Xiaoniu 小妞

I think I’m getting a bit lazy nowadays. We’ve been spending more time just resting lately rather than doing much around the house. I think we’re in the bottom part of the cycle. This weekend started to bring us up and out of it.

We really did not do much this passed weekend, but I’m wiped out regardless. Amy and James stayed over on Friday night, which made for a great time, but can make for a tiring experience. One kid is more than enough. Two kids makes for a loud and toy filled night. The kids love each other and love to play together, but it can really test your patience. Picture two kids running around the house pushing loud “lawnmower” toys and squealing with joy. All the while three adults trying to keep their sanity and talk on the phone.

James I broke out the Lego set that mom and dad gave me for Christmas. He’s finally old enough to handle being involved with putting the toy together. He was patient enough to “help” me put it together by trying to find pieces. Unfortunately, he is way too young to handle actually putting the pieces together or grasp the concept of making something so complex out of such small pieces. We had a good time though and he got a chance to play with the car we build afterward.

Saturday we brought my truck to Toyota to take care of a check engine light. I found out that the light was on because of a bad o2 sensor, which I was going to replace myself. A trip to the part counter educated me a bit. My truck has multiple o2 sensors and I had to know which one to replace. In the end I gave up and had Toyota fix it. Good thing I did. They were able to pinpoint which sensor was bad and ended up cutting it out because it was stuck. I wasn’t up to either task.

Since my a/c is not what used to be we had them charge that up as well. Last week the a/c had to be on high and the truck to be moving just to cool things off a bit. Now I can have it on low and feel chilly. Very nice!

After the truck deal I got a chance to clean out the gutters. The trees we still have still put just enough crap into the gutters to clog them up. With all the rain I can see that my work has done wonders in fixing most of the problems, but there is still one downspout that is clogged. That’s the one with the chipmunks. I’ll probably have to take the whole damn thing off the house to clean it out. Damn rodents.

Sunday we just took it easy. We stopped by an estate sale and actually picked up a couple things. We got a second dehumidifier for a great price (same one we already have), Sue got an Enigma CD and Emelia got some bath toys. Later on Sue cooked up some of our veggies from the garden and Emelia and I went out for a good, long walk and also made a trip to the park. Not much else puts a smile onto her face as quickly as a swing in the park. She can swing for a good half hour without getting bored.

That’s about it though. The only other exciting thing that has happened is that Emelia was sick last week and ended up at the doctors for a diagnosis. I got sick myself on Saturday, but recovered quickly. Now, James and Mike are sick and staying home to be taken care of by mommy. Today is out work picnic, but with the constant rain I think I’ll pass. Standing in the rain, eating hamburgers with my coworkers just doesn’t sound like fun. Without the rain, I would go, but not today.