My Birthday and Upstairs Progress

Mom and Dad came back into town around my birthday. They came to work on the upstairs but it was extra nice to have them here for my birthday. Well, who are we kidding, Dad worked and mom and I hung out.

Before they got here, I took the boys to a neurology appointment. Afterwards they batted those cute little eyes and said, "Since Amy isn't with us, can we PLEEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE go to Nachos?" I had to oblige. (Amy doesn't like Nachos.) They ate to their hearts content and we got a new picture with Salvadore. He used to pick them up, but they are getting to big!

Then we stopped at Home Depot to get some wood for Dad. Getting home was tricky as I hadn't thought about the boys actually being in the car. Let's just say that Aunt Donna would not have approved! And we were hoping a police man didn't notice us!

The night before we had an unfortunate experience. Around 11pm there was a terrible, terrible smell coming out of our heat. We thought it had to be on fire. It was like when you turn it on at the start of winter, times 100. It didn't go away so Lee and I (convinced it was on fire) turned it off for the night. We had really low temps that night (17 degrees) so we piled blankets on the kids and dealt with it. It was 57 degrees in the house that morning!

We turned it back on again, for the terrible smell to still permeate. So we shut it off. We scheduled an HVAC guy to come the next morning. When Dad got here he rigged up something that is worth taking note of! He turned the fan on and then stuck our space heater in front of it. It took a little while but eventually it got up to 67 degrees that night. Which was a vast improvement on the 57! We turned if off for the night but tried the trick again in the morning.

It turns out the smell was fried mouse! Oh man. And because it had gotten so cold, the heat strips had kicked on (they hadn't yet because it hasn't been that cold.) So needless to say, we froze for nothing. Oh well. I figure Dad's heat trick is worth knowing!

Dad worked hard on finishing the upstairs HVAC stuff and some little things like installing the shower drain pan.

We celebrated my birthday by going to lunch with Mom. We were going to go shopping, but given it was the dead of winter, I couldn't think of anything I wanted to buy. We got a bundt cake for the evening and mom made a make-shift "41" out of blueberries and a #1 candle we had in the cupboard.

Lee bought me a big popcorn machine so we tried that out as well. We all loved it. It will eventually go upstairs and I know the kids and their friends will love it.

Thank you to everyone who sent me cards!

Before they left, Dad cleaned out my garage so I could get the van back in it. That's always his goal. Unfortunately we are a bit messy and that doesn't always happen. I sent this picture to him after he left. He was happy. :)

And that was their latest trip and my birthday celebration. We have insulation to complete now so they won't be back for a little while. It'll be weird not having them here for a bit!