2015 - The First 10 Days

Well, so far 2015 has brought its highs and lows. We kicked off the year with Christmas #3 in Moline with the Brandi clan. Wonderful time as always and Lainey is again begging to go back to Grandma's house every day. We celebrated birthdays for Oliver (6), Amelia (8), and Jacob (almost 14--something I just CANNOT wrap my mind around)! The only blight on the weekend was a trip to the urgent care center (wouln't be the holidays without one) to get Nick treated for an ear infection. Luckly it didn't affect his spirits, so he was still able to enjoy the fun!

On Monday, I started my new job and it's kicking my butt, however, I mean that in the best possible way! It feels great to be working with people I know and respect and to be challenged again. This week has been a little rough because my boss had been holding things for me for a little over a month, so on day one I was more than four weeks behind, plus I spent the majority of this first week training in the restaurants, not at my desk. Not to mention, I had to work from home on Tuesday (only my second day on the job), because our furnace blew...at 1:30 AM...while Mark was in Las Vegas.

So, the furnace. Ugh. We had just had it inspected and knew a breakdown was coming, but were hoping to get some more out of it with a replacement part. I guess the sub-zero temps were just too much. We were lucky and were able to get it replaced that day or I would have had to head to a hotel with the kids. I kept them in bed with me and we stayed pretty toasty, but the house got down to about 54 degrees before I could take them to daycare. The temp proceeded to drop to 46 degrees at its lowest. The repairman had it up and running by around 2:00 PM and we were back to 72 degrees before I went to bed that night. The kids got to skip baths, because it was only 67 after dinner and it had been a long, stressful day for me, so I took the easy route and watched some cartoons with them instead.

I would love to say I stayed cool and calm under the pressure, but I didn't. I flung more than a few four-letter words at Mark over the fact that we didn't just go ahead and replace the furnace instead of trying a temporary fix. But, after I pulled myself together, I called back and apologized. I realized that even if we had decided to go ahead and replace it, we still wouldn't have done it until later in the week, because we had been out of town, and then Mark was traveling for work and I had a new job. And I really didn't need to freak out so much about having to work from home, because my boss already knows I'm a solid worker and would be understanding (and he was). And finally, it hit me that while this was a huge inconvience to us, that's all it was. An inconvenience. I started thinking about all those parents out there who really had no way to keep their children warm and couldn't just suck it up, fork over a credit card, and buy a new furnace. So what if this expense pushes back some of our renovation projects? It's not going to stop us from paying the mortgage or buying groceries. And with those thoughts, I snuggled my kiddos in close and was able to get about an hour or so of sleep before starting my very cold day at home.

All is going well now though! First week done at the job, and I get a full week in the office starting Monday. Nick is done with antibiotics and seems to be feeling fine. And we have HEAT!!!

Hope the New Year is off to a fabulous start for all of you!!!

Happy Birthdays!

Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Brandi