What's new

J lost a tooth. M got to be a face paint model at the neighbors. We went sans kids to Newport Rhode Island for Command Leadership School. We saw the Newport Mansions and lots of snow.
The kids got to go to Yosemite with Pepe and Meme.

Family Photo

Christmas Eve

Home Ownership

I follow a blog which I truly enjoy. I read an entry which talked about my friends needing a new furnace system. So I left a reply with some of our own homeownership "drama". We moved on November 1st and are getting to know our home. It comes with it's ups and dramas.
I think my reply to my friends blog actually makes an appropriate post...And don't get me wrong. We LOVE our home. It's just like we've been "house sitting" for someone else and as we move along we get better acquainted. Notice that we've named our "river" Copper Creek.

Ahhh Home Ownership, Ain't it the truth? Gotta minute?

#1 I spent hours with a plunger trying to clear the drains after the garbage disposal wouldn't process the potato peels. (on Christmas)

#2 Rain? The guy who upgraded our deck before we moved in threw all the old deck wood under the deck which is where the natural flow of our "Copper
Creek" goes into the storm drain under the house, got CLOGGED. M was out of town. Water rerouted and we had " Copper Creek" going over our yard, not under. Fortunately I was able to move the wood, clear a couple of animal/nature made dams and get the creek headed in the right direction again. Whew! Relief! Sigh! Wine!

#3 We initially trimmed some bushes and that then had left bits and pieces which had clogged our gutters. I used garbage cans to catch the water coming over the drain gutters so it wouldn't flood the garage. I was sucking up the water with a steam cleaner in the garage and moving things until I figured it out. (Yes,same day earlier than the creek issue) Solution- I was able to use J's pirate sword to shimmy down into the drain elbow and clear the block. Yeah. Whew!

#4 Water was dripping into our furnace during the heavy rain. This coincided with our wet storm and Copper Creek incident. So I put some plates to catch the water where it was leaking before it got into the furnace. We were cold for a couple days when it wasn't working but it kicked in. Luckily it works now. After M got home, M put a thing on the roof to keep the rain out. Yeah Mel!

#5 Our water heater stopped working. It was brand new, but a lemon. Long story. So cha ching, we got a new one, nice to meet you Ideal Plumbing.

#6 I need repeated lessons on our two sprinkler systems and their timers from the gardener. He's fixed several broken sprinklers.

#7 I just recently acquired the master code on our alarm system which has gone off a couple times. Yeah! Necessary!

#8 Chain link fence, gates, and clearing the wild grasses and brush in our gigantic yard for the DOG!!! Ouchly expensive, we really love our DOG and we're glad to keep fire hazzards to a minimum.

#9 I couldn't get the lights to work. Solution? J showed me the other switch that it collaborates with. Smart kid. Thanks J.

#10 Possums poop on our roof. They shimmy up and live inside the junipers by the pool. More animal stories to come....

I was saving these stories for in person , but you inspired my response. Hope you get a chuckle).

January 21, 2009 12:23 PM

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Awareness is everywhere during October. It's like Pink rather than orange is the official color for October. The View advertised a Pink Laptop/TV/DVD player for something like $300. If the proceeds go to breast cancer research, I'll take a whole houseful of pink please. Hmmm...I think.
Christina Applegate appeared on Oprah too. That was one program I didn't want to miss. I did shed some tears during that program for sure.

I have my own October update. Before my sister passed away from breast cancer I promised her I'd get an MRI. She had told me every year that it was great I was getting mammograms, but wouldn't I please get an MRI. So this is my 2nd year in a row getting my MRI. I got a treat and not a trick when I went to see my doctor today. My MRI is negative AGAIN! My mammogram looks good and I wanted to share that with you all! I even have a cool CD from Tripler with my own digital record.

Don't forget your annual mammogram ladies!

Do you like Pokemon?

Pokemon is all the rage in our house. Between Pokemon games for the DS Pokemon characters, cartoons, and card trading the kids can't get enough. My favorite Pokemon item that we have is the book that has all their info like their type, what they evolve into, special powers, and such. It keeps me in the loop. Mer drew this while watching a Pokemon video.

Mer's art

What a Doodle!

Good Luck

When we moved a couple years ago we drove from WA to SD before moving to HI. On that drive we didn't have any car trouble. Our car "waited" until a couple weeks after we got to SD and timed it's repair needs to just a couple weeks before we were turning it in for shipping to HI. I had gotten a flat and our locked lug nuts on all our tires and no tool for the lug nuts meant they couldn't change the tire. Even the spare was "locked". (Why? Well it was an E-bay purchase and we just didn't realize the lug nut thing.) We unfortunately didn't have road side service which is like $4 a month with USAA. But USAA took pity on us since we had had it previously and then had a lapse in our service because we'd stored a vehicle and been overseas and just didn't follow through. But we'd never not had it! So they gave us a free courtesy road side service and resigned us back up. The toe truck couldn't change the tire but he gave it a quick fill and I raced to my dad's mechanic. I barely made it but I made it! P picked us up and we went to have a Margarita and eat Mexican food. The mechanic broke off all the lug nuts and yes we needed not only new tires, new non locked lug nuts but come to find out our brakes were BARE! So I guess we were really lucky we made it from WA to SD! He fixed the car and we thanked our "lucky stars" that the timing had been perfect. I was so shook up about our good luck realizing that we could have had this happen in the middle of nowhere and the grades we'd come down through the mountain passes had been steep! It had only been a matter of timing. When you have your entire family luggage, animals, hot weather and an itinerary set a glich like that could be down right disasterous. But we were lucky which made it easier to swallow the dreaded bill. That's why I'm remembering this story. I just spent a bit of money again on the car, but I feel lucky. Continue to today...

Here we are ready to ship our car out in two weeks. This time we're not taking a road trip but I couldn't stop thinking about the above events about 2 years ago! So this light comes on in my same car and I have no idea what it is. There were a couple of other things wrong too. So I was thinking I should take it in. JB(from church) clued me in that J's door might not be working because of the child lock. She was right on. I fixed that. I was able to WD 40 M's door and it's sliding well again now. But that light could be brakes... right? So maybe a little brake fluid would do. I decided an oil change and fluid top off was in order. Maybe that would turn off the pesky light. Jiffy Lube suggested a brake check. Great, the light is because of the brakes! I took it in today to the NEX Auto Port Pearl Harbor and they are awesome! My back brakes were metal on metal and in need of pads before there was some serious damage or danger. We also had a hydraulic fuel leak... When I left after reading magazines and doing cross word puzzles all day the light was still on. That didn't make any sense! I went back in and said the brake light was still on. But guess what? It was a light that symbolized there was a burned out light bulb. I couldn't believe it! So, they changed it, My big clue that my brakes were bad had just been a LIGHTBULB? I guess not knowing what the light meant was the "lucky star or sign" coinciding again with a need for brakes and keeping our family safe.

Do you believe in coincidence or do you believe in Good Luck? Maybe I get "Good Luck" points to make up for the excess worrying I do...

By the way, congratulations to my friends who just arrived to VA to their new home. I enjoyed following your travels on your blog and that your only car trouble was the amount of bugs collected on the front of your license plate! Sorry about ES bonking his head at the rest stop.
Glad the MnM's idea helped! :)