12,000 BTU's: It's Gonna Be Like a Meat Locker in Here!

So life is full of ups and downs, right? You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have the facts of life (the facts of life). But it’s a little frustrating to have those ups and downs packed into one evening.

We got home from work yesterday evening and the air conditioner was blowing out warm air. It was cooler outside than inside. I called the A/C guy, he was there in an hour, and discovered that ants had gotten into the unit outside and had completely mucked it up; two parts needed to be replaced. (Ants, lice, baby snakes—why are God’s smallest creatures all trying to kill me?)

So I’m trying to see the good in this; after all, we don’t (yet) need to replace the entire unit, and since we have an emergency fund, I was able to pay him with a check right then. A year ago, I would have had to borrow money from someone for a repair like that. (Hi, Daddy!) Still. Bleh.

But then, the good: I made spaghetti squash for the first time and it turned out quite lovely! If you’ve never cooked it before, try it—it tastes like regular squash only with a more delicate flavor. They’re about the size of a honeydew, with a bright yellow skin. One of them fed all four of us. You cut it in half, take out the pulp and seeds, bake it cut side down for an hour at 350 or microwave it in a pan of water for 10 minutes, then scrape out the insides and mix them with some butter and/or olive oil, a little sautéed garlic and onions, salt and pepper and some parmesan—ummmm. It was quite a hit.

And after that, sadness: my favorite contestant Chris Sligh was voted off American Idol. Poor Chris—your quick, droll wit could not hide your total lack of rhythm.

And then, disappointment: Lost aired its most answer-free episode in weeks. It was like it had been replaced by an episode of Matlock. But looking on the bright side, at least they didn’t show Locke—I haaaaaate that guy.

So, after all that, I went to bed at 11:30 and then overslept this morning and had trouble getting the girls out the door. But I still made it to work by 8:15 AND no one saw me come in late.

Always look on the bright side of life . . .

Just Eat Your Dang Quesadilla!

Only two days into Spring Break, and I'm exhausted! Good thing I'm going back to work tomorrow so I can rest a little bit.

We've been very productive since last Friday: we saw a children's production of "Charlotte's Web" at a local theater, ate lunch at Taco Cabana,



bought a dining table (we have a dining room! like real grown-ups!),

bought two extra chairs to go with the dining table (note the lamp on the floor--very sophisticated),

ate dinner with GrandMom, GrandBob and Aunt M at Taste of Texas steakhouse, found a bed for S's room (pics to follow when we get it put together!), hung some pictures, cleaned the house, visited Old Town Spring (several streets of antique stores and fun shops), spent a gift card at the Build-A-Bear workshop, and the girls spent a night with GrandBob and GrandMom! On top of that I've done laundry, made a bunch of phone calls I've been putting off, gone to the grocery store, and took about twenty books back to the library. All the shopping has been fun, but I'm looking forward to my quiet office just a little bit.

The girls and R are just hanging out the rest of the week, getting ready for a big weekend: on Saturday, Pop and Baba are coming to visit from Tennessee, and they're bringing the cousins! They're staying until Wednesday, and H has made quite a list of all the things we need to see and do while they're here. We'll see our Texas cousins this weekend as well, and we're so excited to hug and kiss on them all, provided, of course, that they sit still long enough. The boys are very hard to catch!