Rumor has it we've set a new record for snow this year - 6 feet so far in January. About 3 1/2 feet is still on the ground, up to Josh's waist. Snow, and ice. Icicles taller than Josh and 80 times heavier.
So that would be the background to our weekend fun. Saturday morning when I got up Jesse informed me that there was a drop coming from the ceiling. In the toy room! Now those of you that have visited realize that there is only plumbing on one side of our house, and it isn't on the toy room side. The toy room is right below our bedroom, and as far as we could tell, we did not unknowingly spill a bathtub's worth of water under our bed. So where on earth was the water coming from??
Josh opened the hallway closet and turned on the light, thereby blowing a fuse. Well there's a clue! Ear to wall revealed a dripping sound. We walked outside and the outside wall of the closet just happened to be the one fully encased in ice. From the ground all the way up to the roof. Our suspicion laid where the brick met the stucco - there must be some kind of hole letting water into the house. So we grabbed a ladder and a pick-axe and Josh waded into the snow and spent the next hour or two knocking ice off the house. When he got all he could reach, we went up to the bedroom and he straddled the window and hit it from there. He managed to get the grand majority off the house.
The dripping expanded to 3 holes during the day and then by the end of the evening only one hole was dripping. However, this morning revealed a 4th hole, on the other side of the house! Ack! So turns out the entire back side of the house, which is vinyl siding, is also covered in ice. Well, it's marginally less advisable to hit vinyl siding with a pick-axe, and it wasn't at all obvious where it was getting in, so we just give up. We may be under water in the morning, and for sure we're going to have to get someone out here, but with this much snow left to melt, it's going to get worse before it gets better! I guess the good news is that besides the spot under the original closet, the basement is still dry, so our hopes to one day finish it and carpet it live on. Oh, and the ceiling in the toy room is now getting a little soft and bulgy. Odds are the whole thing is going to cave. So we have that to look forward to.
The snow on the deck is up to the railing, but the deck is still holding up, so that's good too. And I heard we're getting another storm this week! Ack!
Since the toy room was wet with bits of plaster all over it, it seemed a good time to clean it. So last night while Josh was at Timothy's basketball game, I dumped all the toy bins into the middle of the floor and started from scratch. I mostly got it back together before they got home.
Since I was on a roll, I decide to attack our bedroom today. So after I had a cup of coffee from my new Keurig machine (which I bought with some Amex points I had and keep in the bedroom) I started the bedroom cleaning, which included matching up about 200 pairs of socks. Josh got the laundry started (we're a little behind!) and kept bringing me up a load at a time. I told Jocelyn she had to go clean her room too (I just picked it up a week ago and it was already a disaster area!) and that she couldn't come out of her room until it was clean. She went in there and locked the door. Every so often I would knock on it to hand her socks or clothes or whatever and she would open it just an eyeball's width. Needless to say, nothing was getting cleaned.
So once I was done with my room and the socks, I went in and forced Jocelyn to clean her room. We got everything put away and we vacuumed and then we cleaned out all the drawers for clothes that didn't fit and organized all the toys. Then on to Jesse's room for the same, stopping every once in a while to fold more laundry and match more socks. Right now 25 single socks are still lined up on the floor of my room.
So now J&J are both happy with their rooms, as am I. My new k-cups are neatly arranged in the new coffee station in my bedroom. I need some of those little individual half and half thingys so I don't have to go down to the kitchen for milk!
Jesse asked today if he could have some fruit snacks. We said no, after dinner. He noted that it was the last one in the pack and he didn't want someone else to get it (ah, one of the side effects of having many children). So I said fine, go hide it in his room. He ran off and then came back to tell me:
Jesse: ok Mom, I hided it. It's in my dollhouse.
Jesse starts to walk away
me: but now I know where it is
Jesse stops dead in his tracks, but doesn't turn around quite yet. Finally he turns around
Jesse: yeah but just YOU can know mommy, and don't tell anyone and don't tell daddy
me: ok
Jesse turns to run off to play, but returns 10 seconds later
Jesse: and tonight YOU put me to bed, not daddy, ok?
Well that's the news from here! Please pray we don't all die of black mold poisoning before we are able to get someone to come look at the ceilings!
No comments:
Post a Comment