One of our shower heads^* has been half broken, and when I took a shower on Sunday, something snapped and it became three-fourths broken and the fourth that was still working was doing so at about half capacity. On my way out of that sad shower, I mentioned to Mac that I was going to go buy a new one, and he said to me, “Don’t buy a new one.” I replied, “But, it is broken but even worse.” with the look that Mac has probably learned means “I’m doing it anyhow because I’ve made up my mind and people just telling me ‘No’ will not change it.” So Mac says, “I bought you a new one for Valentine’s Day.”

He went to his present stash, and showed it to me before he installed it. Tonight I discovered that both heads have a mist setting, and it was fabulous! With each shower head pointed in slightly different directions, it fills the entire shower with hot mist.

I think it is one of those low-flow shower heads, but when there is two and you just want to stay in the shower until you run out of hot water, the point is moot. I’m about to lose the water savings I’ve gained recently by washing dishes by hand^**.

*We have two in our shower. And a shower stick.

**Our dishwasher is still broken^***, and while it takes more time, I’ve discovered that my water bill goes down by $14-ish dollars a month just by doing the dishes by hand, and I even run the dishwasher on the quick wash setting. I didn’t own my first dishwasher until 2003, so I’ve had lots of practice doing it. Maybe I need to do two birds and put my dishes in the shower with me.

***If you live in this town, don’t buy an LG. After the warranty has expired, you’ll be stuck with a bunch of local repair shops that don’t work on LGs. Then you’ll give up and call Big Box, which will require you to be home 8-5 only to stand you up, then reschedule for you to be home 8-5 another day, show up, talk on their cell to their friend instead of working on your dishwasher, tell you that it isn’t the dishwasher but rather the pipe supplying the water and they won’t work on that, and charge you money anyhow.

Today is our anniversary. We are doing nothing for it. I am making dinner for him–baked chicken finger, mashed potatoes and green beans. It is the only thing that Mac likes to eat enough to request it. I took out my starter to nurse it last night. I’m going to make another loaf of sourdough today.

I have a few chores that I would like to get done, but the weather is sooooo nice out — just like on our wedding day — that I really want to take the kids outside to do something. Besides kicking them out in the back yard to play.

*A band-aid

I think Mac’s main problem is that he is not paying attention. For example, he has no idea that there was an Earth-Minbari War, even though just about every season one episode talks about it and it says in the intro to every episode “10 years after the Earth-Minbari War.”

I won’t tell him what it is about because I think he should just watch and figure it out. He wants cliff notes so he doesn’t have to pay attention. So I gave him this synopsis: It is about war.

Anyhow, he is working his way through season one, and he decided that Wild Turkey has helped his understanding of the series.

We had some puzzles in the basement–ones that we had picked up for my mom and Curt, but they left them here because they were, I’m not exaggerating, really hard. Mac heard that his dad and Tammy liked to do puzzles, so he took them over there. One day he went over with the kids while one of the puzzles was being working on. Not being too serious, Ada was invited to go over and try to help. She went over and found a piece that fit. Haha–beginner’s luck, right? Well, she did it again. And then one more time. This is like one of those crazy 1000-piece puzzles, and Ada was batting 1.000.

Mac went out to lunch this afternoon with a friend, and took Ada with him. Afterward, they took a trip to the toy store, where she was allowed to pick something out. She picked out a ladybug umbrella, however, Mac picked out two puzzles–one 30 piece and one 60 piece. This photo is them working on the 60-piece, dinosaur puzzle. She is doing very well putting it together.

Day 167: Best Daddy Ever

I made pancakes in the morning for everybody. We then lingered a bit around the house. I gave both kiddos a bath. We left for JoCo right when the flood gates opened to take Mac out to lunch. We picked up a gift for him, and then back home for naps. I made Curt some homemade Heath Crunch ice cream. Then we all went out for dinner with Mac’s dad. Ada and James gave Mac the card that Ada and I picked out about a month ago. I’ve been known to get cards for people when I see one that is perfect, and then forgetting that I have it and finding it a year or more later. I hid Mac’s and remembered that I had it. We usually end up with a talking or singing card when Ada assists me. I’m glad she liked this one because it perfectly expresses Ada and Mac’s relationship. It was this exchange from The Simpsons:

Homer: If I said `no’ the first time, what makes you think I’m going to say `yes’ the second time?
Lisa: Nothing, but you may say `yes’ the ninety-ninth time.
Homer: Oh? Try me.
Lisa: Please, Dad.
Homer: No.
Lisa: Please, Dad.
Homer: No.
Lisa: Please, Dad.
Homer: No.
Lisa: Please, Dad.
Homer: No.
Lisa: Please, Dad.
Homer: No.
Lisa: Please, Dad.
Homer: Oh, okay, okay.

After looking at my 260 photos I took yesterday, I almost listed my camera on eBay and quit. AI Servo cannot keep up with my children, so I ended up with tons of out of focus photos of Ada hunting for eggs. The number of days of me feeling stretched thin are increasing, and I’m not sure I want to spend the time trying to learn to take action shots the old way. Plus, the CMD is going to take another 1.5 hours out of my day. I don’t have room in my house to learn what I want to. When trying to read, it is either way too loud in our house or someone interrupts me half the time and I immediately forget what I just read, so I’m having to read the same thing again and again, and I just don’t have time or patience for it.

Plus, the WordPress editor is a (*&*(#)#*$&#(!

I haven’t been able to reach stuology, or our other hosted domains or even the hosting service site from home all day. Mac checked our server monitor, and it said the server was fine. I checked one of my feed readers, and there were no errors. Probably a networking issue. I’m posting this with my phone courtesy of AT&T’s network which is slow but at least I can post my photo today.I organized the kids’ room. I’ve set aside stuff for give-away. I found a container of books I forgot we had. I’m putting a ban on toys for Ada’s birthday. We have too many. Anyone who gets her a toy has also volunteered to come to our house once a week to pick them up and organize.I’ll have to post my first give-away later. I picked this photo because I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to post.

I was pleased yesterday evening that Ada was spending most of her time in her room playing. It is unusual for her not to be constantly running from her room to the kitchen to the living room to our bedroom to the kitchen to their bathroom and so on. I welcomed the peace. Then I went back to check on her and saw this. A ultrawide angle lens or a panoramic shot would have probably done this more justice so you could truly understand why her room knocked the air out of my lungs and all I could do was let out a little gasp.

Last night we put the toys back in the bins, put the stuffed animals and books back on the shelves, restacked diapers and made her bed. Now her room is made up of mostly floor and not toys.

James woke up this morning with a gooey, puffy eye. Boo. Mac talked to me a little last night and this morning. His alarm didn’t go off to take his pill, so he missed a dose. Ouch.

Now Ada has oranges all over the kitchen floor. Why or why? Of course, James is enjoying it. He has lots of balls to throw and go chase.

Ada eats her pears with a shovel. Just…whatever. She’s my child. That’s the only explanation I have.

I also taught her that before you eat bananas/apples/pears the sticker that comes on it must go on your cheek/nose/forehead.

Mac ordered some games with his Amazon Christmas monies. In the mail today, we received Burnout Paradise, Some Other Game Bully, and Scene It.

Mac is still giving me the silent treatment.

It scared him, but didn’t work at vanquishing the hiccups.

His pain is staying at tolerable levels. We have read that the first few days are fine, but it is after about day three that the pain starts getting really bad.

He has my laptop to speak his words for him. It pronounces our last name incorrectly. I bet it will pronounce “Ada” wrong as well.