RIP 20 Year old AC

Our upstairs A/C unit is officially dead. Certainly it was impressive that it apparently lasted for 20 years - it was original as far as I know (as is the downstairs one which is still running, knock on wood). They are both Carriers, so I guess kudos to Carrier for making an A/C that lasts 20 years. But anyway, it's time is apparently up :) Our home warranty company is paying a few hundred dollars for the coil , which is the thing actually broken, but it's not possible to replace the coil on a 20 year old A/C apparently and have it actually be like, up to code. So we have to shell out for the compressor, so we elected to go with a slightly larger one (2.5 tons instead of the 2 ton we had) and also to replace the furnace at the same time, both with Lennox brand models. This will enable us to claim a $425 rebate from the electric company due to it meeting a certain standard of energy efficiency, apparently. Still, the net outlay of cash on our part is north of 5k :( And also, the install isn't scheduled until a week from today, so yet another week with no A/C upstairs. Fortunately it's been overcast and low 80s mostly, so not horrible, but our window screens are also all 20 years old and most are broken so the only person who has a window screen / window fan right now is Ben and the girls have been sleeping in the bonus room with a portable A/C unit in there. But that's getting old as they claim they can't share a king sized bed without kicking each other. Sigh.

Goodbye Giant Ugly Bushes

We got rid of the giant bushes in front of the house and planted some smaller bushes. My only regret is the landscaper went to work so fast demolishing the bushes that i didn’t get a “before” picture for comparison! At some point we’re going to get some stone to go around the outside of the beds.

Becca’s First 5K

Becca came, saw & conquered her first 5K, I will let her official stats below speak for themselves!

Random Updates

A busy week in full swing! I had to get up at 5:30 to take Becca to school by 6:15 for her Raleigh field trip. Pictures of that will be forthcoming once I get some, I am sure. Swim team practice started this week also, and time trials are tomorrow night. Becca is also running a 5k on Saturday morning in Ballantyne, which means another early morning for Mom... yawn... She's quite the busy girl these days!

Broken things... upstairs A/C has broken twice in the last three weeks... repairman #2 scheduled for tomorrow. Garage door decided to break. Repairman coming this morning. We're having some landscaping started next week (don't know why I am lumping that under broken things). Vet bills! Clara went for her checkup and ended up having a needle biopsy of what turned out to be a lipoma (benign fatty tumor). Which is good news but the needle biopsy topped the vet bill off at over $400 for the day. Sigh.

That's all... countdown to the end of school / Hilton Head vacation is on!!! Three more weeks!

Random Weekend Pictures

Caroline at school Friday releasing the butterflies her classs hatched. Later that evening at the annual HawkFest carnival. And Becca volunteering at Mitzvah Day @ Temple Beth El on Sunday packing snack bags for homeless kids.

Future Statistician

Sorting and graphing her m&ms :)

An Armful

New Shingles

We had the cedar shingles replaced on the front of the house this weekend. Here is an in-progress picture. Of course I would have loved to leave them natural but they don't stand up to the elements well unless you use a solid stain on them. And, in order to avoid the hassle of having to get approval for a color change, we just had them stained the same dark brown as they previously were. Or , a very similar dark brown. Might not have been the exact one. It still looks a thousand times better than before! Of course right after deciding to get this ($2,000) work done, we got the almost $1,000 bill from the plumber and then yesterday our upstairs A/C decided to die (service technician on the way out right now -fingers crossed). Hopefully that won't be a huge repair, as we're also in the process of getting some estimates for some much-needed landscaping in front and back.

Triathlon

Becca and Amelia participated in a kids' triathlon on Saturday -- Becca's first and Amelia's second. Amelia won her division - way to go Amelia! Becca's division was very competitive (seriously I think there were some forged birth certificates, no way some of those girls were 10). Becca came in 9th overall. Her swim time was 5th and her run time was 2nd, which was fantastic! She needs to work on her bike time (12th). She was riding her new bike and had a couple of spills on it this week and a nasty stubbed toe and all kinds of scrapes and bruises that she battled through. Proud of my girl! Here she is right before the swim.

Talent Show

Becca and her friend Molly did a glow in the dark hula hoop routine at the elementary school talent show. Supposedly there will be video of the show provided, so when I get that I will post the link! Here she is after the show. Great job girls!