Patting Myself (and J) on the Back

First, I’ll let you know that Dru’ is driveable, but only for short distances at this point.  Hopefully, by tomorrow night everything will be peachy keen again.  Note to those with 2004 Chevy Aveos – if you have a plastic thermostat housing, it WILL bust, it is only a matter of time.  Go NOW and buy a metal version of the same part online (~$55) and put it on.  Another note:  if you do so, do NOT tighten one side all the way down before starting on the other bolt.  Do them both evenly, or your new part will break off at the bolt hole, and all your coolant will leak out again.  I found this out the hard way (no, I didn’t do it.  The person helping me did).  Also, do not use the old gasket (“O” ring).  Spend the $2 to get a new one.

This weekend, we spent a lot of time at home because we didn’t want to be driving the car everywhere until we’re sure everything is a-okay on the car.  Saturday, we did have to drive J to an appointment, but other than that, we stayed home and watched TV and played/read that day.  On Sunday, J and I got up early and rode our bikes up to J’s old elementary school and played on the playground.  We played for about an hour before it got too hot/bright to be outside.  Then we went home and played a couple games of checkers, and later played a few games of chess.  We also watched a cool show on the National Geographic Channel called “Drain the Oceans”.  Scientists have mapped parts of the ocean floor, then used CGI technology to create virtual replicas of the ocean floor.  NatGeo then broadcast what the ocean floor topography looks like sans water.  It was very cool!

What I’m patting J and myself on the back about is the amount of work we did on the house yesterday.  We had a lot of fun playing, but balanced it with work.  Previously, the entire hallway floor was covered in laundry that needed to be done.  No carpet was visible.  It was not pretty!  Yesterday, we sorted all the laundry, got it up off the floor, and did about 6 loads!  I’ve already done one load this morning before going to work.  Not only did we do the laundry, but then we hung it up/folded it and put it away!  This is a big deal for us.  Usually clean clothes land in a basket until we wear them, then they go back in the dirty clothes.  But yesterday, I was determined to get the house organized before school starts. We also did two loads of dishes in the dishwasher and unpacked two boxes of kitchen stuff.  This may not seem like much to organized people, but to me, this was a great start and a major accomplishment!  My goal is to have everything unpacked  and  put away before my school starts on Aug. 31.