Friday, February 14, 2014

7 Quick Takes Friday

Watching Maggie and Sadie's relationship blossom has to be my favorite thing about the last few months.  Maggie seems to have suddenly noticed her big sister and decided that she's a pretty cool person.  When she wants to do something with Sadie she runs over and grabs her hand and then leads her to the place where she's decided they need to play and will start playing.  And since Maggie has been dressing up like a princess her big sister is super, super interested in playing with her now.

Although there was still a moment last night when Sadie had settled onto the couch just before bedtime to look at a book and Maggie ran over and grabbed her hand and started to drag her across the room and Sadie said:  "Maggie, I don't want to play with you all the time!" but Maggie was unconvinced and within a minute all three of the kids were racing back and forth across the living room giggling:

If you aren't big enough to know that you shouldn't jump on the edge of the couch, you shouldn't be big enough to climb up by yourself.  But since he is big enough I've been trying to convince him it's a bad idea.  He's even fallen off... but he remain unconvinced:

Patrick's favorite word is "Daddy" followed by "Maggie" and then "Sadie."  He'll also say "rub, rub, rub" (about putting his lotion on), "shake, shake, shake," (when he sees me shaking up Mae's milk and vitamins) and "itch, itch, itch," (when he was scratching his tummy and being silly).  Do you notice what word isn't there?

Me:  "Patrick, say Momma!"
Me:  "Say Momma!"
Patrick:  "Daddy!  Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"
Me:  "Maaaaaaa Maaaaaaaaa!"
Patrick: (giggling) "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

I now have the best reason ever for wanting winter to be over right this second.  Our energy bills for January arrived and apparently keeping the house from feeling like -19 cost $500.  I took a deep breath and told myself that a) at least the disaster last month set us up to be able to pay that much for this month and b) from what I heard that's not all that bad for a month in Michigan right now because other people are getting bills that are way higher, but it still feels kind of crazy.  And it makes me all the more ready for spring, although I'm fairly sure the February bill is going to be roughly the same.

I no longer trust the percentages for snowfall given on our security system panel.  After 20% chance of snow turned into something like half a foot a week or so ago I'm looking at anything over 2% as a reason to look for the almost inevitable flurries that start drifting out of the sky.

Although snow I'm okay with as long as the temperature is above 20.  That's my little winter request at the moment.  

"Okay winter, I won't mind you, just don't go below 20 degrees and we're cool?  And 23 feels like -5 doesn't count."

See.  Winter has me talking to it now like it's a person.  Which I'm pretty sure is a sign of February induced insanity.

Even more cuteness... cheesy cuteness:

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  1. Is it bad that I felt some relief that it wasnt just our bill? Our home has no furnace just electric floor thingies that heat each room. My husband complains because we basically heat one floor of the house to save money. It's been a bad winter.

  2. Not at all! When I heard that my mom had seen on the national news that people were paying $2000 dollars I found myself feeling relief that it could have been worse and that it really was that cold!

  3. Watching siblings grow to be friends is one of the best parts of being a parent. It's even better when they are older. My oldest kids are now teens, and they have real, honest conversations. They are still loud and full of talking smack, but they are conversations. :)
    Our bill was $500 too. I choked when I saw it.

  4. Yep, for the people who are heating with propane the costs have skyrocketed, and they are paying over what they pay for their mortgage/rent per month. It went from about $1.50/gal to about $3.90/gal this winter. That's insane. But I'm sure the very worst of this winter is over (oh, God, please don't make me eat my words!!) and the pattern of sub-zero for weeks on end is changing. The weather people are even talking upper 40's and maybe even 50 by next Thursday for the Midwest. Yippee! A heat wave! Break out the bathing suits and flip-flops!
    Waiting for March!
    God bless. ~ Bonnie

  5. See, all of us that donated when you were stuck in the hotel of pain knew you would need extra dollars in the months to come. God was just helping you out ahead of time. Gotta keep the bunnies warm!

  6. Angela - so, so true. When I saw Cam's goal was $1000, and it went way over that, I thought, "Well, God must know $1000 is not going to be enough for what they need." It's been my experience when you ask God for financial help, He gives you almost exactly the amount you need. So glad they have the buffer not to worry about the heating bill (I hope!)
    God Bless ~ Bonnie

