Curve Ball

Life is always throwing curve balls when you least expect them.  The day before yesterday it snowed all day here.  Very nasty.  When I got up at 5:00 a.m. to start the truck there was about 2 or 3 inches on the ground already.  We woke up late so Hubby was late leaving for work.  It kept snowing, and eventually  I decided to take the truck to the store to get a few things in the hopes that I would not have to go back out later when it iced over.  I get to the store fine, get what I can because they didn't have what I wanted at the little store, and head back to the trailer.  To get to the trailer you have to drive up a very large hill.  I did not put the truck in 4 wheel drive like I should have.  Three fourths of the way up the hill there is a 90 degree turn.  In that turn there is a lot of ice.  The truck slid a little down the hill and into the grass.  I would say there was a ditch, but the trench was not even as wide as the tires on the truck.  Remember the truck is a standard 2500 Dodge Ram, big truck that I don't like to drive.  I have very little experience, lets say none, with driving this large of a vehicle or a standard vehicle of any kind in less than sunny weather.  I am a small automatic car type girl.  The mini van feels huge to me. Back to the story....I put the truck in reverse, then first and am getting nowhere.  I put it in 4WD and try again.  It slides a little back.  Fast forward now and after about 10 very frustrating minutes I finally am able to drive the truck up the hill and park in front of the trailer.  I get out to check and make sure I didn't mess the truck up, and it looks fine.  I haven't left the trailer since.  The weather only got worse from there.  After the snow, it iced.  The rest of the day was ice.  James didn't get home until late.  I was secretly a little worried because of the deer and the road conditions and that he was late leaving, so was very relieved when he got home at about 11:00 p.m..  That would be Tuesday I think, so Wednesday was rainy all day until about 3 in the afternoon, when it started to snow.  There was a lot of slush on the roads and now it was getting cold enough to freeze.  Some time in the last couple of days, Hubby tells me that the rear brakes are going out on "Little Red" and he needs to get them in.  I am calling places Wednesday to find a place to get that done.  Since the weather is bad, I found a place that said they could get it done whenever he came in because they were not busy.  Hubby is a very good driver, even though he makes me a little nervous sometimes.  He is not as cautious as I am, but he is very competent.  I am still a little worried about the road conditions and the brakes.  About, 4:00 I hear foot steps crunching up to the trailer.  The snow has started to get that little crust of ice on it now.  In comes Hubby with one of the guys from work.  He had to get a ride because "Little Red" broke down.  Thankfully, this man was leading Hubby to the brake shop, so he didn't have to sit on the side of the road and wait.  Hubby called to have the truck towed to the shop.  This morning he took "Blacky" to work.  I don't know why he names them, but he does.  We are at the trailer with no way to leave except for by foot.  We have food, drink, heat, and each other, with plenty of things to do.  Hubby is back on 16 hour days, so if I would have taken him to work I would have had to go get him at like 11 or 12 at night.  Also, since there is no cell service, I would have had to stay with the computer so he could call when he was done.  I wish sometimes I had a better sense of time.  My stories seem crooked sometimes because I remember things later that I forgot to put it.  Bear with me.  The most important thing is that we will not be flying back on Feb 1st.  I am a little bumbed because I was all ready to come home.  I even had some of out stuff packed.  We were planning on sending a lot of stuff back UPS so we didn't have to pay extra at the airport.  I had school books packed away (they weigh the most) and was getting clothes in a suitcase when Hubby called.  I forgot about the people who have to come fix the fridge and heater. We have heat and fridge works, they just need some work so they will work better.  Hubby can't take off work for the people to come out, so.......As I was packing, Hubby called and we discussed the brake stuff and he was gonna call the fridge and heater guy.  Then he says, "I know you are probably gonna be upset, but can you change your ticket to the following Sunday?"  I am glad I can be here to help him, but he worked last Sunday and might have to work this one too, and we don't get to see him much.  I guess that is when he needs me most.  I will have to change my doctor appointment, again.  It is now about a month later than I was supposed to see them.  So, I called to see about changing our tickets.  This usually costs at least $100 a ticket (100+the difference in cost x 3).  The cost of the tickets were the same, and since the kids were flying free, it didn't cost anything to change their tickets.  I changed all three tickets for $100.  That was a good deal.  Flight times are the same, just a week later.  

Prayer Request:

1. Safety for Hubby while at work and driving

2. That I will use my time here wisely and that it will be fruitful and good.  Also, that God uses it for his purpose.
3. That all things can be taken care of in the time that we are here

4. That God will work in my heart (I am a little upset about not being able to leave.  I miss home and everyone there.  Mostly selfishness)

5. When I get back all is well with the doctor appointment.  (I am concerned because I am putting it off so long)

6. There are no more unexpected curve balls, or that God gives me the clarity to handle them

7. My attitude, especially with the kids, I seem to be more frustrated because MY plans are not working out

Praise Request:

1. Praise my driving skill, or God's help in that situation

2. safety thus far in travel

3. that I am able to be a light to my husband and that our time has been good overall 

4. that I am able to communicate through the computer with all of you

5. For James 1:2-5

Packing habits

I was going through clothes at the trailer and getting ready to pack things up again.  It occurred to me that my packing habits have changed.  I used to pack enough clothes for a month when I was going on a 3 day trip.  I was always sure that I had plenty of clothes, in case something came up.  Now, when I was going through my clothes that I had brought with me I noticed the exact opposite.  The plan was to be here for about 3 weeks.  I packed 6 T-shirts, 3 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of shorts,  5 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of underwear, and one bra.  What was I thinking.  It is snowing, rainy and very cold.  We had one nice day the whole time here.  I should have packed at least one sweat shirt.  I don't know why I brought the shorts.  It wasn't nice enough on the one day to wear them, and it is too cool in the morning to put them on.  Maybe it was wishful thinking.  I can currently find 3 pairs of socks.  Even at this moment, I am wearing a pair of Hubby's socks.  Don't tell him.  Who in their right mind only packs 3 pair of underwear and one bra????  I have to wonder what I was thinking when I look at what I packed.  Good thing I have a wash machine here so I can do laundry everyday.  The 3 pairs of jeans were the total amount of jeans that I currently own after I subtract the ones that don't fit, the ones that have holes in places I haven't patched yet, and the two pairs that I wore before I left on the plain.  It will be easy to pack things back up.  I guess the fact that I packed for two extra people and still ended up with the same amount of luggage as I would have when I was a teen, is a little humorous.

Which came first?

I was at the grocery store in Blacksville, WV yesterday.  A gentleman walks in and gets a carton of eggs.  I am looking at the meat counter, trying to decide between turkey or ham for Hubby's lunch.  The lady who works the meat counter must have seen the man before.  He is probably from the town and is in there often.  As he picks up the carton of eggs he says "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" to the lady behind the counter.  She says to him "I'm not sure.  The jury is still out on that one".  The man gets his eggs, and leaves.  There was another lady behind the counter and she asks Lady A, "so, which came first?".  Thinking this was odd since she just answered the question, I kept listening.  Lady A says, "I think the chicken came first.". Lady B says "where did it come from? Thin air?".  Then Lady A says "Yes".  And the subject was dropped.  I tell you this little story to get to my point.  I never realized what a loaded question that was.  When I was a kid that was the funniest thing.  You ask someone and they say "the egg", then you say "then where did it come from", then they say "the chicken", then you say "then where did it come from", then you both go on like this for a while and then laugh uncontrollably at the ridiculous question.  It was like a joke.  I don't think that anyone really claims to have it figured out.  It's complex, yet very simple.  Recently I figured out what makes it such a difficult question to answer.  I would say with in the last 5 years.  The question itself is not what it appears to be.  Aristotle (384-320 BC) himself was perplexed by this question.  The reason this question is so difficult is because of the religious or faith base of the answer.  It is the ultimate Science vs. Evolution question.  Did the chicken evolve into a chicken before it hatched, thus the egg comes before the chicken.  Or did God simply create the chicken, which then did what God commanded in Genesis 1:22 "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."  Thus, the chicken came before the egg.  As a child, I never understood the complexity of answering this question.  I believe that Lady A in the story may have believed that the chicken came first because God says so.  I also believe that there were one of two reasons that she didn't answer the man, 1. by answering him she would have then been into a lengthy conversation with a man who would continue to draw it out into a debate, or 2. she did not wish to share her religious beliefs with a customer while at work.  I am convinced that she knew the man and based her reply on what she knew of him.  I also think that in many a work places it is frowned on to speak about your faith in such a manner while you are working.  As for which came first.....I am a chicken came first girl myself.  You decide for yourself.  The fact is this.....God could have done either way.  However He wanted it.  Maybe He did it this way, because He knew what would happen.  Which came first, the fish or the egg, the human or the egg (yes we do), the duck or the egg.....The fact is it wouldn't matter how God did it, the fact is He did.  If we somehow figured out which was first in the chicken/egg question, it wouldn't change the course of the universe.  If you are ever asked the which came first question, and don't know what to say, you can always use the alphabet.  Chicken starts with C and Egg starts with E, so C comes before E, Chicken comes first.  

That is enough deep thought for one day.  Enjoy your day.  Spring will be here soon (I hope).

It's a God thing, Propane Hunt

It is Monday, and I remembered to take my medicine yesterday.  We went on a propane hunt yesterday.  We were out of propane when we got up in the morning.  We use that for heat and for cooking.  We also have electric heaters plugged in.  Even though there was no propane heat, you don't have to worry about anyone getting cold.  There was plenty of heat.  We went to town for breakfast and had a hard time finding a full propane bottle on a Sunday.  My hubby had bought a bigger bottle, so we really just needed to find a place to fill it.  I think we decided that I would just go in today and get the propane bottle we had filled, because we didn't take the empty one with us.  We ended up at Lowe's.  Lowe's has the big propane bottles, but no propane.  There is a place called AirGas that we usually get our propane from, but they are not open on Sunday.  So we bought an empty tank and drove for about 30 miles to get propane in it.  We are about 10 or 20 miles farther than we got propane.  About 40 or 50 miles from the propane back to the trailer.  On the way, we stopped at the grocery store and got some food to cook for the next couple of days.  The freezer is full of fish sticks, so there is not much room for other things in the freezer.  Whatever we buy we have to cook pretty soon.  We get back to the trailer.  While we were gone, a breaker blew in the trailer.  That means that the heater we had on wasn't on.  I flipped the breaker while Hubby got the propane tank out of the truck.  Then the other heater wouldn't come on.  It is plugged into the cord that we plug our washer into that runs outside so we don't blow breakers in the trailer and I can wash and have the air and stuff on.  I go out to check the outside breaker.  I tell Hubby as I step out the door and he goes around to check it.  He says the 110 plug is shot.  So I walk over to the house of the people who own the place and tell the Hubby there that the 110 is not working.  So, he said he would be over in a bit.  He and my Hubby stand outside for a while trying to figure the problem and how to fix it.  I went inside with the kids and to start on supper, now that we have propane.  Hubby comes in and tells me that the other Hubby will be back tomorrow (probably when there is light) to fix the 110 issue.  I was planning on going to do up a lot of laundry today because when Hubby is off work for 3 and 1/2 days of the week (Thursday, Friday, 1/2 of Saturday, and Sunday) nothing gets done with the laundry except adding to it.  I can get 4 little loads done in that little machine a day if I keep on top of it.  I have to wash and then dry, and can't do both at the same time.  It's one hour for washing and two hours to dry a load of clothes.  Total time is about 3 hours a load.  I thought if I could go to the laundry mat down the road, I could just get it all done and then I would be caught up.  Then I would only have to do one or two loads a day.  So I get up this morning at 4:30 a.m., go out to start the little red truck that Hubby drives to work.  It won't start.  Not at all.  I come back in.  Hubby says to try some special trick.  I go do the "special" thing, and still it won't start.  I come back in to get the keys for the black truck.  (Both trucks are standard, the black one is diesel so I can drive it)  I go out to get it started so it can warm up.  It starts up fine.  I come back in, get the coffee ready, get all of Hubby's stuff together.  By then he is out of the shower and dressed.  He goes out and tries to start the red truck.  It still won't start.  So he is taking the black truck to work.  I can not drive the red truck.  I know this not because I have tried, but because I have a hard time driving the black truck and Hubby has (what looks like to me) a hard time with the red truck.  So I will not be going to the laundry mat today to wash clothes.  It is a good thing also that we got propane yesterday.  We had talked about getting another tank so that we could have one ready and take one to be filled, just in case this would happen again.  We were hoping to wait until Friday.  We decided though that we would wait until Friday to get the other one filled and then we should be good.  It isn't supposed to be as cold this week as it was last, I don't think.  So the kids and I will be sitting at the trailer today, doing school work and relaxing.  It is also a good thing that we picked up some groceries last night so that we would have something to eat for supper tonight, since I won't be going to the store.  Then yesterday when we came back from town we say an accident.  The roads are really curvy here and it had been snowing all day.  The temp was right around 32 degrees, so most of the snow melted, as soon as it hit.  As it got later, it got colder, and all of that wet on the roads began to freeze.  There was a little white some kind of car (not a big car or SUV, or mini van) upside down on the side of the mountain.  Thank God it was on the correct side.  Had it rolled in the other direction it would have rolled down the mountain a little ways and into and icy creek/river.  The drop to the water was about as tall as a two story house, maybe a little more.  They call it Dunkard Creek, but the water is up and it is more of a river right now, I think.  This little car was on it's top, in a ditch that was as deep and wide as something the kids could dig, and right up against the side of the mountain.  They had firetrucks and tow trucks and I think an ambulance, and 3 or 4 police cars.  It appeared to be a one car accident.  I appeared that everyone was okay.  Lots of people were walking around, not in a hurry or anything.  I wonder if the people in that car realize how lucky they were?  Other than that, we had a pretty uneventful weekend.  We watched the Steelers game last night.  Hubby watched it, and I worked on the afghan for him.  I am almost half way done.  I am not sure that it is going to be as big as I thought.  We will have to see.  Two more weeks and we will be coming home.  Silly us, flying on SuperBowl Sunday.  I didn't realize until Hubby was talking to a friend about the Steelers game.  Hubby thought we flew back on the 8th, and I told him it was not.  He doesn't want to miss the SuperBowl so we will have to see when it is and what we can do about it.  There is a hotel attached to the airport, so maybe we will get a room the night before.  We will have to see.  Seester left me a voicemail that I got yesterday.  I should send her an email so she knows I got it.

broken dish, backed up toilet, and snow on a mountaintop

This morning started much like any other morning.  Until my 4th cup of coffee.  The toilet was backed up.  Since we are in a trailer, we can't just turn off the water in the bathroom.  You have to turn off all the water to the trailer.  Then I had to snake the drain.  You can't use a plunger because there is a big hole before the pipe.  So I turned the water off and tried to snake the tube.  I worked on this for a total of about 2 hours.  I called my husband a couple of times.  His first advice was to drain the holding tank.  I did that and snaked some more.  Then he said that he would take care of it when he got home.  This was before noon.  Then my toilet fixing savior came to my rescue.  Hubby came home from work to fix the toilet.  So then I am waiting on the dish people to come again to fix the dish.  We spent about 45 minutes on the phone with dish trying to get it figured out right.  Finally, we got it straightened out, and now I patiently wait for them to show up.  Did I mention that it has been snowing today?  When I went outside to turn the water off, I had to kneel in the snow and mud.  My jeans are filthy and it was cold.  Then the snow melted a little and there was mud.  Now it is snowing again.  It is pretty, but I prefer Spring or Fall.  I took the truck to town today to get some groceries and all survived.  Tomorrow we might venture into the big city again and see how well I do.  Wish me luck!!

Safely and Soundly

We have arrived in West Virginia safely and soundly. The flights were fine. The first left a little early and so we landed like 25 minutes early. We had about 25 minutes to wait for out next flight. Just enough time for everyone to use the bathroom and stretch a little. Our second flight was also a little early. I think we landed about 20 minutes earlier than we were supposed to. The king picked us up at the airport. We went out to eat and then drove back to West Virginia from Pittsburgh. We are supposed to be expecting a snow storm in the next couple of days. The Sears guy came and fixed the wash machine, so I am testing it out. It will get a lot of testing in the next couple of days. The people from dish should be here tomorrow and then that will be fixed. I am working on a shopping list so that when we pick up Hubby from work tonight we can get some shopping done. Two of the three suitcases are unpacked. That just means that everything is out of them, not that everything is put away.

I now have a myspace page, a facebook page, and this blogger. I am not very good at keeping up with any of them. Maybe I will have a little extra time some day. For now it is just good to talk to people that I don't normally get to talk to much. It's nice when it is email, because I can do it when I have time. Much to do, and not much time, so I must get back to work. Have a good day!

Happy New Year!!!!

What a blessing it is to be able to say Happy New Year!!!  Atleast it is starting off happy.  Some people can't even say Happy New Year, or even think it is that Happy to begin with.  I for one am thankful that I am here to say it.  The only other place to be would be Heaven, I am thinking that would be one rockin' party!  We toasted in the New Year with my mom, oldest younger brother and his family (wife, daughter, son).  We bought 3 bottles of bubbly.  Since the four that are old enough to drink don't really drink it was of course sparkling juice of some kind.  We had 3 different flavors.  The kids sure think they are big though.  We had the fancy glasses and the fancy bottle of bubbly.  We had noise makers and party hats and crowns.  We even had confetti.  We stayed up late and watched the ball drop in New York.  If it wasn't for all the noise, I probably wouldn't have made it.  At 12:00 New York time we went outside (so we didn't make a mess in the house) and threw confetti and made a lot of noise.  All of the kids thought this was just wonderful.  Then we came back in and took pictures of our New Year party attire.  It was a lot of fun!  Then my niece wanted to stay over at our house, so of course Prince wanted to stay at his cousins house.  I got the girls and the boys went with my sister-in-law.  The girls got ready for bed and then tucked in and by 12:30, they were both out.  I wasn't far behind them.  We all slept in until about 8:00 am.  I made shape pancakes for breakfast.  Then we laid around and played lazy.  The girls both got a nintendo for Christmas, and learned how to "text" back and forth.  They think this is the coolest thing, even though neither one of them can spell or read yet.  It is quite commical.  The girls get along very well together most of the time.  

I am working on the confederate flag afghan for my husband.  It is really complicated.  I think I may have bit off more than I could chew.  It is a good learning experience.  Hopefully it will turn out.  We have much packing to do.  Our flight will leave on the 8th.  I am nervous, but I know who is in control and that helps.  I will see the oncologist in February when we get back and then have scans on my bones in March.  I also have taxes to get done sometime in there.  My schedule is filling up fast.  I have three weeks with my husband, and his "honey do" list is getting longer every day.

Have a wonderful and joyous New Year!!!!