Are you up for a challenge?

Our Christmas shopping challenge is upon us! We would like to buy all of our Christmas gifts for everyone without dipping into savings, and without using the credit card! Keeping out of savings should be easy since we did it last year, but this year's added twist of no CC, should make things more challenging! We will have to use it to order American Girl stuff, but only because ordering from their catalog is a royal PITA!

I'm well underway with my shopping, and LOVING it! This Christmas is already starting with a new attitude and I can tell I'll really have time to enjoy it this year as opposed to last year! If anyone is up for my challenge, jump aboard!

Dead battery

It must be the VES curse. At least once a week, there is a car with a dead battery in the pick-up line and you have to drive around them. Today was our turn. Luckily I had parked on the road and not the pick-up line, so no one had to pass me up. But still, it was embarassing, sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for my grandpa to come and jump me. He came to the rescue, advised me to get a new battery, and we were on our way home.

And of course, what would it be without even more drama? Christopher, the wise and all-knowing, just knew that the battery was fine and told me to take it to Wal-mart in the morning and have them test it. He tried it when he got home and it started right up, so it could not be the battery... So after he takes a bath, and just minutes before dinner, he decides he needs to try it again. He turns the battery on, plays with all the switches inside, tries to start it... NOTHING. At that point he realizes that it was in fact the battery, and it did need replaced. He gets all grumpy, telling me I should've taken it to WM immediately after Pa jumped it, blah, blah, blah. I reminded him that *2 weeks* ago, I told him that I thought the battery was going bad because it wasn't wanting to start well, and he did nothing to fix it then. He didn't appreciate being put in his place, but he knows who was right ;)

At least now, I don't have any worries! Want a cutie story? When Chris' mom called and talked to Pres, he told her, "Our car runned out of batteries!"

I must admit...

I confess. My daughter only has two pairs of jeans without holes in the knees. She also has one pair of shoes that she wears, and the soles are starting to fall off. But in my defense, I will tell you exactly why! Why does she only have 2 pair of holeless jeans? Because she crawls on her hands and knees at school, pretending to be an animal, and her jeans last no more than 2 months. Seriously. And the ones that don't have holes... they have grass stains that I didn't catch, so now the stains are set in. And these are good, Limited Too jeans! From now on, she gets cheapo Target or Old Navy jeans! I didn't think that 9 year olds crawled around at recess, but I've seen her and her friends do it at scouts, so I know they do it at school, too.

And why only one pair of shoes? Well, techincally, she has more shoes than I, but she is SO incredibly picky (maybe anal is a better term) about what goes on her feet, that she only wears this one pair from last year, that by some miracle, still fit. The soles are coming off, but she still wears only these. Sigh. And you don't even want to get me started on her socks! They have to be this certain kind with a purple heel, which are too big, and she pulls them up so high that the purple sticks out of the top of the shoe. She will NOT wear any other kind of sock under any circumstance. As much as this bugs me, there are some battles that aren't worth the fight.

So we're going shopping Saturday to buy jeans, shoes and pajamas. I don't anticipate this to be a particularly pleasant experience because shoe shopping with this child is like hell (or what I can imagine it to be). If you've tagged along on a shoe shopping trip with us, you know that it's an all day event, only to come home with one pair if we're lucky, and then we're even luckier if she wears the shoes more than once because many times after wearing them for a few hours, she finds them unacceptable. I don't drink, but still, I think I might need a drink when we get home!

Pumpkin carving

Pumpkin carving started out with more drama than I thought could be involved in the process. Neither children would touch the guts. Miss Kate was demanding gloves, making the most horrible faces, and just carrying on like it was the worst thing in the world. But she did end up scraping her pumpkin out after realizing that it wasn't that bad! And you'd think she'd never done it before! While I started carving Preston's, she took the little carving knife (the safe one from the kit) and started carving her own! She did most of hers herself, and did a really good job! If you can't tell from the pic, her's is a cat... go figure! Preston insisted on "triangle eyes, a triangle nose, and a mouth that went up, down, up, down." Of course when he explained it to me, it was a finger gesture up and down over his mouth, going, "zoop, zoop" each time he moved his finger! It took several drawings on the newspaper before I figured out what exactly he wanted!

And this sweet picture was taken just moments before P's pumpkin took a tumble from his lap and rolled away down the front porch! And please notice the cute, organic pumpkin that grew in our garden this summer! It was the only one of two that survived. Preston's got eaten by a rabbit and it rotted.

Homework hell

She's only been in school a little over 2 months, and already, the homework has been the worst yet. I don't even want to think of what's to come in future years!

Yesterday was a busy day. She had Just Say No after school until 3:45, and then had scouts from 4:30-6, making us pressed for time. Between the two, we went home and I went over her homeowork (all 5 sheets), which took the entire time before we had to leave again. She has this issue with her homework, and she hurries through it at school so she doesn't have to do it at home, but in the process, makes a ton of mistakes that she just has to re-do. Really, she's saving herself no time, but she won't listen to my advice. By the time she gets done with her corrections (which is after scouts and dinner), it's late, and she has a study guide for a science test that was today, and she knew very little of it, although she could rattle off "kingdom, phyllum, class, order, genus, species" like no one's business.

Then there was another study guide for Friday's social studies test that is proving to be an even bigger frustration. She obviously didn't inherit her mother's enthusiasm for the American government, and it's all going over her head. According to her, the National government is in Springfield, IL, as is our CITY government. But if you ask her where the State government is located, she has no clue. Today she did finally remember that there are 100 members of the Senate, so she is making some progress! I can't tell you how much we've gone over all of this, and she's read the study guide herself several times, too! But according to her, they've never gone over any of this information in class, nor has she brought home any papers regarding this information to make me believe that they have. It's something I need to discuss with the teacher at conference next week. That, and why some days they only get 10 minutes to eat lunch. ?????

Farmer Preston

Guess what Preston did again today. If you guessed harvesting, you're right! I had Girl Scout duty tonight, and Dee was supposed to pick Preston up after work and watch him while we were at scouts, but since it's harvest time, they arranged for Preston to go in the field with Pa-pa at 2:00, giving him 3 good hours combining. That made it a lot easier, not having to take Preston to scouts until she got off. And of course, Preston was absolutley thrilled to be harvesting today! He had his 5 year well-child check this morning, and he kept asking if it was time to combine yet. And when it was time to come home, he wasn't ready. If it was up to him, he'd be up bright and early, and harvest from sun-up to sun-down.

Please excuse the bad picture of Preston as he was off to farm today. It was the best I could get without holding up their work!

And as for his well-check, he's perfectly healthy! She did start him on a cream because his eczema has led to a small case of impetigo, but that's minor. Last winter, his eczema was so bad, so I'm hoping we're not in for another yucky winter. I asked if she'd ever figured out exactly

what it was that he had back in June, and she's still clueless, but agreed that it was very scary. Her best guess is that it was viral, even though there were Dohle bodies present, which indicated a bacterial infection in his blood. Who knows??? I know that we still think about that month that he was sick, and I pray every night that he won't have lasting side effects from it. Right now, he's doing well, so that's what matters.

I stink...

At photo editing, that is! I can take good pictures, sometimes even great! But I really stink at editing, maybe because I hate it SO much! The photos from yesterday's shoot were less than stellar, and I'm seriously contemplating another shoot. Kate had on a white sweater, and even though the truck was in the farm shed, it was too sunny and the light coming into the barn left hot spots all over Kate, her sweater, and blond hair. I've tried editing them, and I'm not satisfied. I don't like how the sweater looks in B&W, and that's what I want them in. Ugh! So it looks like we'll try a darker sweater and a cloudy day. These portraits will be going out to all of Christopher's family for Christmas (don't worry, they don't know of my blog) since it's his grandpa's very old farm truck, and I want them to be really nice.

As for the rest of the 200+ pics that are in need of editing, I've put a small dent in them! I'm in no mood to edit tonight. Maybe tomorrow... Now you see why I said that editing was my mission for the next few days.

Fall has officially begun!

Sure, the calendar has said fall for a month, now, the weather is cooler, and the leaves are turning, but today was the first day that I had to turn the furnace on. Or as Christopher would quickly correct me, the "boiler." To me, it's all the same. As long as it keeps me warm, that's all that matters. It's supposed to be in the 50's for a high around Wednesday, so even though the house would've warmed up without the heat today, I really wanted to make sure it was working when we really did need it in a few days! Back in January, it started leaking, and we came close to having to replace the whole unit, so now I have peace of mind that it works!

And today was the last day for sure that the DQ was open, so we had to make one last DQ trip, even if it was already 4:30. The sign said they would close between the 21st and the 24th, whenever they ran out of mix. I really wish they were open year-round. The DQ's in the other towns just aren't the same. March will be here soon enough, I guess, but when you want a DQ, it's hard to substitute it with Sonic or Mc Donalds.

Busy busy weekend!

This weekend really flew by! Saturday we started off with a family trip to the recycling drop-off in Coffeen. Yipee! See, I'm still green! Christopher wasn't too enthused about going, but he insisted since we had to pick up some stuff at his mom's on the way back. After that, we picked up some fast food because I was feeling lazy. We kicked back during the afternoon, hoping to get Preston to nap before Ashley's party, but that never happened. Although if you ask him, he did. Then we were off to Ashely's birthday/Halloween party. The kids had so muc fun playing tag in the dark, eating S'mores, and the haunted hay ride! They were both worn out when we got home!

Today we went on an impromptu photo shoot. Back when we did our roof, Keith brought in the old farm truck that had his grandpa's name and farm painted on the door, and I wanted to do a shoot then, but they came and took the truck, so we did it today. I'm not overly thrilled with the results, esp. since I had a vision in my head of what I wanted, yet didn't get it. But Christopher wanted to play photog and he snapped the winning portrait. I can't wait to get them edited and sent off to print. That may take forever considering I am just now sitting down to edit pics from when we got our roof put on the last weekend of AUGUST! Let's just say that editing is my task for the week(s).

Uncle Jeff is in town for a few days, so we spent the afternoon at Granny & Pa's. The kids wore out Uncle Jeff, and I got to spend lots of time playing with my little nephew, Baby Glen. I can't believe he'll be one on Thursday! I still remember the morning Seth called me to tell me that I was finally an aunt! I was painting the living room in this house and was so excited and shaking, that I had to stop painting and go see the little guy! I can't wait for his party on Saturday! I still need to get him a gift!

Good news from the dentist

Kate got glowing reviews from the dentist today! No cavities, again! And the odd tooth is not going to pose any problems. He said that it was just an adult tooth that came in behind the baby tooth, and when the baby tooth falls out, it should move into it's place. Regardless, in 2 years when hopefully the rest of her baby teeth have fallen out, we'll be sent to the orthodontist for braces, and the ortho will decide whether that tooth, or any others need to come out. I know I had to have 8 adult teeth yanked before I had my braces, so I imagine she will need some out, too. But for right now, she's in the clear! Something she's extremely happy about!

I posted about American Girl discontinuing Samantha last night, but really didn't delve into it, but tonight I think Sam needs her time. Kate and I are so disappointed! She pretty much knows she's getting Sam for Christmas from Grandma Shirley, but Kendra called yesterday to tell me, and K heard my, "Oh, no!" and thought something was wrong, so I had to explain it to her. Now she wants Sam even more, and has changed her mind once again, and wants to use her own money to buy Nellie. First, it was Ruthie, then Felicity, then Kaya, then Kirsten, and now, Nellie! How Miss Moneybags is able to save up enough money to buy 2 AG dolls in 5 months time, amazes me! She's not a spender, so she saves her money to buy something she really wants. In her case, it's always AG. She wants to collect them all, and hopefully one day, she can! Anyway, since Sam is headed to the AG archives, none of her stuff will be available (aside from Ebay) after the end of the year. So that leaves me to buy up what I can and put back for her birthday. I still can't believe she's going away, though! SAD!

Another sad day

I was coming on here to write about how disappointed Miss Kate and I are about American Girl discontinuing Samantha and Nellie, but all of that seems so trivial now. My dad called, and my next-door neighbor, his life-long friend, someone I've known forever, lost his battle with lung cancer tonight. I knew it was coming since he called last night to tell me that family had been called in, but still, it's surreal. But I do have peace that he is no longer suffering. I will miss seeing him outdoors mowing, little chats, etc., though. Please, if you can, pray for Bill's family.

And while we're on the subject of prayer, please pray for Miss Abbey, Preston's preschool teacher. Tomorrow marks one week since her husband passed, and I know she is still having a very hard time. Preston went back today, and it just wasn't the same seeing the sub there instead of Miss Abbey.

Kate has a dentist appt. tomorrow- just a cleaning- but we have to adress the issue of the tooth coming in behind the others. I have a feeling a tooth will need to be pulled, which Kate wants NO part of! We do have options, though, in the line of a good pediatric dentist that uses gas, so if that's not an option at her dentist, it looks like that will be our best bet. I'll update tomorrow!

It's that time again

Time to get ready for the big Christmas photo shoot. As I type, I'm hunting down the perfect outfits as it's going to be an outdoor shoot. I have their dressy outfits, but there's no way I'm taking them outside to woller around on the ground in good clothes- especially Kate in a tulle skirt. Really, both outfits are pretty simple. I was going to do both of them in solid polos, but I can't find any in colors I like for Kate other than black, and I want Preston to be in a black polo, so that really wouldn't look good together. But trying to find a black polo... ugh! I think I'm going to have to settle on navy. I was going to order them both RL Polo's which I'd much rather prefer (they have black), but they don't have any long-sleeves for Kate. That and after their dressy Christmas outfits came today while Christopher was home, I'd better lay off the card. Darn that UPS man... you never know when he's going to show up!

My day

I got some ME time today! And let me tell you, it was nice! I'd like to say that I used that time to get stuff done, but I just sat and read, which was so much nicer!

So where were the kiddos? They were out combining beans. Or should I say that Preston was. Kaitlyn was at Grammy and Pa-pa's playing with the kittens. She only rides along when they harvest corn- because harvesting beans is just like mowing. Or so they both say. Mr. P is right at home in the fields. He knows exactly how to work the combine, and will sit for hours on Pa-pa's lap doing everything pretty much by himself. I think if anyone carries on the family farm, it will be him.

Flash back to one year ago today... Preston spent 6 hours in the field with Pa-pa harvesting beans. He had his lunch, his snacks, and he thought he was big stuff! While he was busy farming, Dee and I were painting the ceilings in this house, on day 3 of our whirlwind renovation. It doesn't even seem real that in just 4 weeks, it will be the 1 year anniversary of moving into this house! Wow!

I'm killing my husband!

OK, before you call the police, hear me out! I swear, it's not intentional!

Every Sunday, the kids and I go up to my grandma's for dinner. Christopher usually stays behind since that's his one day to rest (Um, where's mine?). So as we were getting ready to go today, he asked what there was to eat. He's no chef, so if it takes more than warming up, he can't fix it. I tell him that there's some bologna, tuna, etc. naming all that we had that was quick. He wasn't in the mood for any of this, to he resorted to the Aunt Jemima frozen breakfast meal in the freezer. I had bought one, once before, and when I got hom and noticed the 128% of cholesterol, and 66% of saturated fat, I could not eat it! So he ate it, and one morning on his day off, when the kids and I just had cereal, he asked me to pick him up something to eat when I took the kids to school. I picked him up another meal! Really, you have to understand the joke, here.

So tonight, he takes the meal out, and proclaims that it's the only thing in the house to eat, and that I must be trying to kill him because I knowingly bought another one with full understanding of how unhealthy it really was! So it became a huge joke, about how I was trying to get rid of him! He just knew that when we came home, I'd find him on the couch, dead as a door nail! I told him I'd just call Miller's and have them come pick him up! As we walked out the door, I told him that it was nice knowing him! Aren't I a sweet wife? Luckily, I came home and we was just fine, but I did suggest he have his cholesterol checked at work tomorrow!

And seriously, who makes something that unhealthy? And how on earth can a meal as small as that, contain 128% of your DV for cholesterol? No wonder we're living in a nation with morbidly obese people! I'm glad I really like to cook, and do the majority of it from scratch!

I thought 30 wasn't old!

So 30 will be visiting me in 5 short months. I'm actually looking forward to it. I don't see it as being old, although my mom still swears she's 27 because 30 is even too old. Funny how I passed her up 2 years ago! But what I wasn't expecting, was my eyesight starting to fail on me already! I have glasses because of an astygmatism and minor far-sightedness. I've had them for about 6 years now, but rarely wear them. Frankly, I never could really tell a difference when wearing them, especically since they were mainly for my nighttime driving issues. But I've noticed that reading has gotten more difficult lately because the letters and words seem to all bunch together, so I got the glasses out Saturday night while reading a magazine, and the difference was amazing! I've now set them out where they are easily accessible because it is SO much easier to read with them! I could really benefit from wearing them all the time, but the frames are so ugly, and Christopher thinks they look like old lady glasses. Before I start wearing them all the time, I think I need to go in and get new ones. But you know me, I'm cheap, and if these work just fine, then I don't see the need to spend money on new ones, although I would be deathly embarassed if someone saw me wearing them! We just spent $300 2 months ago for Christopher's new Coke bottle glasses, so maybe I'll wait just a bit!

Going once, Going twice, SOLD!

To the lady who had 2 brain surgeries this year, and probably got THE BEST garage sale deals of anyone, getting a washer/dryer set, 3 push mowers, 4 bathroom sinks, a stereo, tv stand, old fishin poles, car ramps, a truck bed tool box, and I know there was more, for $120! Not to mention when she came back to pick up the goodies, she bought $1 worth of stuff from each of the kids who were collecting their own profits! Seriously, she made out like a bandit! she was so sweet, too!

So I am glad to say, that our washer/dryer set that pooped out on us 3 days before Christmas last year, has finally sold! It's been through 2 garage sales, swap shop, and Craig's list, but it's finally GONE! And Christopher was saying that it wasn't even worth hauling up to my mom's house for the sale because it wouldn't sell. As soon as it did, I had to call and rub it in! Sure, we only got $25 for it, but hey, it's out of our garage now!

Sad news

I got a call from Preston's preschool at 8:00 this morning to say they were cancelling school tomorrow because of an emergency. His teacher's (Miss Abby) husband passed away unexpectedly. He was only 42. My thoughts have been with them all day, and I ask that if you can, please say a prayer for her family.

Preston made Miss Abby a sweet card tonight that will be going along with the flowers we order tomorrow. He doesn't completely grasp the whole concept, and he's asked me several times today why he died. He's only 5, so it's tough. When I asked him if he wanted me to write anything in the card for him, he said, "Dear Miss Abby, I'm sorry your husband died." It really got me. Something to thoughtful to come from a 5 year old. Christopher and I thought that it might be a little too insensitive, so right now, it just says, "Love, Preston." with a drawing of him and Miss Abby. I'm sure she will appreciate the card.

Someday I'll get a call...

That call will come from my daughter when she's in college, and it will likely go, "Moooooooooom, what's the answeeeeeeeeeer? I've read this chapter and I can't find the answer anywheeeeeeeere."

Fourth grade is proving to be much tougher than 3rd grade. Their emphasis this year is spelling rather than the strong focus on math that the past 2 years (she excels in math). Spelling is not Kate's strong point. She spells like her Uncle Seth did-phonetically. Case in point, a sign she has hanging downstairs: Famous Show Dog for Sail. Golden Retever. Trofeys wone. This years words are much tougher, and this week's list is a fine example- porfolios, tomatoes, embargoes, etc. Irregular plurals. So studying for this week's test has been a source of stress, only compounded by the fact that they have one less day to study since there's no school Friday.

Then comes today's social studies homework. It was a crossword puzzle on their Southeastern US states chapter. The answers to the questions were word for word, all on one page. She claimed to have read the page in class, but when she was going over it to find the answers, they were nowhere to be found. I found them within seconds since it was all in sections, and I'd look, and tell her that the answer was exactly as it was written on her homework, and each time, "Mooooom, NO, it's NOT! I've read it, and it's NOT there!" Thirty seconds later, "Oh, there it is." That was pretty stressful. Then tonight we sit down to go over her study guide for the test. I've asked her to ask the teacher when the test was, but she forgot, but informs me as she's going to bed, that she thinks it is tomorrow. And based on how much she didn't know from this chapter, it better not be tomorrow! So it looks like breakfast will be a soc. studies and spelling word cram session.

And an embarassing note for myself. She had forgotten the capitals of several Southeatern states, so I was trying to help her out. I informed her that Lexington was the capital of Kentucky, and that New Orleans was the capital of Louisiana. Christopher corrected me on Louisiana, but we had to get the atlas out to find Kentucky's capital! Now how bad is that? Oops!

112 Playdough Penguins

This is what 2 hours of playing with playdough gets you! Yes, there are indeed 112 playdough penguins in that pile! After my dedication through that extremely tedious task, I was sure to count each one and take a picture! Preston has this playdough ice cave thing that has a little penguin mold, and he insisted that we fill the entire cave to the top, with penguins. He did trade me jobs for a short while- he made the penguins while I put them in the cave. That lasted all of 2 penguins before he told me that it wasn't a very fun job. And it really wasn't. Now that's dedication!

Christmas will be fun this year!

Last year, Christmas just wasn't enjoyable. We moved into our new house in November, and were so engulfed with living out of boxes, and the chaos that follows a move, that we had no time to drive an hour to Fairview to do any shopping. Heck, we didn't even have any internet to do any online shopping, especially for the kids' Christmas outfits until after Thanksgiving, and by then, everything was sold out. We had one weekend that wasn't completely filled with moving crap, to do ALL of our shopping! It was SO miserable, trying to find something for everyone in one single day. I couldn't enjoy shopping because it was so rushed. I vowed that this year would be different!

Already, my shopping has begun, and is going pretty well. I'm very pleased! My goal is to have the majority of it all bought before Thanksgiving.

I LOVE Christmas lights, and it's always a favorite. Of course, last year, there was no time for lights, so I really wanted to have them this year. Christopher is a little scroogy when it comes to hanging lights, so I figured that I might have to bite the bullet, risk falling off of a ladder, and do it myself. So I broke the news Saturday night, and surprisingly, he's in on it! Yeah! I didn't really even need to talk him into it! We're not going overboard, just some icicle lights along the roofline, garland and lights draped along the picket fence, and I'd like to decorate the humongous Christmas tree growing in our front yard, but we'll see what that brings. It was so funny, because as I was telling him what I wanted to do, he asks, "Do you want to put lights around the chimney?" I nearly died! He was completely serious, too!

So now, I can't wait until Halloween is over so I can start working on lights outside to have them ready to light up Thanksgiving night. We start early- our trees will be up the next day! I also plan to go all-out decorating inside, and hope to do some holidy baking- something else neglected last year. Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I can't wait to fully enjoy it!

What is with tv today?

Ugh! You remember my gripe with tv, right? Well, last night, Kate had asked us to record a new Scooby movie that was going to be on Cartoon Network at 7:00. She'd heard about it at her cousin's sleepover. But when Christopher went to record it, we found out that it was on at 7:00, 6:00 central, so it was half over, and she was upset. She asked me to check the guide to see if it was going to be on again today. I didn't get around to it until 11:30 p.m. and when I turned on CN, I was SHOCKED to see what was on! There, on a CARTOON channel, was a cartoon called "The Assy Diaries" and it was nothing but naked people! First off, who in their right mind comes up with this kind of cartoon, and why would CN air something like that? I was so mad that I immediately blocked both CN channels. I've never liked either because of their vulgar, disgusting shows like Chowder and Flapjack, so this really sent me over the top! I have every intention of contacting CN and telling them what I think!

I'm in no way a prude, but if someone wants to air a show like this, put it on a PPV channel, not one that kids watch!

Friday night fun

The kids were begging to go outside after dinner Friday night, and one thing led to another, and the next thing we knew, they were asking to roast marshmallows. So we all went out and Christopher built a fire in the fire-majig (for lack of better words). Techinically, I can't call it a fire pit since it's some old grill grates on top of bricks, courtesy of the Tedrick's. So do I get points for making up words???

Anyway, Kate was roasting hers and decides to tell us a story. And of course, she can't focus on two things at once, especially that late in the day, and as she talked, her stick swung. Christopher nearly got hit in the face several times and we had to remind her to be careful. She gets hers done to her liking, keeps talking, and swings her stick. WHAM! Right into MY eye! Talk about pain! I quickly realized I'd better go check it out, so I went inside. My eye, itself, was OK, but irritated from all of the stick debris that I had to fish out. Directly under my eye was really hurting and swollen, so after I washed my face, I found several small splinters there. I was pretty lucky to not have really gotten hurt badly. I did go to bed early because my eye was bugging me to the point that I had to keep rubbing it, and I figured that would help. It doesn't look too bad now, it just looks like it's scratched where the splinters are.

But we still had fun, so that's what counts!

Thank heaven for insurance!

I swear, it seems like bad luck follows us aroud wherever we go! Sunday, as I was driving to St. Louis, a junky blue car in front of my threw a rock at the windshield, just before I crossed the river. I just heard a click, and didn't think much of it. But by the time I got to the airport and picked up Christopher, there was a quarter-sized crack. And guess which car it was... the new one! Go figure! Then Monday night, Christopher calls on the way home to tell me that the crack was now 9 inches long! So I had to call an auto glass place and they're coming over Friday to replace the windshield. I'm just very glad that insurance covers the windshield and we only have a small deductible to pay. Whew!

And yesterday the car was back in the shop getting the scratch that was in it before we bought it, repainted. Luckily they said they'd do that at no charge. But I bet they saw the huge crack on the windshield and were thinking, "Geez, they've only had this car a WEEK!" Yeah...