A funny picture

of my little stinker...Just thought I'd share. He's kind of got a "you want a piece of me" look going there doesn't he?

Such an odd little monkey!

Draining

We've had a draining several days, weeks even. Everyone pretty much knows we've had pretty bad plumbing problems with our house, from the start. Well we're still having problems, last week I scheduled an appointment with the sewer and plumbing company that replaced our main sewer drain when we had first gotten the house. It just keeps on clogging. They were supposed to come yesterday between 3 and 5, but didn't show up, i placed to calls which were met with "I'll call the team in the field and have then call you" which never happened. If you wanted to describe me yesterday the only word that comes to mind is pissed. We woke up this morning to a message on the answering machine that said that they were in the area and could stop by today to do the things that need to be done. We needed the main line rodded, and leaking pipe fixed and the check vavles oiled. well I called... back they came, they rodded the line but couldn't get it totally clear. They'll be back on Tuesday with some sort of hydro thinger to clear the line. in total this is going to cost a pretty penny... which we don't really roll in pretty pennies, we had plans for the money from our taxes. Now we must rebudget some things. I'm thinking some things that could really use to get done are going to have to wait. It's so hard deciding where to use money when we get any extra. There is so much that needs to be done and just not enough money to do it. Needless to say this has been very draining on us regardless of the fact that the pipe is not draining. I'm trying to find some humor in our situation and finding very little. We are also going to get an estimate for fixing the other broken pipes under the floor in the basement. they're thinking it'll only cost about $1600. I'm not so sure that the is a sum of money that the word just should apply to...just $50 ...yes just works with that, but just $1600, it just doesn't work for me. I guess we'll find it somewhere.
So...has anyone come across any money trees lately? care to share the location with us? No? well do us a favor and keep your eyes peeled for one. :)

Sink Saga Part III

OK, so we didn't go to the hardware store again today, it seems that the trap has stopped leaking...weird, but welcome! We've decided to give it a week and see if it stays that way, if it does well then we're done... if it doesn't then it's back to home depot. But I have to say I was grinning from ear to ear while brushing my teeth this morning, this new sink is a beauty! And you have to love the fact that it's not hanging off the wall! I couldn't be more pleased unless I was living somewhere else!

The sink saga continues..

Well we have a LOVELY pedestal sink, with a LOVELY Price-Pfister faucet and paneling that has been reattached to the wall...and a leaky trap. this after 3 trips to 2 different stores. See the thing is this: the pipe coming out of the wall is 1 1/4 " pipe, and the new faucet is 1 1/4" and so was our old trap, but the new sink is higher then the old one, and well that meant that the trap didn't reach the new drain thinger. so we went on our 2nd trip to the store. They didn't have and extensions the length that we needed in 1 1/4". but they had this really cool trap with like and extendable part...perfect...but it was 1 1/2 inch...but it came with a little gasket thingy that would convert it to the size we needed. YAY good to go, right? We bring it home and guess what... we need another converter thingy, so out we go again trip 3, got there 20 minutes before the store closed. Home we come, put it all together and the one side coming from the wall and connecting to the trap has the gall to leak!!! AAAARRRGGGG!!! So we'll be making another trip tomorrow, stay tuned for "The Homeowners Strike Back!" in what will hopefully be the last and final installment of this story.

Home repair

Well all new home owners who buy an old house are bound to be in for a few needed repairs. We've had our share...the $6500 sewer line that was broken in several places, installing a shower head on one of the claw foot tubs so that we could shower, small electrical stuff (which is not all completed yet) and now the sink in the upstairs bath. The people who sold this house must have been idiots (and so were we to have bought this house, but that's besides the point). The sink upstairs is nothing more then a basic wall mounted sink. There is paneling in the bathroom, kind of like wainscoting, normally like 36 inch wood paneling, ours is not wood...I don't no what it really is but we'll call it plastic, it doesn't look horrible, but it's not great either. Anyway, the sink is mounted to the wall, and poorly mounted it is. The paneling and the sink are coming away from the wall, not this is annoying, and probably dangerous. And I am tired of having the tell Aidan not to lean on it when he brushes his teeth at night. So we made a trip to the home depot and now have in our mitts and pedestal and sink along with a pipe wrench, basin wrench, and all kinds of plumbers goop. We've bought screws to reattach the paneling to the wall and are going to try to install this new sink ourselves. Aidan is playing at grandma and nana's and we're going to try to get this all done in one shot. So once again, wish us luck, we're going to need it!

Update-

I'm back to work, still not a hundred percent better. I think the infection is probably gone, but the bronchitis isn't. I've still got the wretched cough. Came home from work today because my boss, being the genius that he is, decided it would be a good idea for my to scrub down machines and paint them today...needless to say i brought my little self right on back home, I'm still wheezing for crying out loud, why would I want to be breathing in all those fumes to boot? I offered to do something else less strenous but there was nothing. Oh well.

March of Dimes WalkAmerica

Well it's that time of year again! Time for me to start raising money for The March Of Dimes. I try to do their walk each year, (did a few in high school, and then started doing them again a couple of years ago, this will be my 5th year raising money). I didn't actually go down for the walk last year (still raised money), the weather was bad and one of us was sick if I remember correctly. If anyone would like to help me out by donating at my sponsor page that would be FABULOUS. The most I've ever raised was $250 dollars and I'd love to beat that. Remember any donations are deductible on next years taxes. If you know of anyone who would like to donate please send them here or dorectly to my sponsor page. Thanks eveyone!

Well....

I'm home sick, Ian took me to urgent aid yesterday because the doctors office that we've been going to didn't have anything available until next Tuesday. When I got home on Tuesday night I started not feeling well, had a sore throat and a horrible cough. I had hoped that it would be gone by the morning but it wasn't. By the time I got to the clinic I had a fever of 101.4 so they gave me tylenol, it brought it down to 99.9 by the time I left. I have a very bad case of bronchitis (not sure on the spelling) and an infection, so I'm on meds for that. Just wanted to keep everyone updated. This is the first time I've been out of bed since I came home yesterday and I'm pretty much wiped out again, so I'm gonna head back to my bed.

Mr Fix-It

That's my Ian. We've got this old house, and the wiring is probably original; which is very scary to think about. Anyway, the dining room light was being wonky. We would turn it on, and it would come on then flicker off. So we switch it off and then back on again, and it does it again, so we repeat the first step again. turn it on, and eventually it would stay on. Well this has been making me a little nervous and jerky so we weren't leaving it on when we weren't home, and really not using it much when we were home. My Ian decided to try changing out the light switch. TaDa the light stays on now! Still nervous about our ancient wiring but not as nervous as before. We've got 2 more lighting problems that need fixing and then we are seriously thinking about selling our house. We're just a little tired of not knowing what is going to go wrong next. Ian is also going to actively start looking for another job...even if it's out here somewhere for the time being. Fingers crossed, wish us luck!

Finally! Aidan got his hair cut!

Ok you have to understand that Aidan is quirky. About a great many things. But I digress, we were talking about a hair cut. This little boy seems destined to turn into Shaggy (think the hippie from Scooby Doo). See before picture above. Well he will pitch a fit at the sight of the hair cutting place we usually go to, he hasn't had a bad experience there or anything, he's just weird! I tried to get the boys hair cuts last weekend, because daddy needs one just as bad as Aidan did. Let's just say Aidan threw a fit and wouldn't let daddy get his hair cut either....So I had to go to the post office the other day and in the same shopping center I notice a new place called Cool Cuts for Kids (or something like that). I took him there today, it was GREAT! They had toys to play with (Thomas the train stuff!), Videos to watch and he got to sit in his choice of vehicle, a yellow taxi or a really cool fire truck with a bell on it, you can guess which one he choose! We will definitly be going back there soon! Here is the after picture, you can actually see his face!! YAY!

If it isn't one thing..

it's another! We got the van running again, so we took it to get an oil change since it has been sitting for months. What do you think happens? The dipstick broke! Seriously, all I could do for a few seconds was look at the kid holding the handle thinger in his hand. When I could finally speak I was like "What the?" OY! So now we need to find a way to get that taken care of. I mean what else needs to go wrong? Everytime I think we're all set, running on a level playing field, what happens? We trip in a gopher hole. So now I'm off to research this latest "problem". Wish me luck.

Regis and Kelly...

are having a cutest baby contest. So, at the suggestion of Mamaw I went and entered Aidan. You had to have a picture (not a professional one) that was taken within the last month, here's the one I picked. So, watch the show on Feb. 20th to see who the semi-finalists are, and to find out when to vote. This picture was from New Year's Eve, my little man stayed up with us to watch the ball drop, and got to lead the "noise maker jamboree". He had a ball!

Ian is turning out to be a...

Jack of All Trades! We now have 2 running vehicles again. It did only turn out to be the battery on the van that was the problem. So last Saturday I went and picked him up a set of sockets w/ a ratchet (insert that strange noise that Tim the Tool man Taylor makes here). More Tools! I seem to remember a time when you disconnected the battery, lifted it out put in the next. Well let me tell ya, they bolt the suckers in now! you have to have a socket and ratchet. I think it could very well be a conspiracy by the tool industry! Anyway so Ian got the old dead battery out just fine, we go get the new one, come back,start to put it in. Ian goes to hook the negative side back up and the alarm starts wailing! ok disconnect that again!, go in the house find the remote (we haven't used it in ages, even when the van was running), discover that there is no battery in it, run out get a battery, come back try again. Success! Just call him Ian the Toolman/Geek Squad McBride! That's my guy.The van started right up! Thank goodness! Especially considering we have to get the truck to the dealership by 7:45 am tomorrow (what an awful hour to have to face the day when you work 2nd shift).
Which brings me to my newest RANT! What is with the car dealership? They don't have service department hours on Saturday, and Monday -Friday it's only open 7 -3. Does the entire planet revolve around 1st shift people? And further more, I asked the dealership, since this visit is to repair 2 (yes that's right 2!) recalls, if they would give us a courtesy car and they said NO! arg, why not? "they don't do that" What kind of nonsense is that? I mean you recall something on the car, and then you're going to leave me without a car for the ENTIRE day and not give me something else to drive? what's that all about. Thankfully we got the van to start (even if it is the eleventh hour). Hopefully we'll be able to come back home and get some sleep. We've taken the day off of work for this mess, maybe we'll get some other stuff accomplished too! Wish us luck!

Nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs...

I really really don't like snow, especially this annoying slushy, if it was warmer it would be rain,kind of snow, but instead it's this nasty wet snow building up everywhere. And I have to say I've been driving in this stuff every winter for 10 years, so I do ok, but the other drivers on the road...well they leave something to be desired. We don't have 4 wheel drive on our truck, but if you take it easy you do ok, so we're putting along, and struggling a little bit (4 inches and still falling w/ no sign whatsoever that a plow had been around), and along comes this small car driving like a loon! You would think that if you saw the car ahead of you struggling through the snow, sliding now and again, that you would just stay back. but no, they zip past and scare the bejeezus out of me. It is for reasons like this that I tend to be as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs everytime it snows and we have to drive in it.

Hooray!!!!

We have two working toilets again! Ok, I know what you're thinking, who on earth would want to hear about my bathroom problems. Well, I can't help but be proud of Ian for fixing the problem by himself! Way to go babe! See the problem was that the toilet downstairs (the one by the way that gets used the most) was leaking from between the bowl and the tank. I can hear you handy people out there saying "That's easy to fix", but being first time home owners (who are slowly accquiring the collection of tools needed to do minor home repairs) and having zero know-how in the plumbing department (or any other home repair department for that matter) you gotta give us credit for being able to fix it without having to call in a plumber. Now... computer problems we've got that covered, our house has it's own "Geek Squad"; my Ian can figure out just about anything with a computer!
So what job shall the McBrides of IL tackle next? the answer: Operation Get the Van running! Stay tuned.

Resolutions?

I don't know that I've actually made any resolutions in the last few years, but this year I'm going to try, actually we're all going to try. Here are our goals (resolutions sounds a bit intimidating to me) for the year.
1-muck out our house, that sounds bad doesn't it? we have so much we don't need or use, it's time to "fluff off all the excess and find our centers". You can bet we'll be throwing out a lot and probably selling some on eBay-have to try to make something out of all this STUFF.
2-make lists, we seem to get much more done when we do this, I think part of it is because you get a sense of accomplishment in getting to cross things off. It doesn't bother us that the list will never actually be finished, but crossing off and revising just feels like something is getting done. We've already started this, our goal is to cross off one thing a day, even if we add more then that, all that matters is that something gets done.
3-a personal goal for me is to scrap a page for each day of the year, I'm already behind on this but I'll catch up quickly once we're back in the swing of things. I feel this is an Important goal, it gets our memories down on paper, and it gives me a creative outlet that I think I'm starting to improve at.
4-look for another job for both of us but definitly me, before we go onto 12 hour shifts. Look for jobs for both of us 800 miles from here (big dream-but we can eventually do it)
5-last but not least try to eat better..which in turn hopefully will shed some pounds off of both of us. Hopefully straightening up and getting a sense of order throughout the house will make it easier to find the time to make home cooked meals instead of so much processed food.

Well those are our goals for the year...wish us luck.

I also have a new gallery for my scrapbooking online at scrapbook.com click here to see my gallery. http://www.scrapbook.com/places/Fe+McB Hopefully I'll have some new things going up soon.

"Home....

...is where the heart is." I never really understood that until I was blessed to become a part of my new family in NJ. My heart, my home really is in NJ, we didn't even get to the corner of the street when were leaving to come back here and I was missing them all already. It's really funny when people hear me talk about going home for christmas, they always ask "But didn't you grow up around here? You're not from NJ are you?" My answer to that is always "I am now (from NJ)." Even my little guy gets very excited about going home for a visit. It is truly where we all want to be.
We miss you all so very much! Let the job hunt begin!

Christmas Photo shoot with my little elf

Here is my favorite picture that I took today. Isn't he just fabulous? He was such a good sport taking pictures for mommy, and talking about santa coming and what he hoped santa would bring for him. He's been the cutest thing the last few days. Whenever we pick him from nana's house he says (as daddy is buckling him into his seat) "Are we going to New Jersey now?" in the sweetest little boy voice on the planet. And it just melts my heart how sweet he can be. He can hardly wait to go and see Grammy and Grandpa and Uncle Kevin and Uncle Danny and everybody! (His words, not mine :^) )He's excited to see cousin Jason and to meet his newest little cousin miss Caitlin! He just loves to watch the pictures of everyone scroll by on mommy's screensaver. One more week until Christmas, we can all hardly wait! If you'd like to see the rest of the photos just click on this link
http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=384171134866572760/l=71553306/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
If that doesn't work let me know and I'll send you a link by email.

Here's the Birthday Boy!!!

Well, here he is! in all of his "I'm a 3 year old glory!" Isn't he just fabulous? He was all dressed and ready to go for his 3 yr check up. And what a good boy he was for that, he was a little nervous at first, didn't even want to step up on the scale, but once he relaxed a little he did great. They checked his eyes (he had to identify little pictures from like 40 ft away?) did fine with that, then he let the nurse take hi BP, and was really good for that just held out his little arm and watched he like a hawk. Which by the way is what he was doing to everybody, he was watching us all! probably waiting to see if someone was gonna jab him with a needle. (he's his mama's boy). He's 37 and 1/4 inches tall and like 37 lbs (I think , I was too busy trying to calm him down enough to stand on the scale to think to write it all down this time.) He was a very HAPPY boy when he realized that "hey I'm not getting a shot this time AND I still get a lollipop and sticker! How cool is this". He was hungry when we got done so we had some taco bell for an early lunch and then headed on home. I'm waiting for my boys to come downstairs now so my little man can open up the rest of his gifts, there just wasn't time to do it all yesterday. Will try to post some more pictures later.

What is it with my guys....

and getting sick on or near their birthdays? Ian gave me a scare on his birthday, they thought he had appedicitis (sp?) and now my little guy was running a fever last night and ended up throwing up at about 5am, his fever is lower and he's running and playing and seems pretty normal, he has his 3 yr check up tomorrow on his birthday, if his fever isn't gone completely then I'll be asking the dr about it. Hopefully it's just a little bit of a cold, everything else has been normal, he was very tired last night, but was requesting water and smiling and laughing some. So, lets wish for a well punkin, and I'll update again later.