The things that I knew but forgot

Well the good news is our hot water heater has been checked out by the base housing department.  The bad news is that they called the time of death as 'sometime Friday night'.  We are among many that are saying goodbye to the old and hoping for a new hot water heater before the end of the week.  I was told that they have them 'on hand' but I have no idea where we are on the list to receive one.  So rest in peace hot water heater, it was good while it lasted.  Oh and if you have stock in water-heaters, this will be a great Christmas for you.  Send Fort Monroe a thank you card when you get the chance!

Today has been a day of remembering what I had forgotten.  For instance, we have no hot water (sensing a theme to this post?).  So people who remember this fact would probably NOT cook a dinner that required more than one pot and would probably pull out the plastic wear so you could just throw away the dishes.  Not me!  It seems I used every pot and dish I could find plus decided that some items in the refrigerator needed to be dumped.  Yeah, I know, not the brightest bulb in the box but I did it so I have to clean it up.  So, in the spirit of our pioneering fore-fathers, I boiled water to wash the dishes.  Fact number 2 that I learned that I forgot: boiling water is 212 degrees.  I think my hands can stand up to about 105 before I pull them out.  So I put the dishes in the water and waited about 10 minutes to let the water 'cool'.  Fact 3: Metal conducts heat.  The first thing I decided to clean was a stainless steel pot that was submerged in magma-hot water.  Fact 4: hot ceramics/glass cannot be rinsed in cold water.  Fortunately I remembered fact number 4 before rinsing the coffee carafe.  No dishes were harmed in the cleaning of the kitchen this evening.  However, I think I have scalded the palm of my hand and the tips of my fingers.  Hopefully I will remember these lessons tomorrow.

The past few days have also been filled with rules that I never dreamed I would have to create.  The newest rule today was not to put your head in the toilet to see 'your pee-pee'.  That rule was followed by 'no stickers on the oven'.  The stickers have become very popular because we are using it for potty training purposes.  You get one sticker for the 'potty progress' board for going to the bathroom and you get one sticker for you.  This rule now applies to me when I go to the bathroom.  Samantha has a sheet of stickers that she keeps in her little kitchen and when I go to the bathroom she asks me if I went pee.  When I answer yes, she says that I'm a good girl, grabs my hand, and takes me to the kitchen to get my prize.  Pretty cute and the reward system seems to be working (most of the time). 

The stickers have also become a training tool that Samantha uses for her Baby Sarah doll.  I'm not sure if Sarah is potty training or not but you can see for yourself that she has been a VERY good girl. 

Samantha has also become quite particular about what she wears now that she is allowed to wear big girl panties.  She dressed herself in the green pants and striped orange shirt.  She wears the pink sunglasses everywhere so this isn't new.  The purple beads signify that they are about to have a tea-party and if you look closely you can see a page of stickers.  If I had taken a picture of myself you would have seen four stickers on my cheek and three on my hands!

Andy is still in Puerto Rico and we definitely miss him.  Samantha, if she could, would call him about 5 times a day.  She misses daddy and I think she is a little tired of mommy being her entertainment source.  Hopefully, tomorrow, Samantha will be able to see her friends Erin and Elliot for a play date OUTSIDE so they can run around.  Erin and Elliot's Mom, Janel, is making it possible for us to take warm showers so we are very grateful to them!