Our next family adventure

I have been praying lately for something new or different to do in my life. Well, God answered in a very interesting way. I was thinking maybe a part time job of some kind, maybe involvement in a new club or group at church, something like that. Not what He had in mind. Our family is going to soon be host to a foreign exchange student from China. We are excited about this opportunity and can't wait to have Na Niu (that's her name) home with us. She will be here for a year and will be a part of our family. The whole thing happened so fast that I'm still a little confused as to how we got to this point. But, none the less, she is coming here next month (possibly very early in the month). Needless to say I have a lot of work to do on the 3rd bedroom and we are having a HUGE yard sale this coming friday to get of lots of stuff. So if you need a really big desk, kids shoes, Snowbabies figurines, artwork, a curio cabinet, two-drawer filing cabinets, or other general crap then let me know or be here early Friday morning with a pickup. The sale is rain or shine and starts at 7:30am - early birds will be sprayed with a hose :) .

My life as a 34 yr. old woman (so far)

Okay, the title is a little misleading since I have only been 34 since last Wednesday. Basically, my life is not different at all. I haven't done anything special, I haven't been anywhere, and no great amounts of wisdom have been imparted to me. So, 34 is no worse than 33. I have found that I am still in the younger age breakdown on survey forms and applications which tends to boost my confidence.

One thing we did do last Wednesday was go to the Weisskopf Child Evaluation Center and get the results of Joseph's testing. They concluded that he is not autistic, but rather has a language development disorder. It was decided that he would get speech therapy 2 days a week and after 6 months we would re-evaluate. If things have not improved at the proper pace then we will probably have an MRI done. We considered it to be very good news and we are looking forward to this next year and seeing how Joe improves with communication.

To clean or not to clean---that is the question

Some of you may know that I am NOT one to get off my butt and clean. I will say, however, that I do not like having a filthy house, so I am forever in the middle of this struggle between cleaning, and well, not. I am someone who loves new gadgets of any sort. So, when a new cleaning product comes on the market I am usually one of the first to try it. I know that by now everyone has at least heard of, if not used, the wonderful Clorox wipes. They are great! Well, now Scotch Brite has come out with an even better version of the wipe. It has little scrubby-thingys on one side and the plain wipe on the other. This is a wonderful thing because now that my son is older he is making huge messes when he eats at the kitchen counter. I get the great benefit of disinfecting and cleaning up chunky messes that the plain wipes just could not handle. I recommend them to everyone.

72 degrees and feelin' fine

I now declare the Heat War of 2005 officially over!! We had our a/c serviced this morning at 8am and so far, so good. It was a wonderful feeling to get the opportunity to take a nap this afternoon in the cool, artifical air. The man who came and serviced the a/c was great, completed his task in less than 30 minutes and save our lives. No, I'm not being dramatic---he actually saved our lives. The furnace flue cap was hanging half off from where it should have been and therefore would have filled our crawl space with carbon monoxide if had we tried to run our a/c without it being fixed, or without our windows open in the house. Thankfully all is well and no one was hurt, so it's all good. I am eternally grateful to Sorg Cooling and Heating for a job well done.

Heat War - Day 4

Frankfort, KY high of 93 degrees, Chase household high of 92 degrees. I don't know what I have to do to get service in this town, but obviously making phone calls is not right. Mel seems to think I should call 3 different HVAC guys and let them have a race to see who can get here the fastest. Great idea, but, since they are HVAC guys, they have A/C in their homes, and therefore, don't give a flip about my lack of A/C. I haven't sweated this much since JSU band camp of 1992. We are not sleeping well, and doing my chores at 10pm is not working out so great. I spent today hanging out at Mel's house and Starbucks (thanks to a very generous gift card I received last week). Thank you Mel for the air and the company (and for a great lunch), and thank you Starbucks for air and caffine.

88 in the shade........

Yes, that's right. It is 88 degrees here in this house at 9:00 in the evening! Why does the air quit on you right when you need it? It is actually cooler outside than it is in here. I'm still waiting for the HVAC guys to come and save me. It was so hot earlier that I couldn't stand to dry my hair!! It's pathetic. My man commented earlier that people lived for centuries with air conditioning. True, but I am a big wimp! I have lasted longer than some people would, but I'm reaching my breaking point. I'm about to go out and get me a J O B so I can sit in the air all day. It's sad really. Okay, I think I'm getting delirious. Is that right? I don't know what I'm saying--and those who know me will not find that strange at all.

Is the heat on?

Sweet fancy Moses, it is really hot in here! Our air conditioning is not working the way it should and it is now hot as blazes here in Kentucky! The temp has only been in the mid to high 80s, but if you know anything about Kentucky, then you probably know the heat index is about 10-15 degrees above that. Humidity is the name of the game, and I (and my hair) are very sore loosers. Me and the Mr. have talked about getting one of those Easy-set pools for the backyard, but I don't have the money to fix the air, let alone buy a pool. It is miserable! Joseph handles the whole thing well because he can run through the sprinkler all day and then run around the house naked the rest of the time. Normally in this situation I would take long drives in the car with the air on full blast, but with gas prices what they are, and the fact that the air in my car is acting the same as that in the house, this is not really a viable option. I never thought I would actually pray for air conditioning, but I'm getting closer with every bead of sweat that rolls down my face. Hopefully my birthday money will come in soon and we can get on with our horribly hot and humid summer.

Weisskopf Center...

Yesterday we took Joseph to the Weisskopf Center for the Evaluation of Children to be tested for speech and language development and possibly autism. The tests were long and Joseph was very tired by the end of the day, but he did an excellent job. It was hard for him since we had appointments at 10:30, 1:00, and 3:00. There were a few times when we thought he might not make it through, but he was a real trooper and made us very proud. We will not have our final results of the tests until June 15th, but the pediatrician seemed to think he only has some speech delays and we will be able to overcome it. It was good news. I would recommend WCEC to anyone who needs to have their child evaluated. They are a great group of doctors and specialists who really care and want to help your child and you.