I know it gets redundant, but it always amazes me when I see how long I go between posts on here.  For a woman who is a self professed chatter box, it amazes me that I am not writing more often.  But then again, when the end of the day comes and I am tired, all I want to do is head to bed.

So let's see .... what's new since I last wrote.....   It's September!  And the weather seems to have finally broken from the ungodly heat.   We actually set a record in Wichita this summer - 53 days over 100 degrees, which is the most since the Dust Bowl in 1936!  Not exactly how I wanted to be welcomed to my new locale, but what do you do?  Mostly this summer, I seem to have sweated, cried and worried.  It's been kind of a crazy three months here and it's just now that I am beginning to realize just how hard they were.  I was overwhelmed - plain and simple.   No other words for it and no other way around it.  And I'm pretty sure from a clinical perspective, I was depressed.   Nothing new to me, but sort of had to "tough it out" since the health care coverage didn't kick in until this month and it's one of those things that - like so many times before in my life - I just felt like I had to muddle through.  I missed my mountains and my fresh air and my routine.  Felt like I had traded it in for a money pit on the surface of the sun.  Suck it up and keep moving......   But now that the temperature has dropped, the A/C can be turned off and the windows can be opened, it's amazing what it has done for me!   I am totally fresh air and sunlight dependent!

The house is ..... the house!   There have been no major miracles in the last week and a half, no interventions by HGTV to totally rebuild my house (dear God in heaven - if there is anyone out there reading this with HGTV connections, PLEASE give them my name and number!!!!), but it's okay.  For whatever reason, this is a good week!  It feels like there is hope.   And for today, that is enough.

Got the second electric bill - worse than the first!   There are some serious issues going on here.  To that end, I have called the energy company - Westar Energy - and asked them to come to the house and explain a few things to me about my meter.  I have requested that they do it when I am here and little do they know that my plan is to ask them to check every connection from the transformer to the house! That will be Monday.    If they do that and it all checks out, I have decided to hire an electrical company and have them troubleshoot the house.  It may cost me a lot, but quite honestly, it will be worth it to figure this out and it should pay for itself in short order.  So I guess that at least I feel like there is a plan!  And I have come to realize that I am glad that I am a bit of a pit bull when it comes to my house and my well being!  If I don't stand up and fight for myself, who will?!

Brad seems to be adjusting into his new job, which has helped me adapt to my new environment as well.  You hate to admit that you are so totally dependent on someone else for your well being, but quite honestly, he is my rock and when he seems to struggle, I struggle.   It's getting better day by day.

As for the house...... I got my new cook top put in!   It wasn't necessarily what I wanted, but the home warranty covered most of the cost and for now, it's good enough.  Not sure I will ever adjust to electric versus gas, but for now, it will do.  Hence the song of the day:  I have come to realize that as much as I complain and a bitch and moan,  I am provided for.  I may not always get what I want - but I get what I need!

The pool is limping along until we can get it closed up for the season - sometime in the last week of September.  It needs a new filter and maybe a new pump.  I pray it just keeps working until then!     The pond is doing well but same thing - needs a new pump.  The lawn is mostly green but now I have to figure out how the heck you shut down a well for the winter in the coming months.  Now that it's nice weather and time to open the windows, I had to order a couple of screen doors and a few screens.  No small task when they are Pella doors and windows.  Or I guess I should say no small financial task.   Pella knew what they were doing making their doors so specialized that you can only get their product.  You don't EVEN want to know what I had to pay to have two sliding patio screen doors made!  All I can say is that they had better slide like butter and last for a million years!  But the fresh air invigorates me, so I pay.........

And then there is football!   Jeff's senior season started last weekend!   Brad and I have continued our commitment to get to every game we can.  The last four seasons (re-shirt freshman through junior year), we were lucky enough to mostly have direct flights, but here, everything is a connection.   But we go.  And we go with a true appreciation of how lucky our son is to have this experience.  He is blessed - as are we.   I will try to truly enjoy each and every minute he is on the field in his last season  - all the while holding my breath with my real hope being that he just gets through each game unscathed.    It was a wonderful distraction from all of the chaos of my life last weekend, and I will try to look at each weekend as my own little getaway!

As for now ......I've actually given myself permission to take a day off here and there!  I haven't really done that for the first three months and it's time.  There is so much to do, but I have learned that I have to do that as well.  Whatever is waiting for me to get done will be there tomorrow.   I am trying to be the tortoise rather than the hare!  And while there are so many times I feel like what I have done is not enough - there are other times when I realize we have done a lot.  

I am going to add some pictures for you ... finally!   I have a few more "afters" that I need to take, but you can see at least some of the things that I have been talking about.

But I can't leave you without telling you about today's wacky discovery.   In order for the new cook top to be put in, I cleared out all of the cabinets below it.  This morning I figured it was time to put it all back, so as I opened up the cabinet doors, I looked inside and realized that there was something odd about the floor of the cabinet below the cook top.  It seemed like there was a piece that had been "cut out" and then put back in.  Recognizing it as a door to a space below, I pried it up.  Imagine my surprise when I saw - about two feet below - dirt!  It appears that at least half of the kitchen has this odd crawl space under it.  Totally uninsulated, dirt floor, empty space!   My guess is that it's going to be awfully cold in that area come winter unless I do something!!  I have no idea what the rationale for this is!!!!   I am not sure I will ever completely understand this house!!!

So it's off to bed for me.   Catching a flight to Indianapolis tomorrow for another game - go Bulldogs!!!   Today is also my oldest son, Matt's, birthday. 26 years ago I became a mom.   It truly is the best thing that ever happened to me and in the midst of all of the chaos that is my life right now, those are the things that I try to remember.

So it's like the song says ........ you can't always get what you want..........but if you try sometimes .... you might find ..... you get what you need.....