I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

It's been a crazy few days. Let's see if I can manage to get it all down, bullet style.

• We put our house on the market last Monday. We had a ton of showings. It was almost obscene the amount of people who wanted to see our house because it was at such a low price. We had an offer on Friday night. It was a LOUSY offer and they wanted the moon. We put in a counter offer on Saturday, which was accepted with a minor change on Sunday. Barring any complications from the home inspection on Friday, we close at the end of March. Cross fingers, toes, etc. for us please, as this will end a very long three year ordeal with this house. We first tried to sell it in May of 2006.
• Sunday night Old Man Winter smacked us with just about TWO FEET of new snow. It wasn't light fluffy snow, but instead wet, heavy snow that caused a tree to fall on our power lines early Monday morning. We woke up at 3am to Meg and Drew in our room because we had no power. No power for us means no water (no flushing toilets) too since we have a septic system and a well. We spent Monday hoping the power company would come, but no such luck. We warmed up at my brother-in-law's house Monday night, then came home to a house that was 55 degrees.
  
• Yesterday we were up at 3 with the twins who were so cold they just kept crying. It was 50 degrees in here when we managed to crawl downstairs. My father-in-law arrived with a propane heater at 7 am that we put in the basement and after a few hours the house was 60. Right after lunch my dad arrived with his generator and our friend Brian, who's an electrician, helped Doug hook it up to power our furnace and water heater.
• Our main saving grace was having a gas range. We were able to melt snow to flush the toilets, and once Doug went into his office and got water, I could make cocoa or instant coffee. Thank goodness!
  
• Central Maine Power Company got our power restored at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I was quite pleased that they CALLED US to make sure that our power was indeed up and running, so that they could clear us off their list of homes without power. At one point in time this week, there were 100,000 Mainers without power. There are still those without power. I totally feel for them.
• Today was a normal morning. Meg and Drew were bickering at 7 am. Meg went to school (which she did yesterday and it was good she was warm) and the girls and Drew are playing. As much as this "normal" can be annoying, I'll take it over what we've had to deal with the last two days.

So I think that covers where the heck I've been lately. What's new with everyone else? I'm quite behind on my Google Reader and have plenty to do here to play catch up. I'll get with everyone real soon.

Fridays aren't all they're cracked up to be

It's Friday! Hooray! My oldest does a "Friday Dance" in first grade. Lots of hip shaking and general happiness about Friday having finally arrived. Very cute. I remember when I used to LOVE Fridays, especially when I was working outside of the home. That meant time with Meg, time with Doug and time in my house instead of traveling to work, daycare, home, etc. Fridays aren't such a big deal anymore. Yes, it guarantees me a little bit more time with Doug, but other than that, nothing of my day is different from say, Tuesday (ok, well, on Tuesdays I have two kids in school, but you get my drift, don't you?). The weekend doesn't bring any relaxation; there's work to be done! Groceries to be bought! Laundry to be washed (and maybe folded!) and all that other stuff that I cannot do by myself during the week. Yes, I know, Doug is home with me and I should be grateful. You have no idea how grateful I am that he's home with me on the weekends. But, it seems, as a family of 6, that all we do during the weekends is chores and just general, un-fun stuff. As a family of 6, we can't just go out to eat. It takes military precision to get us out the door to say, Friendly's. Bibs, check. Sippy cups, check. Kids (oh yeah, them), check. Then the whole out-at-a-restaurant wrangling of babies who don't want to be in their seats, and big kids who have no patience for waiting for their dinners. And by the time we get home, I'm exhausted and in need of a big fat drink. Which I'm too exhausted to pour for myself.

And guess what this weekend is bringing? Can you guess? Yes, MORE ($#*)($*#&&*^ SNOW! According to the weather map, another 6-10 inches for us, and we always get the 10, and maybe a couple more, just for fun. We are close to 100 inches of snow for this winter, and that only includes December thru February. We started getting considerable snow in November. It's down there on the ground, somewhere. That means we will be STUCK IN THIS HOUSE, at least for tomorrow. Now don't get me wrong, I love my house. It's only 1 1/2 years old. We designed it and had it built. I will be paying for it for the rest of my life, so I need to love it. The problem for me is that I spend all my other days stuck in the house, and the monotony is starting to get to me in a rather large way. I long for a vacation, even a mini one, without my kids and just my husband. Just a little chance to get away from the daily grind and recharge. But remember, we're a family of 6 now, which means that we have 4 (count em, 1, 2, 3, 4!) kids to find care for. We have wonderful families who are local and love spending time with their grandkids. BUT, taking all 4 at once poses challenges and responsibities that can be too much for those who don't spend all day taking care of 4 kids. And we have a wonderful babysitter, Erika, who will watch all 4 kids (you are a goddess Erika!), but an overnight is just too much to ask of her. So, for now, I long for a break and hope it will come soon. But for now, I hear babies crying and must go get them up from their ridiculously long nap.

The fog is lifting?

It appears that my children are finally well. I say appears, because there are still two children who haven't gotten the evil flu virus that befelled the twins and killed winter vacation for us all. I am knocking on my fake wood desk in hopes that we are done with the evil flu. Not only did my children run high fevers and lay around crying all day, but they turned spotted. Yep, like the measles or something else fun like that (if you can call measles fun, that is). A head-to-bum rash on Annie, and a head-to-toe rash on Izzie. Not pretty at all. It just added another dimension to the pathetic nature of this flu. The girls just looked awful.

BUT, today, the fog is lifting. School is back in session! For Meg anyway. For one more day, because tomorrow there is another storm coming and we're due to get 5-10 inches of snow tomorrow into Wednesday. But, I digress.... today was almost.....normal? We went to the bus at 8 and it was the first time in 10 days the girls had been outside of the house. This morning they went down to nap at a normal time and are just waking up as I type. I actually got to spend a bit of time playing Sesame Street with Drew on the computer, and perusing the blogs I read and reading the news (hence knowing about the dreaded storm). I almost feel like me again. I walked to no place in particular on my treadmill at 6 am listening to loud music on my IPod (Do you have one of those? It's my new favorite toy I never get to use).

So, the fog is lifting and the sun is shining and I am hoping that this week brings nicer things than the evil flu, and more snow. What do you hope for?