a mundane week at the Cameron house = 1 broken laptop, a 250 lb washer, 3 vomiting episodes, 1 accusation of commiting coupon fraud, & more

So dad reminded me I need to write about the mundane as well so here goes.

Well, as if coxsackie virus wasn't enough, our weakened immune systems thought it would be amusing to contract an upper respiratory bug. Harrison has had fevers in the 103 degree range and coughs so hard it causes him to vomit (fun, let me tell ya). Ellie hasn't been as bad but is equally congested. I wish I could say things were looking better, but they really aren't. Due to illness, we have been homebound for a week and it is taking it's toll on everyone.

Amidst all the flying germs, vomit, mucous, and sneeze spit, Harrison decided to throw the laptop on the ground in a fit of anger. Now the bottom half of the screen doesn't work. He had to give daddy some money from his piggy bank (which Josh replaced later when Harrison wasn't looking), sit in time out, and didn't get to watch TV or play games for the remainder of the day. Honestly, how do you really discipline a 2 year old for such a costly mistake? Thankfully, we are ever the bargain shoppers and managed to score a new laptop, printer, and some software at Staples on Friday and after rebates, they will be paying us to keep all of it. If you want bargain lessons, just paypal me $29.95 for an e-book (just kidding, about the e-book part anyway. You can still paypal me money though).
We also replaced the ancient washer in our apartment this week. After lots of research, we bought the Maytag Epic front loader. Wouldn't you know, that was the one I went to Home Depot wanting and it was on clearance! Unfortunately, because of the clearance, yadda, yadda, yadda, they couldn't deliver it and we had to pick it up. Uhm, I don't know if you're aware, but a huge washer doesn't fit too nicely in our Ford Taurus. So Josh put out a plea on our church email list and two different people offered up their trucks and muscles. We went with the firefighter since he sounded pretty strong and was willing to come in the morning. After getting the washer in, he said he earned his points in heaven for the week. Getting a 250 lb dryer up our stairs (and the old one down) was a lot more challenging then we had anticipated. Oh well, it's here now and I was never more excited to do a load of laundry (I'm a geek, I know). It's a pretty sweet machine and should last us a while (that's assuming someone is willing to help us move it out when the time comes).
On Saturday, I ran to the store to pick up some more cold medicine for the kids and a few groceries. I have become a coupon-er as of late (snicker if you will) just because it is so fun to get things for freeeeeee. Anyways, I ended up with the greenest cashier at Target who didn't want to let me use a Target coupon (from their website) on a box of granola bars. He said, "If I let you use this coupon you would only be paying $.25 for the box". Yeah Sherlock, I can do the math; that's why I was going to buy the box and that's why I printed the coupon off. So he calls over another cashier and she said it wasn't for the right product (mind you, it was). So she called over another person who said my coupon was fraudulent, etc, etc, etc. Anyways, that was my first time having problems with coupons and so now I am hesitant to go back to the Target (but I will because it's next door to Costco and a bunch of other stores).
On a better note, Harrison and I went for a walk around Tufts University on Sunday just to get some fresh air. The edge of campus is only two blacks from our house and I thought it might be a nice walk. I was right (not surprising, but always a good affirmation). The campus is up on a hill and has great views. Harrison can now say "Tufts" and I am slowly indoctrinating him into the world of top 20 universities one at a time. I must say, New England does college campuses well. They are beautiful and are a community in their own right. They place the dorms (which many students actually live in beyond their freshman year) in the center of campus thus creating a rather unique and insular academic community. They don't destroy their historic buildings, they build their new ones to match. Anyways, we had a nice walk and saw lots of new students moving in to their dorms to start school this week.
Ellie is pulling up on everything (like my shirt right now) and even cruised between the coffee table and my leg yesterday. Who knows if she will ever crawl or get a tooth, but she loves to stand and wants to walk.
That's about all for now. I need to get to my rebates :)