Seven Quick Takes vol 81.

Joining the 7 posts in 7 days queen, Jen!

{one}

Jen picked the best week possible for me to actually accomplish 7 posts in 7 days because my husband was away this week for work so I had spare time in the evenings and a heightened need for adult communication and thus - blogging! 

The house got totally neglected though. It's like a small bomb has exploded. But a bomb that was located in the pantry? Seriously. There are dry spaghetti noodles everywhere. I crunch with every step I take, but thems the breaks when theres only one adult around with 5 kiddos.  

So happy my husband must return and save me from death by dirty floor; or toddler tyrants who have really taken a nosedive in their behaviour; or watching all the bad tv; or too much wine. 

I've written all week while drinking too much wine.

{two}

My husband left Sunday afternoon, and what should happen Sunday evening?? A water crisis!

Because we live in a rural area, read - middle of nowhere, we get our water from a well that feeds a water treatment system in my house which supplies both my house and my parents house down the road. Well, Sunday night something went funky on the water system to which we didn't really have a solution and/or understand so we were in a major water conservation mode which included only drinking water and toilets. At first we thought it was a malfunctioning part of the indoor water system but when the whole thing went kaput on Monday my dad figured it must be the well pump. Which was really inconvenient since its 250 feet down, covered in several feet of snow and would only be fixed in this weeks abysmally freezing temperatures hovering around -15 to -20 C. I was coming up with survival plans in my mind while simultaneously freaking out and wanting a shower until miraculously a water well specialist was able to come Tuesday evening, fix the pump by dragging it all the way to the surface and replace it in less than two hours and full water rights were restored! Wednesday I was able to shower and bathe 5 stinking children, but I was getting pretty close to waving a white flag and moving into a 5 star hotel with a second room I could lock all the kids into if things didn't turn around real quick! 

Hey, if I liked living without running water, indoor plumbing, and the ability to bathe I'd like camping. And I don't like camping.

{three}

So the weather. It's starting to put me in a perma-bad mood and it is not pretty. This weekend it's expected to break records it will be so cold. And I'm not talking Atlanta-just-below-freezing records, I'm talking breaking Canadian records. Like -45 C with the wind. It's just getting so close to March and I am past my point of endurance. For Lent let's give up the cold! And we'll all suffer by not having to crank up the heat everyday, and build fires, and wear mittens! Or I guess I offer it up? 

{four}

The Downton finale was the best episode of the season. Which doesn't say all that much, but it felt like a treat to watch for a change!

I liked a lot of it: such as everything Rose wore, Paul Giamatti - can't believe I had to wait all season for him but he was perfect, Isobel and the Lord's burgeoning, but very serious, sort-of romance, Mosley coming out of nowhere and turning out to be pretty likeable, the storyline with the Prince of Wales and stealing back the letter, Bates being a general badass (I know, I know, he killed he-who-should-not-be-named but I was kinda cheering for that to happen all season), and finally seeing the London house!

It always has bugged me that we never saw the London house. Of course they had a gorgeous London house, and we needed to see it!

I'm so sad for Edith. Edith, why can't you make better choices?? It's going to be a huge train wreck.

Men fighting over Mary. I feel like this is something we're supposed to like, but it still feels really strange. It's like Downton Bachelorette or something. And way for Mr. Blake to throw a curveball that episode, or have one thrown for him. Now that's he rich but shirks his wealth I can't help but feel that increases his appeal. I can't refer to him as Blake though, to me he's Andrew Foyle and that's what I call him. I also think the writers are purposefully trying to keep us from choosing sides. But I know that once we're led down the garden path of objectivity something dramatic will be thrown into the story and we won't believe that we thought we like Gillingham/Blake. I think I'm officially on Team Andrew Foyle.

{five}

I'm not settled on what I'm giving up for Lent. I don't know if I will give something up, but I do feel that I'm going to be focused on quiet. This seems simple, but life with 5 kids offers little quiet. I feel though besides the kids, I'm choosing noise more often when I do have the choice. I'm going to try and think how to actually implement this idea, but I know it's going to have to come from something I'm choosing in between all the kid chaos. 

{six}

My sweet immobile baby turned 11 months this week and still shows no desire to move under her own power. I mean, she can, when forced, but she doesn't see the advantage. Not when she's got people to carry her and 4 siblings to serve and entertain her wherever she may be. But because I want her to be moving under her own steam when this snow finally melts, ya know - June, I've been getting her going on a crawling workout where she suffers on her stomach on the laminate floor and slides around. She can do it about 5 minutes before becoming completely miserable. She's a hilarious, crazy baby. 

{seven}

I always mean to link to great things I've read all week, but this week I can't remember anything. Forgive me because I think I'm a little tired of this single parenting business. There has been so much great stuff to read anyway because of this awesome 7 days of posts, so go visit Jen's link-up and visit all those hardworking bloggers! And thanks for putting up with me 7 days in a row.

Have a warmer weekend than I!

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