January 2024 Was Hard

Rebekah playing around in the pool at the hotel in Nashville

January is notoriously difficult in our family. We anticipate complications. It is a family joke to see which appliance will gasp its last breath or which car will refuse to move until it is tenderly cared for. In past Januaries, we have struggled through illness, hospitalizations, my Father's death and so many household breakdowns. You would think we would be used to it. This January was one of the hardest we have walked through and I am glad it is over. 

The month started with the furnace going out. We discovered that there was water in the biofuel tank. However, we couldn't find anyone who was willing to take the water off the fuel, so we would  be able to use our freshly filled tank. The oil companies who had the technology to help us didn't want to, because we had biofuel. They didn't want it to mix with their oil, even though they can mix together. Mind you, those same companies are happy to sell us oil when biofuel isn't available. Our very clever heating man finally came up with a solution and ran a new fuel line to the top of the tank and cut the old fuel line. Since oil/biofuel floats, we can skim oil off the top. This will hopefully get us through the rest of the winter. We will be decommisioning our tank in the spring and going to a brand new all electric heating system at the tune of 10 to 15 grand (which is the discounted rate  if we patiently wait for our one man company heating guy to get to us). On the upside, we did pretty well with no central heat for nine days. We used space heaters, the newly repaired wood burning fireplace and lots of humidifiers. Most rooms held steady at a chilly but not dangerous 61 degrees. 

While the heating was causing tons of trouble, the dishwasher (which hasn't been used in four years) started leaking. We found that there was no emergency shutoff valve and spent a week or two sucking the water out every night with a shop vac. Finally, we bought a new dishwasher and had our trusty plumber come and disconnect the old dishwasher and install the new one. Sounds easy, right? Wrong... The first new dishwasher was horribly dented and had to be rejected at the curb. The replacement one arrived, and we discovered that the plumbing was worse than we thought. Also, the electricity to connect it was a disaster. The plumbing and electricity to the dishwasher were breaking three city codes! Several thousand dollars later and over five visits from workmen, I have a really lovely dishwasher. I do feel very blessed to have it, but the cost was astounding.

Besides all that, the washer and dryer are truly on their last legs. I have been struggling with them for a year, but they are done. Right now, I can't even get the washer to do a forced spin or a normal spin. I might well be off to the laundromat with a load of soaking wet clothes soon. I think the washer and dryer are probably going to the top of the Need List . Also, we had the minivan in for new brakes, and they found a ton wrong on the underside of the van that will need to be addressed in the next few months. I will be getting a second opinion, even though we trust this mechanic. My husband has some major dental work that is coming up in April. The upside is that, although our savings has taken a dent, we haven't gone into any debt and we have some time to plan and adjust to the coming bills. 

 It is a lot...but nothing compares to the devastating news we got in January.

A very close family member that doesn't live in our immediate household lost her 11 month old baby to an unknown death. There is an investigation underway. Since we are not in contact with this family member (by her choice), we are left to get little bits of information from indirect sources and the local news. It is devastating from every angle. There just aren't words...

As is often the case, there are happy and sad times going on simultaneously. Every weekend in January was an audition weekend for Rebekah, which meant travel for the both of us. These little trips ended up being little pops of fun and relief for both of us. My husband and boys stayed home but were not as disturbed by all the goings on (work on the house-wise), because that responsibility fell on Rebekah and me during the daytime. Our first trip was to Raleigh for the Carolina Ballet audition. We took her friend along who was also auditioning. We had a fun time wandering a huge mall and going to our favorite store, Lush Cosmetics, for bath bombs. We ate out, laughed with her friend and watched cable tv. It was a nice break. 

The second weekend found us in Nashville. This time it was only Rebekah and me. We drove in the night before and stayed at the lovely Homewood Suites. I got a special deal on it and the room was truly lovely and a real luxury for us. She had a late day audition the next day so we spent the morning visiting The Hermitage (President Andrew Jackson's home) and then went to the Parthenon of Nashville. We fully enjoyed visiting both sites. Rebekah's audition didn't let out until evening and by then it was snowing hard. We decided to try to out drive the storm, because we both really needed to get home for my mother's next-day surgery and Rebekah's school. It was a rough drive for the first 100 miles, but it finally cleared up and we got ahead of the storm. 

The Parthenon

These pictures just don't do Athena justice. The scale is incredible.

She (Athena) is gilded in eight pounds of gold.

The third weekend found us in Charlotte, NC. This was just a day trip, but we made the most of our hours there. We had lunch at Amelie's French Bakery. It was a really cool place with delightful food and fun chandeliers that were all different. Some were made out of pans and others out of musical instruments. After Rebekah's audition we went to Ikea with one of her friends and her friend's dad. We had a delicious Ikea dinner and wandered around. We got a few things and then headed home. 

The last weekend of January found us at home. Rebekah had auditions right here in town, so we didn't have to leave. I finished Elijah's rent project with him. I still need to do a bit of touch up at a later date, but for now it is good. He dismantled the broken hardware, repaired walls, painted and put up a new utility organizer in the utility stairwell. He absolutely hates to paint but loves color, so I let him pick the color which made the torture of painting less. It is a vast improvement!

Elijah and his Dad also added a cat door to his bedroom door so that his cat can come and go during the night and stop waking him up. 

Elijah had his second job interview today with Panera Bread. We hope this one works out and is a good fit for him. He thought everyone was friendly. They said they would get back to him soon.

Rebekah is starting to hear back from all of the auditions. We should know her plans for the summer very soon. 

Eve

Hug your family,  embrace joy and count your blessings. 

Blessings, Dawn