Whew!

As my brother-in-law Gavin would say, "Oh my groceries!"

What a crazy week!

Here's the quick recap: We got back from the beach Friday afternoon. Kevin decided we needed to keep playing on Saturday so we took the boys out for some fun. Amidst heaps of dirty laundry and enough sand in my van to start my own beach club, we settled in on Saturday night to watch a movie. It was overcast, but not really raining. We heard some thunder, but not exactly a huge storm. Then there was a loud crash, a flash, and another flash from behind the television. Then everything went dark.

The lightning hit a tree in our backyard and then somehow zapped the house too.
Now we have yellow leaves falling in the backyard. Try explaining that to a two year old. Fletcher asked if it was autumn. It is really bizarre.

Thankfully, the surge protectors protected our $40 craigslist TV, DVD, Tivo and our computer. We spent the rest of the week "discovering" all the other things it blew out. It zapped our cable, modem, our router, our coffeepot, our security system, and it even blew off our irrigation panel in the garage.

So we had to purchase some new things and get different people to come out and repair other things. The one that frustrated me the most was our security system. The CPI tech came out and said per company policy and liability issues the whole thing had to be replaced (main panel, glass breaks, etc) to the tune of $1200!!! (Our homeowners insurance deductible is $2500 so it wouldn't be covered.) The guy goes on to tell me that if we had put in a surge protector for the system, then it would only cost us $125 to replace the surge protector. Our original sales guy never, ever once mentioned purchasing a surge protector for our system because I know we would have put one in. I mean, you'd kinda think that would already be part of the package, right? I guess it's an easy way for them to make money if lightning strikes. Well, Kevin talked to them (he is really good at this kind of stuff) and told them that our contract expires in August of this year (after a three year contract with them). He said we would just sign up with ADT instead and get them to come out and put in a new system for free. They were quick to offer to replace our system with a new 3 year contract. We are paying $125 for a surge protector for this one.

One of our other purchases was a new coffee pot. Technically, coffee potS. Our Krups pot with a built in grinder had died a few months ago so we were using this Gevalia one we received as a free gift through a Southern Living magazine deal. That's the one we lost. At the beach house, they had one of those cool one cup Keurig coffee pots. I LOVED it! So very easy and virtually no clean up except for my coffee mug. I really wanted to get one of those with my 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon. But Kevin drinks too much coffee in the morning for that to be cost effective for us. He'd have to use 3 pods every morning to equal what he drinks (maybe we need an intervention). He likes really strong bold flavored coffee and I like really mild breakfast blend types so we make two different kinds every morning. We bought him a 14 cup fancy schmancy Cuisinart one without a built in grinder (we learned our lesson) and we bought me an $18 Black & Decker one cup wonder. I'm not crazy about having two coffee pots on my counter, but it works.

So needless to say, after a week of dealing with the cable guy and the CPI guy plus unpacking, doing laundry from our trip, going through a pile of mail and sorting a bunch of emails, I couldn't find the motivation to sit down and blog in the evenings. I would collapse in my bed instead.

This week will be better. I promise! Thanks for hanging in there.