Weekly Recap: with Holy Week and the broken washer

Last Saturday was a regular day, grocery shopping, chores, and I finished a knitting project for my sister.

On Sunday we went to church then my parent's for a family dinner.

Monday's history lesson was about the Bill of Rights. A guy came out from our internet provider and adjusted our connection so we can hopefully get the speeds we're paying for now! As I was moving our router to attempt to plug my desktop computer in with an ethernet cable, I nearly had an emergency situation.

Somehow a bent paperclip had fallen down and gotten stuck in just the right spot that when I moved the bookshelf in front of this power strip it sparked. We were very lucky that it sparked when I was there, saw it, and was able to quickly shut it off. We are also very lucky that we weren't on the evening news for an electrical fire, and that our TV still works. The new surge protector now hangs on the wall so things can't fall onto the outlets.

We got a thicker seal installed on our new garage door, and we closed on our mortgage refinancing. Whew, what a crazy day!

Tuesday our literature lesson was on plot reversals. I discovered my desktop is still not connecting to the internet at speeds that it should, but the laptops do. I played around with some settings and got it to work a little better, but it's not consistent and I may need to install a new wireless card. I also changed a couple of things on the router for our wireless connections, and then needed to reconnect every single device that uses wireless internet. I then began to despise whoever thought wireless devices were wonderful because we have a lot of tablets, and the printers wouldn't reconnect! So I gave the passwords to my kids and taught them how to connect things, then sent them off to find tablets, phones, and laptops. Whew. Printers work again too.

Wednesday we had a science lesson on simple machines, then learned about the wheel and axle. Each child was supposed to create something that used a wheel and axle. I gave the option of using Lego blocks so the younger ones might have an easier time, but the younger ones created these amazing inventions! N came up with the idea to make this wagon all on her own! She was going to use toothpicks for the axles but we discovered they were too short to hold the wheels on. So I suggested a skewer.

Calico Critter approved!

We had an orthodontist appointment, and M is happy that she's nearly done with braces! We discovered that our washer has a problem with something called the the spider, or the bearings. It makes a grinding rubber noise and squeaks when it spins at high speed. I've noticed for the past few months that jeans take longer than usual to dry, so this all makes sense now. Dad and J had a "disassemble the washer with YouTube videos" night. After that, and some chats with repairmen, It seems the repair for this could cost about $500, and more in depth work than my husband is comfortable with on his own. Plus, the washer is 10 years old and has been used much more frequently than average, including cloth diapering two children, and eight months of cloth diapering a third (we got the washer when he was one) . Did you know the washers of today are given an average lifespan of 7-10 years? Yikes.. So, it still runs, and we're using it until we get a replacement.

Thursday's geography lesson was all about taxes. The kids learned a lot about property, sales, and income taxes. M and J are little whizzes at figuring tax! We have been using a book called The Holy Week for Latter-day Saint Families this whole week to learn about the events before the resurrection. This book has a lot of fun activities included, and many meaningful scriptures, videos, and lessons. Thursday we had the Passover dinner. We talked about a lot of traditions, meanings, and watched the two suggested videos while eating the dinner. It was such a spiritual experience, I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

N likes to write notes to family members. She realized she could use her fridge magnets to spell words, look at them to see if they were correct, THEN write them down. Pretty smart!

Tonight my husband called around to see if any stores had the Samsung washer he had found online that we liked, and found one as a floor model. So we ran to the store and look at it. While looking it over, a sales lady asked what we were looking for, then told us about a LG model she had in the back, but was on clearance. She didn't have any space to put it out on the floor so it had been marked down even more. The one we are replacing is an LG, and I felt the Samsung models weren't built as sturdy as the LG. Wiggly doors, latches, detergent drawer, etc. Well, we left with an $1100 washer that was marked down $400. Only a tiny bit more than I planned to spend, but it is okay. It has a lot of features I'm calling luxury, and excited to learn to use.

Friday's music lesson was on a cappella music. Though we talked about many types, my son is now aspiring to learn beatboxing. We ate a fish dinner for Good Friday. There are lots of dandelions in the yard and J and my husband have been digging them up. The girls made flower crowns from them. Pollen anyone?

On Saturday J got up early for a merit badge class. We went to Lowe's to return the washer pipes we bought because the washer came with them. We decided to get a new dryer duct as well. The washer is installed now! I separated my aloe vera babies today, and M planted some more seeds in the garden. It's been a busy day!