Distanced. Episode 6 - Octobered

 

This month was rough. We really should have expected it, what with it being October on top of it being the year of never-ending awful. But it caught us off-guard. Again.

October seems to be the month things go wrong for us. Which really stinks, because it's such a beautiful month with the trees, and the pumpkins, and the birthdays. . .

Two years ago, our water heater died. We were able to get it replaced so we were only out of hot water for one day, but it was an unexpected expense. And of course it happened on a day when I had an early meeting with a client. (I called up my sister and was able to shower at her place.)

Last year, we found the dishwasher leak that required tearing out the kitchen floor, water damage mitigation and then replacing the floor. Another unexpected expense. And while the individual companies were great to work with, having to deal with it in the first place was inconvenient. But, we did learn how to take up, repair and replace our flooring. 

Which helped us this year, when we flooded the laundry room and main hallway. I'm talking standing water that then seeped under the quarter-round around the edge of the flooring to the cork underlay. It was another lesson in home ownership and maintenance. We were attempting to drain and flush our water heater. All was going well... until it wasn't. Anyway, we were able to take up the floor with minimal damage to the boards and we had just enough cork underlay from the original install and the previous repair as well as enough new boards to replace the two that we damaged taking up. The whole ordeal was repaired over the weekend. We still have a few minor items to finish, but I feel better knowing that we don't have a bunch of damp cork hiding under our flooring.

Oh, and going back to the dishwasher. . . it crapped out on us this month, but we were able to repair it with only two trips to appliance part stores and $100 in parts. 

As for our school-at-home adventure, I'm not sure what brought on the change, but we were in a constant battle to start schoolwork. Well, not everyone all the time. It was mostly Robin. He did not want to do school.  And when we did get into lessons, he wanted a break every five minutes. 

We had parent-teacher conferences, and both teachers are very happy with the boys work. They are completing their assignments and turning them in, logging in to the computer programs, and generally showing up to do their work. So, that was good to hear. Even if I know that on our end, it's me pushing and pulling them to get stuff done.

Robin's teacher assured us that it is ok at this point to "hover" over him as he works through the computer programs. It seems to be what he needs, and even though we aren't actually helping him with the work, our presence over his shoulder seems to keep him focused. So, we'll see if that helps us in November.

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