Thanksgiving is back on

They are testing the fire alarm in my building right now. It is incredibly irritating. I keep hearing things like, "Attention, a fire has been reported in the building," or, "Attention, a tornado warning has been issued for this area." I know for a fact the fire alarm works well. Just the other day, one of the residents in our lab needed to autoclave something but didn't close the autoclave door well enough, allowing steam to escape. That was enough to set off the alarm. This is the third time that has happened since we have been in this lab - thankfully not by the same person. Ah, it sounds like the test is over.

Our oven emergency is over - at least for now. We found one on Craigslist.com yesterday. It was only $75. It is not in the best condition but it works. Michelle and I were not enthused about having to spend lots of money on a new oven. I am just thankful that it all worked out.

Oven blew up

So much for having a fixed control panel on our oven yesterday as indicated in the post before this one.

About 15 minutes ago I turned on the oven so I could make a special dessert for dinner and our oven short circuited in the control panel and blew up.

It won't turn on at all. Jason took the back panel off to see what is wrong and it's all black back there. It is fried.

Nice. Not sure how we are going to cook Thanksgiving Turkey now.

Maybe we could grill it!

A great day!

Saturday was so fun. Jason and I started out our day with going to our new gym called Performance Health and Fitness in Coralville, Iowa. There was a launch there.

Confused what a launch is? This means as instructors we show off all the new music and choreography in the latest release from the Les Mills company from New Zealand for the programs we teach.

We had two classes, Body Pump and Body Attack. Jason was in both of the launches and I was in the first one. After the class the management staff of Performance brought up smoothies to all the participants in class. Yum. I love smoothies and could eat them every day.

After class we went shopping at Menards (a local hardware store) to find a bracket or something that could fix our oven panel. It has been broken for at least 6 months or more. Basically the plastic brackets that held the electronic panel on the oven front had snapped off and the panel sat back and it was so ugly looking. At least the entire oven hadn't broken but the front appearance of it was really white trash looking. I thought we'd have to buy an entire panel/top of our oven to get it fixed right. We had tried duck tape and all sorts of other fixes in the past many months and nothing was working. It appeared that the front middle was pushed out and it was hard to turn the oven on.

We had struggled to find a solution to get this panel to look nice again and be fixed correctly. Then we had an idea yesterday. After I pulled the oven away from the wall and unscrewed the back of the metal panel to look inside the back of the oven, Jason said he thought a bracket of some sort might work. He measured and we left for the hardware store.

After not finding any type of bracket, we settled for bendable wire and it got fixed. So happy for that, it actually looks fabulous and all brand new again. Love it!

We came home and I made dinner for the children. Jason then took me on a mini date with our almost 14 year old Daniel watching everyone. We went to a restaurant called Jade Sisters in Coralville, Iowa. They make fresh sushi and it is AWESOME!!!!!!!! The two sisters that own this restaurant are so nice.

We ordered some sushi, ate it and went to Pier One. I had a gift card with $6.30 on it from at least 2 years back and wanted to finally spend it. Sure enough the card was still valid (wasn't sure if would be) and I found some fall decorations on clearance and spend the last of my gift card.

Then it was off to get Caleb at work. Caleb is our oldest son who is now barely 15. He works at HyVee grocery store. He had worked nearly all day. While at HyVee we ran into everyone we knew. It took us about an hour to get out of the store, not kidding. It was so great to see so many members from Core (where we used to teach fitness at) and explain to them that we hadn't quit. One member said, "I have missed your classes so much and wasn't sure where you both went." I'm so glad I saw her and cleared up the misunderstanding she had.

Today is Sunday and I love Sunday because we get to go to church and then have a nice long family day. We have nothing on our schedules to take us away from home and it's so relaxing to have this day of the week.

This next week is Thanksgiving and I get to see my parents. What great fun we will have as they stay at our home they haven't seen yet and we get to go shopping and have Thanksgiving dinner catch up on all we have missed for 2 1/2 years. I saw my parents last year at my sister's wedding, but since it was a wedding, we didn't really get to spend time with them while in Ohio. Now we will have them all to ourselves. And the children will get to see their grandparents and make more memories.

I hope all your Thanksgivings are fabulous this week and if you have time please write a comment on a favorite recipe you share at your table. I'm looking for new ideas.

Suggestions to get it out?

Ok so this is one of the silliest things I've done and now I need help.

I took off the receiving air vent last Thursday in our living room, because for 2 years it has bothered me that someone put it on upside-down. So I took it off, cleaned it and then saw all the dust on the inside of the vent.

So I proceeded to put the hose up there to clean the dust out from the inside of the vent. Had I just had the hose, it would have been fine. However I put the duster attachment on the end of the hose and it must have got caught up on something inside the vent and the duster attachment fell off and I heard it drop all the way down the wall into nowhere.


I have no idea where it went. I am guessing somewhere at the bottom of the vent system in the basement perhaps. I don't know. It's gone. I tried holding the shop vac to the top of the ceiling so I had the longest hose and I turned it on, hoping it would suck up the other attachment, but no luck.

I tried a mirror and a flashlight and I don't see the other attachment. Not sure if I'll ever get it back. I'm bummed out because now something I have used often is gone and to get it back would mean tearing apart my vent system or wall or both. Maybe it's in the furnace, maybe it will start a fire. I don't know cause I have no clue where it would go. What would you do to find it?

Jason said it shouldn't case a fire since it is made of hard plastic, but I'm sure if it got hot enough there would be issues. And since it's a duster tool, it has a rounded end of boar hair (tough like bristles which are soft, but durable) at least I think they are boar hair, I don't know what the Kirby dusting attachment is made of, but it's gone. So I put the vent on the right way and moved on to more vacuuming somewhere else.

If you know anything about vents, furnaces or anyway to get things back when they fall down a vent into nowhere, your comments would be appreciated.

Still managing to smile

Another Monday. Caleb actually got to Seminary on time today. He is usually a bear to get out of bed in the morning and then drags his feet until about 6:25. Then he is all in a rush to get out the door because he is going to be late. This morning I actually only had to go downstairs once and he made it up to the shower before 6:00. He was in a good mood and didn't complain once. I almost made him give me a DNA sample to prove he was my normally grumpy teenage son. I guess that makes up for Brenden. A couple of days ago, he was late coming home. I couldn't find him and it was dark and very cold outside. Finally Dan said, "Oh, yeah, he went to the mall with Crystal and Alex." I about went ballistic. Crystal is 15 and Alex is 12. Dan further informed me that they had taken the bus (which means no adult supervision). I now flew to the moon. Brenden was lucky that he was not there. I hopped in the van to go find him at the mall when he comes strolling up the sidewalk. I told him to get in. We drove around the block while I yelled at him for doing something so stupid and moronic. His response was that he didn't ask because he knew we would say no. Darn straight I would have said no. An 11 year old boy at the mall without adult supervision? Holy crap! What was he thinking? I was so mad that I could hardly look at him. He wasn't even the least bit sorry. As such, he has been grounded from life for one month - no friends, no computer, no going outside. He has got to learn that there are rules for a reason and that he is not above them. This whole parenting thing would be easier if there was a good owner's manual. I know, I know, these things will be for my good and experience but it doesn't make them any easier.

Today is Jason's Birthday

Happy 38th Birthday!

This picture was of Jason on his 35th birthday. The sailboat he is holding was one of 35 sailboats that my Dad made for him for that day.

Have a great day Jase!

A smile on my face

We are being blessed with extraordinarily nice weather right now. I am wearing a pair of shorts and a hawaiian shirt to work today. Not bad for November in Iowa. Yesterday was also very nice. I went for a little walk yesterday during lunch and as I walked across the river, I couldn't help but close my eyes, lift my face to the sun, and just bask in the warm breeze coming upriver. The river is quite low and the breeze carried the slight smell of decay that I always associate with low tide. I immediately thought of the Bay area and all the good memories I have of the San Francisco area. What a perfect day! The only reminder I have that it will soon become cold is the leaf pile in my front yard. My maple tree is almost completely nude but my oak tree is being very stubborn. It will hold on to some of its leaves until spring and then, the only reason it will give those up is because there will be new leaves to take their place.

My hiatus from teaching is over. I taught at one of my new gyms (North Dodge Athletic Club) on Saturday and am starting my regular teaching schedule there this week. Our new gym, Performance Health and Fitness, opens on November 15. Once Performance opens, I will be back to teaching 5 times a week. Teaching these fitness classes is truly one of the great joys of my life. I love it. As much as I miss my classes at Core, I am sure that I will forge new relationships that will hopefully be as fulfilling. One of the questions I ask myself is whether or not I am making a difference. I put a lot of work into my classes to ensure that I am presenting the best possible class and there are times, at the end of a long week, that I ask myself if it is worth it. I hope so. I hope that I have been a postive influence on someone. If not, at least I am having fun and staying in shape.

Halloween 2008

Scott in his gory Zombie outfit, with and without the mask. He was making a scary face.

Alyssa was dressed as a cute/ugly/scary witch.

Those were her words for the costume. She wanted it to be an ugly scary witch and yet still be cute.

Brenden the banana. He choose this costume weeks ago and I pondered on how I was going to make such a thing, then Wal-mart sold the costume there. Thank you Wal-mart.





Then there was Jared. His idea after looking at some costume websites was to be french fries. Here he is looking out the arm hole of the french fry box.

Jason made this costume out of a refridgerator box, painted in red spray paint and then some styrafoam cut into long strips and painted a mustard yellow with spray paint. Then taped inside the box.

The box ended up being a little big, but Jared was happy and he said it was exactly what he wanted to be.