7 Quick Takes Friday!

#7

Our washing machine has been broken for two weeks now. TWO weeks. And we live an hour’s drive from the nearest laundromat, so loading all the kids up to spend, oh, a whole day doing laundry if you add in driving time and traffic is simply not something I could work myself up to doing. So I’ve been doing about three small loads of laundry a night in the sink, after the spectacular failure I experienced after my one attempt to do laundry in the bathtub. 

The part for the washer came in last Friday, and the company FINALLY got someone out to fix it last night. 

#6

It is not fixed. It is dead and must be buried. 

The repairman said that the original service-man was wrong and the actual problem would cost several hundred dollars to fix, and that we might as well just buy a new one. 

Yay. 

#5

Our wonderful neighbor across the street offered to let me do some laundry at their house, since (and I quote) “women stopped doing laundry in the sink 100 years ago. Bring the laundry over!”

This gives us time to see if our land-lady will decide to spring for a new washing machine, and to figure out how to build one ourselves out of spare parts if she doesn’t. 

#4

As it turns out, money actually does not grow on trees, which  means our retirement plans are going to have to be cancelled. 

Our personal money tree has withered and died a horrible death, since this week UNLV decided that the Cost of Attendance which would cover the Ogre’s massive out-of-state attendance tuition, and which they guaranteed him last semester, wasn’t something they really felt like giving him anymore. Oh, and then they decided that we owed them extra money for some mysterious “mistake” on their part. 

So now we have a steep monthly tuition to pay which we a) didn’t budget for and b) can’t afford. 

Thank God that we’re too poor to pay any taxes, huh? Yay, tax return! 

#3

The good news is that socially we are winning Ave Maria. Yesterday during Charlotte’s ballet class Sienna, Liam and I took a walk around the piazza and the school campus. Sienna was on her Razor and I was pushing Liam in the stroller.

The Ave Maria campus seems to be under some sort of Biblical plague at the moment, as there are these creepy-looking cricket-like beetle/spider hybrids hopping and crawling around everywhere. They congregate in groups, so there will be patches of bare sidewalk and then the sidewalk will be completely blocked by hundreds of the little mutant nasties.  I’ve never seen anything like it and sincerely hope I never do again, but yesterday we were forced to brave the plague on our way to visit the Ogre at his office.

Sienna would ride her Razor for a bit, come upon a school of mutants, then screech, steer sideways sharply, fall, scream, jump back up and on her scooter, and then repeat the performance. It was pretty funny and since we were outside I didn’t see any point in trying to make her be quiet.

Until…until she let out a particularly large squeal and I heard a voice coming from above us.

“Excuse me, miss? We’re trying to film something here and your daughter is being a little…loud.”

Fortunately for us, it was only the President of the University, also known as the former legal representative to Mother Teresa, also known as the former adviser to President Bush, also known as one of the current prize fighters against the HHS mandate, also known as Mr. Jim Towey, who was probably just filming another call to arms for his series of Youtube battle-cries.

You know, no big deal.

#2

#1

So this week has been totally spectacular. I’m so glad it’s Friday.

Here’s hoping your week was better than mine! Go see Hallie for more quick takes!