Cars = stress

I have a bunch of random pictures this week. And most of them are not of the exciting events. In fact, most of them were taken by Mira. So I'm just going to sprinkle them throughout. Enjoy. ;)

Last Sunday, Cecily had a fever. She didn't even eat dinner because she felt so yucky. Mira had a little (potty) accident for the second time that week during dinner, which she hasn't done in a couple years. It made me think maybe she had a UTI like Emilia did on Friday--because when we took Emilia in, the doctor said one of the symptoms of a UTI in younger kids is having accidents when they didn't realize they had to go to the bathroom. Monday morning, Cecily seemed to be doing better, so I just made an appointment for Mira to see if she had a UTI. I also set an appointment for me because I thought I'd gotten an infection after my UTI treatment was over. It ends up, Mira didn't have a UTI and I didn't have an infection, but Mira did have strep throat. Which made me think Cecily also had strep. Which meant I had to make another appointment for Cecily so we could get medicine for her. Three doctor appointments and two trips to the pharmacy in one day. Ugh.

On top of that, we had to take our family car to the mechanics to see how much it would cost to fix. They called in the afternoon to say that they had to take a major part out (the carburetor, I think) in order to know for sure what the problem was. So best case, $700. Worst case $1300. After doing some thinking and calculating, we decided, that although buying a new (used car) wouldn't be any cheaper in the long run that just continuing to fix the lemon, it would be a lot less stressful.

The highlight of the day, though, was that my mom made raised gluten-free donuts and invited me to come have some. That was in-between doctor appointment #2 and doctor appointment #3. They were scrumptious. And definitely the best part of that day.

Since both of my girls were still contagious, I didn't go help Julia on Tuesday. Instead, I ended up searching for cars in the online classifieds and doing research on them. That evening, I had a dinner date with my friend, Gina. We went to Tucanos Brazilian Grill for the seafood festival. The festival itself was a disappointment (there were only 2 new items in the rotation), but the meat was as delicious as ever. We stuffed ourselves and then shopped and chatted for a while. She is hilarious and I love her, so it was a fun evening.

Wednesday, Steve was sick. I love it when he actually takes a sick day. It happens very rarely. And he wasn't flat out in bed with the flu, just feverish here and there with a tiny bit of scratchy throat. So I got to see him around and he got some stuff done on the computer, like putting my photography website back together and applying for some jobs. There was one he was excited about that a few old colleagues currently work at. We'd appreciate any prayers or good vibes about him finding something he will enjoy.

That day I mostly wrote. I wanted to get a new first chapter written on one of my old novels and it had been eluding me for days. I finally got it to where I wanted it about the time the kids went to bed that night. So it took forever. But it was worth it. I love how it turned out.

Also, my dad was kind enough to come fix our toilet, since we won't be redoing the bathroom anytime soon.

Thursday, I promised my mom I would come help get her house ready for my sister, Megan's, family to stay with them this coming week. I needed to buy a new backpack for Mira (she's broken two this year already) and she's grown out of her shoes, so I decided to stop at DI on the way and see if I could find some thrifted ones. I did find a backpack for her. An emoji one that she thinks is awesome. No go on the shoes, though.

That night, I had writing group. It was heartening to see what I'd accomplished this month on the writing front. And it's always fun to catch up on those ladies' lives.

Cecily made a "rocket ship" which she was very proud of.

I found this the night I went to dinner with Gina. I want to make one like it for Cecily for her birthday, which she has already planned as a Rainbow Birthday Party, to which she wants to invite both sets of grandparents, her primary teacher, and her cousins who live 3.5 to 12 hours away. :'D

Friday, my mom babysat Cecily and then Mira and Emilia while my dad and I spent most of the day test-driving cars. It was another long day, but I was very glad to have my dad with me. I didn't end up buying anything, so Steve went out Saturday and drove a bunch more. He didn't buy anything either. We have one we are hoping will be the right one that we're looking at on Tuesday.

One day this week--I think either Monday or Tuesday night, I planted seeds to start growing things for my garden this summer. It's my first time doing this and I think it's going okay. None of my regular tomatoes or peppers came up, but now it's too late to start again, so I'll probably just have to buy those from a greenhouse. But I've got pumpkins, beans, peas, cherry tomatoes, petunias, basil and spinach all growing already, so that's a great first effort. I think the beans are going to be too big to wait two months to plant them though. So that might be a problem...

Tonight, we changed things up and had Nick and Wilda to our house for dinner. There was a fireside that Steve wanted to go to and they offered to watch our kids. But they gave us the roast and the potatoes and carrots to cook because they'd already taken the roast out when we solidified plans. This was one of the potatoes that Steve grabbed. It looks so much like a heart! Kinda cool. :)