The Breadbox's First Mishap

The Resident Mr. Fix-Its

I somehow managed to blow up the wiring in our kitchen with our vacuum cleaner. I also was not able to switch the circuit breaker back to on, which concerned the engineers of the house. Of course, they like nothing more than trouble shooting a problem, so they spent last evening hanging out with this:

Kirk especially loves playing with the multimeter. Sometimes he'll go around and test things with it for fun.

Look at those big smiles! I bet they wish something would break every day, just so they could fix it!

I don't remember what ended up being wrong, but they were able to fix it. It took several hours and a trip to Lowes, but we have power in the kitchen again.

Kirk's next project is to replace the plug on my vacuum. The dramatic explosion (there was a loud pop AND smoke! ) melted something in the plug. He does not think that there will be any problem with the vacuum. I'm kind of hoping that there will be, so I can get a Dyson.

Rain!

We're getting a lot of rain in Wichita! We have not flooded at our house, but the areas around us have. Our cul-de-sac was really full at one point, but it calmed down so I went to get a few things, not realizing how bad it was beyond our house.
My first stop was Target. I snapped this picture just before I backed out to turn around. (I could not see how bad the road was until I turned to get in, or else I would not have tried it.)
Another picture of Target using my close up feature. Looks like Target is now on lakefront property.
Wal-Mart's roads were not flooded, so I made the rare decision to buy the stuff I needed there. The roads were fine, but parts of the parking lot were flooded, as you can see.

We're expecting more rain today and tomorrow. We have not flooded in the house, and we're crossing our fingers that we stay that way!

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Scene: Cathy sits in the kitchen, eating breakfast in her nightgown. Everyone else has left for work.

*Commotion from bedroom*
*more commotion*
*Listening to dog walking down the hall...but it sounds...off...somehow...*

...because Sarah had somehow managed to put on one of Kirk's shirts. Not only was she wearing his shirt, she was stuck in it! She had somehow managed to wiggle into one of the sleeves. I ended up having to tear it a bit to get her out of it! Silly dog.

Friends

Busy Busy Week

I think I've been busier since I was laid off than I was at my job! The past week I've been planning my Fundamentals of English classes for one school, writing the syllabus, running over to the college to attend meetings, get an ID made, get parking passes, pick up books...it's been crazy. I've also been working hard on my other class- The Search for Meaning in a Changing World. They provided everything for that, but I still had to do all the assignments to make sure I understood them, etc.

We also had a visitor, briefly. Or rather I did. Matthew was in town for a conference and neither of us had a lot of free time, so lunch it was. I swear that we've had more visitors since we moved to Wichita than we ever did when we lived in Fort Collins. :) It was nice to catch up.

A blast from my UNC past. I think this picture turned out rather well.

Today I start teaching my Friends class, and tomorrow I'll be teaching my Butler classes. It seems like everything happened so fast!

Misc Pictures

Here's some pictures I've been meaning to share but just now got around to!

Zucchini. We've been eating a lot of it lately.

Last year we nearly pulled this thinking it was a weed, but then it bloomed. This year we got a lot more flowers on it. Very pretty, but it only lasted a few days.

I made a cheesecake in my crockpot! It turned out great!

This is my friend Amber. She's Sylvia's brother's wife, and under that blanket is their new baby girl. Her name is Charlotte. Sarah really, really liked Charlotte and wanted to cuddle with her. (That is, when she was not sniffing her diaper with interest.)