Little Plumber Boy

A few weeks ago, we were subject to the annoying sound of a dripping faucet in the tub. After dinner David carried his toolbox into the bathroom to see what he could do. After trying to tighten the faucet with a wrench, the small drip turned into a 1/4 full stream problem. This is when I got involved, not that I was much help. I tried to find the answer to our plumbing problem online while David searched for the main water valve. He eventually thought to look in the House inspection packet where he found that the shut off valve is located in the crawl space in the Southeast corner of our house. Great! I felt so bad that he had to crawl under there. But, he suited up and courageously descended into our dungeon (see picture above). He didn't bring his cell phone the 1st time down, so I yelled every 15 seconds to make sure he was still alive. He did find the valve and turned it off. We made a trip to wal-mart to look for the parts the internet said we would need. A very kind friend came over to help us get the valve stem off. We couldn't do it with the tools we had. After all our unsuccessful efforts, we decided to call a plumber who said he could come in the morning. We left our water off and spent the night at David's parent's. Another fun detail about the night is that I was planning to study for my nursing final. I ended up studying for 30 minutes that night. I studied for 1.5 hours the next morning. The good thing is, I don't think I would have done any better on the final if I had studied like I had planned.

So, the plumber came in the morning. He spent 5 minutes in our house and was done. David and I headed to Home Depot after he came home from work. Fortunately, we got the right part. After putting things back together, David went back down into the dungeon to turn the water on. Our tub no longer leaked. However, David discovered a more serious problem while he was in the crawl space- a small leak in the water main right below the valve! We called our plumber right away. He said that shutting off the water to fix the tub caused the pressure to build up in the pipe and then find the weak spot when we turned the water on again. Apparently, the risk of flooding isn't major. We are currently living above saturated ground. He is coming to fix it on Wednesday. They're going to dig and replace the whole main line, which will be an expensive home improvement.

What we have learned:
1) don't attempt plumbing projects without any knowledge of plumbing
2) the value of a saving's account
3) we must be living right- The old pipe was bound to leak sometime and our little tub faucet leak helped us find it. This could have been a huge disaster.

Uncle Stinker David

A picture that makes me laugh. Cute Hayley found a mustache for herself in the Gruesome Land Creatures book.







These kids LOVE to wrestle with Stinker David, as they affectionately call him. And I LOVE to watch them. They will wrestle anyone willing. I just think David does a better job than me. It does require some serious multitasking. David's biggest concern is not for his safety, but keeping them safe from each other when they're climbing all over him. The match usually ends when one gets kicked in the head by another. This "one" is usually Parker.

Cannon Beach

The weekend before Halloween, we went to Cannon Beach, Oregon with David's family. Stephen was playing his 2nd (I think) annual piano recital there. The condo owner who was sponsoring Stephen told him he could bring his family along. I don't believe the condo owner was aware of the number of family members who lived nearby. We may or may not be invited again:) David and I stayed in a condo with H, N and kids. It was a very nice place. Our room had a fireplace, flat screen, jacuzzi tub, and beautiful decor. H and N had a room upstairs and the kids slept in the living room. Glenn and Kathy stayed across the street from us. They came over for all the meals. Stephen, Alainna, and Jonathan ate some meals with us. It was so fun to have everybody together for a few days (late Friday night to Sunday late morning). The weather was slightly miserable- rainy/windy. But, we still went down to the beach several times. I think Grandma may have had more fun playing on the beach than the kids!
My aunt Debbie, uncle Kevin, and cousin Ethan came for the afternoon on Saturday. It was so nice of them to drive up from Salem to see David and me. I just love them. I went downtown CB shopping with them for a few hours. We got some delicious salt water taffy for my mom- her favorite.

Master Chef and Grandma Abby

Hayley helped me make a Ukrainian soup a few weeks ago- Borscht (characterized by its deep red color from the beets). It is so delicious. She doesn't even like Borscht, but she still wanted to help. And that is why I call her a master chef. She has such skill and a love for cooking that she is willing to make any dish:) She peeled all the potatoes for me. I just love having my niece and nephews over!

(sorry it's sideways) Abby's drama teacher had to do her make up and hair to look like a grandma; it was for a portrait they needed to create of her gma. She is Vita, in the play Harvey at her high school this fall. She is a fabulous thespian. I can't wait to see it in a few weeks. She came over to my house looking like this! good times.

Inside our house lies our home

We are loving our house! the yard, the storage (or mudroom as we like to call it), 3 bedrooms, 2 living spaces (so the tv doesn't have to be the center of our front room). It's just perfect for us! The pictures show more things we love about it.

Here are some before/after pictures of the two rooms we painted (the living spaces) (Thank you to Heather, Nathan, Stephanee, and Corey for helping us paint. and thanks to my dad for letting us borrow paint supplies and giving technique tips)

Before (front room)

After (sorry you can't tell a big difference in the picture. It was a really light green color before. Now it's a nice neutral tan color)


Before (2nd living space/tv room)

After

Same room, but the green looks different in different light at night. It is the perfect color. Just what I wanted. And David likes it too, of course. I was just more into choosing the colors than he was.

Mudroom

our bedroom. not crazy about the yellow walls. planning to make that a Christmas break project.

The ORANGE room (the picture doesn't show its intense brightness- I actually don't mind it). The green room has a cute pink fan in it; the blades are blue on the flip side, which will be perfect for a future boy or girl baby room.

A GARBAGE DISPOSAL! one of my favorite features:)

I love my book baskets on the bottom shelf.

We have a fire pit! We had a family hot dog and smore roast a few weeks after we moved in.

We purchased a lawn mower. David mowed the first several weeks, but I guess I have more time than him. I beat my previous mow time by 3 minutes last week!

Parker and Evan came over one morning. Parker says he likes our house better than our apartment. For the first few weeks after we moved in, he would ask where we were sleeping- "at our new house or at the apartment?" We definitely miss living across the park from them!

Golfing and David's Birthday

On Labor Day, we went to the local driving range. We don't really know what we're doing. But, we have fun.




David's bday dinner! He wanted biscuits and sausage gravy and Simply Orange. His Birthday (9/14) was at a busy time this year. We were packing up our apt for the big move later that week. (thus the boxes in the background) I was also working part time at Sunny Farms. And David was teaching every day. I hurried home on my bike after work (at 6) to make dinner and get his surprise party all in order. It was a very casual surprise party. Soon after I got home, Hayley and Colson rode their gator powerwheels over to my apt (just across the park) to help me carry all the stuff for homemade ice cream over to their house. Heather was so sweet to take care of the ice cream for me. I did make the mixture earlier so she would just have to freeze it and keep salt on the ice.


After we ate dinner, Colson and Hayley knocked on our door. They handed him a cute headband and said "put this over your eyes and come with us!" They were so cute. Heather drove us all around the park and a few extra turns so David would be all turned around. David sat in the back of Heather's SUV with all the kids. Colson and Hayley were saying things like "oh look it's the high school" (when we were no where near it). Then Parker would say "that's not the high school." Parker also kept talking about eating ice cream. He's not quite old enough to understand surprise parties. But, it was no big deal. It made the night that much better to know the kids were a big part of it.


Unveiling the location- Heather and Nathan's porch! how exciting!

The sweet kids made David cards and gave him Henry Weinard cream sodas! This is as close to David that Evan would get. He was not willing to part with his gift for David.


Heather serving up the strawberry ice cream. It was delicious! And David's awesome bday present shirt! I love it. I also gave him Henry Weinards (a standard for any gift giving event for David), and a Chiefs toothbrush.

My mom, Abby, Keenan, and my friend Stephanee came too. It was a fun little party and David said it made him feel special- mission accomplished. My mom gave David a cute sweater, candy, and powerades.

Hayley enjoying her mustache, and ice cream.