Saturday and Sunday went pretty well for Erich. Saturday we had fun at Grandpa Dale’s house opening presents and playing. Then on Sunday we went to Grandma Marilee’s for more cake, pizza, and of course presents.

All in all he made a pretty good haul of toys that he had been wanting. Compared to previous years he is having fun playing with the toys more than for just the first 5 minutes. Normally as quickly as they are opened they are forgotten, but not this time.

Tomorrow night will begin construction of the Haunted House. I bought and threw together a site. It’s cheese, but it’s promotion and didn’t cost the club anything. Maybe it’ll drive some business, and it looks professional at the very least to have something that’s not hosted on “Geopages” or whatever. Do they still even exist?

What we’ll probably wind up doing is stripping the walls, measuring, and taping off where walls will go. It’s not the most exciting part, but it has to be done.

In the meantime I’m whoring the House to any outlet and business that will have us or help us. I mean, this project pretty much funds the club and all our community projects for the year. Let’s not lie – I want to ride her for all she’s worth and take everything we can get.

Hopefully we’ll have our best year yet and the club won’t have to worry financially.

Well, I haven’t endured any new catastrophes this week. Yet. Friday will begin construction on the Haunted House. I’m a bit nervous about how everything will come together. As usual we have about 5 people who are fired-up about it and that I would say we can count on, and the rest aren’t so dependable. I do have faith that everything will work out. It always does, but I’d rather not pull it together at the last second.

Work is going pretty well. It will be much better when I’m off next week. I am so ready for some time off. I haven’t had one full week off work in several years. I think I’m due.

Erich’s birthday is Saturday and my parents and sister will be out of town. I’m a little miffed over that. Life goes on I suppose. We got him a Star Wars cake, Superman plates and napkins, and various toys. I don’t know why he has to have mismatched stuff, but it’s his birthday. Whatever makes him happy makes me happy.

Apparently I have done something to make God very angry with me. The first incident was our hallway toilet becoming backed-up. There wasn’t any mess, but “snaking” a toilet isn’t the funnest thing to do on any given day. Next up was our storm on 7/21 that dropped a 100′ tree on our house, poked a hole in the roof, squished the kids’ swingset, bent the meter loop to parallel with the ground, and left a huge mess. We recovered. Then this past Sunday the A/C unit “popped and poofed”. There was a loud pop and then a puff of white smoke. That was a lovely $1705 bill.

And now for the latest bit – Last night our dryer caught on fire. Yes, you read right, FIRE. Emily pushed the start button to dry some laundry then there were sparks and flames. Luckily I had two fire extinguishers in the house. One was posted on the wall next to the dryer, and the other is above the refrigerator. Emily grabbed the one by the dryer and quickly put it out before the fire spread or did any damage to the house. Thankfully she and the kids are okay, a little shaken, but okay. NO MORE WHIRLPOOL ANYTHING FOR ME.

I went to Lowe’s after I came home and made sure everything was okay, and bought a new pretty Maytag Performa. Granted it’s on the cheaper side of their lineup (okay, THE cheapest), but it works and hopefully won’t ignite my house. That, and I can’t afford to buy anything nicer. With so many things going wrong all at once, I am surprised we can still afford to live.

Wish me luck. (good)

Today was Erich’s first day of Kindergarten and Emily’s first day on days. Yes, I know that was redundant. Erich jumped out of bed when I came in to wake him up and mentioned that it was the first day of school. Altogether we were ready to leave the house by seven. Not bad time for our first day on a new schedule.

Amaya was completely reluctant to get out of bed. I began to think I was going to have to pour water on her to wake her up, but she made it eventually. She protested going to daycare and swore that she needed to go to school as well, but I convinced her to go to daycare instead. Once she was inside everything was cool.

Emily says she’s doing well with her first day on first shift, but I know she’s going to be wiped when she gets home. She has her first night of real estate classes tonight and I know she has to be nervous.

For photos of Erich’s big day, see my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/people/dirtvoyles/