Day - whatever, what day is it anyway?

(this photo has nothing to do with anything, but it is much cuter than a picture of a flat tire or even a new lawnmower... read on...)

Well, it has been a long week without Daddy. I think he left last Thursday? Who knows - all we know is that it's been a while and the days have blurred together. That tends to happen when each day isn't separated by a block of sleeping time!

We did well for a couple of days, and then:
Problem #1 - Saturday morning, I decided to be ambitious and mow our 1/2 acre lot with the tiny push mower that we originally got to mow our little postage-stamp yard in Salt Lake. I have been telling David to get a new lawn mower since we moved in, but he has been too stubborn to do it. He also says he likes the cardio work-out that he gets mowing the lawn. I say, get the lawn mowed quicker and go for a bike ride!

Well, since Hattie only has about 90 minute naps, I don't have time to mow the whole thing before she wakes up. Still, I was willing to try it since we were starting to disappear out of sight from our growing grass. After about 10 minutes mowing then 20 minutes ripping my shoulder out trying to start it again, I called David and told him that even if HE didn't want a new mower, that I was going to buy one for MYSELF! (In between - I even called all the deacons in the ward to see if they would come and mow it for some spending money - apparently, they all have fun things to do on Saturday!) I got off the phone and called my mom to see what kind of mower they had. My dad, instinctively, was already on the hunt to figure out how to get a lawn mower delivered to my house that very day. He had no idea I had called, and I had no idea he was doing it.

Long story short - my sweet dad had a brand new lawnmower WITH oil and gas in it delivered to my driveway at 4:00 that afternoon. I have to say, I never thought I'd be so excited to get a freakin' lawnmower, but it was a beautiful sight (real nice, Clark) and especially nice that I didn't have to drag my kids around shopping for it and getting it home. I started 'er up and between a 10 minute session on Saturday and another 30 minute session on Monday, I got the lawn mowed in half the time or less than it takes David to do it with the other one. He can still get his cardio if he wants with the other one, this mower is MINE! Problem #1 solved - lawn mowed.

Problem #2 - David's great little 10 year old Subaru has had a leaky tire for a while. Never bad and the air lasts a week or so. BUT, Sunday morning on our way out the door for church, Grace says "uh-oh Mommy - look at Daddy's car!" The tire was flat as a pancake with the car resting on the rim. I left for church in my car and didn't worry about it until we got home. Then, I filled it with air to get it off the rim and 3 hours later it was flat again. Well, I'm not filling this thing with air every 3 hours until David gets home. My home teachers are all out of town. I have no way to get a car into a service shop (can't drive that one anyway.) I'm not going to jack it up myself to change the tire and risk having a car fall on me when I'm home with 2 little kids. So, Monday morning, I did what anyone who worked at State Farm Insurance for 15 years would do. I called a tow truck and had a guy with a VERY cool cordless power lug wrench put the donut on it in about 5 minutes and charged it to my insurance. Now, his poor car is sitting in the driveway waiting for a kind soul to take the other tire and fix it. Maybe we'll do it - maybe we won't :-) Problem #2 solved - car off the ground.

Problem #3 - Hattie ran a 103 temperature for 3 days and then broke out in bumps on the 4th day - Wednesday. Thought for sure it was a reaction to chicken pox or measles vaccine from the week before. Nope, she's had roseola. Oh, that's why no sleepy between calendar days. She woke up this morning fever free, almost rash free, and willing to NOT be held by me.
Problem #3 solved - Hattie all better.
Off to Drumlin Farm! (look at flickr for the more photos!) Today was a WELCOME change in every way. Happy kids, beautiful pretty New England summer day, perfect weather, fairly clean house, working equipment, and my car is even clean (thanks Grace!) I think I might live through the week-end, but this Saturday better start better than the last.

Ok dude, we CAN take care of things on our own, but we really don't WANT to, so we DO miss you. It's way more fun to make you help with this stuff! (of course, we'd miss you even if we didn't need you to help...)