Aren't HVAC Units So Much Fun?

I've have plenty of opportunity to say lately that there is always something to make life interesting.

For us, the short story is we need a new HVAC unit.

The long story includes suspicious activity on the part of the unit for the past few weeks: the unit outside icing over completely, only warm-ish (or just down-right cold) air coming from the vents, the unit running practically all the time, and the king of the suspicious activity--a horrid clattering in the fan blade. Maybe it was just a chunk of ice; I don't know.

I kept an eye on our suspicious unit (by the way, it's original to our house--1975) until the clattering incident prompted us to call the repairman.

Thankfully, the emergency heat is working until the new unit is installed next week, so no icicles forming on the ends of our noses.

Now we knew buying this house 1 1/2 years ago that the HVAC unit was limping along on borrowed time. No telling quite when it would perish.

Even now, it's only half-dead, but the part that needs to be replaced goes quite a long way toward the purchase of a new unit. Not very practical to keep this old beast wheezing along.

So, there's always something interesting.

Gangsta Hamsta

On to different interesting things:

• Kara dressed up her stuffed hamster as a gangster. Hmm, is it gangster or gangsta? I'm not up on the latest ways to mess up words.

• Tonight was a tank-refill with some dear friends of ours around heaping plates of chicken, steak, and baked potatoes. Kara's job of making a dessert turned into my job of making a dessert after she became too busy doing... um, I don't remember the excuse now. But anyway, a sheet cake with Texas sheet cake frosting is always a hit, and that's just what I made. Really the cake is simply a vehicle for the frosting. Cake without frosting is a very sad cake indeed.

• We tried sledding again today since school was called off. (Side note: if you are wanting to roll your eyes at that, I understand. I am not part of the deciders, though, for when to call off school; we just have to roll with it.) Anyway, as soon as that little red light came on the school website saying it was closed for the day, Kal and Kara came pouncing on me asking when we'd go sledding. They were out for 10 minutes before deciding the snow was too hard for sledding, and the sledding hill had some ill-mannered kids on it. There was plenty of room to stay away from ill-mannered kids, but they were done by then.

• Speaking of sledding, that wasn't in my original plan for the day. As a mom, I have been forced to adapt to whiplash plans. Whiplash comes when I'm snatched off-course by eager children or others with fabulous ideas of how to spend the day and my money. Sometimes, we just go ahead and make hay while the sun shines; other times, much to their chagrin, I pull the Mommy card and insist on sticking with the original order of the day.

Kal has a basketball game tomorrow morning, so I'm off for now. I did remember to wash his jersey for the game--before he needs it. That's a win.