Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Mental Yo-Yo!

I almost feel as if I can appreciate mood swings the likes of which my Bi-Polar son experiences.

Super duper highs one moment to feeling beneath the dirt on your shoes the next.

The highs are incredible and I hold onto them with fervor whenever the lows pop up (which is happening a lot more lately.

One of my super-duper bestest buds called last night telling me her contractor hubby was free Saturday to come help on our home. So we dropped all our less important activities and got to work.

Adios Kitchen!

I’d say it was nice knowing you but I’d be lying. Especially with discovering all the hidden secrets you’ve been keeping in your closet over the past couple of years.

Be warned – If it’s anywhere near meal-time you will not want to view these next few visuals.
You may loose your appetite for an entire week. I nearly lost lunch seeing this after we ripped the counters out. Eewwww!


The rot was so bad under the dishwasher that once the vinyl was up you could stick a finger through all layers of floor without really trying.


So the highs had to be that fact that we are actually moving towards resolving this mess, the lows are seeing how bad it is.

Highs – Good friends who volunteer to help. Yes there are angels among us.

Lows – It’s still ugly and we have no sink for the immediate future.


Had another whammy when Erik went to work to pick up our truck. We’ve kept it at his work for a couple of weeks to dry it out – it tends to get wet with no back window in it and you live in the pacific northwest.

Well the whammy came when he went into the parking garage this morning and the truck was missing.

He had forgot to leave his employee parking permit in the window and security had the blasted truck towed. They have our license number on file – you think they could have called. Nope.
So towing fee + daily $60 impound fee (And they are closed over the weekends as well, so we automatically have to wait until Monday to get our hands on it) Cost = $500plus!!! Poor Prince Erik is kicking himself so hard he might leave bruises.

I’m laughing right now – not crying like a normal person would be. I’m also grilling my kids to see who broke the mirror or walked under a ladder because you just can’t get such bad luck. This will be one year end that will live in infamy in our family’s memories. The Winter everything went wrong. EVERYTHING! But it will pass.

So I went to our church’s Relief Society party feeling all ‘Wo Is Me’, blah, blah, and cursing my horrible luck and making my friends suffer through my whining. I was channeling the Grinch to a T. My turning point was when our Ladies president started going piece by piece through the symbols of the nativity.

Then it happened, I got a wonderful Ah-Ha, Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding moment.

Sure my house has humbled me to my knees over the past few weeks. But in doing so I’ve received an amazing gift. For a moment, at the party, I gained an even bigger appreciation for how I’ve been given this amazing experience to share with my Children.

Grinch, “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store”. “Maybe Christmas… perhaps…means a little bit more!”

Maybe it’s remembering the most humble Christmas ever. The first Christmas! You can’t get much humbler than giving birth to the Savior of the World in a smelly animal stable.

So believe it or not I’m excited, grinning my goofy grin because I tasted the true meaning of Christmas. And I’m going to hang onto it for all it’s worth. And I’ll try my darndest to help my kids see the beauty of a simple Christmas.

And what happened then…?
Well…in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart
Grew three sizes that day!

10 comments:

RavenM said...

Wow! Yuck!! I can sympathise a little, having had dryrot and mold before. Not quite that bad though. And we moved out and my folks inherited the mess.

I'm glad you found some peace in the middle of all that mess:)

Unknown said...

Okay 1st thanks for the warning cus that is really gross!! I can only imagine how lovely it smelled :)

Arn't you glad through all of this you took the time to go to Relief Society? I am thinking if I was dealing with all this crap, I wouldn't have gone!!!
And how great is it to find angels among us? So glad you have found something to smile about through all of this. You are one amazing woman!

Jonathan and Cheri said...

Way to tackle your kitchen this month though! So sad to hear about the fees for impounding the truck =( Yea for highs with Evo too! Nice to have a great message come along when we need to hear it most - I can relate.

Anonymous said...

Kudo's to the angels around you Fawndear. What an amazing offering of service your friend's husband is offering. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all help someone out like that, with whatever skills or talents we have. I will pray that you will continue to be blessed and be able to see the blessings and recognize where they come from. Love, Snady

Jen said...

I'm depressed for you! You hve been through sooooo much. I can't imagine all of the stresses you've had and still you smile and find reasons to be happy and grateful! You are awesome! The mess in your kitchen is sad and the fact that you had to pay an impound fee for the truck is hard. I'm sorry you've had sooo much struggles. My heart goes out to you. Wish I could whisk it all away! You are an uplift to still find the good amongst the trials. It is a great example to me!

Trena Doll said...

Wow. And Eeewww.

I admire your courage and fortitude. I'm not sure how you're doing it, I'd be hiding away in a dark corner somewhere by now.

But you keep going. I'm praying for you that things get better SOON! Thanks for your example.

Faith said...

You are my hero.

Melissa Valeriote said...

Now that's a story of hope in these unsettling times. Happy Holidays!

Sara said...

I know it's awful right now, but that new kitchen is going to be sooo worth it! How wonderful there are people willing to help!

Cynthia said...

Yikes! You're lucky you didn't have the dishwasher fall through the floor. I can imagine the scary feeling seeing all that 'stuff' when you pulled it out. My Dad is a custom cabinet maker so I've seen all that firsthand.

It will all be worth it though when you get that new kitchen.