Manly Things

I came home from work yesterday to see the kiddo, the husband, and the neighbor all out in the yard chatting.  Or at least, I thought that's what they were doing.  As I approached, however, I noticed there were tools.  Big tools.  Sharp tools.  Then it started.  The two of them were chopping wood.  We've had to cut down a lot of dead trees this summer and we've been using the wood in our firepit (and soon enough, the inside fireplaces).  Then another neighbor came home and he came over with a chainsaw.  It was a 'manly' party at my house. 

There was also this:

Oh yes.  Chopping wood with his plastic hammer.

I asked Dave how he convinced the neighbor to come over and help him.  He said he just did.  And after the third neighbor came over with his chainsaw I knew this was true.  Men doing manly things.  Testosterone, I guess.

Foto Friday

A whole month down plus a little more and I'm still keeping up with the 100 Happy Days Challenge!  It's getting a little harder as I kinda feel like I'm taking the same pictures over and over.  But it's fun and I'm getting lots of pictures of my little guy as he's growing and changing nearly before my eyes.

Day 26 - Yes, this seems like a dumb picture to be happy about, but hear me out.  We started out bathroom remodel 7 months ago and finally it's starting to come together.  Our counters and sinks were installed last week.

Day 27 - The very next day Dave installed the faucets and they work!!!

Day 28 - In addition to fixing up the bathroom, I've been working on our landscaping like a boss.  We have cut down two trees and weeded until I've been covered in dirt.  I've also made some snake friends in the process.

Day 29 - Peek-a-boo!!!

Day 30 - Yogurt beard.

Day 31 - Watching the trains at Easton (local mall).  This is beginning to be a weekly occurrence.

Day 32 - He's at it again - falling asleep with his book on his chest.

What a Weekend!!!

Do you ever look forward to Monday just so life can return to normal?  Sometimes I do.  Today was definitely that kind of Monday.

Actually, the whole last week was kind of crazy.  We have begun the renovation on our master bathroom.  It's basically a total gut job.  The ONLY things we are keeping in there are our closets, the shower (which looked pretty new), and the toilet which we bought when we moved into the house. 

This is after day one of the destruction:

We have removed the wall paper, stripped the paint off the cabinet and sanded it, we're taking out the soffits, and getting rid of the awful vinyl floor.  This past weekend I removed the lights and finished up the floor.  Next steps are to completely remove the soffits, take out the countertops and sinks, and begin wiring for the new lights.  Unfortunately, that was the plan for the weekend but we got behind.  Hopefully we can catch up.  Dave has the week off next week and we hope to get the floor laid.  We bought beautiful tile that's going to make it look like a spa!

Dave spent all of Wednesday night running around town with my dad, renting a truck and bringing home drywall, the tile, and all the accessories that go with it. 

Then on Thursday we had to head to Best Buy to replace our broken TV.  We bought a new TV in April that we had professionally mounted above the fireplace.  A month or so ago the screen just went blank.  The Geek Squad sent out someone to look at it and he basically said, "yep, it's broken."  Well no shit!   They ordered a part for it and said they could fix it January 2nd.  Then the part got back ordered and they said they would fix it January 9th.  Good grief.  They called again this week and said, "yeah, the parts still back ordered so we're just going to replace your TV."  That's what they should have done in the first place!!!  We get to customer service and they have NO IDEA what we're talking about.  They've never had a replacement code given to them for an in-home repair.  After speaking to a bunch of people we finally spoke with a manager who took our old TV and just did the replacement.  He didn't care if there was a code.  Plus, because the new TV was $20 more, he just waved that fee.  Good job.  Dave was up until after midnight putting in the new TV. 

So what took all our time this weekend that I'm so happy it is Monday already? 

As I mentioned a while ago, we've been having problems with our water.  A week ago Dave ordered a new water softener from a wholesale company here in Ohio.  It was more than half the cost Culligan had quoted us, however, unfortunately, we were going to have to do the ENTIRE installation ourselves.  The new water softener arrived in two different shipments last week.  It was massive - two resin tanks and a separate brine tank in addition to five bags of resin and all the mechanical stuff.  Saturday morning we went to Home Depot to pick up all the plumbing stuff Dave would need.  The day started off well-ish.  It took two of us to put the resin in the tanks.  Dave would hold it and pour it, while I stood on a stool trying to get in through the funnel.  It was like wet, slippery sand.  And if it got on the floor, which it did A LOT, it was like ice.  We were literally skating around our basement.  After the resin, Dave started doing the plumbing to hook it up to our water pipes.  Around 8:30pm, just as we were putting the baby to bed, Dave had to head out to Lowe's.  The piping was a different size than he thought and he needed a different kind of connector.  I should mention our water had been turned off now for a while.  I was peeing without flushing and washing my hands with baby wipes.

Dave got back from Lowe's, we ate dinner at 10:00pm and then he headed back downstairs to finish the installation.  No lie, 12:00am he finished it up and we turned on the water.  Everything seemed to be going well until it wasn't.  We noticed a drip between the new water softener and the connection to the pipes.  Shit!  We turned the water back off, packed our bags, woke the baby up and headed to my parents' house to spend the night.  We would try again on Sunday. 

I slept horribly at my parents'.  Their dog kept barking, the baby was tossing and turning, Dave was snoring, and I couldn't get comfortable.  I probably got less than five hours of sleep.  I was in a great mood on Sunday when we had to start over again.

We returned to our house with no water and Anderson and I napped while Dave began again.  I was awoken some time later with the sound of a flushing toilet.  Was our water working???  Dave hooked up the brine tank and then it was time to figure it all out.  We had to flush the water through the pipes and through the new tanks.  It probably took 10 minutes to run the water and clean it all out.  That was some gross water coming out of those faucets!

Finally, we poured some water and checked it out.  It appeared to be much much better.  Check it out:

The water on the left is before we installed the water softener.  Yep, that is straight out of our faucet.  Yuck!  The water on the right is after the new water softener was turned on.  We even taste-tested it.  Although I could tell the difference between bottled water and the new faucet water, it was much much better.  MUCH BETTER!  It will take a few days until the hot/warm water gets clear (because there is already some in the hot water tank), it looks like maybe our water problems might be solved.

This weekend was exhausting.  Unfortunately, our weekends look like this for the next several weeks.  But, the Cats and Brass house is starting to come together.  More pictures to come!!!

Oh Black Water

It's been eye opening to have purchased an older home that needed some work.  We have uncovered termites and mold and lots and lots of pink/peach paint.  One of the hardest adjustments, especially for Dave, has been well water.  I grew up on well water, but overall our water at my parents' home is/was pretty good.  I remember my dad putting salt in the water softener but otherwise the water was good.  Here, it's been a little different.  We have put salt in our water softener but our water has continued to be disgusting.  We have rust stains everywhere.  I cannot keep the toilets clean no matter what I do.  Our laundry has been ruined with orange rust.  And the bath water for Anderson looks dirty and gross.  A few weeks ago we discovered there was a filter in the water system.  Dave took hours to figure it out and let me tell you, NASTY!!!  We put in a new filter, it helped for two days, and then it was back to gross.  Needless to say, I've been buying gallons and gallons of water for drinking.

As we've started the remodel on our bathroom, I've stated that I will not put in new fixtures until our water problems are solved.  Dave is busy all the time, so I took it upon myself to contact Culligan to hear about our options.  The Culligan Man checked out our equipment, smelled our water, looked at our fixtures, and inspected the back of our toilets (ick).  Then he did a bunch of tests on the water, like hardness level, iron levels, and drinkability.  As it turns out, our water is incredibly hard.  And that's before and after the water softener.  So basically, our water softener is doing absolutely nothing.  The problem we're having with iron is not actually the iron level, it's the bacteria that feeds off iron (ick). 

The recommendations were a new water softener, an iron-specific water softener type thing, and a reverse osmosis system since we drink so much water.  Unfortunately, that totaled up to over $6K, something we don't exactly have sitting around.  We've begun looking around at different companies and options and it looks like we may be able to do it ourselves for much, much cheaper.  Hopefully it is something we can fix and fix quickly.

Any of you out there on well water?  Anyone else have these same problems?  Found any good solutions? 

Mother of the Year

We bought a new house back in November 2013 and moved in this past February.  It's an older home, a real fixer-upper, but it kept us in the school district, moved up even closer to work, and gave us land, privacy, and a great place to raise Anderson.  In the months that have followed we have begun lots of improvements on this home.  I'm planning a whole series called "Cats and Brass" about this home coming soon.

The last couple of weekends we have been working on Anderson's room.  Basically, it's just painting, but as we have learned it is never as easy as "just painting."  First, we had to take down the god-awful vertical blinds.  Then we had to patch the walls where all the nail holes, screw holes, other holes, and bad things in the walls were.  Next we have had to paint all the trim - baseboards, window trim, closet doors.  Why?  Well, because they had painted an accent wall including the baseboards and window trim.  Of course.  So we decided to paint all of it white.  Finally, and hopefully soon, we will be able to paint the walls and hang his artwork.

To be able to work together and get things moving, we have had to put Anderson in his jail crib.

Today while Dave was at work, I worked on priming the closet doors while Anderson watched Bubble Guppies in his crib.  I got about 20 minutes of work in before he started having a meltdown.  It was lunch time and he was also ready for a nap.  So I prepared him lunch.

Anderson is in this stage right now where he doesn't want to eat baby food anymore, but really hasn't found a whole bunch of adult food that he likes.   So for lunch I tried something new, a ham and turkey sandwich with mustard.  He instantly hated it and let me know by screaming at the top of his lungs and crying with real tears.  I got him some cottage cheese and grapes and all was right with the world again.

Finally, he decided to drink his milk in the living room while I ate my lunch.  And while I was finishing my lunch he made a dirty diaper.

So to recap, screaming kid in his crib, screaming kid because I did not fix him a good lunch, and a dirty diaper.  You following?  Sounds like a rough hour, eh?

It gets worse.

Also at lunch time I take the dog out and give her a little to eat so we're all ready for our nap post lunch.  I took Sloopy out as always and left Anderson in the house.  He followed me over to the door, screaming all the way, and I worried a little that he was going to get into the dog's water dish (which happens often).  I should have worried more.

I came in the house and couldn't find Anderson.  And then it hit me.

Oh SHIT!!!

I ran into his room, which I obviously forgot to close off and, of course, he was playing in the left over paint.  He had it all over his hands, a little on his legs, and a little on his face.  Thank goodness, he had not put it in his mouth.  He had also put two pacifiers in it and a toy.  Anderson did NOT enjoy having paint all over himself and was throwing an absolute fit!

I first took a picture (duh), then I got the pacifiers and toy cleaned off.  Then I grabbed Anderson to put him in the bath.  But of course, I hadn't changed his gross diaper yet so I had to take care of that.  I come back in from throwing it away and he's crying at the top of his lungs running around the house naked.  I grab him and put him in the bath only to realize I didn't have soap or a wash cloth, or a towel.  Crap!  I yelled at Anderson not to drown and ran to his room to get those things.

I got him cleaned off and cleaned up and we all took a good nap.

If there was ever a day I needed some ice cream or a drink or a hot bath, today is the day.