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Author Archives: Jen

Katie’s soccer camp

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She thinks she wants to play soccer again but she really has no idea what she’s doing. (She did play one season but never really had any good instruction.) So we enrolled her in a five-week beginning level class at the rec center and we’ll see how it goes.

This is how she played goalie—she had NO idea. She’d just watch the ball roll by into the goal.

My first Instant Pot lasagna.

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I just did a quick taco lasagna with taco meat (from the freezer), ricotta and Mexican cheese blend, and some enchilada sauce at the last minute because I had no “sauce” in my layers (just meat). It cooked for 20 minutes, did a 10-minute natural release, and then I didn’t let it sit any longer because we were hungry, so it started to slide apart. But it was yummy. Owen even wanted seconds. Of course Katie didn’t like it at all.

Uncontrollable giggling

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After the movie the kids were playing downstairs. First they came up to show us some dance moves they’d been working on. Later we heard them giggling and laughing uncontrollably and we wondered what on Earth could possibly be happening. And then they came crashing upstairs, giggling all the way.

Oh. My.

They were dressed in each other’s clothes—Owen in Katie’s new pink jacket, pink kitty hat, and her Beauty and the Beast Belle heels…

And Katie in his hat and oversized coat.

But the sight of Owen in those shoes hobbling across the floor (obviously only his toes fit in so it was nearly impossible for him to walk!) and listening to them giggle made Tom and I both lose it.

And now a new water heater.

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You know what sucks? Not being able to take a decent hot shower because the hot water runs out really fast (like less than 10 minutes).

You know what sucks even more? Discovering the hot water heater is…23 years old. And it was last serviced four years ago.

You know what’s cool? Tom is handy enough to know how to drain the sediment.

You know what sucks? Draining the sediment didn’t help.

You know what sucks the most? Discovering a slow-ish leak four days later after Tom had gone to bed. So I hooked up the drainage hose to a bucket and put something under the drip. I decided to check the bucket before I went to bed and it already had 2″ in it so I moved the hose into a 25-gallon garbage bin and went to bed, figuring it would be safe. But it apparently turned into more of a spray overnight and by the time Tom got up and checked at 5:30 the 25-gallon bucket was overflowing. We have some wet carpet—unfortunately some is in a place we can’t easily get to and dry (under 300# of loaded shelving) but nothing was damaged. And thankfully we got someone here early and it was a simple fix. (Apparently due to the age and type of tank, you have to unscrew/rescrew the tap a few times to get the gaskets aligned right.)

You know what’s the best? Our landlord, who is now replacing the water heater.

So if you’re keeping track, he’s replaced the garage door, repainted Katie’s room, has planned to replace a few windows, has replaced the kitchen/dining floor, and is now replacing the water heater…

Welcome to today’s hell.

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A gift to Katie from a well-meaning aunt. While Katie does love puzzles, of course she doesn’t have the attention span for this (hell, I barely do) but she really wants to color it. If it was up to me I’d just throw it in the trash (well I’m not an idiot, I’d give it away). But guess who will end up doing it all?? Her face just about sums it up for me too. 😂

#whowantstohelp
#idonthavetimeforthis
#puzzleparty
#ihavewineandmargaritas
#whendotheygobacktoschool
#thisauntisonmyshitlist

A friend is going to come help Friday.