Sweetest. Picture. Ever.

Steve's timing in capturing this picture with his iPhone was impeccable. 

Evan was looking at Elektra's strawberry birthmark on her leg, and he went to go give it a kiss because he thought it was a boo-boo.  Elektra, in turn... gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Sweetest.  Picture.  Ever.

Basement Remodel Update

The infamous Exxon Ansari incident was Day 2 after the contractors (we affectionately call them The Sombreros) started their work.  Plus, this was after they incorrectly framed the bulkheads on Day 1.  Not only did they not follow the "curve" of the bulkhead, but they didn't use a level!!!  On Day 2, George let them borrow his nail gun (because they don't have one!), and we had them fix the framing so that it was as we expected... and it was level!  So when they hit the oil line, it was because they were reframing the bulk head for a second time because they didn't do it right the first time.  It's a little amusing that they had to reframe one of the sections for a 3rd time to replace the boards that had been soaked in oil. 

There was a point on Exxon Ansari day that I thought I was going to fire them, but they have done very solid work since.  Plus, each day, The Sombreros work a very fast paced 12 hour day.  They work HARD.  I give the a lot of credit for their work ethic, and they really are doing good work overall.  I'm glad I didn't overreact and send them home.

On Day 3 (Wednesday), they framed 3 walls of the bathroom, and 2 walls of the kids' playroom.  They also found George's radio, and turned to a Spanish station.  This drove George BANANAS to listen to that all day while he worked on our plumbing.  George hid his radio that night, and wanted to bring a CD player of Greek music... he didn't do that part, but he did hide his radio!!

Speaking of our re-plumbing project, George cut off our water midday on Wednesday to move the well connections, the water filters, the water softener, and the hot water heater.  Not only was he moving all those things, but he was also installing the new laundry water connections as well as the new water pipes and connections in the new bathroom.  Talk about a huge job.  George thought it would take him at least 2 days, if not longer, and we would not have water for the duration of this part of the project.  Bless his heart, he's been managing to keep us with running water for 90% of the project and with this being the last major part of the project, we knew we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  That doesn't make it any easier to be without water for 2.5 days.  To make those days a little more bearable, I filled three 5 gallon buckets with water before George shut it off so that we would water to "flush".

Steve worked from home to help George on Thursday and Friday in between work crises, including running errands, picking up supplies, and doing whatever he could to help.  He even tried his hand at some plumbing.  A couple times he did something incorrectly, and George "fired" him.  The running joke now is how many times George has "fired" Steve.  :-) 

On Day 4 (Thursday), they started laying the subfloor in the kids' playroom and our new entertaining space.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the right screws (and as we later found out, the wrong sized screw head) because they kept breaking.  So they nailed the floor down instead of screwing it down as per spec.  They also finished the 4th wall of the bathroom, and one wall of the laundry room.

Also on Thursday, we had not secured an electrician.  I was trying to hire one of my neighbor's guys (who runs an electrical company) who is laid off, but that didn't pan out, unfortunately.  I found someone else who not only took my call at 8:30PM on Thursday night, but came to the house at 10PM that night to give us an estimate.  The one thing that was going to hold up the project was the electrical work because the

On Day 5 (Friday), they finished framing the rest of the entertaining space and the kids' playroom, and they installed the subfloor in Steve's toy room.  Steve claims that it's "our" office, but really, it's going to be his playroom.

Meanwhile, sometime on Friday afternoon, George looked at him and said, "Are you helping me so that you can get your water back faster?"  Steve said, "YES!  I need to take a shower!!"

Friday evening, George turned the water back on to check for leaks.  Between checking for leaks and flushing the pipes of all the silt, this took a while.  Our new water sediment filter needed to be changed immediately!!!!  We'll change it when we're fully done testing all of the new water connections in the new bathroom, too.  We had to turn the water off again to flush the hot water tank out, and fix one leak (that's it just 1 leak!), but it was on again before George left for the evening.  Steve finally got to take his shower.

Friday night, I used the gallon of Drylok ($23/each!!  ouch!) to finish painting the back wall of the basement, and a few other spots I'd seen.  I ran out of paint at 1:30AM, but I don't have much left.  I bought one more gallon to touch up spots which I will do this weekend.

I ran laundry the next morning, and we discovered a 2nd leak at the hot water line for the washer which was, naturally, before the shutoff valve.  We stuck a bucket underneath and figured George would fix it on Monday as it wasn't a significant leak.  I also ran the dishwasher, and I realized that they hadn't turned on water to it.  Steve went downstairs to do that, and it started spraying water everywhere!!  Steve quickly shut it off again, and tightened the connection.  Turned it back on, and voila, no leak.  Steve learned a lot about plumbing, apparently, those few days he was home with George!

On Sunday, George came out with Ernie to look at our re-grading the outside job.  Unfortunately, the job is not just a simple re-grade, but we also have to dig down to the bottom of stairs to install a new french drain.  Then we'll have to add stones, then the new drain, then more stones, then fill the hole.   Finish the job by regrading a few spots, and plant grass.  That job will probably start July 9.  For as much as it sucks that we have to do this job, too, if we don't, then we'll continuously have water in our basement, rendering worthless all this work we've done lately.  It'll cost us more later if we don't do it right now.  I'll keep telling myself that to ease the pain of all the check writing I've done lately.

This past Monday (Day 6), The Sombreros, the electrician, and George were at the house.  The electrician fired up his phone to listen to music as while he moved the big 200 amp service line off of the ceiling and to the back wall of the house.  The Sombreros framed Steve's toy room.  George and Steve went to go buy a new back door and a few other supplies.  Apparently, the new back door was strapped to the top of the Outback to be brought home.  That must have been a sight!

On Tuesday (Day 7), the electrician started wiring new lines and lights.  The Sombreros screwed down most of the subfloor (with the correctly sized screw head!).  They also started to frame the support pole.  George had another job, so he didn't come.

On Wednesday (Day 8), The Sombreros installed the new windows (no caulk yet, but shimmed).  The electrician couldn't make it and neither could George. 

On Thursday (Day 9), only the electrician came to continue installing new stuff.  The Sombreros must have gone to another job as they really can't do much until the electrician has completed his work.  Once he's done, they can start installing insulation and drywall.

On Friday (Day 10), all was quiet on the Western Front.

This weekend, we are working through plans for any other wiring that needs to be installed before insulation is installed, like speaker wire and any other RJ/coax wire.  I need to finish DryLok painting, too.  We are also trying to make sure we've thought through the project while the walls are still open.

We can't believe how far this project has already come in less than 10 working days.  There is still a ton left, though... tile the bathroom, laundry room and hall to the bathroom and laundry room.  Included in that tile work is installing underfloor heating in the bathroom.  The Sombreros still need to install the back door, caulk the windows, frame one more support pole, and then install the insulation and hang the drywall. Once drywall is up, we are going to have a LOT to paint.  Any flooring we buy will take 4 weeks to arrive.

Maybe, just maybe, we'll reach our goal of having this project done by Elektra's 3rd birthday.

The Exxon Ansari

A construction project in your home wreaks havoc on your life. Besides all of the "extra" issues one finds, contractors can also add to the ::ahem:: fun.

Tuesday night, around 8:30, the contractors were still at the house, framing the ventilation system. There was still lots of noise... nail guns and circular saw and hammering. Then we started to smell a gas smell. Didn't think much of it except that it started getting stronger. Finally, I realized the contractors had hit our heating oil line.

I sprinted down the stairs, seeing the pool of oil at the bottom of the stairs and the nail through the bright cone orange oil line yelling in Spanish, "EH!!! EH!!! Do you know what that is?!" pointing at the oil dripping from the line. He came back at me and said, "Agua?" NO!!!!!! "Aceite?" YES!!!!!

His eyes got wide, and all worked stopped as I called the oil company 24 hour service line, Steve was outside looking for a shutoff valve on our new tank, one worker was blotting with paper towels and sawdust while the other was trying to wrap the line with electrical tape to stop the leak.

There's no shutoff valve on the tank. The tech with whom I was on the phone said to pull the line out of the tank. I'm thinking... uuuuh no, no idea how. Plus, it seemed like the electrical tape was working to stop the leak. No matter what, though, I'd be calling the oil company in the morning to get a tech out there to replace the line.

I sent the workers home (it was after 9pm at this point, and we needed to get the kids to bed!), so Steve put the kids to bed while I started cleaning. I opened the doors, windows, and whole house fan to try and air out the fumes, and grabbed a mop, Lysol, and water. And Windex. Windex cleans everything, right??

As I'm cleaning, I'm trying to figure out WHY they thought that putting a nail through a BRIGHT fluorescent orange line was a GOOD idea. And WHY did they think that was water?! And how did they NOT notice it was leaking?! I was getting angrier just thinking about each scenario...

I finished mopping the floor, and needed to change the water. Good thing we are car geeks because we have a big filter for pouring oil into containers to go to the dump. I picked up one of the buckets full of oil, it slipped out of my hands, and I dropped it. It hit the driveway, bounced, and splashed ALL over me, head to toe... hair, face, arms, legs, shoes... everywhere.

I stood there, thinking about how this had just added insult to injury, trying to decide exactly how to wipe my eyes because finding a dry spot on my shirt was going to be a challenge. And really, this night could not get worse.

I did one more round of cleaning before I went to shower. I tried a normal shower, washing my hair 2 times, once with shampoo, once with soap. Still smelled like oil. Asked Steve to get the orange scented pummus called GoJo. That got it off of my skin, but not out of my hair... and pummus in my hair was a disaster to try and get out. I went to bed so angry that I couldn't see straight, smelling like oil and wearing long sleeves to ensure I didn't get any on the sheets.

The next morning, I expected the house to have aired out. I couldn't have been more wrong. The house smelled WORSE. I got the kids ready to go to Eleanor's and kicked Steve out to go to work as the house smell was intensifying. The oil company promised they'd be out in the morning. As the smell got worse, I started to panic.

Finally, one of the oil guys who had come to install our new tank arrived. Boy was I happy to see him. I showed him the damage, and he followed the oil line to the furnace. That's when he said, "That's why the smell isn't going away.... it's all pooling right here!!" There was a huge pool of oil surrounding the base of our oil burner.

?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!

We went out to the tank, and removed the line from it. Then we grabbed the bag of kitty litter we keep for when we work on the cars and put that down. Experience lesson #1: in situations like these, clay-based kitty litter is better because it doesn't clump. The oil guy asked me to go get more, which I did.

So what happened? The oil line is actually a copper line with a bright orange plastic sheathing around it. When we taped the line the previous evening, the oil then went between the copper pipe and the orange sheathing, emptying at the base of the oil burner where the orange sheathing stops. No wonder the smell intensified.

The oil guy said this happens ALL the time; contractors hit the line way more often than you'd think reasonable. He even told the story of a guy who was trying to shoot a groundhog with a .22 and managed to put the bullet clean through the oil line instead. Oops.

I asked how to get the smell out of the concrete and my hair. For the concrete, we have to keep the kitty litter on it for a number of days, every once in while, moving it around to put a fresh batch on it. Experience Lesson #2: grind kitty litter into a powder so the dust will go into the pores of the concrete and soak up the oil. For my hair, apparently, I just have to wait it out. UGH. It has taken until today (Saturday) to not smell oil in my hair... 4 DAYS!!!!!

The oil guy replaced part of the line, added a shutoff valve on the line at the tank, bled the line, and tested the burner. We are back in business.

Before he left, I asked how to get oil off of the venting, and that's when I learned Experience Lesson #3: oven cleaner cuts the grease! Apply the oven cleaner, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then wipe it away! No residue!

We vented the house all day and all night, and the smell is gone, thankfully. The workers learned their lesson and are framing in a much different manner than before, *clearly* missing the lines with nails. The kitty litter is still down, and the project has continued to progress.

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The hall bath is back in business!

George solved all of the backwards water issues yesterday, and the kids were thrilled to be able to take a bath last night!  And they were happy to have their potty back.  In fact, when I went in to get Elektra this morning, she said to me, "I want to go potty in that bathroom" (pointing to the hall bath).  Hilarious!  Slowly, we are getting a little bit of normalcy back... the calm before the storm, as it were.

Good (?) things comes to those who wait

Late last night, George almost had our hall bathroom back in service.  Then he discovered he reversed the hot with the cold.  He switched it back, but the glue takes 6 hours to cure on pipes that hold water pressure.  So we were nervous about turning on the water shortly after he'd glued them together.  As we were standing there, trying to decide if we should take the chance and turn on the water or just leave the water off until the morning, Mr. Field Mouse went scurrying across the top of the cinder blocks in the laundry room.  So we moved the mouse trap to where we saw his path. Good thing we were just standing there to see that! 

Meanwhile, George decides to take a chance and turns on the water.  The worst outcome would that the basement floods, but it's not like there is anything down there that would be ruined.  We go upstairs and bleed the pipes.  As we tested it, I discovered that the hot and cold in the master bath was now switched (oh boy!  hot water in the toilet... hey DAVE!  Does that sound remotely familiar???  At least we don't have condensation on our toilet bowl!!  LOL). 

As you can imagine, George was confused, considering everything USED TO work in the master bathroom just fine....

It turns out that George had the hot and cold water correctly connected the first time, but when he tested the shower in the hall bath, he thought he'd switched them.  It turns out that the shower was just wrong.  But he'd switched the hot/cold at the pipe level, thinking he was fixing the hall shower, but created the master bath issue.  Oops.  I told George just to leave it alone until today, and we'd deal with opposite day in our bathroom in the morning accordingly.

While we had been standing there, trying to figure out where the hot/cold mix up was, George felt a drip.  Uh-oh.  One of the copper pipes that George hasn't replaced yet is leaking hot water at a solder point!  Good thing we were just standing there!

And good thing we are replacing all the pipes!!!!!

Warrior Baby - update

Dave and Nancy were so disappointed that they lost 3 of the 4 babies in her pregnancy.... but one remained, and Nancy dubbed it the Warrior Baby.  

Earlier this evening, Steve's brother, Dave, informed us that Axel will have a little sister in a few months!!  She is no longer a Warrior Baby... she's a Warrior Princess!!

May Axel be as protective of the Warrior Princess (can we nickname her Athena?  ::huge grin::) as DJ is of Elektra. 


CONGRATULATIONS!!!  We love you West Coast Steaks!

Rain in the basement

Shortly after we got our master bathroom back, DJ announced that he needed to go pee pees. He dutifully went to our bathroom, he prepared to pee standing up, and did what he needed to do. When he finished, he said,

"Mommy, look! It's on the wall!"

!!!!!!

He had missed the toilet entirely.

He managed not only to hit the wall next to the toilet, but also hit the hole in the floor behind the toilet where the bathroom vent used to be (George had moved it).

Meanwhile, George and Steve were in the basement, and saw liquid fall from the floor above. George wondered if his plumbing work was leaking.

No, no.... that would be a little boy leaking....


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Basement Remodel - update

A couple of weeks ago, George finished the basics of our master bathroom replumbing job so that we could use it again.  He framed the wall between the closet and the bathroom, but he hasn't solidified it yet nor put up drywall.  He decided to leave it all open until all of our plumbing issues have been completed... and that's a whole other problem!!

Meanwhile, our hall bathroom has been taken out of commission so that he can replace its plumbing.  While doing this, he figured he'd put in the rough-ins for our new bathroom in the basement.  What does putting rough-ins require?  It requires a jackhammer to break the concrete and a trowl to scoop out the dirt surrounding the area where you're going to put down new pipes.  It's not all concrete surrounding the pipes.  It's just concrete on the top layer, and packed dirt/rocks underneath of a layer of concrete.

In the following picture, you can see where the concrete was broken and new PVC pipe was installed.  In fact, George only intended to jackhammer to where the new shower will be (see the first picture - there is a T-square on the floor... that will be the shower drain), but he went further to where the tall pipe is on the wall (which leads to our kitchen drain).   The reason for that is forthcoming.

New bathroom rough-ins

The cleanout at the far corner of the picture is where the toilet will be.  To the left of that, there is another pipe sticking out of the ground - that's where the vanity will be.  And as mentioned earlier, where the T-square is sitting is where the shower drain will be.  

The reason George jackhammered all the way to the kitchen to replace all of that drain piping is because the pipes and drains were disgusting.  George was shocked our kitchen was draining at all.  The following picture shows just how clogged the kitchen drain was. 

Former kitchen drain pipe

 That's 50+ years of grease and overall digustingness... Steve and I are actually really careful about what goes down that drain in terms of grease because I grew up with septic, and you can't afford to put grease down your drain!

In the next picture, you can see the leftover dirt pile of dirt and rocks we excavated to make room for the new drains.  Some of that will go back in the whole, but not until we're ready to re-cement the holes.  We won't use it all; there is no way we can pack it in there the way it was.

Excavation dirt pile

George has also eliminated some (oh yes, there's more!) of the plumbing rats nest we have.  Between a laundry drain, the air conditioner pump drain,  the water filtration system drain, the kitchen and the utility tub drains, there were pipes EVERYWHERE, including an unnecessary one that was bolted to the back wall of the house and went all the way around the back wall (air conditioning drain). 

Now that George is done replacing the kitchen stuff and laying down the rough-ins for the new bathroom, he's going to replace the drains and pipes for the hall bathroom so we can get that bathroom back.  The kids like showering, but they really do miss the bathtub.  But George has had to wait to change that bathroom's pipes and drains to see how both the hall bath and the downstairs bath were going to fit together drain-wise.

Although this is a slow process, this is definitely worth it.  We  would have had more issues later on had we ignored the signs.

Poopy on the potty!

This morning, I received a phone call from Eleanor, and she put Elektra on the phone to tell me that she poopied on the potty!  At first she told me she peed, and then Eleanor corrected her to tell me she pooped.

Apparently, Elektra had gone to the same corner to hide that DJ used to frequent.  Eleanor spotted her, asked Elektra if she wanted to sit on the potty, Elektra said yes, she sat, she did it in a hurry, flushed the toilet, and then said, "Bye bye poopy!" as it went down. 

Everyone had to see what she had done.  DJ cheered for her! 

YAY ELEKTRA!

Stink bug trap update

Here is a picture of our stinkbug trap hanging in the garage.

Stink bug trap

The Pros:

• Yep, it's working.  That's a pretty big Pro right there!!

The Cons:

• It's not working fast enough!! 
• When the stink bugs get stuck, they get mad, and therefore, they STINK!  Our garage smells and we have to air it out daily.
• Replacing the cartridge will be a pain.

But I have some time yet before I have to do that.  I know it looks like I need to change it, but there is lots of "stick" still visible!!

PreSchool

Today, Steve and I took DJ to visit a preschool at the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lutherville.  Nadia and Jeff had taken Grace to see it, and she seemed to really like it.  Since we would like to keep the kids together as long as we can, thought it would be a great opportunity to enroll them together.

When we got into the classroom, DJ immediately wanted to go explore and play.  First he went to the Lego table.  Then he saw the boys playing on the floor, building some monstrosity with blocks, and he wanted to jump right in and build with them.  And when it was time to leave, DJ didn't want to leave.  "I want to stay here at the school!"

The classroom was full of things to explore, including a reading corner, an instrument corner, legos, blocks, crafts, stamps, you name it.  There was art all over the walls, and all sorts of things to see and do; I honestly can't remember all of what I saw because there was so much! 

I asked how much theology there is, and there really isn't that much.  They will say a prayer every day before snack and the Pastor will come in once a month with his guitar, sing songs and tell them a Bible story.  I'm game for that.

And next year, one of the Kindergarten teachers will be moving down into the preschool so likely, there will be a little more structure in terms of traditional education. 

It all sounds good, and DJ really seemed to like it!  We'll coordinate putting down a deposit with the Cheevers and go from there.

Univited visitor

With construction usually comes unwelcomed guests as they are displaced because of the destruction and subsequent construction.

While we were giving my parents a tour of the "mess" we have in our basement, I saw a field mouse run across the top of the foundation.  After my folks left and the kids were in bed, I went back downstairs and set a couple of mouse traps with peanut butter.  It took me 3 or 4 tries to get them set without snapping, and I'll you I'm not a fan of setting mouse traps any longer.... I didn't get my finger caught, but boy was I jumpy...

I also sent George a text so that when he comes on Monday, he's aware of them and doesn't accidentally get his fingers snapped!

Tonight, I was sitting in DJ's room waiting for him to fall asleep, and heard a SNAP!! from the basement.  I thought that was a weird sound to come from downstairs.  I left DJ's room, told Steve that we should check the traps, and off we went.

Sure enough, there was a mouse, trapped in a trap.  And it was still alive.  Steve picked up the trap, and took it to the light where we could see it better.  Sure enough, the little bugger was well trapped, and very much alive.  So we stood there.... trying to decide what to do.  I suggested we take it outside. 

Up the stairs Steve went with the trap, took it outside to the deck, and the next thing I know, Steve's releasing it from the trap.  Apparently, when he took it outside, Steve said it started squeaking at him, so he couldn't bring himself to kill it.  The little bugger was a little shaken, but apparently JUST fine as it scampered off into the night... and back under the deck.


Steve re-set the trap, so we'll see if we catch any more... or the same one (not that we'll be able to tell).

Oil Tank - Update

Yesterday was installation day for our new oil tank. The installers arrived at 9:30am with our new tank, and scoped the job before starting.  Other than the fact that the new tank must be at least 2 feet from the house, they were fine with the location we selected for it. 

Installation of the new tank happened first.  It's a 275 gallon tank with a rain cover to protect the fill pipes, the gauge and the leak sensor that are located at the top of the tank free of elements falling from the sky.

New oil tank

The installers drilled a new hole into the masonry for the oil line, and installed the line near the duct work in the basement so it will be hidden inside the bulk head when we finish the basement.

Once the line was installed, they cut out the old fill pipes, and transferred the oil left in our old tank into the new (we have a little over half a tank left).  They filled the holes left by the old fill pipes with some kind of concrete filler.

Old tank (the red one - the black tank is for our water softener)

Once all that was complete, they removed the old tank from the basement.  Apparently, this big red honker was about 350 pounds and "the heaviest one we moved this week!".  Yikes. 

They were done by 2:30, including a test of the new line by running our furnace for a little bit, bleeding the new oil line, etc.  We were told that it's likely the new tank will settle so although it was installed level (they even borrowed our level), the ground is so soft from all of the rain that it may well sink.  If so, they told us to call and they'll come back out to re-level it.

So now that we have a big shiny outhouse-looking thing in our back yard, we have a few more ideas.  We have the ugly-as-sin propane tank that's sitting at the back of our deck.  We'll move that to that same corner.  And when it's time to install a high efficiency air conditioning unit, we'll put that unit over there in that corner, too.  When that is complete, we'll put down a lot of lawn fabric and rocks.  Then we'll either fence it with a gate or put in lattice of some kind to hide it, but have it still be accessible to those who need to service them.  This won't be done this year... but it's in our 3 year plan. 

Luckily, our neighbors to that side couldn't care less about the eyesore outhouse oil tank because that side of their house is the garage and they'll only see it when they back out of their garage bays.  They already told us that they don't care.  We told them we're going to hide it all anyway. 

Elektra Potty Update

I've heard over and over again how girls potty train easier than boys.  Apparently, there is something to be said for that!! 

Elektra has been peeing on the potty every morning, and every night before bed!  And she potties in between during the day.  She's not completely dry yet, and she hasn't figured out bowel movements, but just getting her to go on the potty at all has been ridiculously easy as compared to when we were trying to teach DJ.  DJ, when he was Elektra's age, wasn't even remotely interested in the potty!!  On the other hand, Elektra is asking to go sit on the potty frequently and having success!!

She loves her potty chart stickers.  She has lots of pretty stars on it already.  And Eleanor is giving her stickers to wear on her shirt when Elektra goes at her house.  One day this week, Elektra came home with FOUR stickers on her shirt!

GOOD GIRL!

Oil Tank

Our house was built in 1959.  Although much of the house has been updated, either by us or the previous owners, there are still things that are original... like the oil tank.  It's a 250 or 275 gallon tank that sits in a corner of our basement that is likely corroding from the inside out (much like our water pipes!).  There is no way for us to test or know how sound the walls are.  It could last us another 15 years.  It could also leak tomorrow. 

As part of the basement remodel, we've decided to reclaim some basement space by moving the oil tank outside.  We have asked the oil company to supply a double walled stainless steel tank that has an oil leak sensor in between the two walls.  The oil company is coming on Friday to do the installation. 

The location we expect to put it is behind the privacy fence, up against our deck, closest to DJ's room.  The other appliance we plan to put in that section is a high efficiency air conditioning compressor when we decide to drop the coin to replace our entire HVAC system.

Either way, moving the tank outside gets us space in the basement to move all of the water filtration system pieces, the water tank, and the washer/dryer/laundry tub further down the wall.  Then we will officially have the space to build the new bathroom we want in the basement.

Maryland is the new London... or Seattle

It has been raining here for days.... weeks.  We get small respites from the rain (e.g. this past Sunday was gorgeous until the storms rolled through around dinner time), but it's not a lot.  It's really not enough to let things truly dry before it rains again.  Luckily, our lawn cutter has managed to get in 2 cuts within the last month so our grass isn't 4 feet tall. 

The last 5 days have been particularly bad both in how often it has rained and the amount that has fallen out of the sky.  Today, apparently, was the icing on the rain cake because my cousin George called me when he got to our house.

"Your basement has a huge puddle.  Came in through the door.  The french drain isn't draining fast enough." 

Awesome.  Just freakin' awesome.  Silver lining #1: At least our basement was demolished and empty so that we could actually see the results instead of having the rug and its padding soak it all.  Silver lining #2: Seeing it now will save us from redoing stuff - and a dank/damp/musty smell later.

We thought that water coming in through that door was a distinct possibility, but things had been dry for awhile.  Plus, the last time it rained THIS hard, we didn't see any water come in.  Steve checked the drain itself, and it wasn't even close to overflowing.  This time, however, not so lucky. 

To boot, the one wall facing the back of the house is a little wet.  Thankfully, this is something the DryLock paint will take care of, though, we have an issue of the 200 amp electrical service panel being in the way of fully painting that wall. I think that's less of an issue overall, but having the basement bare has shown us a lot.

So what do we do about preventing said flood in our basement?  We don't know.  George is going to have to research it.  But we definitely have to do something about it.  We have no choice.

Guess we're not going to have a finished basement for a looooong time with all these other issues taking priority.

Stinkbug Trap update: Day 3

We have 3 stinkbugs trapped.... and a cicada.  They are STUCK...

MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA.

My cousin George suggested I put it in the attic.  I was thinking about that, and will probably do it soon... then we'll really know how well it works because I'm sure I have plenty up there.

Stinkbug Trap Update: the 1st morning after

This morning, we have captured exactly 1 stinkbug in our new trap!  But that bugger DEFINITELY isn't going anywhere!  It is STUCK!

Now for the rest of them...

Stinkbug Trap

Last month, I bought a stinkbug trap.  When it arrived, it was shattered due to UPS just totally ignoring the "FRAGILE" signs that were all over it.  

I wrote the owner, and he sent me another trap, free of charge.  This time, the packaging was perfect.  I will be sending back the first trap so that the owner can continue to build his case against UPS. 

Tonight, when I came home from the grocery store, I saw stinkbugs in our garage, hanging out on the doors.  This determined where I would hang the new trap.  While Steve put DJ to bed, I hung the trap over my garage bay.  It has a CFL bulb in it, so it will be lit all night.  Hopefully, we'll trap some stinkbugs!

To be honest, I don't expect there to be a ton of stinkbugs trapped in the morning; I don't think there are that many in the garage.  I say that, and watch... there will be a ton, and it'll totally gross me out.

The saga continues....updates will be posted!

Swim Class

With summer fast approaching and DJ eagerly looking forward to going to the pool with Mr. Sonny and Ms. Eleanor (his day care providers), we decided to start swimming lessons.  

I called (DJ's daycare girlfriend) Grace's mother, Nadia, to see if they would be interested in having the lovebirds go together.  Indeed, Nadia was interested, so we signed up the kids together in the same class at Kids First Swim in Cockeysville.  We went to both Kids First Swim and the Maryland Athletic Club (MAC) to see what their facilities and programs were like.  We chose Kids First Swim because it's the only thing they do... unlike the MAC where it was just one enormous distraction because of all the adults swimming in other pools... To be fair, the facilities at Kids First Swim (i.e. the locker rooms) leave a lot to be desired, but the pool is what's important, and it was nice enough!  Anyway,  DJ and Grace are in the same class, and (the other lovebirds) Elektra and Evan are in their own class together, too.

DJ and Grace's class is 5 kids per 1 instructor, and no parents!  We get to stand behind a one way mirror so we can see him, but he can't see us!  It's an excellent time for DJ to learn how to listen and follow the direction of an adult other than the usual suspects.  This worked out well for us because Grace started to come back to try and find Nadia but because we were where she couldn't see us, she effectively had to go back to the class and tough it out.

As it turns out, DJ didn't even look back for me; he was sooooo excited to be in the water.  And Grace eventually warmed up to the whole idea.  Both kids did fantastically with all the things the instructor was trying to get them to do:  blow bubbles, float, walk through the water, etc.

On the other hand, Elektra's class is a Mommy and Me class where a parent gets in the water with her.  Jeff and I took our 2 youngest into the water when it was our turn.  Elektra had kept saying that she wanted to go in the pool the entire time DJ was in, so she was set to go!  She had no issues getting in with me.  Evan, on the other hand, he pretty much panicked, and Jeff spent 90% of his class time trying to coax Evan to go further out into the pool with us.  

Elektra splished splashed water with us, tried to blow bubbles, floated on her front and back while kicking all the while... she did great.  Then about 20 minutes into her half hour lesson, she hit the "I am done with this now now now" wall, and promptly melted down, screaming "I want Daddy!  I want to see Daddy!"  

I tried to calm her down, and letting her play with a pool noodle seemed to help.  Then it was time to dunk her under the water.  Well... you want to talk about freaking out my daughter... I did it.  She was *mad* (but she did great with the dunking!).... oh boy she was mad.  

The instructors all said to make sure that kids leave the pools with smiles on their faces, so do whatever necessary to make that happen.  I took Elektra back to the pool noodle, and she was happy to play with that for a bit.  

All in all, I wonder if maybe Evan and Elektra are still just a little too young for the lessons, but DJ and Grace are definitely the perfect age!