About that last post.....

OK, so on second thought I should probably explain a little bit about that "Desolate Bathroom." First, it was the home's previous owner's litter box; the linoleum floor needs to be replaced (not to mention the wallpaper border of cats wearing cowboy hats, blech!) Second, it has no windows, and no air duct vents - it is literally a box with a door. We need to reseal where the walls hit the floor of the garage - it leaks air like crazy; it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. If you try to sit on that toilet in the winter, well, let's just say the toilet is the perfect candidate for a heated seat. Third, it is our half bath (as in, 2 and-a-half bathrooms); we don't really have a need for it, and it is located all the way downstairs. Two walls are shared with the garage, one and a half to the exterior of our home, and a half of one wall to the play room (it's mostly a door.) The bathroom almost seems as a bad afterthought, and we would've bought the home even if this half-bath didn't exist. Why haven't we gutted it (maybe not quite the terminology one should use while discussing a bathroom) you say? Because we got lazy. Oh yeah, and because we have been slowly but surely fixing up everything else in the house. It has been on the very bottom of our list. But now that our kitchen is complete, it is time to start thinking about that desolate bathroom. I still don't know what to do about the no window/no air duct thing, but here is my idea: turn it into Brent's office, replete with good reading material! That's for you, Noah, hahahahaha!

Have you met our Desolate Toilet

This morning I woke up a bit feverish - clogged milk duct, I know, tmi - and was laying in bed thinking about Brent vacuuming the play room (which he did last night) and wondering if he took out the hose and ran it along the baseboards, etc. Then my thoughts wandered to that lowly Desolate Bathroom down there - it needs to be cleaned. I have been absolutely lazy about it, I admit. We never use it - it seems to be the permanent residence of a number of spiders these days. I thought of the many times we put up signs that the bathroom was closed and out of order.....and how various come-and-goers would use it anyway. Like the time that one of our other toilets broke, so Brent took a spare part out of that poor, Desolate Toilet. Morgan, thinking that "do not use" and "this toilet doesn't work" didn't apply to him - used it anyway. Imagine his surprise when pressing the lever did absolutely nothing at all, hahahaha! Anyway, the reason I mention all this is because of that spare part Brent used.

One night, probably around 11:00pm, Brent and I were in bed, watching a movie, when we started to hear, well, Niagara Falls. Within seconds (ok, so maybe it was a full minute, as we sat there stupidly trying to figure out if the rushing water was part of the movie) we were up and rushing into the bathroom. The toilet was pouring gallons of water all over the bathroom floor - it was already a good two inches deep. So I waded through the water (I tried running, but have you ever tried running in water - it's more like slow motion - and of course the fact that you can't get much momentum going within three feet) and turned the water valve shut-off thingy off. Then I had Brent get all the towels from the laundry room. We seriously used every single towel we owned. Which, by the way, I have to point out is about 20 towels. Now you might be asking yourself what on Earth do I have 20 towels for (if you aren't asking, you're going to get the explanation anyway.) Growing up, there are several things I remember very, very, very clearly. A person could never find pens, pencils, scissors, laundry baskets, hangers and towels. The first three may have had to do with the constant small children/baby thing, but the last three might have had more to do with the fact that, at one point, 10 children and two parents were living in the house. So, now that I am all grown up and money does in fact grow on trees - there are 6 things you will always be able to find in my house: pens, pencils (though they might not be sharpened) scissors (don't you dare touch my sewing scissors,) laundry baskets, hangers and towels. Definitely towels. Anyway, back to my story. A few gallons (well, maybe more than that) continued to flow down the heating vent, down through the ducts and spilled out somewhere in the middle of our garage. Apparently, there is a little plastic piece that attaches to that balloon thingy in the toilet. I guess we had flushed the toilet so many times, it had cracked and the balloon thingy dropped off and the toilet just started filling up and wasn't ever going to stop. That little plastic piece is what Brent borrowed from the Desolate Toilet, which actually didn't end up fitting on the upstairs one, so he had to go buy a new one anyway, but never put the "borrowed" piece back onto that poor Desolate Toilet. So if I had any advice for new homeowners, it would be this:

Always clean every bathroom in your home in case of usage (especially by an outsider.)

Always turn off your water when you vacation, go to bed at night and anytime you watch a movie with lots of rushing water in it (can you imagine what would've happened if Brent and I had been watching a documentery on waterfalls, rather than "While You Were Sleeping?")

If you want to know how efficient your air ducts are at keeping the ultra-valuable air from escaping in places it shouldn't, just dump several gallons of water down each vent. Thoroughly inspect all ceilings for water damage, and wah-la! You have found your leaks.

And if you happen to not take Nos. 1, 2, & 3 into consideration, always, always, take advisement number 4: Make sure you have good homeowner's insurance that covers water damage. Seriously. I am not lying. I am not a paid salesman for homeowners insurance.



p.s. This is a joke. Please do not ever follow advisement number 3. Seriously.

p.p.s. It was clean toilet water (as clean as water from a toilet can be) - not like the water when your toilet gets clogged. Just in case you wanted to know.

Day Trippin

We took a day trip down to see my sister Ruth - Hunter was having his birthday party. The drive wasn't too bad - Brent and I enjoyed some good laughs as we talked about our past, present and future. The boys had a GREAT TIME! Maxwell has been asking me all morning if we could go back to Hunter's party! Here are some of the highlights from our day:





And we couldn't leave without a little bit o' this:

A big thank you to the Johnsons for being such great hosts (and feeding us really yummy pizza!) And a shout out to Brent who so humbly gave me permission to post a vid of him singing, lol!

Jack

I can't help myself! Jack was being so cute (like always) and the camera happened to be close..............

Blake's First Sports Camp

Ok, so I nearly died dropping him off every morning, but by the end of the week, it was obvious that all was going to end well! I am sure that most of you know exactly what I was going through as I dropped him off Monday morning, to be left for THREE whole hours with people I didn't know. I ended up driving around aimlessly for those three hours. While driving I asked myself all sorts of questions: Have I taught him well enough? Will he be happy? Will his coach know what to do if he throws a fit? Will the other kids like him? Does he even have enough muscle strength to last for three hours? Needless to say, I showed up an hour early. He seemed to be doing ok (from 1/2 a mile away in the parking lot, where I sat feeling like a stalker-mom!) So I took Maxwell and Jack to the nearby playground, where it took all of five seconds for Maxwell to scrape up his knee and cry. Anyway, I could tell that something hadn't gone quite right, because his coach asked Blake if he would be back tomorrow. I could just imagine Blake pulling one of his, "I'm never coming back. I hate this." comments. Well, he went back. All week long. And every day my heart nearly broke leaving him there on his own. Things got worse before they got better, but by the time I picked him up this afternoon (Friday, the last day) he was smiling and joking with all the kids. Several of them told me how AWESOME they thought he is - I asked why, and one kid said, "because he's just so cute!" Hahahaha! Another kid said he had awesome hair because you could mess it up and then just flatten it right back down! A few of them wanted to take pictures with Blake:
As we were leaving, another kid told me, "He is the silliest kid I've ever met. He said it was was "raining cups" and it wasn't even raining!"

Pull-ups II.

Two Words: New. Camera. ♪ LOOOOOVE IIIIT ♪

Ode to my sister, Ruth

Dearest Ruth,

I find myself irresistably drawn to a fascinating new establishment in town. It is called Appley's Funhouse....just kidding (excerpt from Larry Boy and the Bad Apple.)



On a more serious note, I have to apologize to Ruth for the many years of abuse and torture I exposed her to over the years. No one likes a bully. I am sorry, Ruth. I'm pretty sure I ruined every chance you had at greater privileges - especially any curfew extensions. Again, I am sorry. But for all the things I have done wrong - specifically to you - it is obvious that you don't hold them against me. You have been there at the best of times (how few they are) and the worst of times (pretty much most of my lifetime!)



Ruth is one of those people you meet, whom for some reason you feel compelled to spill your guts to. Fortunately, she is not one of those people who then regurgitates those same guts to everyone she knows! She can be relied upon at a moments notice............even after just having had a baby. I am sorry that it has taken me 28 long years to realize what a great sister you are - and what a great blessing it is to have you be part of our family.



Love ya!

Sisters, Charles, and a wedding.