Ask and ye shall receive...

The STQ family put up the outdoor Christmas lights yesterday. As usual, there was much bickering about WHERE they go, IF they go where, WHICH ones go where...but ultimately, I got my way, as usual... :)

Once everyone came to realize the brilliance of my plan, we realized we had a problem. We have a roof rise that needed lights but was high enough that divine hubby had to get on the roof to put them up. Our 6-ft ladder just isn't high enough to get to the roof. Hmmmm. So, I went to our beloved Vikings-loving neighbors to borrow their ugly purple-and-gold ladder...not home. I then went down to Frank's house, where he was out in the driveway contemplating his own Christmas light placement.

Me: Hey Frank, do you have a biiiig ladder?

Frank: Yep - 6 footer.

Me: Nope. Need a biiiig ladder to get on the roof.

Frank doesn't have a biiiig ladder. Hmmmm.

Me: (musing out loud with Frank, mind you) Wonder who might have a biiiig ladder I could borrow?

Camera pans to SUV slowly driving by Frank's house with a big COX cable sign on it and a (wouldn'tyaknowit) biiig ladder strapped to the roof. Seriously, right.as.I.said.it. It was kinda freaky...

Me: (jokingly) Like that one. I wonder if that guy would loan me his ladder?

Camera pans back to SUV as the brake lights come on and he backs up to Frank's house.

Frank: Oh yeah, I forgot COX cable is coming out here to do some work today. Huh.

Me: Huh.
















The COX guy was more than happy to loan us his biiiig ladder and my boys got on the roof to string the Christmas lights. Needless to say, Chase was thrilled to be up on the roof and has already asked when he can get back up there again.

Now, I hate to trivialize God, and I DO know that He's got bigger issues facing Him and His time than my needing a biiiig ladder, but I sure do appreciate His divine intervention in sending me just the right ladder when I needed it! And our lights look beautiful!!

Bad Mommy

So, my son's friend (with whom he spent a great deal of the past three days) has come down with H1N1. 103.8 fever, vomiting, coughing, burning eye sockets, and all the weird symptoms that come with it. My sweet boy has been absolutely perfect...until 6am this morning. He woke up all grumpy, coughing (kind of), flushed and hangdog. My initial thought was...riiiiiight. BUT, the schools are all paranoid and sending kids home for sneezing twice, and if I sent him, my thought is that he would be sent home by 10. So, I made him take a shower, dried his hair, gave him some medicine, clean warm pj's and sent him back to bed.

NOW.

Since he was four, my child has NEVER taken a nap. Not when he was up at a sleepover all night, not when he was sick with a huge fever, not when I demanded it, not NEVER. At 6:30 this morning, I put him back in bed and told him he needed to try to sleep, but could read if he couldn't sleep. I took the DS so there were no electronic options. Five minutes later, I checked on him. Sleeping. It's been nearly two hours and he's still asleep.

SO.

I have decided I am now a bad mommy for doubting my cherub. Honestly, I shouldn't doubt him - he's a lot of things, but a liar, he ain't. And I didn't actually think he was lying, I just thought that EVERYONE thinks they have the Swine flu at 6am on a chilly Monday morning, and he needed to just go to school and shake it off. But, if he is still asleep at 10, I may just call the doctor.

Autumn in Vegas and other random thoughts

My mom has accused me of abandoning blogging for Facebooking. I think she's right. I am certainly addicted to crackbook! I occasionally think of deleting FB from my computer, but then how would I know my friend Bevin is headed to the dentist or my friend Amy is tired this morning, or that Julie's family is driving her crazy? I mean, really! These are important things to know on a Tuesday morning when I can't find a job. Plus, I have a poll on my FB right now about whether or not I should get a Kindle...go comment if you have an opinion!

Living in Vegas has its drawbacks. The landscape is fairly pornographic, gambling is in every grocery store, bar and gas station, not just the Strip, it NEVER rains and the summers are absolutely brutal. HOWEVER, October and November are stunning. We haven't had our A/C on since the end of September and our electric bills are down to under $100 a month. The skies are crystal clear and brilliantly blue every single day (did I mention it doesn't rain? well, there really aren't clouds either...), the humidity is single-digit (and on the low end of the single-digit scale) and it's just lovely. We have roses in our backyard, and they are blooming beautifully. There is just nothing you can complain about in the autumn here in Sin City.

We went Trick-or-Treating over Halloween and had a strange experience. We have friends who have friends who live in a VERY swank neighborhood. So, we tailgated with those friends into said neighborhood to beg candy from the rich. It was enlightening! At one house, they told the kids that they were out of candy. The mom was coming up the walk and heard the dad say that. Her comment was, "That will teach me to only spend $500 on candy this year. Hate it when we run out!" Um. Excuse me? I haven't spent $500 on Halloween candy over my whole LIFE! I was sorry we missed that candy, cause I figure it must have been Godiva!!! Then there was the Rolls Royce. Yep, I said Rolls Royce. There was a little kid trick-or-treating by himself. His father (and the father's driver, apparently) were following along in the Rolls. Cracked me up, but made me sad for that poor little boy. I mean, ya can't walk with the little guy? And the dad is a local celebrity so I happen to know he's NOT in a wheelchair or something.

Our college-aged daughter is planning to come to Vegas for Thanksgiving this year - we are looking forward to it! I have never ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal. We always go to some relative's house or something, where I have helped cook, but never done it all by my lonesome. I'm excited!! There will only be 4 of us, but I'm planning a HUGE spread, just because that is what Thanksgiving is all about. So, if you read my blog and are in the Vegas area, drop by. We'll have leftovers. :) Oh and if you have your grandmother's recipe for amazing stuffing, I'll take that too...I'm recipe shopping at the moment.

What else...I'm still subbing and working for my non-profit literacy group, and hanging out with my family and friends. We are still leading Financial Peace University at our church, still working on our debt-snowball while keeping our daughter in her out-of-state college and our son in his private school. I got a new computer, which is great now that it's all set up (thanks, Lefty!!) and am reading every book I can get my hands on. Life is good!