When it rains it pours

First, there's the lovely Texas weather. Apparently this winter we are going to enjoy monsoon season. Sunday was the first sunny day in about two weeks. Since then we've had more rain, and I believe we will be getting rain all. week. long.

I'm so damn tired of rain. Perhaps I should start building my ark...

Let's discuss how my week is going.

Friday morning we akoke to a cold house; the downstairs heater wasn't working. This didn't surprise DH and me because when I woke up at 3am, I could smell burning plastic. An olfactory inspection of the house didn't pinpoint the cause at that point. We called the warranty company at 9am and they placed a service request for us. Then we waited for the repair company to call and let us know when they could come by. Saturday between 12 and 3pm. Great. Lucky for us we have a fireplace and DH put that on to heat up the downstairs. Once the kids were home from school I kept them outside for a while so they'd stay away from the fire while it heated the house.

After the repairmen replaced the blower motor and limit switch on the heater Saturday, DH took B to see "Night at the Museum" again. While DH and B were at the movies I got a call from FIL. He was calling to let us know that DH's grandmother was in the hospital. She was having trouble breathing Friday night, so she sat up in a chair all night, instead of telling FIL. Once he woke up Saturday and found her, he said she needed to go to the hospital. FIL called her doctor and he agreed as well, and told grandmother that. Once DH arrived home, I told him the news and had him call his father.

DH had to leave very early Sunday morning on a business trip to Florida. His meeting started at 1pm and went until 8pm. He has each day planned from 7a to 8p every day through Thursday's close of the meeting. Which means I don't have many opportunities to talk to him.

S had an accident and made it to the bathroom but not onto the potty that morning. Then A leaked through his diaper. It was a hectic morning as I cleaned up the younger two and the bathroom, shuttled B to CCD and back, and got myself ready for my meeting that afternoon.

Sunday was a glorious day, sunny and warm. I had a sorority meeting at a restaurant in Houston, and I was pleased to sit with my back to the window. I swear I could feel the Vitamin D coursing through my body as the sun shone on my back.

Sunday afternoon the kids and I spoke to DH's grandmother, who started the conversation sounding tired but grew more animated as the conversation went on. The doctors admitted her to the hospital Saturday and put her on a heart monitor, gave her an ECG (or something), put her on Pl*vix, and diagnosed her as having congestive heart failure and a mild heart attack. She told me she was scheduled for a coronary catheterization Monday morning. I called DH's voicemail and let him know the update.

Monday was a Monday. It started as the kids woke up and came to my room. I noticed it was cool and confirmed that as the thermostat read lower than where it should have been. I set the temp higher, heard the thermostat click on, but the heat never came on. Great. WTF?! Then B got up ten minutes before we usually leave for the bus. She hurried to get dressed, but as we left the house the bus was going down the street. So we walked to a later bus stop where she was picked up. As the morning progressed, so did the Monday blahs. S and A didn't want to go to school and fought me on it. Meanwhile my wireless link to our printer wouldn't work, and I couldn't print the newsletter for B's school. I spent over an hour trying to reload the software so I could connect my laptop to the printer and get it to print. We wound up late to S and A's school and late dropping off the newsletter. Then I called the warranty company to let them know the heat wasn't working again. Luckily the CSR said we wouldn't be charged for the call. No kidding. I hadn't planned on paying them to fix a job that was supposedly fixed less than two days prior! The repairman showed up at 3:30 and was in the house for maybe 2 minutes. It turned out that the men Saturday did not tape the access panels shut, and there is some type of pressure switch that won't allow the unit to run without the panels on properly. Once he taped the panels, the unit worked perfectly. And yes, we had more rain. DH and I spoke later that day after he heard from his father. It turns out his grandmother has blockages in two of her three bypasses. They couldn't check the other one because of the leaky valve there. And her other artery has two small blockages. The doctors said that due to granny's age (92), they will not operate on her, but will treat the blockages with medication. From what FIL and granny told DH, they won't put in a stent because it could collapse the one artery she still has, effectively killing her immediately.

Yesterday we had more rain. However the highlight of the day was seeing my dad. He had flown in overnight on his way to AZ, and was bringing my grandmother's china which my aunt and cousin had asked for when we were cleaning out grandmother's house. I took B to the bus stop and then put on the Backyardigans for S and A while I hopped in the shower. As I was rinsing my hair, A came in the bathroom saying "Yucky, mommy. Look!" I looked at him holding up his dirty diaper!! ACK! I hopped out of the shower, threw my robe on and grabbed the dirty diaper from him. After the offensive diaper was in the diaper genie, I took him in the shower with me. Once we were all clean, we headed to the airport at the south end of town. Dad was about an hour late, so the kids and I watched planes take off and land while we waited. Once Bampa was finished, we got the china off the plane and went to the hotel so he could check in. The rest of the crew followed us to the hotel. We took Bampa back to our house to hang out, eat and wait for B to get done with school. The five of us headed out to a local Mexican place for dinner, and the kids were really acting up. B was mouthing off about where her food was, meanwhile we hadn't even ordered! Then A managed to throw half his dinner on the floor. And S was helping Bampa make his fajitas by adding her chicken nuggets or chips to them. I don't know whose children they were, but my kids are usually much better behaved in public. After dinner we took Bampa back to his hotel and we went home to bed. I spoke to my mom and DH after that.

DH and SIL don't like the answers that FIL and granny are giving them about the course of treatment. Since granny and FIL are in Florida, as is DH at the moment, DH has decided to fly over to where they are. He is going to fly there after his meeting ends tomorrow and spend the weekend and SIL is also planning on flying down for the weekend. They will be able to ask the tough questions of the doctors as they are concerned that FIL and granny are afraid to question the doctors.

So I get three more days by myself with the kids. I sure hope it stops raining because we're all tired of being cooped up. And I know everyone else will be taking their kids to the indoor play areas around town. Bah!