Now, sometimes, I don't know why I was in such a rush to grow up! As an adult we are worried about the economy and politics and joblessness. It's no barrel of monkeys.
This week has been pretty sucky so far. We have to make some pretty tough decisions. Decisions whose outcomes are unknown. We could do what seems like the "right thing" and have more consequences than if we did the thing that seems less right.
TOUGH DECISION #1
Last weekend P was out playing with her friends and accidentally dropped her new ipod touch and shattered the screen. I was standing at the stove when A came in screaming about P. I couldn't see A (or P) and I thought something terrible happened to P. You know those moments. When P walked in crying hysterically, I was so relieved it was just an ipod. I couldn't care less about an ipod. Dinner was put on hold so that I could hold my hysterical child.
Then we were forced to make the BIG, DIFFICULT, ADULT decision. The glass is not covered under Apple Care or warranty, but for $99 they will swap it with a new ipod touch. I wanted to do that. I know how responsible P has been with her ipod touch. Jason thought maybe a "one and done" policy to teach her to be more careful. He thought she would learn a lesson--you get one and that is it, as tough as it is. We have people in our family who always look to their family to bail them out and he doesn't want our girls to grow up like that. I get it. I also know this was an accident. I know how P takes such great care of her ipod touch.
Since we made the BIG, DIFFICULT, ADULT decision to have it replaced, P has said at least 5 times a day, "I feel so bad that you spent that money on me." When we went to the mall to take care of it, I saw something that I would have liked to buy her, she said no because I spent too much money on her already. I offered to take her to lunch, again she said no because we already spent too much money on her.
I think she learned a lesson and the value of money. I am proud of the way she thinks.
TOUGH DECISION #2
I ordered a Christmas gift from Overstock.com on November 29. It still has not arrived. The tracking is wonky. I have called three times. They offer me a discount on my next purchase. I tell them that I won't be buying from them again. They offer to send me another one but when I get this one, I NEED TO PAY TO SHIP IT BACK. Um, it's not MY FAULT it is late. I am VERY tempted to order from Amazon so that I can give this item as a gift (i have 5 more days for Free Shipping Delivery on Amazon). I am cutting it close with this gift and I don't like it. But i don't want two and I don't want to PAY TO SHIP IT BACK TO OVERSTOCK.
TOUGH DECISION #3--the biggest of them all!
The roof repair guy never showed up last weekend. Big surprise. I feel like I wasted three weeks calling him and believing he WOULD come the next day.
My husband is really handy and can usually fix or build anything around here. Jason climbed up on the roof last Sunday to see if he could do what the friend of a friend roof repair guy said he would do. He couldn't. It was like a chain reaction and he was afraid of doing more damage.
We decided that we have no confidence in the roof. We want the whole thing replaced. It sucks that the shingles are only 13 years old and we have another 10+ years on them. But that is where we were at. It's where we started...and were told the shingles were fine, great, in excellent shape and we just needed a repair, only no one wants to do a repair!
We had a roofer come out monday and say that the problem is NOT THAT BAD and that the roof can wait until the weather warms up to replace. There is no damage at this point. We could do it over the winter, but we could also wait til spring.
A second guy came out on tuesday and reiterated the same thing. Shingles manufacturers recommend their shingles not be put on below 40 degrees. Warm sun is needed to seal the shingles. You open up the potential for issues if you shingle in cold weather.
SO WE REALLY WASTED THOSE WARM DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As my mom is fond of pointing out, there are people with bigger roof issues--trees crushing and destroying roofs, and that is what the roofers have been doing during this time. Our problem was not that big. One of the roofers called it "triaging": they handled the worst repairs first and went down the list. We MAY be on these roofers' lists--it would have been nice for them to tell us that, though. "Hey, we have roofs that were destroyed in the storm, we will be back when we finish taking care of all of those." I would have prayed for those who lost so much and feel confident that the roofers would be back!
So we are now faced with the BIG, DIFFICULT, ADULT DECISION of should we roof now or wait? If we wait there may be damage. If we do it now, it may not set right, we could open ourselves up for more damage down the road OR less of a life expectancy on the shingles.
We are researching paint on and spray on options to get us through the winter OR a tarp. I am just afraid that whatever we anchor a tarp with could blow off and smash a window.
