Tough Cookie

I like to think of myself as a tough cookie - able to manage and figure out most things on my own.  This past week Bob was in London.  (Lucky!)  And there were a few of the usual things that seem to come up when he's gone.  I'm sure they come up in a normal week too - but managing them on my own seems more difficult.  The furnace stopped working one night - and I'm actually pretty handy with it - having been down that road before.  I've got a whole bag of tricks that usually works before I have to call our repair guy.  So I waited till I got home from school and gave it a shot.  I planned on sanding down the sensor to get the oxidation off - but in the process ended up breaking the ceramic ignitor into 5 pieces.  Then it was really broken - it also was supposed to get down to 31 that night.  So I left a message for the repair guy - piled tons of blankets on the kids.  It was actually pretty cozy - until morning came and we had to leave our nice little caves.  Holy Cow!!!!  It was cold!!!  The repair guy came - it was just a connector (well and the ignitor too.  Ooops!) - and that worked for about a day.  Then the motor went out - and he came back and fixed that too.  He hadn't had a new motor in his truck the first time - so we crossed our fingers the connector was all it was.  Guess not.

Then at one point my car didn't start - but luckily I just tried again and it did.  I knew it was the battery.  Been there done that before.

Then I picked up my Buddy from school - took one look and knew he was very sick.  He was running a temp of 103 - and it wouldn't come down that night.  He asked for a blessing - and my father-in-law came over with a brother from his ward and administered to him.  It was a sweet and tender blessing.  I was so grateful to be able to just call for help and it was there.  I stayed home with my Buddy the next day and took him to the doctor.  They ran a strep test - which came out negative - so they're running the full test over the weekend so we can narrow it down.  

He was feeling a lot better by Saturday (yea!) so we headed out for the Pinewood Derby!  It was a big deal.  My Buddy's last year - and Cowboy T's first.  They'd spent the past two weeks making them with Bob before he left.  They were some cool looking cars.  Amazingly we were running on time - got in my car and it was dead.  Checked the battery cables a couple of times - jiggled them - got the corrosion cleaned off - you know - the usual stuff - and it still didn't start.  So I thought - we'll hop in Bob's truck.  Guess what!?!?!?!  Dead too!  Well I just kept trying and trying - mapping out some backup plans in my head - when my Buddy suggested we say a prayer - and he did.  I tried one more time - cleaning it off - and checking the cables.  My Buddy suggested we jump it off the riding mower - but we all know I would have reversed the cables and fried!  No matter how many times Bob explains it to me . . . I just can't remember.  Wouldn't have been a good day for that to happen.  So anyway - after the prayer - it started right up!  Yea!!!  There's some faith for ya!  We made it to the derby ok.  

Got there - weighed the cars (had to be under 5 oz.) and they were both .2 over.  And there it was - the tough cookie cracked.  I have a lot of skills - furnace skills, broken window skills, changing a tire skills, painting a house skills, throwing up some drywall skills, mowing skills, car wreck skills - but I have NO - zero - zilch - pinewood derby skills.  I'm not a boy.  I had no brothers.  I had no idea what to do!  Yank off a wheel?  Chop off the back of the car?  Start sanding?  The boys were panicked - and I had no idea what to do.  They were looking at me with that "Mom! Fix it!" look - and I had nothing!  They'd melted the weights and sealed them inside their car.  It's not like I could just take a washer off or something.  And in that silent moment of desperate pleading in my head - trying to beg for some mercy - where I really thought I'd reached my limit and wanted to cry uncle - in walked my Father-in-law.  Another answered prayer!  I handed him the boys cars and told him they were over by .2 oz.  He said "I'll be right back" and raced out the door.  He quickly returned - and had drilled out just a bit of the weight from where they had poured the lead in - and both of them weighed in ok - and the race began.  The boys did really well and had a lot of fun.  Won some heats - and lost some heats - had a blast - and really enjoyed the whole process of making the cars.  It was all good!  The best part was after the derby when we went to pick up Bob at the airport.  It was so wonderful to see him again and have him back home.  I gladly handed him the keys to drive home - and enjoyed the rest of the evening - knowing whatever might come up - I had backup.  And also how wonderful it is to have a husband who takes such good care of us and seems to make everything so much better!