Remember the time...

Whenever I get together with my family, it seems like someone starts reminiscing about something or other.  Lately it's been hotter here than the surface of the sun so that starts me thinking about when I was a kid and it was hot.  I'm pretty sure it was never this hot out.  My mom would disagree but what does she know?  :)

I know when I was a kid, there was no sitting in the A/C watching movies and TV all day.  My mom would have had an aneurysm.  She surely kicked us out and told us to get some exercise.  *Side note: back then you could be gone for hours on end and no one thought a thing about it.  Now you'd be arrested for child endangerment or something.*  But I digress...

One thing we loved to do on a hot summer day was ride our go-kart.  Yes, a go-kart.  We lived on a big acreage to we had the space to ride around.  It wasn't like we were popping wheelies in the driveway.  Nope, this was hard-core, all-out go-karting!  Seriously, lives were at stake here!  We would race as fast as we possibly could, never thinking about things being in our way, like trees, the well, or our siblings.  Nope, it just didn't occur to us that there could possibly be a hazard in our path.  Our back acre was nothing but prairie grass so one day, my dad took out the old Snapper riding lawn mower and made us a go-kart path through the prairie grass.  This wasn't some boring straight line.  No way, this was a seriously loopy path.  There was a short path and a long one that looped together and connected.  It was a masterpiece.

So on the hot days, we'd go outside, start up the go-kart and ride like the wind.  My sister would ride with a big smile on her face and her mop of frizzy blond hair flapping in the breeze.  (yes Salli, it was frizzy.  Hello!  It was the 80's...practically a compliment)  My brother would go as fast as he possibly could with his mouth wide open.  (I have always been curious how many bugs went straight down his throat).  I was always last to go (curse of the 3rd child), and I'm sure I had a look of complete shock that it was finally my turn and there was actually still gas in the thing.  I was always scared to go through the prairie grass though.  You never knew when you might come across a spider web hanging across with a big old garden spider planted right in your path.  Yep, it happened to me once or twice.  Perhaps that's why I hate spiders so much now...

Anyway, so as these days are super hot and humid, I long for our go-kart.  Although if I were to get on one today I'd want a thicker seat.  Man, my butt hurt after riding!  Oh, and better shocks.  Nothing like getting your innerds good and jostled.  While we're at it, make the seat go back a bit.  I could have flossed my teeth with my knees.  Oh, and really...what was up with the noise?  Could it not have been a tad quieter?

Ok so maybe I don't really want a go-kart, I want a Land Rover.  :)

Public vs. Private

Hannah is starting Kindergarten this year.  Many moms freak out when this happens.  It's like the child finished preschool, goes through the summer, yet somehow the idea of kindergarten is completely foreign to the parents.  Hello!  It's kindergarten.  No big?  Right?

I was doing really well with the whole 'sending my child off to school' thing.  I mean, she went to preschool 3 mornings a week last year and did fine.  She loved it.  So I felt completely prepared for sending Hannah off to all day/every day kindergarten.  Then we got an e-mail...

It was from the school district informing us (well, all parents really) that we could now go on-line and register our child for hot lunches, pay fees, etc...I freaked.  I mean hard-core, panic attack freak out.  It wasn't just that Hannah was going to eat a hot lunch every day.  It's the fact that as a 5-year-old she has to remember her PIN.  Really?  She's 5!  I'm lucky if she remembers to brush her teeth and put on clean underwear every day.  Left to rely on her memory and she'll be starving every day.  So I freaked. And freaked some more.  I cried and wailed a bit about my poor little baby going off to a big public school.  She's going to be made fun of, get scared, forget her PIN, forget where she, forget her name, forget me...the list went on.

I mean it's kindergarten!  K.I.N.D.E.R.G.A.R.T.E.N!  Practically a military school for babies!

It got so bad that I begged my parents to help pay for Hannah to go to a private school.  They agreed.  Of course, the fact that I was crying as I asked them probably helped my plea.  So then we started the enrollment process at one of the area private schools.  There were 2 we were choosing between.  But neither of them "felt" right.  One had awesome after school care, the other didn't have it at all.  But the one without after school care had a better curriculum with more opportunities for kids.  We were torn. Plus, one was here in Ankeny, the other in the ghetto.  And of course the ghetto one was a better school, in my opinion.  SO what to do.  We prayed, of course but there wasn't any magical solution.

I turned to facebook.  Surely someone out there would have some awesome advice for me.  Uh...I think I started a facebook fight.  There are some seriously passionate people out there!  I heard all sorts of horror stories about kids in both public and private school.  So ok, that didn't help.  I was about to freak out all over again when I got a phone call.

It was from the principal at her public elementary school.  He was calling all the parents of kindergartners to let them know something about the school.  Because Ankeny has grown a TON in the past year, there are more kindergartners than allowed.  They can hold 25 students per class, with 5 classes.  So 125 students.  They have a lot more than that enrolled.  As I was sitting there thinking "well, I guess private school it is", he said he was giving me a choice.  I could keep her enrolled in the current school or send her to a different elementary school in Ankeny.  Huh?  Come again?  The school she would then be going to would have no more than 25 kids in the class, it's actually closer to us, and we have a friend who would pick up Hannah after school on the days I work and watch her until I could pick her up.  There's a new elementary school being built right now so next year Hannah will be going to that one anyway.  No biggy if she goes to one school this year and another one next year.  A lot of kids are going to be doing that.  Huh.  What's that God?  You're telling us something here?

So the decision was made.  Hannah will be going to Crocker Elementary school in Ankeny in just a few weeks.  I'm still a tad freaked out, but I'm hearing this is a normal thing for moms.  Luckily I have some amazing neighbors that have held my hand and told me to calm down.  I need that most some days.  My little girl is growing up!

Stupid cars...

I hate cars.  I hate that we have to rely on them for transportation.  I hate that every 3-5,000 miles we have to take them in to get the oil changed.  And gas prices?  Seriously.  It's more than my feeble mind can handle. 

Just last year we upgraded from a Taurus to a mini-van.  It was delightful.  The space, the sliding doors, the sun roof.  Ahhh...bliss.  We promised to always keep it clean.  Well, apparently the kids didn't get that memo as daily I find sippy cups (please, not milk!), toys and crumbs galore.  At least the outside still looks nice. 

Joel's car is a piece of c.r.a.p.  We knew this.  We've known this for a while.  It's a 1998 Ford Contour with 147,000 miles on it.  We got it right after we got married in 2001 when both of our cars bit the dust and we needed to replace them.  The contour was a mere 3 years old with only 22,000 miles on it.  Boy have we gotten our money's worth out of that thing.  But it's been showing it's age recently.  The headlights are very dim, like they're tired.  No amount of cleaner or new light bulbs would wake them up.  The interior light rarely works.  The trunk release buttons works on occasion.  More times than not, you have to actually turn off the car and use the key to open the trunk.  One of the door rubber things keeps falling down.  But, there was barely a spot of rust on it and it still ran...until recently.

Dum, dum, dddduuuummmm....

I bought 2 of those Groupon coupon things a few months back for a Car-X deal.  Get an oil change and 41-point inspection for dirt cheap.  So I figured the next time our cars needed an oil change, we'd just take them there.  Good deal.  The van was fine.  A few minor maintenence deals but nothing earth shattering.  Then the contour's turn.  Seriously it's like when you take your child to the dentist.  You know you've done everything right.  Brushing and flossing, avoid sugary things.  Still,  you wait with baited breath while the dentist pokes and prods, hoping no cavities are found. 

Cavities were found in the contour.  BIG cavities!  Big, Expensive Cavities!! 

As the mechanic listed off all the things wrong with the car and all it would cost, Joel and I just stared silently.  Huh.  So what to do?  The car isn't worth that much.  We've been saving for a new one but aren't "there" yet.  Cars never seem to die when you want them to!  Nope, they wait until you're thinking of going on vacation or buying a new outfit.  Then BAM!  Dead.  Stupid cars.  So now what? 

Do what anyone does when a dentist tells you every tooth in your mouth needs to be yanked!  Get a 2nd opinion! 

So that's what we did.  We took our baby car to our mechanic.  He called us with the news.  Not only did he confirm everything Car-X found, but he also found more wrong with the car.  And that was just the beginning!  The damage to the engine was so extensive that it was possible we could fix everything he listed then be back in a month to fix more.

Decision made.  Sorry contour, your days as a Jernstad are over.

So the search begins...