What a week so far

I’m having an interesting week.  And it’s only Wed! 

 

Over the weekend my daughter, Rylee, asked if we could do breakfast for supper one night.  So we purchased pancake mix, eggs and her beloved bacon.  She had early basketball practice on Monday so I though it would be the perfect time to do this.  I despise cooking bacon though.  It splatters all over, usually leaving a few red marks on my forearms and grease spots on whatever shirt I am wearing.  So, I Google ‘how to cook bacon in the oven’.  Easy enough.  15 min on 400 degrees.  I got this.  NOT!!  First, my bacon was awful and wouldn’t separate.  I finally got it all laid out and went to pick up Ry.  Jim put it in the oven for me.  I got back, checked the bacon and started pancake batter, toast and eggs.  Soon my house is filling up with smoke.  Jim and I check the bacon again.  It is smoking like crazy and still looks like it isn’t cooked.  All the food is done and ready except the darn bacon.  I take the pan out of the oven and of course all the smoke with it and proceed to throw it in a frying pan to finish it.  It is February in North Dakota and I have windows and doors open—for hours!!  So much smoke.  And stink-bleh!   Going to grill it next time.  That crap can stay outside!

 

Tuesday rolls around.  I have a lot to do.  I take lunch and run to the high school to pay for Rylee’s class ring.  I have a few extra minutes and we have finally gotten some snow-3 inches! The most we have had all season-so I decide to stop by the house and take the garbage can back to the garage, check the mail and let the dog out since I don’t know if I will be able to come right home after work.  I get home and am greeted by the weirdest humming/buzzing noise.  I had brought in a box off the step also.  I drop everything and start looking for the buzz.  I am thinking the bathroom fan was left on and it shorted out.  As I head down the hall it gets louder but as I turn into the bathroom it gets softer.  Not in the bathroom.  I open Rylee’s bedroom door-nope.  Step into my room-nope.  Kitchen?  No.  Back to the hallway.  Here it is the loudest.  Better check the furnace directly below me. Not it.  Back to the hall.  It almost seems to be coming from above me.  I am racking my brain trying to figure out if there would be anything in the crawl space/attic that would have turned on.  The only thing in this darn hallway is a doorbell.  I call Jim and do the “can you hear this” thing as I hold the phone over my head.  Of course he can’t.  I describe the sound, where it is loudest and what I have done to troubleshoot it already.  He mentions the doorbell.  It has been broken for years but the mailman delivered a package AND we got snow.  Did someone push it or is there snow in it?  UGH!  Finally I ask Jim if I can just go flip the breaker.  He says yes and while I head for the corner of the laundry room/furnace room he is giving me instructions on what to make sure to leave running and which breaker he thinks it might be.  While he is talking I step in front of the breaker box.  There is a box on the floor and an empty 5-gallon bucket.  I plant my feet between them and out shoots a giant spider!  Ok, probably the size of a quarter but still!!!!   I am now jumping around yelling “Spider, spider, spider!!”  And I don’t know where he went!  I am in my socks and my pants are dragging on the floor so I am pretty sure he went up my pant leg.  I cannot quit moving even though I have quit screaming.  My husband, who is still on the phone, does not seem impressed.  I start to look at how things are labeled on the door of the breaker box.  They are written in an old man’s script, in pencil and microscopically.  Are you serious?!?  Jim is telling me which to look for and there is no way I am going to be able to read this while still stomping my feet in an effort to knock the spider, that I am sure is somewhere on my clothes, off of me.  Jim seems to be a little irate; not that I blame him.  I am aware that I am less than helpful and I was the one who called him.  I tell him that I am just going to flip breakers one at a time till the noise stops and I will let him know when I am done.  So, still moving around to dislodge icky spider that MUST be on me still, I start flipping breakers.  There are 32 of them.  I flip and listen.  Flip back.  Flip the next one, listen and flip back.  Number 31 finally turned it off.  And that specific breaker has no label.  I check the furnace, still on.  I check the fridge, still on.  The entry light and garage door all work.  Confident that the house will not burn down with my little dog, Brian in it, I head back to work.  For at least 2 hours I continue to scratch my head, shake my sweater and rub my legs trying to find the darn spider!

 

We had a rep from out of town come to work and I am supposed to go out with him and 2 of my managers for supper.  I am a little bummed because my God daughters were playing hockey and doing a fundraiser for cancer where the teams have put together a silent auction and raffles at the same time as dinner and I had wanted to be there.  I did not make it.  It was after 8 when I finally got home from dinner with the rep.  It was nice to put a face to the name and get to know him a little.  Thankfully, the twins mom sent me news clips of the game and gave me a run down. 

 

I’m tired today.  I haven’t been sleeping.  Menopause has hit and the heat is enough to make me crazy.  Blanket off.  Blanket on.  Wait an hour and repeat.  On top of that I have a touch of vertigo so when I roll over, the room spins for me.  It’s enough to make you want to throw up.  A little before 4am this morning, I was awoken by a thwack-thwack sound that repeated over and over.  It took me a minute but I finally realized that it was Brian’s tail slapping on a pillow-hard.  Jim woke up and started to move so I simply said “Brian is dreaming”.  After a minute or so he got a little ooof and  a few squeals going.  I hope it was a good dream.  He sure seemed excited. 

 

At lunch today, I went to mail a package to my sister, Dianne.  I don’t do stuff like that enough.  My younger sis, Collene is always doing thoughtful stuff like that and I love it but I rarely think to do it.  I just happened to see the perfect thing for Dianne and decided that instead of thinking “I should” I would just do it. 

 

Tonight I have W.I.N.O.’s. (Women In Need of Sanity) with my friends!  Technically, it is a radio station promo, but we look at it as a reason to get together. I love this group of ladies!  I met them when my oldest daughter was dancing on the middle school dance team.   Yes, we were dance moms, but not like on TV.   Those people are nuts!  Insane, crazy, should be locked away nuts!  We are harmless, loud and think we are funny.  The group has evolved a bit over the years and we have gained some new faces.  I love spending time with them all.   I can’t wait to see everyone tonight.  I still miss Michelle’s face at these gatherings.  I’m glad she’s happy but I hate that she moved away.  We stay in touch but don’t get to see her as often as we would like.  Love ya, girl!

 

Tomorrow (Feb 12^th) is Giving Hearts Day.  Not sure if other communities do this or if it is just a Fargo-Moorhead thing, but it is a great idea.  If you donate to a charity listed with http://www.impactgiveback.org/ the Dakota Medical Foundation will match it.  I haven’t ever done it before but I am going to do it tomorrow.  I even picked out my charities already!  I’m kind of excited about it.  Silly, I know. 

 

Health wise I am wonderful!  Everything is going well and I couldn't be happier!!  On that note I am going to leave you all for the night.  Enjoy the day!!