May 2021 Recap

Just when you think you are on the path you’re meant to be, life has a lovely way of throwing you to the curb.

It seemed like right after my summer bucketlist was posted, shit decided to hit the fan. After 3 months and 7 different companies, we finally had someone to come out to fix the gutter situation. Unfortunately, after about an hour of him being here, it was determined that there was “a lot more issues than met the naked eye”. Of course our first instinct was to contact insurance since it was now going to be a bigger expense. But wait, there’s more!

Our laundry room was experiencing a leak. Chris assumed it was the washer leaking. I mean the thing is 7 years old, but I feel like it shouldn’t be having a random leak. After some of his investigating, he found that it was actually the pipe that the washer drains into as well as our kitchen sink. We had our plumber friend come out to see what was going on. It didn’t take long to see there is mud in the line. Which means we now have an at least six thousand dollar problem in our basement. The fun thing about this is we are not able to use the kitchen sink, dishwasher, or the washer for laundry.

I still had a sink full of dishes and of course you can imagine the daily amount of laundry for 5 people. Needless to say, I had to get a little creative and a little “old school”. I wound up washing the dishes in the bath tub. –>side story👇

My oldest son must have went through a growth spurt recently because literally 98% of his bottoms no longer fit. I had him try on everything he had and he was left with 2 shorts and 1 pant [which by the way, we JUST bought like 2 months ago]. I figured there had to be some in the laundry, so of course we needed to get it washed.. <—short story long…I ended up doing 2 loads of laundry by hand in the bath tub (May 12th).

With all these now impending expenses, I had to let go of the idea of several of my bucket list items: tulip festival, tattoos, and our son’s birthday plans had to change. Which is fine, it isn’t the end of the world, but I still feel like it sucks. It almost feels like I am being punished. Oh well, life goes on right?

On a more positive note, this month was surely a busy one with birthday parties. We had my niece’s birthday at a painting place. All of the kids painted a picture of Hogwarts. There was an extra space, so I was able to paint with them as well. Two of my cousin’s kiddos had birthday parties as well. We also did go to the stock car races with the kids. Bug is obsessed with racecars so he was very amused by them. The older two, normally, do not care very much, but they got really into it this time. We had a really good time! After the events were over we took the kids onto the track. Pickle found a wrench in the middle of it. This particular track is extremely banked so the kids running up it was quite amusing. It is funny how different the track looks from the stands verses actually on it.

Mother’s day was great! I finally slept a bit which is always needed. We went to Dunkin Donuts and then we went and bought all the flowers for my Save the Bee garden. We went to dinner at a nice steak restaurant with my parents, my sister, her son, and her boyfriend. Afterwards we all went to the park at the lake and had a great time. It was a wonderful day!

On May 18th, we finally had someone come out to properly fix the gutter situation. I realized that he didn’t actually do everything that the estimate sheet quoted us for. After he left, I called Chris to tell him what happened. He contacted the company and they essentially said they would look into it and get back to him. Next thing I know, I am sitting on my bed changing a poopy diaper, and I hear clanging on my bedroom window. The guy returned, without notice, and made his way back into our backyard. That was a little terrifying for a minute. He didn’t wind up doing anything and told me he wasn’t certified to do part of what the estimate was for. This whole thing has just been a headache.

Meanwhile, my nerves have been on edge for the last 3 days. This 11 year old boy has been missing in our town. He is autistic and they think he is trying to win a game of hide and seek. The community has really come together in trying to locate him which has been amazing to witness. I really hope he is okay [May 19].

On top of that, we have been ordering food a lot. I am sick of doing the dishes in the bathtub. I am also sick of fast food and the cost that goes with it. We had tried a frozen meal that you just bake, but it wasn’t very good. We are use to fresh everything and these boxed premade things just aren’t cutting it.

We did get to have a date night this month! We went to this local taco place. I ordered their carnita street tacos and Chris had a Picadillo Burrito with a creamy habanero sauce. We also shared chips and guac and 2 Bavarian filled churros. It was pretty good. We learned that habaneros are really spicy 😅. We had a good time though.

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Something new we did this month was sign up to participate in the Mud Factor 5K. It was me, Chris, my sister, my sister in law, and my sister’s friend. We went with the team name Dirty Mudder Fudders. I made some tie dye t-shirts with our team name on them. The guys tore their sleeves off and I made braided racerback shirts for the ladies.

My mom wound up coming initially as a spectator, but then decided to pay to participate so that she could get pictures and videos of us. We had so much fun! I did get sunburnt, bruised, and some cuts here and there. Overall though, it was totally worth it! We are planning to do it again next year. {Last year’s race was cancelled because of Covid, so the medals do say 2020. We decided it was our survival medal.)

Because of the ongoing pipe situation and our dryers inability to dry our clothes after I so graciously have been washing them in the bath tub😵, we decided to take a trip to the laundry mat (May 25th). The kids thought it was a new fun playground sort of experience. Luckily, for the majority of the time we were there, we were the only ones. It took about 2 hours to wash and dry 5 loads of laundry.

I have been feeling a little negative about Summer break coming. Mainly because managing children can be difficult, especially when they are constantly at each other’s throats. One thing I did, was sit down with the kids and we made a Summer Bucketlist Board. We all contributed things we wanted to do this summer. Of course, they also added stickers and drawings as well. Hopefully it helps us keep some sanity around here. Fingers crossed.

With that, Pickle had his last day of second grade. I cannot believe how fast he is growing up. I did sign us up for the Summer Reading Program again with our library. This year the big prize is tickets to see Baby Shark live..oooo ahhh.

Hooray! Some good news (May 26th)… We were given contact information for another plumber from one of Chris’ old coworkers. Chris got in contact with him, he came over, and accessed the situation. He came over the following Saturday and started going to work on the pipe. Here is how that situation looked…

As you can see there was a hole in the pipe that was causing the backflow of debris. It definitely pays to network! Having this contact saved us 4-5,000 dollars!

I also am continuing on with painting the living spaces. I finished the dining room a couple weeks ago and have been procrastinating, mainly because my shoulder hates the repetitive motion. <–More on all that later perhaps.

We finished the month off with one more trip to the laundry mat, a trip to the zoo, and monday movie/game night. The zoo was very busy, but that is to be expected this time of the year. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

It has definitely been a roller coaster of a month. We are taking things as they come, doing what we can when we are able. I will say I am absolutely thankful for the help people have been willing to give us this month. Things always have a way of working out one way or another.

ONTO JUNE!

Things to watch:

• Tenet
• Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead
• Hoarders
• The Woman In The Window