not your normal day

Today was one of those days.  Doesn't fit a mold.  Throws you a ball from left field.  Delights with it's unexpectedness.  And challenges your socks off.

First off, Matt is home!  This is delight of delights!  Though he technically hasn't traveled since late August his September kept him busy busy busy.  And now he's got a three day weekend (it runs Wednesday to Friday, but we'll take it!!!)  We started off by tackling a lot of family projects - cleaning out the porch, putting some padding under our carpets, fixing the kitchen electrical sockets, etc. 

A little before lunch Lydia and I loaded up and left on a "date".  She asked to "spend two whole days with just you [Mommy]" and I was hoping lunch plus a grocery trip would do the trick :)  I hadn't been to one of the in-town grocery stores since before I got pregnant (hello!! that's a long time!) and we were desperately in need of some basics (peanut butter, the few rare canned goods that are available, etc). 

During our lunch date I asked "besides Julianna who is your best friend?"  Lydia looked me right in the eye and confidently answered "YOU!"  Love this little girl of mine!  Such a rare treat to spend a few hours with just her! 

We got home and Matt shared that the kitchen sink piping had fallen apart while we were gone.  This, unfortunately, is not one smidge outside of normal.  Today I got to thinking.... you know that saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?  Well, I'm pretty sure in this country the translation would be "if it ain't broke, just wait a few days - it'll break, and then you'll need to fix it". 

Well, we were expecting company (some neighbors we've started hanging out with recently) and I was super grateful I had started the crock pot early this morning, before the sink disaster.  I pulled out my frozen rolls, laid them on the pan, and turned my attention to the other zillion tasks that were on the "to-do" list for the day. 

[Side note: if you make your own bread, this is my best tip ever: freeze your shaped dough before the second rise and store the rock-hard rolls in a ziploc bag in the freezer.  Pull them out 4-5 hours before you want to bake them and you'll have fresh bread for supper without ever measuring out yeast!  This is so perfect because you can bake two rolls, or ten, and it's a double bonus on afternoons when you're hosting company for dinner and the kitchen sink piping collapses a few hours before they arrive!]

Exhibit #956 of things that break and need fixing - the kitchen outlets hanging off the wall behind the crock pot need a bit of work, dontcha think?  Bad news is they look terrible.  Good news is they still work. 

So at this point I was starting to think "this is officially turning into one very interesting day".  

The worker with the new kitchen sink piping arrived and started doing his thing.  And that's when Julianna puked all over her bedroom carpet.  To give her a bit of credit, she was en route to the bathroom when it happened, and she felt terrible she didn't make it in time. 

I checked my watch.  4:25pm.  We had told our neighbor-friends to come between 4:30 and 5.  We are definitely in the "just getting to know them" stage, so it wasn't like I could send a quick text and say "could you give us an extra fifteen minutes, we're still looking forward to supper, but having a few hiccups along the way".  So I prayed.  Lord, you know when they are coming.  I will rest in that.

And we cleaned up Julianna, and the carpet, and the mess the sink fix-it man created.  I washed dishes in the kitchen, got out the pot to boil noodles, pre-heated the oven for the rolls, checked on Julianna thirteen times. 

At 5:13 pm our neighbors arrived.  Wonderfully, perfectly LATE!!!  They are a really neat family (with a three year old daughter) and seriously some of the easiest local people to just hang out with.  One thing Matt and I really enjoy about them is that they ENJOY parenting!  Yay!  So do we!! 

Julianna lazed on the couch, but Lydia and Ting Ting (their daughter) sat at our craft table and went to town with the markers and stickers.

What a day!  Full of delight.  Full of challenges.  On tap for tomorrow: the kitchen piping is installed, but leaking lots.  And praying that Julianna's stomach troubles are a one-time thing and not a bug she plans to share with the whole family!