My son Anthony surprised me with a visit this weekend. He was under orders with the Army Reserve and was doing some advanced training over in KS, but they were given the weekend off. Rather than stay in the barracks and be bored to tears (or find mischief to get into) he decided to come to mom's, see the family, and play with his little brother. It was great to have him here! He was helpful too: he got Eric's harley all up and running (Eric went and got it licensed and insured on Friday) so we now have that for a backup vehicle (although as Eric says, he needs some practice on it before he takes it any distance); he checked out Brie's car and said "trash it" (if it was salvagable he would have told us, because he is a whiz with cars); and he diagnosed a blown radiator hose on my van (it has been leaking and overheating). The catch? The van has been the backup vehicle for Brie to use to get back and forth to work and school, and it cannot be driven as it is right now either... Eric says he feels competent to replace the hose, but we have to get one first (Tony would have done it for me but he had to get on the road for his 6 hour drive back to the army base) and I am not sure we can get it done tonight.
Then there is the week ahead. Eric's new term starts and he'll have class monday, tuesday, and wednesday evenings (after work on the days he works), so he'll essentially be gone from 5 am til 10 pm on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The car Brie was going to buy from a friend is no longer for sale, and she was not approved for a car loan so she can't get one through a dealership... We are back to the drawing board on that front. She is, however, getting the phone she has been salivating over: her replacement phone won't hold a charge, and because it is an insurance phone, and they don't have any of her phones left in stock, they are sending her the one she wanted as a replacement phone (using an upgrade on the plan to get it). From what she is saying, she is getting the new phone (it should have cost her close to $200) for free, along with the accessories, and it should be arriving on Monday.
I have my final paper to write this week, and have a lot to do to prep for it, along with my last two assignments. Brie had drill all weekend, so I have been babysitting, and she stayed last night at a friend's (whom she is riding back and forth with to drill), meaning I haven't had a lot of time to do schoolwork. Last night after Skye went to bed I did print off close to 200 pages worth of research article on my theme that I will start reading and annotating today. Eric has been gone the better part of the weekend despite it being his weekend off because Aurora has been in a gateway tournament (Bowling) in St. Louis, about an hour away. She made it to the semifinals today, and Eric said she is doing well--solidly in the middle of the pack at this point. But that limits my mobility dreadfully and we need groceries and stuff... Not to mention getting the hose to repair the van... I am feeling a little frantic.
The nice thing is Tony was no work at all. He helped with the vehicles, he played with the baby so I could do a few chores, he entertained Patrick and Reimond (and it was wonderful to see him hanging with the boys, working on bikes, making Patrick his assistant as he repaired the harley and checked out the other vehicles). It meant the world to me to have him here. We even dragged him to the pool to cool off yesterday after his repair jobs were done! Skye went to the pool for the first time (she seems over her cold for the most part, finally) and she loved it. And I am glad we are getting use out of the family plan!
I have relost one of the two pounds I had gained, and hopefully the second one will be gone when I weigh in on Tuesday. I have gotten back to being good. Lets just hope the stress of the coming week doesn't get to me too badly (along with PMS etc.). Speaking of that, my sister's surgery went well, although it was more extensive than they had planned on, and she was in the hospital an extra day because of it. She is doing better though and is glad to be home. She even went up to the lake this weekend with her family and told mom she could sit on her backside as easily there as stay home, and it makes sense to me!
Patrick is back to job hunting as he lost his job at McDonalds early this past week. He was late one too many times. He is bummed and relieved both. He is planning to move in with a friend to an apartment in Mascoutah proper and has been putting in applications at the businesses on Main Street. The apartment is centrally located between here and Main St. so he feels transportation (or the lack thereof) won't be as big an issue, and my guess is he will use his savings to cover his costs of moving. He is of the opinion that it won't be "forever" at this point; he just sees himself as helping out a friend for a few months, as well as helping himself be closer to the job market. Eric and I fully support this. My guess is this will happen sometime over the next few days.
I am hoping I am not getting sick. Yesterday I felt really run down and tired (although some late nights and early mornings this week helped to contribute), but I woke up with a sore throat/swollen glands. I do NOT need to be sick with everything going on this week! So I am drinking my orange juice, taking my vitamin, and praying hard!
Skye is needing attention so I guess I will post! Keep your fingers crossed for us this coming week goes smoothly!
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