This morning, when Zach took Zane to his swimming lesson, he was dressed in shorts. It was 73 degrees F. Balmy for a Kansas November. When Zach left for his interview (which went well, but we won’t hear back until at least the end of the month) there was a package on our doorstep. I knew I hadn’t ordered anything and was quite confused, and then excited when I saw my name on it (meaning it wasn’t a misdelivery).
I brought the package inside and discovered the winter coat for Zora. Now I have bid on at least 200 coats on ebay in hopes of getting a nice coat and had no luck. I was starting to get a bit nervous about it. Winters here can get really, really cold and with a less than reliable car, a really good coat is very neccesary for safety reasons. Not only was it the perfect coat (my “dream coat” for her), but there was also a matching hat and mittens! WOW! Thank you my dear friend. It meant a LOT to me!
Zora loved it too. She immediately donned the hat (and she doesn’t generally like hats a lot) and wanted to wear it. It was too hot to keep the coat on her, but I let her wear the hat around and put on the mittens for a short bit.
A few hours later, she was back to playing with her new hat and mittens, singing as she took the gloves on and off.
This evening a cold front came through. It is now 43 degrees. That is the expected high for at least the next week, with the lows in the 20s. Talk about incredible timing. Couldn’t have been better. When Zach ran to the store tonight, we were excited to give the coat it’s first test run. It is cute as a button on her, fits, but plenty of growing room. I am so happy!
Dh’s best friend was robbed and sort of carjacked the other night. He left our place about 3-4 am and about a mile from here stopped to pick some stuff that flew off the seat onto the floor. Before he got going again, a girl came up to him asking for a light. He obliged, she started crying and spilling her life’s story and begged him for a ride. She asked him if he could first drive her someplace so she could return the cell phone to her friend. She directed him back to one of our neighbor’s apartments and begged him not to leave while she returned the phone. From out in the car, he could hear her in a domestic situation, but continued to wait. Before he knew what happened, not only was she getting in the car, but a huge scary looking guy who demanded he drive NOW! He made him drive all around town (he presumed it was for drug deals, but didn’t actually see anything), threatening him and putting him into headlocks. Finally, at about 8 am, he robbed him of all his money (a whole $40…but that was literally everything he had in the world) and let him go. I am glad he didn’t get hurt! He is too scared to call the police (also embarrased that he was duped so easily) and hasn’t been to our house since. Kind of sad…we don’t like going to his house because of the neighborhood (drive by shootings, and uninsured, drunk, illegal aliens who drive like crap and run into us) and now he doesn’t want to come to our house because of the neighborhood.
I HATE HATE HATE being poor and living in lower income housing. We do have some nice neighbors, but we also have a huge number of scary neighbors and domestic situations. I can’t just stand by and let that happen, but every time I have to call, I get really scared that I am putting us in danger. (I know that domestic violence isn’t limited to the poor – but when you are poor the housing is often much more crammed together and you sure see a lot more of it (and they see you and might know who called and who to take revenge on). Another of our neighbors appears to be a gang member. There are always people hanging out, listening to insanely loud music in their cars while drinking and smoking, and generally yelling and postering to each other and other cars that drive by very slowly. Scary scary scary!
Adding some more photos from the last few weeks
chalk drawing from Zane. He wrote the letters in the right order, but placed the letters so that it reads the alphabet backwards, skipping the “C”. He wrote from “A” to “G” before getting bored and doing something else.
He almost always puts hair on his faces. I wonder why. lol.
