Long Week

Being buried under nearly 4 feet of snow grinds everything down to a stop. After the shoveling, there is almost nothing we can do outdoors; inside, it's the same-old, same-old. This explains the long gaps between posts: nothing to say.

We have run out of fire wood. We knew that there might not be enough wood to make it through the winter and tried to make it last, only having a fire on the coldest of days, when the little electric space heaters seemed to make no difference in warming up our living spaces. The girls, though, seem to run on a higher temperature-- they are always trying to get away with just wearing summer dresses or shorts and short-sleeves. I have started to keep their summer clothes put away in my closet as I wash them, because if I put them back in their closets or drawers, they would surely be found and worn. We are forever asking the girls to put on sweaters or long pants.

Calling around to local people that sell fire wood has been a wasted effort. No one has any wood to sell. I think all the snow has people burning more wood lately. We are debating buying some oil for the oil heater, though we really don't want to do that. It's costly, and well, it's oil. There is also a minimum requirement to buy so many gallons of oil before they will send out a truck and we don't want to fill the tank, just want enough for a couple of weeks or so. Andrew is upset with himself for not having chopped more wood to keep his family warm. I try to reassure him, to tell him that a flaky chain-saw doesn't make his job easier and we have other ways of staying warm. Definitely, a new chain-saw is in the works if we get a nice tax refund.

We went into town on Friday. The whole family. Eager to get out and about, to hit a few stores and restock our pantry. We had plans! Andrew had to work from 2-5, so we were going to drop him off at work, do our shopping, then come back to pick him up and buy a frozen pizza to heat up when we got home. After dropping him off, I told him to take his key out of the ignition, I have my own key. I switched to the driver's side and the van would not start. Dead battery.

At least it was only the battery.

At least we near Sears, and they had the lowest price on batteries when we priced them a couple weeks ago.

At least it was right when we dropped him off and he was still there and Andrew has many friends in the Mall, friends that helped us out and there was a playroom for the kids to play in while we waited for the battery to be replaced.

At least we did not drive off, go shopping, and come back to a van that would not start far away from the Mall and me without a way to contact Andrew on his cell.

And you know what? That was the original battery when we bought the van new in 2001. 9 years-- that's a pretty good run if you ask me.

After a long delay, and a late co-worker coming in to relieve Andrew from his shift, we did everything we came into town to do, but did not get home until after 9pm. The kids were exhausted and tumbled into their beds without complaint. It started out rough, but turned out alright. I like to look at things positively and I am just happy that we happened to have the money to replace the battery at that moment. It was money meant for something else, but what are we gonna do? We need the van running.

The coming week looks to be more of the same-old, same-old. I have a few posts forming in my head, and when they are complete, I'll be posting soon. Stay warm and kiss your loved ones.