I shouldn't be writing right now. I should be laying Garrett down for a nap and then showering. There's actually many many more things I SHOULD be doing but just not feeling it today. But since I'm procrastinating as it is I figure maybe I'll do something just a little productive while I sit on my fanny.
It's been a while since I mentioned any progress on the basement and wanted to update it before more things happen. I mentioned how Jon was in a boot and on crutches and how that was going to prevent him from moving things from the basement. Well, he did it anyway. It took about 2 weekends and having 1 neighbor and 1 of the home teachers come over to help him move the extremely awkward and heavy stuff out. I also can't park in the garage anymore. (This part kinda stinks since it's been hovering around 95-100' for the past week.) It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make at this point though.
At the start of the week following the majority of the stuff being moved out I was on the phone calling people to get bids to come do work in the basement. So far I've had 2 electricians, 1 cabinet maker, 1 concrete cutter, and 1 window installer out in the last 2 weeks. I also had a concrete repair/lifter out for a bid to fix the driveway and back patio, but that isn't high on the priority list so if I get to that I get to that. I also got the building permit application with the city picked up and filled out. Jon had to get his signature notarized and the plans drawn up with dimensions and smoke detectors labeled and then I turned it back in. It was ready the next day and paid $254 to be official.
What I'm hoping to get accomplished this week is scheduling the concrete cutters to come out by Wednesday. Jon will have to take that day off to get the window and window well installed. (I found out that it's not worth having the window installer do it. The whole reason I even called them was not that I didn't think Jon could do it but the fact that he hasn't done it due to his schedule and I was tired of waiting.) I'm also hoping that in the next couple of days Jon and I will have some time together (with minimal interference) to make some electrical decisions. There is some questions on where to place things and also which kind of lights to put in and how many. One of the decisions is also which electrician we're going to have do the work. There is about a $1100 difference between the low and high bidder. I think we need to compare quantities of things (like can lights) between each bid and see what the actual price difference is when we have those all the same. I'm hoping we can make all those decisions so I can have the winner out to do the work before the end of the week as well. One other thing I'm hoping to get done is to have the final framing done. This kind of depends on where we put the cabinetry (and its size) next to the fireplace but it also depends on Jason's schedule since he's the one that's been doing the framing. I've been trying to tell him that we should be on the top of his priority list but I don't think he believes me. ;)
The cabinet maker said that by the end of the week he will have plans and images drawn up so we can see what everything will look like once it's made and then we can make some more final decisions on that. We found out that it takes them about 2 weeks to make and then install the cabinetry. We also found out that we put that in after the painting is done but before the stonework around the fireplace is done. Having custom cabinets made makes me really really scared to see how much it's going to cost. One thing that we can choose that is going to affect the cost significantly is the type of countertop for the bathroom and the wet bar area. Jon wants laminate and I don't really want laminate. We have laminate upstairs and while it is sufficient and looks somewhat decent it's not long lasting (as the kids' bathroom has proved since the backsplash is pulling away) and to some extent cheapens the overall look of the area. So this is something we're gonna have to look into more.
Once we get the window and electrical installed we then have to call for the four-way inspection with the city. Then it's on to insulation and drywall.
I keep saying it'll take a miracle to have it done before I'm due but I'm going to do my best to make it happen.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Breaking Down
That title could fit many subjects to post about (like my emotional status) but this one is specifically about objects/things that have broken down recently.
Back in April I posted about how our a/c wasn't working and that a wire was being pinched and shorting out. Well, that was no big deal compared to what we just had to have done. Since we had our duct work done downstairs (a year ago it seems to me) at first I was hating the fact that that all the heat was shooting downstairs into the uninsulated basement. For the last couple months it was killing me that the a/c was blowing 1/2 its cold air into the already cool basement and that meant it had to work extra hard to get the upstairs cool. I finally decided I'd had enough and I cut up vent sized cardboard pieces to duct tape over the vents to get more of the air blowing upstairs. After taping up my first vent I went to the opposite side of the house when I smelled a burning smell. I couldn't imagine what would be so hot down there and smell like it was about to catch on fire. After opening windows to let it air out, turning the lights and a/c off, we turned the a/c back on much later that evening as kids were going to bed. It was about 80'f at that point. About 5-10 minutes later we could smell that same smell but upstairs and very strongly. So no a/c that night which was a Saturday. We had to go all of Sunday with no a/c and it got to about 84'. Very uncomfortable for a pregnant lady but the standing fan helped. I spent a good amount of time on the internet trying to troubleshoot the problem to see if we could fix it ourselves. One thing I knew was that there was condensation that was at the bottom of the furnace and that it was dripping from a little higher above. I also knew that there was no condensation pump to have gone out and that it was a gravity draining system. So the question was still what was burning?
I called around first thing Monday morning and after 2 places said they couldn't get here at all or not til much later, the 3rd place could get here in about an hour. So the guy determined that the furnace motor was shot and that the pipe that was supposed to let the condensation drain out was clogged, therefore overflowing and then dripping onto all of the important wires, etc. He left to try to find a new motor nearby but called a while later to say he couldn't find one and he couldn't get back here until noon the next day. Drat!! I spent the rest of the day out and about to stay out of the heat of the house. When we got home around 7:30 it was 89'f in the house. No fan can cool you off at that temp. So the guy came and fixed it and over $700 later I had a/c. It literally took the whole rest of the day to cool the house down to a reasonable temp.. The funny thing was that I went to bed excited that I didn't need the fan in our bedroom anymore but I still woke up too hot and ended up turning it on anyway.
*****************************************
Before we even got the a/c fixed Jon's commuter car (1994 civic) that he only usually drives from here to the commuter train about 10 minutes away overheated on him. The car already doesn't have a/c (which we've tried to fix a few times) and then for it to overheat now was frustrating. Luckily we still have our old van and he's been able to drive that. We still need to get it in and have it fixed. Depending on the cost we may just be dumping the car.
*****************************************
There's another whole post I need to do about Jon and his running, weight loss, and races; namely the Ragnar Relay Race a.k.a. the Wasatch Back Relay and the 1/2 marathon he did. Well, with all of the regular training and then running two 1/2 marathons on the same weekend with only 1 day between he ended up with a stress fracture in his left shin. So he is now wearing a boot and is on crutches. He's supposed to do that for at least 4 weeks. He's already 1.5 weeks in but he's done too much without the crutches and I don't think he's healed as much as he could have at this point if he was being good. This also means that he can't be moving all the heavy loads from downstairs that he would be doing otherwise. So yet another setback on the progress of the basement.
I think that's all for the demise of things around here...well except for the goldfish Savannah brought home from school last week. I think it lasted 3 days. We now have a parakeet. Maybe another post I'll explain how that happened.
Back in April I posted about how our a/c wasn't working and that a wire was being pinched and shorting out. Well, that was no big deal compared to what we just had to have done. Since we had our duct work done downstairs (a year ago it seems to me) at first I was hating the fact that that all the heat was shooting downstairs into the uninsulated basement. For the last couple months it was killing me that the a/c was blowing 1/2 its cold air into the already cool basement and that meant it had to work extra hard to get the upstairs cool. I finally decided I'd had enough and I cut up vent sized cardboard pieces to duct tape over the vents to get more of the air blowing upstairs. After taping up my first vent I went to the opposite side of the house when I smelled a burning smell. I couldn't imagine what would be so hot down there and smell like it was about to catch on fire. After opening windows to let it air out, turning the lights and a/c off, we turned the a/c back on much later that evening as kids were going to bed. It was about 80'f at that point. About 5-10 minutes later we could smell that same smell but upstairs and very strongly. So no a/c that night which was a Saturday. We had to go all of Sunday with no a/c and it got to about 84'. Very uncomfortable for a pregnant lady but the standing fan helped. I spent a good amount of time on the internet trying to troubleshoot the problem to see if we could fix it ourselves. One thing I knew was that there was condensation that was at the bottom of the furnace and that it was dripping from a little higher above. I also knew that there was no condensation pump to have gone out and that it was a gravity draining system. So the question was still what was burning?
I called around first thing Monday morning and after 2 places said they couldn't get here at all or not til much later, the 3rd place could get here in about an hour. So the guy determined that the furnace motor was shot and that the pipe that was supposed to let the condensation drain out was clogged, therefore overflowing and then dripping onto all of the important wires, etc. He left to try to find a new motor nearby but called a while later to say he couldn't find one and he couldn't get back here until noon the next day. Drat!! I spent the rest of the day out and about to stay out of the heat of the house. When we got home around 7:30 it was 89'f in the house. No fan can cool you off at that temp. So the guy came and fixed it and over $700 later I had a/c. It literally took the whole rest of the day to cool the house down to a reasonable temp.. The funny thing was that I went to bed excited that I didn't need the fan in our bedroom anymore but I still woke up too hot and ended up turning it on anyway.
*****************************************
Before we even got the a/c fixed Jon's commuter car (1994 civic) that he only usually drives from here to the commuter train about 10 minutes away overheated on him. The car already doesn't have a/c (which we've tried to fix a few times) and then for it to overheat now was frustrating. Luckily we still have our old van and he's been able to drive that. We still need to get it in and have it fixed. Depending on the cost we may just be dumping the car.
*****************************************
There's another whole post I need to do about Jon and his running, weight loss, and races; namely the Ragnar Relay Race a.k.a. the Wasatch Back Relay and the 1/2 marathon he did. Well, with all of the regular training and then running two 1/2 marathons on the same weekend with only 1 day between he ended up with a stress fracture in his left shin. So he is now wearing a boot and is on crutches. He's supposed to do that for at least 4 weeks. He's already 1.5 weeks in but he's done too much without the crutches and I don't think he's healed as much as he could have at this point if he was being good. This also means that he can't be moving all the heavy loads from downstairs that he would be doing otherwise. So yet another setback on the progress of the basement.
I think that's all for the demise of things around here...well except for the goldfish Savannah brought home from school last week. I think it lasted 3 days. We now have a parakeet. Maybe another post I'll explain how that happened.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Topaz Mountain & UDIG fossils
This was so extensive, I decided it deserved it's own entry.
After we ate dinner at a mexican restaurant across from the motel it was about 9:30 so we retired to our room and tried to get the kids to bed as quickly as we could. This is always an adventure. I hardly slept. Tanner woke up once around 5'ish to get a drink. About an hour later he ended up in the bathroom and threw up. He threw up once more about 1/2 hour later and shortly after that you would never have guessed he was sick. This was all weird to me since this was the 3rd time in as many weeks that he had thrown up. The two other times, however was only once and then he was good. He hasn't done it since. Anyway, that was how my day started and since I had only gotten what seemed like three 1-2 hour naps through the night I knew it was going to be a long day.
Jon went for a run and came back while I was showering which woke Garrett up. He was the only one still sleeping at that point. Apparently he only came back long enough to wake him up and then decided to do a cool-down stretch outside which then he spotted his parents and talked with them for a while. (I didn't know this until after he finally came back.) Meanwhile, I was stuck in the room, trying to get myself and the kids dressed and fed bkfst wondering what the heck happened to him. He finally came back and took the kids to get some of the bkfst from the lobby while I finished getting ready and started packing back up. Jon and the kids said goodbye to his parents as they had their own places they wanted to see. It was about 10:30 before we were checking out. 
It did get a little more exciting when we found a spot that had many trilobite, even if they were fragmented and tiny. It was finally about 3 pm when we were done and I was plenty ready to head home. 
While the kids were off track in May we went to Topaz Mountain and Trilobite digging near Delta, Utah. It's about a 3-4 hour drive from here. Our itinerary was something like this: Leave Friday morning, meet up with Jon's parents in Salt Lake and head straight to Topaz Mtn. Do as much hunting as we could, retire for the night at a Delta motel and the next day go dig for Trilobites at a family run dig site before heading home on Saturday.
Our drive down there was very windy. Almost the whole time we were at Topaz mtn, it was pretty miserable. It was very warm and the wind was almost unbearable. It was "knock-you-over" kind of wind and being in the desert you would get pelted by all the sand/dust. The first couple hours we had no luck whatsoever but then a scout leader showed up where we were about to leave and asked if we were staying there and if we had found any topaz. We answered No to both and he said he's found topaz there before. He drove off and a little while later, so did we. We were going to try a different spot and then noticed him directing another part of his group around the mtn. 
Becky (Jon's mom), Jon, and Ethan making their way up the mountain at our second location.
After spending another unsuccessful 1/2 hour or so in a new location, we decided to go hunt the scout leader out. It turned out to be a good choice since we found several tiny bits of topaz. The biggest piece was the size of a small pea. To give you an idea of how small the pieces were and how windy it was Savannah found a pretty good piece (still tiny) and while Jon's mom was trying to take a picture of it, it blew away. (Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the successful part of the mountain.) By this time, we were all tired and the sun (that was reflecting any small pieces) was being hidden by a few clouds and the mountain so we decided to head to the motel.
Becky (Jon's mom), Jon, and Ethan making their way up the mountain at our second location.After spending another unsuccessful 1/2 hour or so in a new location, we decided to go hunt the scout leader out. It turned out to be a good choice since we found several tiny bits of topaz. The biggest piece was the size of a small pea. To give you an idea of how small the pieces were and how windy it was Savannah found a pretty good piece (still tiny) and while Jon's mom was trying to take a picture of it, it blew away. (Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the successful part of the mountain.) By this time, we were all tired and the sun (that was reflecting any small pieces) was being hidden by a few clouds and the mountain so we decided to head to the motel. After we ate dinner at a mexican restaurant across from the motel it was about 9:30 so we retired to our room and tried to get the kids to bed as quickly as we could. This is always an adventure. I hardly slept. Tanner woke up once around 5'ish to get a drink. About an hour later he ended up in the bathroom and threw up. He threw up once more about 1/2 hour later and shortly after that you would never have guessed he was sick. This was all weird to me since this was the 3rd time in as many weeks that he had thrown up. The two other times, however was only once and then he was good. He hasn't done it since. Anyway, that was how my day started and since I had only gotten what seemed like three 1-2 hour naps through the night I knew it was going to be a long day.
Jon went for a run and came back while I was showering which woke Garrett up. He was the only one still sleeping at that point. Apparently he only came back long enough to wake him up and then decided to do a cool-down stretch outside which then he spotted his parents and talked with them for a while. (I didn't know this until after he finally came back.) Meanwhile, I was stuck in the room, trying to get myself and the kids dressed and fed bkfst wondering what the heck happened to him. He finally came back and took the kids to get some of the bkfst from the lobby while I finished getting ready and started packing back up. Jon and the kids said goodbye to his parents as they had their own places they wanted to see. It was about 10:30 before we were checking out.
So we were finally on our way to dig for trilobite fossils. It was about an hour drive and half of it was on a dirt road. Once we arrived to the location I was a little taken aback at the steepness of the road into the pit. I was a little scared we would slide down instead of drive down. Anyway, we found a parking place and was glad to see they had some picnic benches under a carport covering so we could eat our lunch there. After a couple of potty trips to the port-o-potties, wind-gusts that almost took our plates and wrappers away, we finally got our hammers and shovels and went to dig. If I wasn't pregnant, and if Garrett wasn't tired and 2 yrs old, with the attention span of a gnat, it could have been more fun for the two of us. I spent more time dealing with him than hammering away at the shale. Even the few minutes when I did get to hammer I got frustrated and impatient quite quickly when I had no luck finding anything. I don't know if I would have been more patient with it all if I felt more relaxed but it wasn't very fun for me.
It did get a little more exciting when we found a spot that had many trilobite, even if they were fragmented and tiny. It was finally about 3 pm when we were done and I was plenty ready to head home. Even though it wasn't our intention, we ended up taking the scenic route home which took forever it seemed. (Out of curiosity I just looked it up on mapquest to see what the difference in time is and it claims it was only an extra 6 minutes to go the way we did. I don't believe it. Maybe it was the fact that we were starting so much farther west but that was the longest 6 minutes of my life. :P ) After unloading the van (but not unpacking) Jon and I still had chores to do, mostly mowing the lawn for him and bathing kids for me. I was glad we were able to go do something different but I was very glad to be back home.
Been a While
I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted something. Other than daily stuff I can't think of much in the way of excitement that has happened. I will try to think of a few things and then write about a couple more recent things in a different post.
The kids have finished the school year. Tanner graduated from preschool at the end of May and Savannah and Ethan just finished July 2nd.
That means in a few weeks (5 to be exact) Savannah is going to be in 5th grade, Ethan in 2nd, and Tanner will start Kindergarten. We got D track for year-round school which means they will start about the middle of Aug. while the rest of the school will start about July 20. We really lucked out this year with my request for this track. I'm happy with all of the teachers which is important, of course, but one of the big reasons I wanted this track was because my kids will have 4 weeks off from school 1 week after my due date. Other than being crazy with all the kids it should be a little better than having to shuttle kids to and from school, homework, set bedtimes, and most importantly, bring home viruses. Now if I can just get through the summer break without have a nervous breakdown.
I think this happened before I wrote last, actually, but I should mention the fact that we had the rough plumbing done downstairs. This included moving a drain pipe for the tub, getting all the water lines in for the bathroom, the toilet drain prepped, setting the bathtub in place, putting the water lines and drain pipes in for the bar sink on the opposite side of the house. Yeah, that was a LONG time ago and nothing else has progressed downstairs except for moving some stuff out. Ugh, I don't even want to mention that right now because I'll just get more frustrated and angry.
Savannah has been taking a tumbling class for about a year now. She has moved up a level recently since she can now do a back-handspring. She is now in a class that does competition which she has yet to do. Her biggest problem is fear. She totally has the body type for this kind of thing and if she would just have a little more confidence she could excel a little quicker. She enjoys it and enjoys it a little more since our neighbor girl is in the same class now.
The 3 older kids all had a dentist appt back in May. Savannah had her first cavity but the dentist said since it's in a tooth that she'll lose soon enough he didn't think it was worth filling. Lucky her! Ethan had 3 loose teeth and no cavities. Tanner had his first ever xrays that showed he had 2 cavities, both on the bottom, both on molars on either side of his mouth. So we made a return appt to have Tanner's cavities filled and to get Ethan's 3 loose teeth pulled since the adult teeth had already erupted. They both did extremely well getting numb although Tanner was very uptight through the whole thing. Tanner stayed numb for over 4 hours and he was not happy about that. Ethan was only numb for about 1.5 hours and with his teeth missing it looked like he was in a fight. I think it was because he lost only one tooth on the top. I forgot to take pictures right after...oh well.
I almost forgot about another May event. That is the annual school 5k. Usually the kids at school seem to spend a good amount of time out on the track getting in shape to run the race but not this year. It may have had something to do with all of the wet and cold weather we had and/or the teachers themselves but Savannah wasn't in as good of shape as before and she wasn't as excited about it either. Ethan just doesn't want to do it ever. Jon was in good shape and he was excited for it, I guess you could say. The day of the race Savannah's neighbor friend (who goes to a different school) decided to run it with her.
Jon did really well, coming in 2nd in his age group. Savannah didn't do so well but she blamed some of that on her friend who had never run a 5k before. It didn't matter too much since she (and anyone else who signed up) actually got a medal just for running at all. We thought how ironic it was that all the other years she would try soooo hard and never got anything except a lousy t-shirt and this year she wasn't nearly as excited, prepared, or fast and she got a medal. We spent some time at the carnival kind of stuff after the race and then got dinner and went home.
I think that about does it for May and the early part of June and I'll write about specific things in another post.
The kids have finished the school year. Tanner graduated from preschool at the end of May and Savannah and Ethan just finished July 2nd.
That means in a few weeks (5 to be exact) Savannah is going to be in 5th grade, Ethan in 2nd, and Tanner will start Kindergarten. We got D track for year-round school which means they will start about the middle of Aug. while the rest of the school will start about July 20. We really lucked out this year with my request for this track. I'm happy with all of the teachers which is important, of course, but one of the big reasons I wanted this track was because my kids will have 4 weeks off from school 1 week after my due date. Other than being crazy with all the kids it should be a little better than having to shuttle kids to and from school, homework, set bedtimes, and most importantly, bring home viruses. Now if I can just get through the summer break without have a nervous breakdown.I think this happened before I wrote last, actually, but I should mention the fact that we had the rough plumbing done downstairs. This included moving a drain pipe for the tub, getting all the water lines in for the bathroom, the toilet drain prepped, setting the bathtub in place, putting the water lines and drain pipes in for the bar sink on the opposite side of the house. Yeah, that was a LONG time ago and nothing else has progressed downstairs except for moving some stuff out. Ugh, I don't even want to mention that right now because I'll just get more frustrated and angry.
Savannah has been taking a tumbling class for about a year now. She has moved up a level recently since she can now do a back-handspring. She is now in a class that does competition which she has yet to do. Her biggest problem is fear. She totally has the body type for this kind of thing and if she would just have a little more confidence she could excel a little quicker. She enjoys it and enjoys it a little more since our neighbor girl is in the same class now.
The 3 older kids all had a dentist appt back in May. Savannah had her first cavity but the dentist said since it's in a tooth that she'll lose soon enough he didn't think it was worth filling. Lucky her! Ethan had 3 loose teeth and no cavities. Tanner had his first ever xrays that showed he had 2 cavities, both on the bottom, both on molars on either side of his mouth. So we made a return appt to have Tanner's cavities filled and to get Ethan's 3 loose teeth pulled since the adult teeth had already erupted. They both did extremely well getting numb although Tanner was very uptight through the whole thing. Tanner stayed numb for over 4 hours and he was not happy about that. Ethan was only numb for about 1.5 hours and with his teeth missing it looked like he was in a fight. I think it was because he lost only one tooth on the top. I forgot to take pictures right after...oh well.
I almost forgot about another May event. That is the annual school 5k. Usually the kids at school seem to spend a good amount of time out on the track getting in shape to run the race but not this year. It may have had something to do with all of the wet and cold weather we had and/or the teachers themselves but Savannah wasn't in as good of shape as before and she wasn't as excited about it either. Ethan just doesn't want to do it ever. Jon was in good shape and he was excited for it, I guess you could say. The day of the race Savannah's neighbor friend (who goes to a different school) decided to run it with her.
Jon did really well, coming in 2nd in his age group. Savannah didn't do so well but she blamed some of that on her friend who had never run a 5k before. It didn't matter too much since she (and anyone else who signed up) actually got a medal just for running at all. We thought how ironic it was that all the other years she would try soooo hard and never got anything except a lousy t-shirt and this year she wasn't nearly as excited, prepared, or fast and she got a medal. We spent some time at the carnival kind of stuff after the race and then got dinner and went home.I think that about does it for May and the early part of June and I'll write about specific things in another post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)