Melting, New Car, Stress

Instead of a date last Thursday, James pumped water out of the crawlspace. Despite a couple more inches of snow, the overall level is finally going down! There is a huge puddle at the end of the driveway too. It's annoying to walk around, but it's too deep to walk through, and sweeping it toward the drain doesn't help because more water fills from up the street. It would be nice to have some sunshine again.

I went to a RS birthday party activity on Saturday. We painted with watercolors and had snacks. It was overall really relaxing. I haven't been the most relaxed since then.

We bought a car! It's a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan, and it's been the source of a lot of stress so far, just like every other time we've bought a car. This is normal for me, though. I've worried since last year when I knew we'd need to look for a new one. I'm happy to say that we paid in cash and it's already registered and insured. The only hiccup so far is getting it to start since it sat in a driveway for 3 months. I think we hooked up the jumper cables slightly wrong (since our car's battery terminals are hard to hook on anyway), but we got it started and James drove it for 30 minutes to recharge the battery. I'm really excited to have something more modern. It's the first car I've ever owned with a backup camera, automatic doors, and an automatic trunk. We ultimately decided on a van because it gets much better gas mileage than the Yukon XL and still has a decent amount of storage space. It's also well-rated for its year. We still need to clean it, get a new windshield, and get a spare key, but none of those things should be too bad. I'm hoping it lasts us at least 10 years. (Oh yeah, and it only has 83,000 miles on it, practically new!)

I've been stressing about some small things that keep coming back to bother me. One is my acid reflux. I had reduced my medication to a lower dose for a few months, but I felt that it was time to wean myself off the medication entirely since my eating habits have improved and I've lost 15 pounds. I haven't taken any since Sunday so I'm dealing with rebound reflux right now. The anxiety of getting a new car hasn't helped.

The heater is being dumb again too, but it's so close to us not needing it that I don't care anymore. It's 9 years old. I will reset it every day if I have to. It's inconsistent in when it needs to be reset, but it seems to be a problem more often in wet/windy weather. I suspect there is condensation buildup somewhere that isn't actually a big deal. It always starts up again, and that's what matters.

Kenny missed a day of school last week and this week for not feeling well. I have no idea why this keeps happening. He had a whole month where he didn't feel sick, so I think eating a snack before getting out of bed has helped, but it hasn't gotten rid of his issues 100%. I really don't want him to miss a bunch of school next year since it's middle school, but that's a few months away. He has an appointment on his birthday, so I'm hoping the doctor can provide some answers. Luckily, missing school so far has had no effect on his grades. I don't want to be too hard on him and make him go when he doesn't feel well, but some days he's fine by midmorning and I haven't pressed the issue.

It's my birthday this Saturday! James installed a trash can drawer for me, and I love it. Today, we're going out to eat. I hope I can relax a bit and enjoy my family.