A New Clubhouse for the Kids

Well, with the arrival of our tax refund, we quickly ordered a new dining set. We have owned a This End Up (remember them?) table, chairs and bench since we were married, and it's served us quite well. However, with the addition of every new child, our non-extending only table has become more and more difficult to deal with when we have company. It's going to become our craft table downstairs now. We ordered an unfinished "farm table" that can seat up to 10 people when fully extended. Our dinner group will enjoy dinners much better using real chairs and not benches and folding chairs, huh? Wish me luck on figuring out how to properly stain and paint it. Rather than order chairs unpainted, we went ahead with slightly bigger, slightly more expensive, but fully painted chairs. :-) They arrived on Wednesday when the kids were all home from school (icestorm caused a school cancellation). However, they arrived smack in the middle of our blackout. No electricity. I know there is a way to disconnect the garage door from the opener, but I couldn't remember. So, when the UPS lady carefully approached our door on the icy porch, I told her the boxes all had to come in the front door. She looked at me a little funny and said, "There are 8 of them, and they are big." In my mind, I was picturing 4'x2'x8" boxes (big, but thin). I said, "Oh that's fine". I went upstairs to get on some shoes (since it was freezing out and I was in barefeet). I came down to see that she already brought in one of the boxes. It was HUGE! I am so used to buying cheap assemble-yourself furniture, I was expecting these chairs to be Ikea-style in flat boxes ready for me to assemble. Nope. They were assembled and in VERY large boxes. Say... 4'x2'x2'. By the time she was done, our foyer (which I always thought was a decent size with a double-door closet and hallway)... was PACKED. OH, but the joy that sprang onto the kids' faces!!! WOW! EIGHT HUGE BOXES! Each box could even fit all three kids inside. They immediately moved the boxes into a circle-like shape and threw some cardboard over top. They didn't care that I hadn't removed the chairs yet... they were having a ball with the boxes. I didn't think anything of it. Till I later saw Tommy coloring on them with a green Sharpie... over our new hardwood floors. I freaked out just a little. :0)

So, I went ahead and removed all the chairs... and saw that the kids had even posted "flags" by poking pencils into the boxes and hanging paper off the pencils. Cool idea... fortunately they never "hit" a chair with those pencils. I then explained that their new clubhouse could not exist in our foyer, taking up all available space with no room to walk. So, I threw all the boxes into the basement (imagine the pileup that occurred on the steps...LOL). Our rec-room is filled with huge boxes now, but it's mostly the kids' room anyway. Now if they could only agree on the best arrangement...

As for the chairs themselves, we love them. (Can't beat Amazon, eh? Real hardwood, nicely constructed and FREE shipping!) I checked on the table. It's not to arrive for another 3 weeks, and then I need to stain and paint and polyurethane it. So... maybe by the time Gracelynn arrives, I'll have it ready to use??

Mr. Roboto

As many may know after reading our adoption blog, Mike fell a week ago and broke his arm. We had a small ice storm, and when he went out to check the roads (which were fine), he fell full-force on his arm on the sidewalk in front of the door. Amazingly, he continued onto work and went through the whole day (including making a couple of stops and attending a going-away luncheon). On his way home, he had his fingerprints taken at the Sheriff's office (adoption requirement), and then stopped at the ER just to check out the bones and make sure nothing was broken. Sure enough... 3 fractures at the elbow.

Our small group was canceled that night as Joanna (neighbor) and I had to go get Mike and take home his car. They simply put the arm in a splint/sling. He went in to see the orthopedic specialist on Monday. I dropped him off at the doctor in the next town and went flying back to the kids school to get them when school was let out. Dummy me... it was Monday, which meant they were in Chinese class after school. So I made an unnecessary trip. (Sorry... wasn't thinking clearly that day.) I came back to get Mike, who had already finished at the doctors and was waiting at the California Tortilla. Expecting to get a hard cast, he instead learned something new: Surgery was needed.

So, on Thursday, Mike had a small titanium screw implanted in the bone to hold things together. I believe the doctor mentioned even putting some mesh at the end of the bone where he "crushed" it. I don't trust what I remember from that conversation, so Mike will have to see what he did when he goes back in a week from Tuesday.

To say the least, things have been nuts around here. We're working on getting things done for our adoption and homestudy (getting TB tests on Friday, having paperwork filled out, etc.), we're working on a care package to mail to Gracelynn (we have our pre-approval now!!), we're spending our income tax refund (already been deposited... woo hoo!) and inheritance money on necessary furniture and new camera and adoption, rearranging our house to be ready for another family member, collecting quilt squares for the 100 wishes quilt, not to mention just carrying on with our normal lives with school and sports.

Mike fortunately had a great neighbor, John, take him to work the two days this week that he went. Next week we'll have to wait and see.

So, I apologize for a recent lag in posts. We've been a little busy around here. In the meantime though, when you turn on your XM 80's station or (if you're like me), turn on your iPod and hear "Mr. Roboto", think of Mike and say a little prayer for his quick recovery.

Wonder how many airport Xray machines he'll throw off in his lifetime now? :-)