What a craze the last few days have been!

We decided to try and replace our swamp cooler ourselves. Long story short, if we had gone with the same size, it probably would have been done in a day. Now the long story... We purchased one that was two sizes bigger than our old one. The internet literally has NOTHING on how to install one. They say "cut a hole, install, enjoy!" We already had a hole... Dusty came over for his muscle power. They got down the old icky cooler, (which we put at the end of the driveway and someone wanted to have. We were even nice and gave them our 1/2hp motor we bought last year). With the use of the van, we got the new cooler up easily. We were going to fashion a new vent box from the cooler to through the wall, because the old was was too small. After trying to piece one together, we figured there had to be a better way. If anyone has worked with sheet metal, especially the stiffer kind, it is not fun! It only wants to bend one way, and we couldn't curve it. We need to connect a 17" hole with a 13" hole.

Sunday night at 1am found us on the roof with a lamp, using sheet metal and fighting off the moths that were diving at our faces. We realized it was futile and gave up for the weekend. Monday Mika and I roasted a bit, although it wasn't bad at all until the evening. Ian has a work event this weekend and had his server explode, and he got stuck fixing it. He didn't even make it home until 9:30pm that night! We spent the day tag-teaming research on how to fix it. I decided to call Adam, because his dad was in the heating/cooling business and he worked with him. He suggested one piece, and also suggested asking his dad. So, Ian and I decided maybe we'd just have Mike do it for us if he was looking for a job... Ian called him and Mike said we were out of luck on both ends. 1) since we couldn't cut our hole bigger for the new cooler, diffusing the air would only make it work as well as the smaller one anyway. 2) he JUST closed down his business of 25 yrs and couldn't do it for us. His diagnosis: get the smaller one and do it ourselves, or hire out and get a downdraft. We opted with the smaller one....

Yesterday Dusty came over again, and Ian left work early. We got the other one off again, returned it, and bought the new one. Ian and I worked until 10:30 and almost have it done. Things are always so much easier the second time around! The biggest obstical of yesterday... it rained on us as we got the old screws out of the roof, and we wanted to seal the holes from the water... well, they were definitely sealed, but it takes that stuff forever to dry and by the end of the Ian was covered in brown goo that doesn't come off. It also got on our shoes and ruined the rug in the office. But, hopefully by bed time tonight we'll have it up and running -- in time for the cold weather and rain. :) *sigh*

We also found out yesterday someone somehow got a hold of our debit card number. They charged $1 on itunes, and $100 to craigslist. (How do you charge to craigslist?!?) Anyway, I called the bank and disputed the charges, and cancelled the card before anything else could happen. It's just been stressful roasting the last couple days, dealing with a stupid project, and finding out tried to steal our money. When it felt super overwhelming, I realized if this is the biggest of our concerns at this time in our lives, we're pretty lucky. Even while laying in bed burning at night, I'm grateful we have a new super comfy bed, fans that can cool us down -- we have the ability to cancel a card before more money is mising, and even if Mikayla is incessently whiney she's healthy and overall happy. Even though my rug and part of the carpet is ruined, well, we wanted to eventually replace it anyway. At least it doesn't have holes or smells horrible or something, ya know?

So there's that. Happier news -- nursery went better sunday than any of the other days. I think the kids are starting to get used to us, and getting a schedule has really helped them out too. We did have to break into our own cabinet with bolt cutters, but hey, it worked! I got a new lock this week for it, and a cool new bubble gun for bubble time. We've still got a few things to make/buy to make everything how we want it to be. We've decided we don't care how much money we invest into the nursery if it makes it a great place for the kids. Besides, when they're happy, we're happy! LoL

I have to go buy a cake now for Dusty's graduation dessert... graduation starts at 3 and they'll be here in an hour to go. Also in knowing my brother doesn't bother to read this, I'll let everyone know what a fantastic 18 yr old he is. He really does have a good head on his shoulders and has a good heart. He's a great brother too!

The picture below is Dusty and Ian using our creative method of raisind the swamp cooler... :)