Odd week

This week has been an odd week.  I’m not sure what really constitutes ‘normal’ around here but this week was not on the normal curve of things.  Bill and I went up to my mom’s house on Saturday where we met my sister and we proceeded to further clear out stuff so we can sell the house.  I don’t know why I always get ‘talked into’ taking more stuff every time I go up there but I did.  We had originally planned on bringing home the glass top for the desk that we brought home a few months ago – we had forgotten it the last time we were up there.  But somehow we ended up bringing home a whole pickup load of stuff and there is still a pile in the dining room at mom’s house yet to get.  How does this happen?

I was really hoping to get the rest of everything cleared out so that we can start the selling process but alas, while we got a lot done, there is still things that need to be taken out and cleaning up to do.  We are planning on auctioning the house and contents (what is left) so we have to now go through websites of a few auction houses in the area to find one that will come out to the house to auction it off.  I really think we will get the quickest sell this way as this is a little town at the corner of No and Where in Illinois and no one has any money these days to pay full market price.  The house needs work so I don’t feel too bad letting it go for less.

Got home on Sunday night and as we were turning into the subdivision Austen’s car was sitting out in the middle of the cul-de-sac and Aubri was trying to call me on the cell phone.  Seems his power steering was out and they both needed to be at work.  Just after we pulled into the drive, Erik and Meghan pulled up in Meghan’s car and Erik hopped out and ran into the house to change his Cardinal shirt (they had been to the Cardinal game) into his Racanelli’s shirt and he took Aubri to work and covered Austen’s shift.  That brought Erik home after 10 and he was supposed to drive back to school that evening but I convinced him to sleep over and drive back in the morning – 5 hours starting at 11:00 is too late in my opinion!

Erik got back to school ok the next day and Austen started his quest to find out what was wrong with the car.  He drove it over to Dobbs auto (I hate that place but it’s close) and they didn’t call him back until Tuesday morning with the bad news that it was the power steering pump and they would have to replace the entire assembly at a cost of $1100!  Wow!  Bill suggested he check to see if it was still under warranty and since he also thought the part was a dealer only part that it might actually be less expensive to take it to the Mazda dealership and see what they could do.  Unfortunately the warranty expired last month (figures) and the cost will be about the same since they have to work on some electrical stuff as well.

So, Tuesday evening when I got off work, I picked Austen up from the dealership and took him to Enterprise rent-a-car.  Now Randy used to work at Enterprise and we have never had so much trouble renting a car before – I even used them in South Caroline in August when we went to Tom’s graduation with no trouble but jeeeze!  These people wanted a pint of blood and my firstborn male child just to rent a car for 3 days!  Seems that a debit card is not good enough to rent a car- you have to have a credit card or fill out a resume of your finances in triplicate!  I was not at all happy with them but Austen needed a car so we did it.  They had promised him a compact car but when we got there they had NO CARS so they gave him a Chevy Colorado for the same price.  Austen didn’t really care what car it was as long as it got him to work.

So I left Enterprise, stopped at Weight Watchers to weigh in and then was off to Cahokia Mounds for a memorial service.  I posted about that earlier this week so I’ll leave those details out for now but I did get to see some folks I haven’t gotten to see in a while so that was nice and we all went to Cracker Barrel afterwards for dinner and really had a nice relaxing conversation.

Today I have to make the rounds to the Electric Company to pay the bill, go to the bank, and then class tonight.  Bill is pulling the trailer up some time today so that we can leave in the morning for Columbia MO for a weekend camping festival and hand fasting of some friends.  More seeing of folks not seen in a while – hopefully we have a stress free and relaxing weekend – although the weather forecast is for rain all weekend!

Hello and weekend update

I've come from Live Journal.  They have been down for 3 days and that's just not acceptable!  So here I am.  I'll try to get all my old posts from there over to here soon but until then - here I am!  :) 

This weekend really had some ups and downs.  Friday night seemed like everything that could happen did but it all turned out good. 

(bear with me - on LJ I would have put a cut here so that you didn't have to see everything unless you wanted too - but I don't know how to do that here yet so until then you get it all!  *smile* )

Friday afternoon – stopped by my friend Cheri's house and plundered her garden while I was there.  On the way to Farmington from her house I saw a momma turkey and one chick cross the road in front of me.  They jumped into the verge on the other side and disappeared into the woods.

Friday night – after stopping in Farmington to have dinner with Bill and a trip to Wal-Mart for some groceries, on the way to his house I hit a deer.  Yes, it jumped right out in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it.  I thought I had killed it but Bill said it jumped up and ran like the wind off into the woods.  I don’t know if it went off and died later or if it was just bruised but it certainly did damage to my Escape. 

I took these pictures on Saturday morning since it was dark and we couldn’t really see what the total damage was yet. 

Of course I was upset at hitting the deer and I couldn’t drive very fast on the way home because we didn’t know if the hood would pop up so when I had a small raccoon run out in front of me on the drive back to Bill’s, I was able to swerve around him and miss him.  What was it with animals trying to commit suicide in front of me!

Then we went into Fredericktown to try to find some of the things on my grocery list that they didn’t have at Wal-Mart the night before – nothing.  This is a small town and I realize that they aren’t quite in the 20^th century yet but pita bread?  They had never heard of it before!  (OMG where am I moving to?)  I wasn’t surprised then that they didn’t have the meat either.  I can get it frozen in my grocery story (they don’t have fresh) and it’s acceptable.  They also didn’t have shallots or swish chard.  *sigh*

So, my meal plans got all re-arranged this weekend but I did manage to stay within my points (weight watchers) and was able to have pizza when I got home last night.

Bill had the trench dug for the electric wire coming from the pole to the house on Friday.

So we picked went to get the wire and a breaker box on Saturday while we were in town but we couldn’t pick up the wire because the owner of the hardware store had to move the fork lift and in order to move that he had to move his pickup truck – which had a flat.  So, they changed the flat on the truck and delivered the wire about 3:00.  There are some advantages to living in a small community – one they trust you to take the wire home, cut what you want and bring back the roll – that is unless they have a flat on the pickup truck!  LOL  But the kid that brought it out helped Bill get it rolled out into the trench – we gave him a Gatorade and sat in the shade for a few minutes (Bill and he talking as men do when they have a few minutes in the shade) and the he was on his way.

(Here Bill is tieing the wire to the mule so that he can pull it with the mule the rest of the way - that wire is heavy!)

It was so hot that we took a break for dinner after they got the wire laid – besides it looked (and sounded) like it was going to rain.   So I went back to the house and cooked dinner.  After dinner and by the time it cooled off enough to think about working on the wire it was dark. 

Sunday we went out to hook up the box and the wire to the pole.  Bill had to cut the floor so that he could run the wire under the shop and up to the box.

As we were driving the mule up to the property we were noticing the sky was getting dark and there were some rumbles off in the distance.  The day before when it had looked like that we got maybe a half dozen drops and that was it so we didn’t think much about the impending rain…. Until it started to sprinkle and the wind picked up.  We had opened all the windows in the shop to let the breeze blow through and as Bill stood up and looked out one of the windows he commented that we probably should think about going back up to the house.  I looked out said window and saw the rain coming across the field and said if we were going we better go now.

So we closed all the windows and jumped on the mule as big fat wet drops started to fall and the wind really picked up.  Strangely as we drove madly down the road toward Bill’s house the rain let up a bit and the wind dyed down but not enough that it actually stopped so we kept going.  We put the mule away, closed the doors and ran into the house just as the storm broke.  Big booms, trees blowing over sideways, rain so hard you could hardly see – yeah, we made it just in time!

The rain was certainly needed and it brought in much cooler air but once it was over and we went back up to the property – the trench was full of water and there would be no working on electricity that day! 

Bill called me later last night when I got home and told me that the rain soaked in very fast – the trench was still a little muddy but the water had gone down so he was working last night at putting the breaker box up and snaking the wire through the conduit into the shop.  By this afternoon, we should have power!    Woo Hoo!

He’s going to call the well guys this week to have them come out and check the well.  Maybe by this weekend we can have water in the shop too!

Oh and I almost forgot – I finally got to try fried green tomatoes.

I like them!