Days without Locke

The days apart are just not fun, but for the most part they go well. Mainly because they have to. There is no other option. Prayer is essential and hard work, inevitable, but on we march. Today was filled with frustration and yet God gave me the presence of mind to let it roll off my back, not something I do well without him. First order of business was the leaves that were spilling into the street. Not just a small amount.... mounds of them washed down from where our neighbor blew them just before the rain. Not his intention, but none the less, the rain washed them to our driveway where they made a dam and and mountain at that. Our neighbors with their lawn services were starting to frown so I decided I had to tackle them. Besides I was having to go into 4 wheel drive to get out of the driveway. Okay, so it was a little cold, but actually refreshing. I hit it at 7:30 to be followed by the kids at around 8:30. The leaf blower.... toast. I knew the pull cord was messed up and would require rewinding by hand with a screwdriver until it started. Pull, rewind, pull, rewind... 4 times. After I once again adjusted the throttle it broke in half in my hands. No amount of superglue was going to fix this. Next move was the lawn mower which I vaguely remember Locke saying was once again broken. Tug, tug, tug and then my arm felt like it would fall off. Not happening. Well, I do have 2 rakes, 2 bag holders and muscle buried beneath layers of.... well that's another story for another day (actually that story is on my secret blog. The one I don't share). So... 7 bags later and the kids join me and fill another 6. That didn't even scratch the surface, but it did somewhat clear the street enough to look better. We did okay for all the broken tools! God always makes a way. Grocery store run with Caroline and we are back and ready to do some school and begin once again on the floors. Oh yeah, the floors. My kitchen floors have been in bad need of replacing for quite some time, but money..... Well, Locke and I determined that the floor in our office was great and has been very durable and very affordable (just the stick down floor). It is called vinyl plank, but it is nothing more than stick down squares. Well, we like it, we've had it and we can afford it. What more can you want? Locke was not ready to tackle a job of this magnitude since we have not even come close to finishing the back yard..... so, here I am attempting to surprise him. Caleb has been extremely helpful and has done some of it unsupervised. There are just soooo many cuts in our kitchen. I am not touching the appliances (well, maybe the fridge and washer and dryer, but the stove will stay). We have done most of it... still have the pantry (major cutting and painting), the fridge and stove, the laundry room closet and around the edges in the laundry room. We have called it quits until I get back from Disney. Clean up needs to be done with the scraps and tools, but we are at a stopping point. In the mean time I have hurt my knee. The only thing I can figure out is that I have been on my knees doing the floors. It gets better and then worse and better and back and forth we go. I am resting now and that is hard due to so much to do to get ready. I was truly on track for having the house clean before I left. That went down the tubes with my knee. Laundry is slowly getting done by the kids and I am barking orders back and forth. Fighting is an ongoing battle even with the new fines and loss of marbles, it still continues. In the mean time I have quite a bit of spending money for my trip with all they have had to pay me! Yippee! Obviously I need to come up with something else. I thought cash would talk and sometimes it does, but sometimes I guess it is just owrth it to them to fight. Drives me crazy!!!