So far, 2010 has been a busy year for us. There have been lots of things going on for everyone. In January, David turned 3 and Abby is just days away from turning 9. My birthday was a little over a week ago and Pam’s won’t be here until May.
We have been trying to potty-train David again. He has been very cooperative with his liquid business, but his solids are another story. It seems he prefers to do that business, and then tell us about it. We have many discussions with him about it, but he just needs more time to get this figured out.
Abby continues to bring home very high marks on her report cards from school. Pam works with her on her studies and helps her keep up with her homework and preparation. I appreciate the time Pam spends with her on this. Pam’s background as a teacher is a huge plus for our kids.
Pam also volunteers for many things at Abby’s school. She is always planning for events at the school, or doing nice things for the teachers. I’m glad she is able to do things like this.
At home, we have dealt with many stressful events already this year. We began this year as we ended last year, owning two homes; our old house, which remained on the market many months after we moved out last year and our current home. The old house did go under contract around Thanksgiving last year, but the sale was pending the sale of the buyers’ home. They found a buyer and established January 15 as a closing date with us.
With the closing date looming and bitterly cold winter weather approaching, I felt it was necessary to run by the house and check on the winterization. I got there and was disappointed to find a leaking faucet out front, then I went inside to discover that one of our water heaters had malfunctioned and dumped water onto the floor and had flooded three rooms. The story is long, but has a happy ending. We got the leaks fixed and we cleaned, repaired and/or replaced all that was damaged by the flood. Our buyers were very pleasant and understanding about the troubles and we did our best to make sure they were satisfied with the solutions. We were able to close the sale on time without any problems. So, now it feels really good to not be paying for the upkeep and taxes on two homes. That cold snap that prompted my visit to the old house ended up costing us a lot of money, not to mention the outrageous electric bill we had for heating both homes.
The other trouble we had this year was the heater for the upstairs in our current home quit working. We had to get that repaired as quickly as possible, but like most troubles, we had to schedule an appointment with a repairman. In the meantime, I had to run out and buy a couple of portable electric heaters to keep the kids’ rooms from getting too cold at night. I think the combination of the additional portable electric heaters, plus the malfunctioning upstairs heater and the downstairs heater working extra hard to keep the house warm, we really got hammered by the electric company on our bill. We’re hoping the next electric bill will be kinder and gentler to us!
I have set a personal goal this year to get out and play more music with people. So far, I have been doing pretty well. In January, I attended a meeting of the Southwest Bluegrass Club – an organization I joined last year during the Argyle Bluegrass Festival. Their meetings are mostly about jamming. The actual meeting lasts only 10 to 15 minutes. The rest of the time, we are playing music together. It is a tremendous amount of fun.
On the first Saturday of February, I went to Pearl, TX for their monthly Bluegrass gathering. At Pearl, it is a big social event. Many people come to Pearl just to watch, listen and visit with others. I came there to play music and make friends with other musicians. Pearl was so much fun, I plan to return as often as possible throughout the year. More information about Pearl can be found here: http://www.pearlbluegrass.smugmug.com/
Thanks for checking in. More news soon!
Rob
