Improvements

Things are slowly improving around here.  And I'm grateful for the improvements.

Munchkin is getting over the latest eye infection.  And as of yesterday he is no longer photosensitive.  His eyeglasses are once again on his face, where they belong.  The icepacks, both homemade and purchased, are all back in the freezer ready for the next time. 

The ice maker is up and running at full speed now that I found the problem and fixed it.  Part of a plastic veggie back had gotten caught in the "teeth".  I thought I had gotten it all out months ago but apparently there was a section that I missed.  It took several loads of ice cubes before it became visible enough that I realized it was there and got it out.  And then the production of ice exploded.  I don't know that I'll leave it running since we really don't use that much ice normally but for now it's going.  Munchkin is very curious about ice and where it comes from since he's been using so many ice packs over the last few days.

My van is in the shop still.  It turns out that the problem which caused it to stall out and stop running is connected to the slow oil leak that it has had since we got it.  Per the mechanic, the exhaust system had been backing up slightly and causing pressure in the engine.  The result was the slow oil leak and the lack of power in the engine.  The lack of power which I thought was just me needing to get used to having a V6 rather than a V8.  Although the amount of gas it uses still confuses me.  Anyways, getting back on track, the exhaust issue was apparently that the catalytic converter was slowly collapsing.  Then I drove into water ~1 foot deep trying to get to my folk's house in order to take care of animals.  Apparently that was the last straw and the catalytic converter finished it's collapse the other day when I was running errands.  Due to the shop being busy at the moment it took two days to find this out.  Now Dad is on a hunt to see if we can find a way to do it/get it done at a better price. (>$450)  We've just had too may big money hits in both households through the last month.  And we've got those once a year bills that just happen to be due in the next month.  So I will wait without complaining because this is what happens in life occasionally.  (And yes, I am truly at peace with this.)

Since my van is not running at the moment, a wonderful friend thought of me when she had a few hours without her boys.  She offered to take us grocery shopping so that we could get the things that I buy monthly, and was out of because it was time for that monthly shopping trip.  Murphy did join us on that trip but I dealt with it.  And, fortunately, it was not anything that caused problems for her.  I am very grateful for that blessing.

Another wonderful friend thought of us and sent us surprises as well.  This friend doesn't live locally but we talk almost every day.  And she occasionally sends surprises.  In addition to that surprise, she has decided that she is sending us her old iPhone.  It had issues with phone calls that caused her to have to replace it.  But that's the only area it's having problems in.  So we are going to turn it into a communication device for Munchkin.

And I'm keeping fingers crossed that we'll manage to get a trip in to the humongous used book/media store that is about an hour from us.  A couple of other people we know want to go check it out so we may be able to carpool.  I'm hoping to stock up on basic readers for Munchkin and maybe a few movies.  I should have enough books to trade in so that I won't be spending any cash.

And lastly, I should be able to take care of all the home school fees by the end of this week.  That will allow me to get all the registrations done.  I've already gotten our curriculum materials through sales, barter and good luck.  I just have to take care of this last bit to completely sever our connections with the public school system.

Now, since a storm is coming in that is causing the power to flicker, I'm going to hop off the computer and shut it all down.  I hope you are all having a good day.