House Woes

When I walked into the house from my weekend in L.A., I was greeted by a nasty smell. I spent a good part of Monday searching for the smell. I cleaned everything that I could think of that could produce the odor. No luck. On Tuesday, I cleaned bathrooms and the carpets while searching for the smell. On Wednesday, I thought I had become victor over the smell since I wasn't smelling it anymore. Actually, I was fearing that I'd adjusted to the smell and couldn't detect it anymore. Today I found it.

A week and a half ago, Jonathan told me his carpet was smelly. I had him clean the area with Folex. It didn't seem to help much, so I had him clean the area again. Then we went to L.A. Jonathan, out of courtesy for those who remained at home, shut his bedroom door to trap the stink. Upon return from L.A. Jonathan applied Fabreeze to his carpet, and nothing was helping. Yesterday, I went down to Jonathan's room to investigate that odor. I stepped through his doorway and my sock was immediately saturated with water. I poked through the laundry on his floor and found a soaking wet towel, shirt, and pair of unmentionables. I was not happy with him. I asked him how everything got so wet. He didn't know. I lectured him about leaving wet things on the floor and made a new rule that no clothing could ever be left on the floor again. Jonathan was very apologetic. I cleaned up the water, left a fan blowing, then spread baking soda all over the now dry "wet spot". Today I went downstairs to vacuum up the baking soda and Jonathan's carpet was soaking wet again. Finally I got smart and opened the utility closet and found a leaking water heater. Ugh. I called the plumber who was here within an hour and found that we had a cracked spigot. He replaced it and referred me to a disaster clean up specialist. Mr. Disaster Clean-up came over and gave us an estimate to disinfect everything, replace the carpet pad, and have the carpet re-stretched. He'll be back in the morning. Tonight we get to remove everything from Jonathan's room. On the bright side, the water heater was repairable, Jonathan's room will be clean when all this is over, and perhaps I'll be getting new carpet sooner than I expected.

Getting My Boys Up in the Morning

It's a challenge to get 2 of my 3 boys up and moving in the morning. Nolan wins the "easy waker-upper award"; both Jonathan and Miles are a different story. Independently, each wakes up easily on his own, but when I have to get them up it's a different story. When I wake Jonathan up, he greets me with a grunt. I have to prod him repeatedly to get him going. Today I had to get Miles up. He responded with "I'm sleeping". I told him again that he needed to wake up. Again he told me, "I'm sleeping". I told him it was a school day and he needed to get dressed. Repeatedly he told me, "I'm sleeping". Eventually I won because, unlike Jonathan, I can physically remove Miles from the bed.

Band Tour 2012

Last weekend was band tour! I went along as a chaperone. It was fun! We were over capacity for the buses so I got to ride in a minivan- so much more comfortable and quieter than the bus! Last Wednesday we left after 7 p.m. and went as far a St. George. The next day the students had a clinic at Dixie State, then we headed out for Irvine. It was a boring drive until one of the buses broke down in Victorville. Half of the students were stranded there at an AM/PM mini-mart for 5 hours until the other bus could get its load of students to Irvine, then turn around and rescue the kids stuck in Victorville. Lucky Jonathan was stuck at the gas station. The next morning we got up and headed to Disneyland. The students performed in the park before spending the rest of the day playing. I got to have an adventure before the band played. The tenor sax player took his instrument out of his case and remembered that he'd given the neck of his instrument to Mr. Morris in St. George because it needed a repair. We'd fixed the neck in St. George, but the neck was in the van. I got to go on a mad-dash tour of the Disneyland back lot as we (me, Alyssa Morris, and the Disneyland chaperone) rushed to get the sax neck. Unfortunately, Mr. Morris couldn't remember where he parked the car. He remembered that there was a Mickey Mouse on the wall, but that was it. Our Disney chaperone asked Mr. Morris some questions that narrowed the region of the parking lot we had to search. Each of us ran down an aisle while Alyssa pushed the "panic" button on the keys. We were nearly out of time when I found the van! We grabbed the instrument part and rushed back. The band had taken the stage and the orchestra was wrapping up their last piece when we got there. Yipee! After the performance we enjoyed a gorgeous day at Disneyland (and I discovered how much fun Disneyland is without children!). The next day, the students had a clinic in the Disney recording studio where they accompanied animation. They thought it was cool. Then it was more play time in the park. The park closed; the students loaded the buses and started the long drive home. Me? I got to go back to the hotel and sleep! The van riders got up late, left around noon, had lunch in Las Vegas, and got home around 12:30 a.m. Monday morning.

Exhausting? Yes. Fun? Definitely. Will I go again? I've already reserved my spot for the (hopefully) New York City trip next year!

I Took a Nap Today

There's nothing like a warm room, comfortable chair, and a boring meeting to seduce me into a nap. Unfortunately, it was during my School Community Council meeting at the junior high.

Sentences

I was gone for several days last week. I was a chaperone for the band/choir Disneyland tour. More on that later though. I hadn't talked with Miles since Wednesday evening. He had a speech progress explosion while I was gone. He is talking in complete sentences! Jonathan even noticed- he observed that Miles is using a subject and a verb when speaking! He also is speaking much more clearly and trying to enunciate syllables! I'm really excited about the growth that occurred while I was gone. Of course, it makes me wonder "why" on the timing. I think a part of it may be that I do too much for him so he doesn't have to talk. I am good at anticipating his wants/needs, but since I was gone for 4.5 days, he had to rely more on himself to have his desires met. Whatever the stimulus for this change, I am grateful!

Uneventful Weekend

Guess what we did this weekend? Nothing much.

Friday- Nolan worked a shift at the Space Center. Jonathan went to Youth Conference.

Saturday- Nolan went to a merit badge Pow Wow. Miles and Dan went swimming. I went to Costco. Nolan and Dan went to the symphony. Jonathan came home late. All the "labor" on Nolan's Eagle Project was completed!

Sunday- We all went to church. Jonathan was called as a youth organist; he'll play once every-other-month. Nolan went on some visits. He practiced the piano. Jonathan finished reading The Jungle. Jonathan and Nolan went to waffle night. I made bread. I made Tarka Dhal for dinner. Dan's playing the violin. Miles is splitting his time between 2 TVs- one is playing Monsters, Inc., the other is playing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Can it get any more exciting?

Breakfast= Texas Sheet Cake & Diet Coke

What a way to start my day. At least it was yummy (and the diet coke was caffeine free).

Last night was region solo/ensemble and Jonathan's school hosted the event. I was asked to coordinate the parent volunteers and organize a meal for the band directors, judges, and volunteers. The night went smoothly, but I was busy and am in "recovery" mode, hence my awesome breakfast. Dinner was Subway sandwiches (which I picked up in March, but ordered and paid for in February so I could get them for $5 each), veggies, fruit salad, and 3 desserts (Samoa bars, Ginger cookies, and my breakfast...Texas Sheet Cake). Band directors eat a lot, a lot of carbs! The sandwiches and most of the desserts were gone, but lots of veggies and salad remained. Some students helped out with the food consumption a bit too. Anyway, 6.5 hours after I arrived at the school, I got to go home! It was good being busy, but today I am tired and have the mess to attack at my house.

Oh, and Jonathan made State!