I spent all morning up at City Hall - didn't really intend to. I ran into a snag with entering water payments and had to wait for the software company to call me back. And then she couldn't figure out what was going on so I had to wait for yet another phone call. Finally got it figured out! Now I'm waiting to hear back from our water commissioner. For the first time, I've got to order some water shut-offs. I hate doing that, but when people have been warned and then they don't attempt to work out some sort of payment with me - I have to do my job! But for safety's sake, I did program the sheriff's phone number into my phone today!
Yesterday was our 19th wedding anniversary. 19 - such an odd number! Next year we'll be celebrating #20 on the 20th, which will make it extra cool. We're already tossing around some ideas of what to do to celebrate that one. Paul actually had work all day yesterday so I spent the bulk of the day shopping with Ben.
Then, Paul and I headed out to Kohls (I know, the romance just doesn't stop!). He outgrew his tan khakis. I have been telling him for several years now that he is no longer a size 34 waist - he would not listen to me. Finally, around Christmas I informed him that we WOULD be buying him new pants because not only was the waist straining but they were so old that the legs had shrunk and they just didn't look right anymore. Well, I finally got a 30% off Kohls coupon last week. I used it over the weekend to buy a few needed things and it just so happened that I spent enough that they gave me a $10 off coupon for my next purchase - that I could use in conjunction with any coupon. So, we found some pants for him last night. Our final purchase price was $7. Woo-hoo! Now, THAT'S a deal! I had been feeling pretty smug for a few hours about my earlier Unstoppables purchase ("Unstoppables" is a new laundry product made by Downy - we can't use fabric softener because of Ben's skin, but he doesn't react to these little pellets and they make the laundry smell so good) at Walmart, but I think the pants beat that. I had Walmart price-match to Target's advertised price of $5.99 which is a $2 savings over Walmart's normal price. Then, I had a $2 coupon. So I paid only $4 for my container of Unstoppables that would normally cost $7. That's a lot of writing just to brag about buying Paul some really cheap pants!
Afterwards, we went to The Cheesecake Factory. We finally got there for an anniversary! I've been trying to get us out there for a couple of years and it finally worked. We had agreed that we would not be buying gifts for eachother this year. I'm kind of getting to the point of not feeling the need for presents all the time and I just went through Christmas, Paul's birthday, and Valentine's with him - I am all tapped out as far as gift ideas go. The last 3 years we've bought either furniture or appliances, but we don't need (nor could afford) anything like that this year. And, besides, more than likely we will be starting our kitchen remodelling project this year and we'll be spending plenty of money on that. Oh, and we're digging out more of the basement and replacing our bedroom floor (not flooring - the actual floor!). So it's all going to cost money. So, we gave eachother cards. I was so shocked to see that Paul had written this poem for me. It's just beautiful. There are 19 stanzas, all rhyming. Every line begins with "19 years..." and the cadence and rythm are just perfect! I was so touched! AND, the poor guy woke up at 5 yesterday morning in order to type it out. He's kind of a hunt and peck typist, so I know it took him awhile. I'm going to copy it out in a different font and then frame it for our bedroom. What a guy!
Another blessing happened last Wed. night. I walked into church and our pastor handed me envelope. An anonymous donor had stuck a $100 bill in there with a note that said something nice, but I can't remember right now what it was. Every time this happens I am just so shocked!
Sam has been asking his brothers lately what their last names are. He gets upset when they tell him it's the same as his. Apparently he wants to claim that for himself! It's so cute - he goes around announcing to nobody in particular, "I'm SamuelLeoHeywood" - all run together like that.
Last Friday the news reported that a young (29 - "young-ish" maybe) man had gotten locked outside of his 3rd floor apt. in Des Moines. So he crawled up on the roof, hoping to get entrance back into his apartment. Instead, he fell to his death. I didn't think anything of it until I started seeing all these messages on Facebook about it. I didn't make the connection with his name until then. This young man attended the Academy, along with his 5 siblings. In fact, his parents were my CBF leaders during my UNI days. How broken-hearted they must be. Pray for the Nemmers family. It's so shocking and sad.
Ben won an ipad last week. The principal had called me a week earlier to let me know and I had to keep a secret! What happened was that Hy-Vee ran this promotion this year. If customers turned in their receipts then they would be awarded points which they could then direct to any school they wanted. A certain number of schools with the most points across the state would win a smart board. Then, in those schools, they also gave the student who had the most points donated in his name would win the ipad. Well, my parents have been faithfully donating points since last fall in Ben's name. I am baffled that they donated the most because my parents are just feeding two people, so I wouldn't think they would be spending overly much on their groceries at Hy-Vee! But anyway, the boys and I all snuck over to the school last Friday. We got to meet the Hy-Vee reps. They wanted to know, "Now, who are the Daniels?" Later, the principal asked me the same thing. I guess Dad's name showed up on their spreadsheets.
Ben had the funniest look on his face when he walked into the gym and saw us all there. We just smiled! They had this assembly with all the junior high students and then they announced Ben's name as the winner. Oh my goodness - he was SO excited! Ben was jumping up and down. They took pictures of Ben for the school paper and I had my camera clicking away too. Hy-Vee also brought a small cake with a picture of an ipad on it and Ben's name written at the top. We left the cake for Ben's classmates and teachers. My other boys were none-too-impressed with that choice! But it seemed like the right thing to do.
Will got the ipad all set up and found some free games to download onto it. I don't know a whole lot about these things, but I guess I'll learn. Today, Ben's teacher is syncing all the games they have been using on the classroom ipad onto Ben's.
Oh, let's see? What else is new? My knee is healing up. I'm down to just one tiny scab now. It's still pretty black and blue, though. I did end up calling the dr who kind of wanted me to come in for a tetanus shot. I'm just really reluctant to do that, though, because it is a vaccine and I've read some terrible things about the tetanus vaccine, especially. Of course, tetanus probably wouldn't be a picnic in the park, either. So he finally said that I just needed to keep a close eye on the bite and if things changed, to come straight in. So far, so good! Well, some older ladies at church got wind of my dog bite (because Sam offered it up as a prayer request during his class time on Wed) and had to see what was going on. Plus, Pastor announced that night that I was having this nodule removed soon. So, they were in a dither over me, which, admittedly, is nice. Not too many people fuss over me these days! There was a group of 3 of them around me on Wed night and suddenly Janice says, "Girls - we have to pray for Sarah right now!" I was a little embarrassed but touched at the same time. She made all 4 of us hold hands and she prayed out loud, right then and there! She also said, "We can't lose our Sarah!" Then she called me twice as the week went on to see how I was doing. I could listen to her all day! God has definitely given her the gift of encouragement. She tells me how nice my boys are and what a wonderful mother I am. Ahh - keep those strokes coming! I wonder sometimes if that encouragement is actually just coming from God - His way of lifting me up.
Sam was so funny that same night at church. One of the little girls in his class messed her pants. She just turned 2, so I definitely wouldn't expect her to be potty trained yet. But Sam later said dramatically to me, "Mom, she just stunk up the whole church!" Oh, the pride of the already potty-trained!
Well, I've got only a couple of hours to get things done. As soon as Ben gets home from school I need to rush him off for allergy shots. Then I have to drop him off and race over to Indianola to pick up Jenny so we can get to our special needs moms group tonight. I'm not doing too badly right now, but I bet I'll be dragging later. Paul woke me up at 4 this morning. He was feeling all romantic and the drug he is on now causes him to have a harder time staying asleep the closer it gets to 6 am or so. For whatever reason, my body did not want to fall back asleep after he woke me - until, of course, right before I had to get up at 7! Argh!
So, I had better keep moving if I want to make it through my to-do list.
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