Kill Switch Part III - And Other News

Guess what, our dishwasher has stopped working. We installed it maybe 6 years ago? I don't remember exactly... We moved into our house a little over 10 years ago, and the original dishwasher worked for a few years... So yeah, 6 years sounds about right.

**** UPDATE: the dishwasher is only about 4 years old...****

We will attempt to fix it ourselves (correction: my husband will attempt to fix it himself). 

Ugh, I do hope that 2024 is NOT going to be the "Replace All Electronic Devices and Appliances" year.

What is it with stuff that just stops working? I don't want to be part of the throw-away culture. I want my appliances to last so that my kids can inherit them (see about Wendy). I want quality.

In the meantime, it's good old handwashing the dishes...

So yeah. Fun times.

In other news: the dogwoods are amazing this year. Also, my parents have their 49th wedding anniversary today!

Intensity

This spring has exploded with activities and commitments. 

Overall, I have to admit, I like being busy. 

Work is very, very busy with multiple projects happening all at once: some are more intense than others. I just finished a very labor-intensive Draft 1 of a manuscript on refractive surgery a couple of days ago and now I am "relaxing" with other  projects that require resubmission work, addressing comments from authors, or making figures - all of which is a whole lot less stressful than writing a manuscript de novo. 

The house needs some work... but it's been fantastic to have someone else come and clean kitchen and bathrooms every other week. Huge, huge help. In the past, we tried cleaning services that cleaned the whole house, but I feel like what we have now is optimal for our situation. So yes, it's been a while since I've dusted the living room and dining room or mopped the floors... but I'll get there when I get there. The kids cleaned up the mudroom and the family room last weekend.

I've been struggling to get the kids to keep their rooms tidy... they sort of clean up (some better than others) when they see that I'm about to have a conniption (or already in the throws of a full-blown conniption). I love the word, conniption. Describes perfectly my reaction to clothing thrown all over the floor, candy wrappers, and bowls of goodness-knows-what growing possibly alien lifeforms. 

Kids are very busy with school and activities. The younger 2 are having the state testing (English, Math, and Science). The oldest has a ton of school tests, projects, and deadlines - and he is, let us say, not super organized and not a good judge of how long things will take. I am trying to figure out when to just let things go and have him experience the consequences, when to help him plan his study time, and when to enforce that study time.

Kids are involved in multiple activities: piano, cello, violin, orchestra, rock climbing, clubs, soccer, and 2 kids on 2 different track teams. That all requires a lot of driving around. Picking up the oldest from the high school track practice, brining him home, then going to pick up the middle one from her track practice at the middle school, then sometimes also picking up the youngest from elementary school after her Student Council or musical rehearsal... (There are activity buses but... The activity buses for the older 2 kids leave before their practices are over. There is no activity bus for elementary school, unfortunately) Carpooling has been a mixed bag - sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. And then there is a quick dinner (that we have to somehow get ready while picking up the kids and working) and we need to rush to get to the next activity with at least 1 (but usually multiple) kids. So yeah, 2 adults with busy full-time job + 3 busy kids + taking care of the house + cooking and cleaning... Husband and I are exhausted.  (The kids are supposed to do the dishes at least some of the evenings, but that's a struggle). 

So the thing is - I actually enjoy driving kids to practices or track meets... That's 1:1 time with the kid, allowing uninterrupted conversations. I look forward to those times in the car. But because there is so much running around required, juggling multiple pick-ups, trying to figure out rides for kids when I can't pick them up because I am at their sibling's meet, or because I have a work meeting.... It kind of wears on me. I feel tired. And then I start feeling grumpy. And then I start feeling resentful because sometimes, the kids don't bother to say "thank you" and have the expectation that I can always do more... (But they are so happy when I am able to come watch them race, and my son is very nice when I say I am in the middle of something and will come pick him up a little later).

The biggest struggle is to not get grumpy and resentful. I keep reminding myself - there are only a few short years that I will have this level of running-around. Eventually, the kids will be driving... and they'll go to college (hopefully), and they'll be on their own, doing their own things. So I need to enjoy this, this life, while I am in the midst of it all.

Kill Switch Part II: Of Printers and Papers

Our printer has issues. It is very attention-demanding and high-maintenance. It tends to print with weird shifts and breaks on the paper - unless you have the settings on the highest quality printing (but it will periodically "forget" the quality settings and revert to fast-print that misses half the lines). The lid does not close right because the kids made copies of something years and years ago, and did not realize that the lid, when making copies, should be lowered gently, and not just dropped down. 

On the positive side, it rarely has paper jams.

On the other hand, in order to print a page, one needs to stand right next to the printer, slowly - slowly - feeding a sheet of paper into the proper receptacle. If not done right, the printer chirps a concerned tune and shows that there is no paper, even if there is a whole stack in the tray. Press "OK" and try again. Printing a single page is an ordeal. Printing multiple pages requires heroic patience and resilience. It's frustrating, but it didn't seem dire enough to warrant getting a new printer.

I suppose we could take it to be repaired.... but I suspect the repairs would cost more than a new printer.

So we made do, exercising patience, and treating the printer like a spoiled princess.

After our desktop died (see Kill Switch Part I), the printer has been unable to connect to our backup laptop - so... no printer at all.

Turns out... we absolutely need a printer. We need to print schoolwork, calendars, grade reports, and random kids projects. We are at a point when buying a new printer seems perfectly reasonable.

Now here is the problem: which printer??? We were never entirely happy with our Cannon printer. But what should we buy instead? We need 3 things in a printer: color, reliability, and scanner capabilities. Inexpensive ink refills would be nice. 

Any suggestions?

Kill Switch Part I: Out With the (Not So) Old

I am not sure how long I've had my desktop computer. Five years? Seven years? Four years? It was a decent machine, nothing too cheap, but over the years it became slow and glitchy, and kept asking for update to Windows 11 (which I kept stubbornly refusing). The kids could no longer access their games (Minecraft and Sims). Finally, I decided to go to Windows 11 after backing up all our photos and videos (but not the rest of the random files I had on the hard drive). And you know what - it started working better, everything was faster, and it no longer took 15 minutes to wake up from it's energy-saving mode. 

After a couple of weeks of decent performance, I noticed that computer clock was showing the wrong time. "Hmm..." - I said to myself - "probably just an odd glitch. Surely, it will fix itself." It did not - but who cares, right? After all, I have plenty of clocks throughout the house. 

I suspect that was The Sign of Things to Come.

The day after we came back from our trip, my computer decided it has had enough.

 

It would not start - letting us know, in no uncertain terms, that the disk was corrupted, and that there wasn't much we could do.

We tried and failed to bring it back.

Two weeks later, my husband's almost-new work laptop did pretty much the same thing after an IT-required upgrade.

This begs the questions - what is the true purpose of upgrades? To optimize the performance of the machine by forcing individuals to buy new machines?

Almost 3 weeks later, we are still computer-less. I am making do using my husband's old laptop (that has not be upgraded for the last 5 years - it works great! but I also can't install anything on it). 

I want a quality computer with decent hardware that would allow my kids (and possibly my husband and me if we ever have time) to play occasional video games. I don't want it to die in 3 years! I want to be able to easily swap out (or add) parts, if we ever need faster performance or more memory...

Any recommendations?

To be continued... 

Smoky Mountains Trip

We had a fun and busy spring break visiting The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Entrance to the park was free. There was a charge for parking - $5 per day or $15 per week. Parking lots filled up fast!

Favorite hikes:

• Chimney Peak:  4 mi round-trip, very steep (1400 ft elevation gain, mostly over a course of a mile). Not the best view ever, but it was a good starter hike for our trip.
• Mt Le Conte via Arch Rock (spectacular!) and Alum Cave Bluffs (pretty neat); had lunch at the lodge on the top of the mountain (accessible by hiking only...). Mt Le Conte is 6,593 ft. Roundtrip distance, 11 mi; elevation gain, 2700 ft.
• This was the longest family hike we've ever done! Very challenging and very fun! The views are tremendous and the hike itself feels adventurous enough that all the kids loved it. There were cables to hold on to - so I was OK (I have a rather healthy fear of heights).
• Husband and E did 2 extra-miles because there was no parking available at the trail head. They dropped the girls and me off with the backpacks and hydration packs, then found parking, then jogged back to the trail head.
• Porter's Creek hike - amazingly beautiful trail with wildflowers, streams, waterfalls! H chose not to go (I think she missed out). Round-trip, 7 mi; not too steep.

Because most of the hikes we did were fairly challenging, H and I needed a break - there was one day the two of us stayed home for a few hours while the rest of the family did more hiking. My knees were really hurting and H had sore legs, so a bit of a rest was good for us! We read, played board games, and chatted. 

Pigeon Forge: we drove through it and all of us got sensory overload (lots of flashing lights! amusement parks! fast food! more amusement parks! hotels and motels! gas stations! lots and lots of gas stations and hotels! and those flashing lights everywhere!). It's crazy - I've never seen anything like that. Gas there was cheapest we've seen in a while. Other than getting gas and groceries, we avoided it. 

Gatlinburg: touristy and crowded... but we had fun.

• Breakfast at the Crockett's Breakfast Camp was amazing. I had buckwheat pancakes. 
• We got souvenirs for ourselves and family. 
• Husband and 2 of the kids went to play miniature golf. 
• H and I did more shopping and went to a haunted house.

Ober Mountain (in Gatlinburg): we took a "tram" (a gondola) up the mountain. This is, apparently, the only skiing place in TN. There were rides for kids - alpine coaster, ice bumper cars, rock climbing, etc. They had fun. Husband and I relaxed. Saw a bear from the gondola on the way down!

Cherokee and Bryson City: a much less crowded and touristy part of the park. 

• We hiked the Lonesome Pine trail (~8 mi round-trip; beautiful views of the country).
• Got treats (ice cream!) in Bryson City at an old-fashioned ice cream shop.

Additional notes: the airbnb we rented was near a large pond that had ducks, fish and turtles. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but it was nice to be able to walk down to the pond and enjoy the peace and quiet. In the evenings, we all watched comedies together next to the fireplace.

Merry-Go-Round

We got back from our spring break in the Smoky Mountains and... 

You know those old-fashioned merry-go-round things you sometimes still encounter on playgrounds - the ones you can still manage to do unsafe things on, like jump on and off while your friends are spinning it as fast as they can, or move around while the thing is spinning at maximum speed, pushing against the centrifugal force. 

I feel like I am on a merry-go-round, and it is going to keep spinning like crazy until mid-June. It's a combination of always-on-repeat kid activities (track, rock climbing, cello, violin, piano, orchestra, jazz band, student council, school musical, etc), laundry, cooking, clean-up, work, yardwork, food shopping, clothing shopping (3 growing kids!), doctor appointments, dentist appointments... My head is spinning. Those centrifugal forces - even if this is a just a metaphor - feel painful and exhausting. By the time June rolls around, I suspect I'm going to be a mess.

And yet... this is kind of exhilarating. I don't want to get off. I am embracing it, the messy moments, the constant go-go-go. I am holding on - even if it means I'll loose my footing at some point, even if it means that come June, I'll be lying flat in the grass, barely able to catch my breath, the sky spinning all around me.