Parentheticals

On Monday Mike went to his new team at work for the first time. He spent 6 hours in meetings, and tried to set up his computer to work on the new stuff. It was boring. On Tuesday night the toilet clogged up again, and internet research indicated that it was because the main sewer line had a tree root in it. We called a plumber again (a different one), and he came and put a camera down, and said that it was in fact a bunch of tree roots. He offered to clear it out in a semi-permanent way, and did so, flooding our bathroom in the process of testing it out. He also said that he could permanently fix the problem by coating the inside of our pipes with magical crystal golden epoxy resin, and that it would only cost $15,000, and our goats. This is the cost of both of our cars put together, so we told him no, and went in search of a plumber that used more mundane materials. The plumber that we found said he would dig a trench in our yard, and install a new line for $5,500, which seemed

This week was a crazy one. On Monday Mike was told by his boss and grandboss that his team had been disbanded, and that he was assigned to work on the web team. If someone were to ask Mike which software engineering team at 1800Contacts he would have liked to work at the least, he would have certainly told you the web team. After talking with Alison, Mike started to search for a new job. He applied at five places - all of them in Ithaca NY. He also posted his resume at three different employment sites. Monday night our toilet clogged, and wouldn't unclog. Mike worked on it for a few hours, and eventually we decided to call a plumber. Tuesday morning the plumber came over and got the water flowing again, so we could use the bathroom. This has made our desire to add a second bathroom increase significantly. Also on Monday, Alison did her first class teaching English online with VIPKID. She's been seeing people mention this job for about a year now, and it really felt like i

On Tuesday we attended Olivia's baptism. It was beautiful. We are so happy that she's part of our family. We are planning Rea's baptism for 10am on November 3rd, so everyone who schedules things six months in advance can be prepared. Rea found and tried on Alison's dress from her baptism and it fits, so she's considering wearing it for her baptism. Alison tried on her wedding dress while Rea tried on the baptism dress. It no longer fits :), but it was fun. Alison has decided that we don't get enough movement in our lives, so we're adding some more activities. She found a website that will use a YouTube video as an alarm, so each evening a kid picks something to be our Morning Movement first thing the next day. So far we've done dinosaur dances and ninja dances. It's a good way to wake up. Sara loves it, Timmy enjoys it, and Alison feels much more awake afterwards. Rea seems put-upon, but she's participating a bit. We're also trying to add

We missed a week again... This had better not become a habit. This week we went to SaltCon. We spent the first half of the week getting ready. Mike finished up with the math trade, and participated in the online flea market. The kids packed so many things. Alison planned meals and packed. Gideon mostly said "Nurse! Nurse! Nurse!" (because he liked to nurse a lot this week, I guess). When we were at SaltCon, we stayed at a different hotel than last time. This one was the Hilton Hampton Inn. It was way better than the Hilton Garden Inn which is attached to the convention center. The convenience of being attached to the convention center is nice, but the free breakfasts  every day and the free dinner on Thursdays halved the number of meals that we had to plan for. Additionally the staff was very friendly, and the pool was way less crowded. We also got to hang out in the lobby so that we didn't have to bother our neighbors so much with our loud children. We played a f