Hot, Hot, Hot, but Clean, Clean, Clean and Fixed

Yesterday we had gone to lunch at the local elementary school for something different and fun. Unfortunately they had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I found that out after my kids had already picked up their lunches. I took Daniel's away since he is severely allergic to peanuts and told the other kids to stay away from Daniel. We went and sat down at the cafeteria tables and within the first minute Sarah fell off the bench hitting her head on the hard floor. I was trying to give her loves, but it was a little difficult since I had Noah in the front pack. I had just picked up Sarah to give her loves when Daniel did the exact same thing. Everyone looked at me since two of my kids were howling pretty loudly. It was embarrassing--luckily the attention was taken off us when the little girl next to us started throwing up everywhere. Anyway, when we got home I saw all the kids had peanut butter smeared all over their clothes, I made them change their clothes. Afterward we had cleaning day. I had the kids help me out with the chores I knew they could do so we could get the house clean faster. I vacuumed downstairs and had Josh clean the bathrooms. While I was vacuuming Josh went and cleaned the bathroom downstairs. Daniel and Sarah followed him downstairs. When they came back up they smelled awfully fruity. I asked why. Josh immediately told me he didn't know why and at the same time Daniel told me they got into the "Dexter". I asked him what that was and Josh finally came clean and told me it was Aunt Jill's hairspray. I looked closer at Sarah and yes her hair was wet and plastered with hairspray. I guess they just wanted her to look pretty. Let me just tell you I gave her a shower last night and scrubbed her hair, but she still woke up with dried, white hairspray flakes all over in it. The picture doesn't even show how caked on and how dripping wet it was.I let Josh vacuum downstairs for a second time while I was cleaning upstairs. Daniel then came upstairs just sneezing, wheezing and oozing snot. These are the beginning symptoms showing me Daniel has gotten in to something he's allergic to. Fearing the worst (the peanut butter from lunch) I went downstairs to find the Benadryl. When I got downstairs I saw and big pile of dirt/dust in the middle of the floor. I asked Josh had happened and he told me Daniel did it. I have a bagless vacuum and Daniel took the canister out and instead of emptying it, he wanted to make "dust" and spread the dirt everywhere. Daniel is allergic to dust mites so that's what was making him sneeze, etc. I had to re-vacuum downstairs--grrrr. I should have redusted, but I didn't--just don't write your name in the dust on my tables because the dust is everywhere again thanks to Daniel.

Last night after the kids got to bed I noticed it was really hot. I went up to check the thermostat and much to my chagrin it was boiling hot in our house. Our A/C was not working. Of course every business was closed and we didn't want to pay after hours charges so we had a very hot and sleepless night. Noah will only sleep for long periods of time if he is swaddled tightly. Since our house was so hot I couldn't do that last night. I slept on the couch downstairs next to Noah so Aaron could actually get some sleep upstairs and not be woken up by a fussy baby. Since it was so hot I couldn't sleep very well. I was up watching some TV when Daniel snuck downstairs wide eyed and bushy tailed. He stood at the landing and when I noticed him he asked me if I needed lubs (loves). How can you refuse that? He had had a power nap from 7 pm to 11 pm so he was wide awake. He watched TV with me for about an hour when I sent him back to bed. That's when he went upstairs and woke Sarah up to play with her. Since he and Sarah had a late night party last night the rest of us have been paying the price today. They have both been Chuckles. I think it will be early bedtime tonight!! Anyway, back to the broken A/C--the next morning we started calling. We got someone out to fix it. He did what he called a "patch" job and told us our A/C was going to need replacing. He then asked to see our furnace. He then told us about how bad of shape it was and how it was going to poison everyone with carbon monoxide when we turn it on in the fall. He then said they were running a special if you replaced both A/C and furnace with them they could cut us a deal that would amount to a grand total of $3500.00. Our eyes popped out of our heads and we said thanks, but we needed to think about it and get a few more quotes. The next guy came out and said the exact same thing, but he quoted us $7700.00. WHAT?!? About this time we were feeling quite dejected. We decided to try a third and a fourth guy. The third guy came and he was from a very reputable company so we were fearing the worst. However, he was very refreshingly honest. He said our furnace had no big cracks, was the right size for our house and that it looked just fine. He also let us know it was still under warranty and if it did need to be replaced all we would have to pay for was the labor. He then checked out our A/C and all it needed was a small part replaced, but the rest of the unit was in great shape. All the fixes he did came to a grand total of $450.00. Yes a lot of money, but easier to swallow than $7700.00!! He also told us there were a lot of companies needing work right now so it makes for some shiesters, unfortunately. So we have run the gamut of emotions today and I am glad it ended on a happy note.

Matthew decided to be chatty Cathy with all the repairmen that came to our house today. He loved to ask them what their first name was, middle name, last name and where they lived. When the third repairman came he introduced himself as Kay. After he checked everything over he sat down and was talking to Aaron about our options. That's when Matthew came over and asked him what his first name was. Without missing a beat he jokingly said his name was George (even though it was Kay). Afterward when he was getting ready to leave Aaron shakes his hand and told him, "Thanks, George." The repairman chuckled and little and Aaron couldn't figure out why. It wasn't until he came back inside and saw his card had said Kay he realized his mistake. We are still chuckling about it. So now we are sitting in our nice cool house and thanking our lucky stars (and Heavenly Father) that it turned out so well.