bullet on the repair, we employed our summer army (aka the three kiddos) with a rotating dish schedule.  It worked relatively well for the summer but now that school has started, the army is busy with schoolwork and extra curricular activities.  That means that Mom gets to wash a lot more dishes.  But I have discovered that if I draft one of the kids to be my helper, I get quite a lot accomplished.  Not only do I have clean and dry dishes, I also have an extended period of time in which to talk with the child.  And that is a gift!

Today I worked with my youngest DD.  She opened up about things happening at school and asked questions I might not have heard had it not been just me and her.

Day 20 - I am thankful

Some days it feels like I live behind the wheel in my van.  Today was one of those days.  Business meeting, kids to school and a workshop, kid to church, kid to the mall, pickup from mall to store and then home and last but not least, a pickup from church.  I'm sure I forgot an errand or two in there.  There was little time to create!

But I am thankful for time spent, one on one with my kids.  They are captive in the vehicle with me and we have some wonderful conversations while I am driving.  It takes practice to draw information out of a 13 year old boy but the van is a great place for it.

Funny things they say

I was getting in the car last night with my oldest DD when I heard a familiar song on the radio. It was Rock This Town Tonight and so I said, "Oooh, Stray Cats!" Her reply? "Where?"

Love my kids!

Revisiting the Grand Experiment

I want to take a moment to revisit my earlier post http://seekinginacrazyworld.blogspot.com/2010/09/grand-experiment.html
where I discuss cutting off the cable. We are now 6 months out and still doing great. Instead of a pc box in the master bedroom, a new hdtv (small mind you) found its way to the room. It allows us to watch netflix via the internet. And then at Christmas, Santa brought the DH an HD antenna so that we could watch broadcast TV again. Perfect! The new combo gives us access to news and weather quickly and who knew there were so many new channels out there!

As for the other benefit of the Grand Experiment, well that seems to have diminished somewhat. DS has taken to playing more computer games, specifically MineCraft, and we have to limit the computer time for him.

In all, I still consider the Grand Experiment to be a success. We saved money and have truly not missed what cable brought us in terms of content.

Blessings

This year, Christmas was marked with many blessings for our family! Health is definitely near the top of my list of blessings. But probably at the top is our family. The children have been so sweet this year! When I asked Rob how his Christmas was he answered that it was great. His specific list was a new phone, Jesus and snow! I think our children realize that the truly important event is the birth of Christ, not just a bunch of presents.

I wish there had been more time to prepare for Christmas this year! I felt overwhelmed by a project I took on and wished that I did not have it looming over me so much. Oh well! Next year should be better. Now we will be working toward Fiddler on the Roof and maybe The Mikado too. I hope to get things going creatively again too. It must be time to start thinking about resolutions again. Hmmm. Going to have to work on those this week. I'll get back with you!

The Grand Experiment

We began our grand experiment a month ago. While it might sound like a noble cause, it really all came down to our budget which we wanted to tighten up a bit. So after much consideration and discussion, we called the cable company and turned off our cable TV. At the same time, we ordered a free month of netflix. It took the cable company quite a while to come out to the house to turn it off. I was beginning to think they had forgotten about the order it took so long! Netflix started right away and we took only 1 disk at a time so that we could have the entire month free. Now we have upgraded to 2 at a time. We still are saving about $45 a month on this arrangement. But the best thing is the improvement we have seen in the attitude of our son! It is like night and day! He does his chores (usually) without reminding. He is pleasant most mornings too! It is such a joy!

The funniest part of the experiment is walking into the bedroom to find my DH staring at the blank screen which is that tv. We do not have tv in that room for now. He is working to put a netflix compatible pc in there but it hasn't happened yet so all he has is the blank screen of the old tv! I think we have all enjoyed netflix and hulu is another great source of entertainment for us. I would highly recommend the grand experiment for other families. And if you try it, I would like to know how things turn out for you a month down the road!

Update: Read more here!