Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Chimney fires and screaming kids

We had our wood burning stove inspected today and the guy essentially condemned it. It's too close to the wall and is a fire hazard. The chimney is so crusted with soot that we've already had a chimney fire this season and didn't even know it! To top it all off, the chimney itself is in need of little work. So now Chad has spent the last hour and a half making calculations to decide what method of heating the house is the cheapest. Do we buy a new wood burning stove or get a pellet stove? Do we just use the baseboard heaters or replace them with oil filled ones? Do we make the kids run laps when it gets too cold, or just feed them beans for breakfast and hope for a natural gas solution? Getting a new stove requires a little "remodeling" of sorts. It's all fun. Just when we think we've put ourselves into as much debt as we can, something new pops up.

Rebekah is growing fast. She's moving into the next size of clothes. Babies sure keep you busy with wardrobe rotation! Not only in growth, but in soiled clothes, too. It doesn't seem right that a little creature under 12 lbs can create a whole load of laundry in a week's time. She's 3 months old next week.

We're going to Taylorsville for Thanksgiving this week. I cringe to think of the time we'll have to spend listening to Leah scream on the way down and back. That girl DOES NOT like her car seat and I wish I didn't have to ride in a car with her. Combined with Daniel teasing Nathan, all the screaming is likely to run us off the road before the Idaho/Utah border!

We've had some beautiful weather the past few days and I'm glad it will be dry for the holiday travels.