The Good, the Bad, and the Sweet

The Good:

Last weekend I had the chance to fly out to meet up with my friend Sarah and have a full-day mentorship with a photographer that we both really admire. It was a wonderful weekend and the time zipped by as we focused all weekend on photography. On Sunday, Sarah helped me hone my Photoshop skills and I showed her how to use Lightroom (which I love). It was a really fast trip and I flew back on Sunday night... but my flight was delayed two hours (I sat on the plane that whole time; it was delayed because a part on the plane was broken... I was so glad not to have my kids with me on this trip with all of the delays - I had been delayed on the way there too). For once weather in Chicago was actually decent and I was STILL delayed! 

The Bad:

A friend stayed at our house w/ our sleeping kids so Ben could come pick me up from the airport... when we got home, our house felt very hot inside. The thermostat was set to 67, but it was 75 degrees and the heat was blasting out of the radiators. We thought it was odd and turned the thermostat off, but we woke up at 3 a.m. to Charlie crying (because it was sooooo hot) and the temp upstairs was 84 degrees!! It was SO HOT. I don't think I can emphasize that enough :) We opened windows and tried to cool the house down and Ben ended up shutting the gas off completely. Neither one of us slept very well the rest of that night because it was so uncomfortably hot. 

On Monday morning, I called the Salvation Army to see what time they were picking up the items we had arranged to donate. Keep in mind that we originally had an appointment for the truck to come on Thursday, but the guy never showed. On Friday, I called and they said they don't do same-day pickups, so they would put me down for Monday. It had taken me a LONG time to haul all of our junk that we had been storing in the garage up to the front steps of our house (slipping and sliding down the alley, climbing over big piles of snow, back and forth multiple times). So we just left the junk out on our front porch. By Monday I was really embarrassed that this was the fifth day of our junk on the porch and was really ready to have it picked up.

But there was no record of us having a pickup for Monday.

I was TICKED. Of course they don't do same-day pickup (not sure why??), so the guy promised me that a truck would arrive on Tuesday, but it was yet another thing that wasn't going right. I was steaming up in our hot house and bugged that the truck wasn't coming when they said it would.

In the meantime, I also flew back to sick kids. Eli and Charlie had yucky colds and took turns crying and throwing fits allllll day long. Charlie is definitely two because he has refined his tantrums - they can last up to about 20 minutes, with him rolling around, kicking, screaming, etc. on the floor. He had about five tantrums that day. Eli was Mr. Emotional and was crying over any little thing. In the afternoon he kept saying his ear hurt, so I set up a doctor's appointment for the late afternoon to get both kids checked out.

When it was time to go, both kids were crying and moaning about not wanting to leave the house. I was  out of patience by that hour. Earlier, we had a heating guy come look at the boiler, and he charged us $140 for the visit and ultimately said he couldn't find what was wrong and it seemed to be working fine (but it was hard for him to see the problem since the gas had been off). So the heat was turned back on and we were hoping for the best. But it was like one thing after the other was NOT going well.

I finally got both kids out to the car and made it to the doctor's office. Charlie didn't have an ear infection and just seemed to have a viral thing going on. While the doctor checked Eli, Charlie threw another fit and was rolling around on the floor under the chairs, sliding them around and crying for no apparent reason. The doctor just smiled (he was one of the older guys in the practice and didn't seem to be phased by much) and continued to examine Eli, who did end up having an ear infection. 

Eli was very happy and sweet to the doctor, but then when we got out to the waiting room to get our coats and leave, he turned into a little monster again and was screaming at me, saying he wanted to zip his coat and I couldn't help him. Which is fine if he could do it, but it's hard for him. I offered to get it started and he went ballistic. Screaming in the waiting area. He refused to leave and after about 10 minutes of trying to convince him to come, I grabbed Charlie and started walking out. Which made Eli cry harder and he ran out following me, then tripped on the sidewalk outside and fell down. More tears from Eli and funny looks from everyone inside the waiting room that could see us out of the big glass windows. 

Once we got to the car, Eli was still in his crazy emotional mood and wasn't letting me buckle his seatbelt. He kicked and screamed and I was taking lots of deep breaths... :) So I opened up google chat on my phone and vented to Ben, who was still at work. I stood there for 20 minutes while Eli cried and tried to get the seatbelt buckled without much luck. I finally got him to let me do the buckle with him, and we drove home. 

You would think the fits were done, but no! We pulled into the garage and Eli started crying again because he didn't want to get out of the car. I almost ran down the alley screaming, but pulled myself together, called a friend and followed Charlie around outside while Eli sat in the car and cried and cried. He was so miserable that day.

Enough of that though :) I was more than ecstatic when Ben walked in the door that night. I think I can safely say that was the worst Valentine's Day I have ever had. Ben brought home my favorite chocolates on Friday and my gift to him was to pick up his iPhone last week (finally, Verizon!!). So we were low key that night and had takeout and vegged on the couch. I was pretty spent.

The Sweet:

The next morning, the heat was going full-blast again and having similar problems as Sunday night/Monday. I was roasting and called the heating company and thankfully they came back and realized the relay between the thermostat and the boiler was stuck, so they replaced that and didn't charge for labor since I had paid for no improvement the day before. That was a bright spot.

My Gram stopped by and hung out at our place for a little while that day, so here are some sweet pictures of her and Eli building a block village together (Charlie was napping). Love you Gram! Eli had lots of fun with you.