Ice and basketball

I haven't posted in a few days.

The last few days have been rough, to say the least. Our realtor called with the news. At our NS house, we ran out of oil. No heat, and the temperature outside was the coldest it's been all winter. Frozen pipes, frozen pump, frozen everything.

We are also very low on funds. Thanks to family and friends, we're going to get this fixed and keep ourselves fed.

Red Fox went over to the NS house to investigate the damage. My step-father also went to help, and to monitor the electric heaters. The plumber went in yesterday, and is going back in today to try to get things up and running again. I really hope there isn't much damage, but my step-father reports that there is nothing leaking yet.

My dad is going today and will be spending the night. We're heading over tomorrow after work.

There have been a few bright spots throughout this mess though.

The day Red Fox went to NS, Little Fox and I stayed here and had a mommy-son day. We played lego, watched Gnomeo and Juliet and played his video game. We read most of the books we got from the library and coloured a picture to mail to Little Fox's friend in NS.

Also, yesterday was our niece's 13 birthday, and she had a basketball game not far from our house. So we went to watch. Her team lost, but they did a great job holding their own against a team that is bigger and more experienced than they are. They were even in the lead for a bit, and it wasn't until the last few minutes that the other team got any kind of real lead. Anyway, Little Fox had some fun playing basketball with J, and playing angry birds with S. It was a really nice outing for us, actually.. a nice way to get our minds off of frozen pipes and to actually cheer for something!

Tomorrow Red Fox has 2 job interviews. Fingers crossed for those.

After that, we're heading to the NS house to deal with that, and to do some painting to get that sucker sold.

Tour

I heard through the grapevine that Grampy Kim and a few others are reading my blog. (Yay!). I know most people haven't seen our "new" house, so I thought I'd do a video tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udb0OUiTLnE&feature=youtu.be

Everything is a bit of a mess, for a few reasons.
1. Most of the stuff in the house isn't ours, and we're only using it til we got our own stuff moved from NS. Most of it is old, crappy, or ugly and will be removed asap.
2. We have too much stuff and not enough places to put it all.Our shelves and such are still in NS.
3. I'm lazy.
4. Our washer is frozen, so the laundry is piling up.

The house has great potential. I can't wait to get it back to it's original beauty.

Books

I finally thought of something to do with Little Fox that is close to home and free. The Library! He loves to be read to, and is really coming along with sounding out words himself.

We went to the K-Town library  and got some library cards. Little Fox has his very own card, and we brought his little wallet to put it in. After that, we headed over to the kids' section, and Little Fox immediately sat at the computer.

They had all these great games for kids to play that help with reading. He sat there for about 80% of the time we were there. I browsed the kids books, and chose a few that were "level 1" books that I knew would have words that he could read. I also got a few "educational" books for him. He's been asking about planets/space, and about bones lately, so I got a space book and a book about the body... skeleton, muscles, blood circulation, etc. We also got "Gnomeo and Juliet" so we can have a movie night tomorrow.

While I looked for a few books for me Little Fox "read" a book of his own.

The library had a pretty good kids section, but not a great selection for me. But I have trouble choosing books by the cover and on a whim. I like going in with a list of books on my "to read" list and hoping a few will be there. I picked 2, and then found a third that was on a display at the front.

In other news... the laundry is piling up, and there are a whole lot of frozen pipes in our lives right now.

Quotes

Just a few things that Little Fox has said or done lately that I want to remember

"You're the best, Mom. I can always count on you!"

Today, we played cars, and we were moving his cars through his car wash. I was poking the cars through the door and Little Fox said "You're a great poker, mommy!"

"Mommy, why do I have big ears?"
"You mean, why do they stick off? Everyone's ears stick off"
"Yeah, but, when  I look in the mirror, they are kinda scary."

"You had better see that, Mommy!"

"You're doing pretty much good, Mommy"

While eating supper, Little Fox made a loud noise which made Molly bark and run to the door. Little Fox started laughing, and while shaking his head he said "Stupid Dog".

We went to a gym meet today, and I was discussing the beam routines with one of the coaches. On the way home, Red Fox asked Little Fox if he liked it, and Little Fox said "Yeah. There was a lot of bum shaking".

At supper tonight, Little Fox said "You're the rules, mom!"

When playing cars or the racing video games, when his cars get smashed he said "My car is JAMMED!"

Someone taught him the high five, down low, too slow thing. It cracks him up when you're too slow!

Laugh, or I'll cry

Yesterday after work, I poured myself a glass of wine and put in a load of laundry. I had just settled in front of the fire with my word find book, when I heard splashing. I jumped up, and there was a geyser coming out of the drain pipe behind the washer. I hit cancel on the washer, and it stopped, but by that time, the water was flooding the hallway. I yelled for Red Fox, and he came out and helped me clean it up.

While Red Fox was mopping, I supplemented my glass of wine with some tylenol...

And then... I heard splashing again. This time, accompanied by some pretty words from Red Fox. He had just finished mopping up the water, and was trying to turn the washer off... only, he turned it back ON, and the hallway was flooded again.

We both should have known that the pipes would have been frozen. After all, it's a million below zero out there... so now, I have a washer full of sopping wet soapy clothes. But at least the hallway floor is clean....

"Wordless" Wednesday

My "Wordless Wednesday" isn't going to be completely wordless. 

Me, at my desk, with no heat. Hat, sweater, hoodie, sweat pants, slippers, and a snuggie. Laugh all you want, but I love that thing.  

Little Fox helping me with the laundry. 

Me in my sewing room... measuring the hem of the last of the 13 pairs of pants I hemmed that day. 

Little Fox playing in the tub. 

 This is Little Fox's window fog masterpiece. I love it. :)

After work today, Little Fox and I coloured and did some math in his workbook. 

Long Night

That was one long night. Little Fox and I slept upstairs, bundled under many many blankets. Molly Dog must have been cold too, because while she usually sleeps on the bed with me, she rarely gets as close as she was last night! Red Fox "slept" downstairs and kept the fire going. He didn't sleep much... I heard him get up about every hour or so to put more wood in the fire. We are both sleepy today. *gulps coffee*

It's about 14 degrees upstairs, which is warmer than I thought it would be this morning. We closed off the dining room and sun room last night, and it's 11 degrees out there. Red Fox will call the oil guys and make sure we get oil delivered today!

One thing I've been meaning to post on here is that Little Fox has learned to snap his fingers this past month. He practiced a lot, and now he snaps a lot. He's really good at it, and will snap and clap a little beat now and then, especially when he "dances".