Over the Past Week

I haven't updated in a week!  We've been in Chesapeake for Chris and Eliot to run a race.  Then we came home to a lot of grading and a boiler with too much pressure (which means shaking pipes and horrible banging--HORRIBLE--so we went without heat for a little while).

I guess I should start with Halloween....  I wanted take Eliot trick-or-treating, but we just didn't.  There are only few houses in our neighborhood that hand out candy.  Eliot wouldn't quite get it yet anyway, so instead we took Eliot to see Chris's grandma, to play with Chris's uncle's cats, and then had Chris's sister over for a little while.  It was kind of like a dinosaur parade.

Eliot loves dinosaurs and to run around roaring, so that is what he was.  This costume was actually a size four-T (there weren't any smaller dinosaur ones!) and the hat part was way too big for him.  Instead, I safety pinned it to his collar so it looked like a hoodie.  There's my crafty fix for the month.

The next morning, we voted by absentee ballot since we thought we might still be out of town.  Then we did laundry, packed, and cleaned the house ready for our showings when we'd be gone.  We had to be out by 2:45 pm; unfortunately, at 3:45 pm, we got a call saying that the people didn't even come by due to lack of time.  What a waste of stress.  Oh well.  We wanted to get on the road in time for Eliot's afternoon nap so he'd sleep about an hour of the ride--which he did.

Over the weekend, we went to the aquarium,

Chris ran his 5k at the Virginia Beach Town Center and Eliot ran a little tot run (and did amazing!),

we learned that Chris got FIRST PLACE for his age group (20-29) with a 6:48 pace and 10th place overall so he got an engraved medal,

and Eliot did great in his race too--he crouched down for the countdown and everything,

Eliot played with new baby friends,

and old friends,

and we came home.

Here is where I grumble some....  With the pressure off in the boiler, we had to decide if we were either going to freeze at night or stay awake listening to that horrible, horrible sound.  We chose somewhere in between and set the heat to 60 degrees.  Ugh.  I hate it.  In the morning, I made a service appointment.  Fortunately, the guy was here by noon, did some exploring, and has it all set for the next few days until a new gasket comes in that he will replace.  He didn't even charge us yet!  So, we have heat, the boiler is totally fine, and we'll get it all set with a tune up sometime late this week or early next week.  Phew.  The process sure is stressful at times.

On top of all of that, we had a showing at 4:30 pm, so we had extra pressure on us to get it fixed fast.  I feel like people are always looking at our house.  It's nearly every other day.  I wish someone would just buy it already.  We get so many "I love it, but I want to keep looking" reactions.  And then by keeping an eye on the listings, it doesn't seem like those people actually buy anything.  Goodness.  We do have a couple of people who say it is their first pick, but they want to think about it a little (which is fine).  Maybe it will result in something.

I'm glad we voted early because it would have been hard to yesterday!  I'd like to write a bunch of political things, but it just would make those who agree with me happy and those who disagree with me unhappy.  What's the point?  No one is changing anyone's mind; I don't even want to.