Van, Vitiated, Violated, Vexed, Venting...

Whew.  What a week. In an attempt to wind down and ease the ulcers I feel coming on... please let me vent. 

First off, I feel the need to say how very blessed I am! I know this, I sometimes have to remind myself of this & when I do I feel awfully silly for having to be reminded. Regardless of the minor upsets this week, I am wonderfully blessed so far beyond measure.

I have not been able to catch up this week on anything! I am seriously behind on my housework, my laundry, I am JUST now getting caught up on editing photos, just in time for two more shoots tomorrow, and I have a bit of an issue with feeling "behind." I know I'll catch up eventually, I just don't like letting people down by getting behind schedule.

My hubby bought me a mini-van this week :) I never thought I would ask for a mini-van! I always told myself I'd be the "cool" soccer mom driving the big SUV's. Always.  Then I started putting two carseats into my big SUV and lifting & carrying & reaching... and I realized... I'm kind of a small person.  And then I learned about all the awesome features these new vans have & I was sold.  My awesome, loaded Chrysler Town & Country is black with grey leather interior, the front & middle pilot seats are heated, the back two doors & the back hatch open automatically, it is equipped with TWO "big screen" TVs, a touch-screen operated sterio that downloads my music & plays my ipod, LED lights that "light" the entire back so I can see my kiddos at night, and a random analog clock build into the dash... not so sure what the point of that one is but its lit up with LEDs too :) I'm just sayin'... this is a totally awesome vehicle.  We were very blessed to be able to work with people we know & trust to get a great deal on this new car & are very excited about entering the "mini-van phase" of our lives! That being said, buying & financing a vehicle, although exciting, is also a little stressful.  I am such a careful person, as is Kreg, that we went over the numbers over & over again for three days before we finally decided that it was a good decision.  After we signed the papers & drove it off the lot, I realized that the entire upper console that houses the lights & the two tv screens was completely dead. I panicked & stewed for the next 12 hours until Kreg could take it back... HOPING they would fix it, because I of course declined the electronics piece of the warranty- HA! Thankfully, like I said earlier, we were working with great, honest people that we know & they fixed it at no charge.  Whew. 

That same day, I took Westin to Chick-fil-A for a playdate.  We met his friend Camden who is a very nice 3-year-old that Westin has really enjoyed.  This being my week for mishaps, however, it happened to be the day that Westin had his first real injury.  I didn't see exactly what happened, but we THINK he slipped on the steps up to the slide in the playplace and fell.  A mom that saw it came outside to the table I was sitting at and came and got me-- I got in to see my poor baby in the playplace with his eye bleeding and little scrapes on his nose and forehead and cheek crying "I need my mommy, it hurts!" This was the time for a whole new panic attack. I guess it's good we've made it a whole 2 1/2 years without any head wounds, considering he's a very active, playful boy... but that didn't appease me.  I did my very best to stay calm and try to calm him down so he could finish his playdate.  He cried for the next hour, though, and there was nothing I could do.  When he finally did calm down, I noticed he had a goose egg on his forehead that was about 3 inches wide and 1 inch high... the good news was that it was swelling OUT.  He also has a bruise under his eye, a cut across his eye, and another big (only about 1") on his cheek.  Poor baby.  

Driving home that night, we pull into our driveway and the Sheriff is sitting in front of our house.  Panic AGAIN? YES. First of all, this was a very, very nice man.  He very tactfully told us that he had had a complaint about our dogs barking & just had to come check it out.  He said he has black labs himself & he's sure they were probably just getting cold & were ready for us to be home-- just so we were aware and could take some measures to fix the problem. Side note: we have a dog run that runs through the side of our yard on the side of our garage.  They have a doggie door that goes into the garage, which is heated & stays about 50 degrees when it gets really cold here.  They have their beds, their food & their water in the heated garage so while we're out & about I generally don't worry about them too much & I VERY RARELY EVER leave them inside my house while I'm gone.  If I do, they only get to stay in the guest bathroom. I'm in and out throughout the day & have never noticed them barking too much-- they will if someone comes up to the house (which I want them to) or if they're playing with each other or if one of the other dogs in the neighborhood barks at them.  Normal dog stuff if you ask me.  The official complaint was that they were barking at night... I would think Kreg or I would have noticed if they were barking at night. Anyway, we decided we would get batteries for their bark collars & make sure they had them on when we were gone.  Which I HATE because when we're gone, I want them to bark if people are coming up around our house. My biggest frustration is that we have never had any neighbors tell us our dogs were bothering them.  They called the SHERIFF before they ever spoke with us. Anyway, I was miffed but life went on.  The next day (last night), I had a migraine... I hadn't had one in a very long time so I decided it was just from the "different" stress I'd had this week.  We pull up last night after getting groceries (and batteries for the bark collars) after we'd taken dinner to some friends that just had a baby.  There was a note taped to our front door-- a NASTY note, saying our dogs had been disturbing the peace for a year, that we should do the neighborhood & our dogs a favor & find them new homes or let the humane society do it, that they had contacted the police & the humane society & that we were going to have to appear in court & be fined & even worse if they decided we were neglecting our dogs, etc.  Of course they never identified themselves, instead this was "on behalf of 5 households."  SO, the four of us started going door-to-door to our neighbors to try to find out who was being bothered and when & to let them know that we were more than willing to help fix the situation if they could just give us some more details.  Well, none of the neighbors directly around us seemed to know about the note or were really even bothered by our dogs.  We spoke with one lady who said she was at the bus stop with the lady who called the Sheriff and told us that the only time she had noticed the dogs barking too much was usually between 6:00 and 9:00 pm at night.  Well, that helps a little bit because there's probably 4-5 nights a week we're gone during those hours.  So, we have now narrowed down who we think is picking on us, who clearly has too much time on their hands, and we are doing our best to make sure they're not bothered. Kreg, as my luck would have it, has a Kansas hunting trip planned this weekend.  I hope we're done with nasty neighbors and visits from the Sheriff at least until Sunday night.

So, here I sit, Friday night, counting my blessings. And they are numerous. I might just take a hot bath. Drink some hot chocolate by my Christmas tree & fireplace. Hold & rock my babies. Thank God one more time that I am so blessed in so many ways.  Thanks for listening.