A chapter in the book of our lives

Well, last weekend went off with out a hitch. The people who hired us for the wedding were very happy and many people came up to us through out the mealtime saying things like, “We’ve gone to several weddings this summer and their food was horrible. Yours is fantastic and the spread looks beautiful!”. I”ll admit that it’s nice to hear that, although I know most of it is because of Adam. I’m just the grunt and the clean-up-girl. And I am totally OK with that. I don’t want to be in the spot light, he’s fine there. I’m content to stand in the shadows and fix his collar. *smile*

However, since we did have so many people comment on the food (and there was A LOT of food and people!), we are very seriously thinking about becoming license caterers. The kitchen up at the Christian school is available to us and we think the only thing that would need to be added is a separate hand washing sink. The hot water tank may need to be up-graded to a tank less one, since the 40 gallon tank they have now only allows for 3 cycles of the dishwasher before it looses all the hot water. Yes, they make a 60 or 80 gallon tank (I think), but for a dishwasher a tank less one would be the best. Those two things put together (if they are the only things that would need to be changed/added to pass inspection), it would be about $1,300. That, of course, doesn’t count the $1,000 it would take to get inspected and to get licensed.

But then, we are in need of a new water heater here at home as well. We still get enough hot water for things we do, but the tank is over 20 years old and it has about a foot or more of build up at the bottom of the tank. We would like to get a tank less water heater for our home here, but they range between $800 and $1,000. We couldn’t swing one for both places. Our boiler is another question too. It is over 25 years old and while most don’t last this long, it’s still working. We are hoping to get at least one more winter out of it. I’m not even sure how much those cost.

The floor in our living room needs to be redone again for the 4th time! We currently have in-floor heat with only the sub floor down. It’s about 1″ thick, but there are still some spots on the floor where there is some bounce to it. Adam really wants to put down ceramic tile, but that means we will have to re-do the floor completely. Wood is not a good radiator of heat and if we put the tile down on top of the wood, the tiles won’t be able to radiate heat as well because of the wood. He’s thinking of suspending the heating tubes in concrete (which is a good conductor of heat) and then laying down the tiles on top of that. It’s a big project that neither one of us really wants to tackle, but it still needs to be done. I’ll admit it, it’s a project that I really wish we would hire out. But that is so not possible! The other project that needs to be done is our hard wood floors in the kitchen and dinning room need to be refinished. They are maple and we did the kitchen once before. I really don’t want to to it again, but…. they look horrible(!!) and they really need to be refinished and resealed.

All in all, there are many things we are looking at to do or need to be done and with only a limited supply of funds, we are needing so make some choices.

We received a call yesterday with the request to cater another wedding on October 3rd. Yes, we know the baby is due in October and there is a slight possibility that the baby will come then, but it really is a slight possibility (even though the 3rd is one of my due dates). My babies always come late. Malachi was my earliest at a day late and Isaac was my longest at 12 days late. The other 3 have been 8 days late. We are still not 100% sure that we will take the job or not, for even if I am in labor at that time, it’s not like we can cancel or not show up. It’s for 175 people and the menu is an easy one. Adam will have to prepare to do most by himself, for I’m not sure how much help physically I will be for him. The reception is only a few blocks away, but he will still have to be gone for the majority of the day, if not the whole day itself. I’m not real interested in giving birth (at home for the 1st time no less!) without my husband. On the other hand, this could help fund things we would like to/need to be done. And I’m not really worried that I’ll be in labor during the reception on that day. I never have been, but I know that it’s always a possibility. I don’t know for sure what we will do.

Tomorrow is the centennial celebration since Crandon is 100 years old this year. We are selling cheesecakes and cream puffs, of course. They are expecting about 2,000 people, but I’m not sure how they can estimate that kind of thing. We are selling from 12 noon ’til 10 pm. It will be another long day, I’m sure, but hopefully we’ll sell enough (if not sell out completely!) to make it worth it.

Okay, I’m done with my book now. *smile*