It felt good to cut the cord

We finally got rid of cable...and wow did it feel good!  I'll be honest, I've been tied to cable for several reasons, but mostly because I am a sports fanatic and needed my live sports.  Honestly,  switching also seemed to be such a hassle.  It was what we had, and it seemed to just work.  However, the latest bill increase was ridiculous....absolutely crazy.  Overall our bill (it does include internet and telephone) had increased 44% in five years...well beyond the rate of inflation!  I'm sure we were being offered more, but that doesn't make it better.  We finally found a streaming service that was heavy on sports and also carried all of our local channels.  We signed up for the seven day free trial, and we are SOLD!  We were going to carry a minimal cable package to fill in a few of the channels we like that we couldn't get on our streaming package, but the quality was abysmal.  Of course, the cable company tried to tell us that we needed to upgrade our internet, but the streaming service we are using comes in just fine and we are thrilled.  It felt amazingly freeing to cut the cord to cable for good last evening!

The rest of my Saturday

After I last wrote, I headed to church to get some work done.  With the end of the year/beginning of the year, I got pretty behind.  I think I'm finally all caught up though.

This afternoon, Andrew, Thomas and I headed to the high school for the girls' game.  It was senior day, and I wanted to be there to support the kids.  There are three senior basketball girls, and they are lovely young ladies.  Our girls have only won one game this season, but they were playing a team with a similar record.  In fact, we had lost to them by only one point at their place earlier in the season.  It was a very close game, and we ended up winning on a foul shot with five seconds left.  Honestly, I was way too emotional about it and thought I would cry for these girls if they didn't win...but they did!

I am hoping I can get some sleep and regain my emotional equilibrium!   Andrew is having dinner with friends, and I am waiting for Catherine to get home from her swim meet.  A quiet evening at home is exactly what I need.

I'm sitting here crying first thing Saturday morning

It's been an emotional morning, and it's only 9AM.  Last night, I was exhausted, and went to bed early.  Between Andrew's snoring this week from having a cold, and the dog snoring because she wants to sleep with us, I haven't slept well all week.  I went to bed early last night, because Catherine had to be up at 7 to get out the door for her swim meet today.  Thomas's meet was last night, and we knew it would be nearly Midnight before he got home.  I went to bed so I could get up with Catherine, and with assurances from Andrew that he would get Thomas.  Except of course when I got up this morning I found texts between them that Andrew hadn't even left the house when Thomas was at the high school.  Yes, Thomas should have given Andrew a heads up, but Andrew should've been checking in and/or following along on our locational app.  The frustrating part is that this happens often.  Andrew is more than happy to abdicate responsibility to me when it comes to kids' schedules, and it has always been that way.

I'm also feeling emotional about the lightning speed of this school year.  This time next year we will be just a few months from Catherine's high school graduation, and while I am grateful for each day, it makes me so sad that we are so close to that day.  She absolutely amazes me every day.  My heart hurt a little as she left this morning to drive herself to the school, and mentioned it was her last meet of the year and next year was the last year of swim.  Tough on my heart.

And then, I just received word about our former neighbor from his granddaughter.  This man was more like a grandfather to all of us.  They were so excited when we became parents, and there was sign on our door from them welcoming us home when we first came home.  They were the very first visitors we had, and while I was at the grocery on the very first day, they were at home with Andrew helping to keep us all sane.  When I had a sick kid but needed to run an errand for something, they were there.  When I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, they were with our kids for hours.  When our family expanded, he was the man who built a leaf for our table.  When we needed extra storage, he helped Andrew design and build our loft in our garage.  I could go on, and on, and on.  The word came from Erin this morning that he is in ICU with a severe brain injury.  They don't know if he fell and hit his head and then had a stroke, or the other way around, but he's in his 80's and it just isn't good.  It pushed me over the edge, and I've been sitting here crying on this Saturday morning.

Today is another anniversary

Today, we have completed another year of marriage.  In so many ways, while not all that long ago, our wedding day does feel as though it was an entire lifetime ago.  I am very blessed to be able to share each and every day with my husband, and for now, with our kiddos.  We make a pretty good team overall.  Since it is Friday, we are heading out to dinner at a place that actually required reservations!  It's kind of a busy weekend, but I'm very grateful for all of it.

I like the "before"

I think I'm getting old.  There are many indicators of this, but the one that seems to smack me in the face is the "before".  I subscribe to several house magazines.  They aren't all specific to decor, but most of them have several articles on house hold decorating.  I've been noticing more and more lately, that I often prefer the "before" pictures.  I remember being younger myself, and walking into a house and immediately being able to tell it was an older person who lived there.  Those were always the houses that needed "updating".  I couldn't imagine being that person who would ever want my house to look so outdated, and I wondered why the owners weren't interested in being updated.  I'm beginning to understand though.  I realize it may not be that they don't realize...they may just like their decor as it is.  I am becoming that person!  I know that my kitchen could probably use a major update (which we couldn't afford anyway), but I actually love it the way it is (with the exception of our worn out counter top).  I look at these pictures in the magazines, and not only and I not particularly impressed with the "after" pics, I actually prefer the "before".

Ready for swim to end

Last evening Andrew had to work at a basketball game.  Our children are currently grounded, which means no driving, so I needed to transport them to and from swim practice.  Inconvenient, but parenting often is.  Regardless, it meant I had a couple of hours to myself between drop off and pick up.  Honestly, I miss my kids.  Even though they are home more than they were a couple of weeks ago when there were still work outs three times a week, I am missing having them home in the evening.  I know that might sound ridiculous, but it's true...I miss having my kids around each evening.  Tonight is Thomas' finals swim practice of his freshman year, and tomorrow will be Catherine's final practice.  Final meets are this weekend, and we still have some volunteer responsibilities on the following weekend, but we will get some evenings together.  I'm really looking forward to that.  And of course, the decreased laundry load doesn't make me sad either!

Extreme weather

Last week we were bitterly cold, hence the reason our school was closed.   The Sunday came along, we were in the mid-60's.  In case you are bad at math, that is literally a sixty degree temperature change in four days.  Not something that happens every day.  We are staying mild this week, but then heading into colder weather at the end of the week again.  Now we are having a ridiculous amount of rain.  Pounding, torrential rain.  In fact, our front sidewalk was flooded this morning, and our ditch was about to flow over our drive way.  I'm not cut out for this crazy weather!