Year 4, October 14th-17th, 2019: Expect the Unexpected

So, hi, I'm exhausted. Do you want to know why?  Even if you don't want to know, I'm going to tell you anyway.  It's Monday and up until about 3:30pm, everything was fine.  Even Keturah had gotten up earlier than normal for a Monday because we didn't have youth group the night before.  I had just finished up a long read aloud session with her, when Justin came in from mowing.  He said, "Mom, did you know that there is a huge puddle on the side of the house?"  Uh, no, there shouldn't be because even when it rains hard we don't have water pooling there.  I had asked Jared about an hour earlier when he was home why something over near the water softener tank was turning on and off so much.  He didn't know, nor did he go to check on it.  We guessed maybe the leak in the bathtub faucet was getting worse and causing the water pressure tank to constantly need to be on and off.  Um, well, we should have investigated more because when I went outside to check at 3:30, I found this:

I wonder whose big feet these are?  It was Justin's, because he came outside in his socks and stepped on the wet ground. Clueless kid.

Oh my word! Where is this coming from?

Water all the way from the chimney to the driveway.  The yard is soaked!

I was taking pictures and heard a huge gush.  This is the pipe for the sump pump and out spewed a ton of water!

Where the water started in garage around the water pressure tank.  It's hard to tell if it's coming through the wall or one of the pipes inside the garage.  The pipe goes through the outside wall to the crawlspace and then to the garage.

This box was wet.  Thankfully these tools were easy to dry off and/or they won't wet at all.

Water from the back to the front of the garage but not along the wall. So at least the water on the sidewalk is not coming through the concrete.

A few of the damp items.  Mostly the bottom of the cardboard boxes were damaged.  It hadn't been long enough for the water to seep through to the contents yet.  Thank goodness.  I hate dealing with wet stuff.

Keturah voluntarily helped Daddy sweep the extra water into the ditch he made.

My last expensive wardrobe box can no longer be salvaged. Hopefully, I won't need it for another 10 years anyway.  I'll invest in new boxes from UHaul when that time comes. They definitely are the best boxes we've used and worth the price.  We just don't rent their trucks, lol.

From the front of the garage to the back.  Thankfully, most things are in rubbermaid roughneck totes or they are bikes and mowers and garbage cans that dry out quickly.  There's a reason I'm ANAL about how things are stacked and stored.  An ounce of prevention is worth it's weight in gold I tell ya!

Not sure what Okavango is but, yup, homeowner problems.

Well, I immediately called Jared to come back home.  Poor guy, it's fall break at Southside, so he finally has full work days in the office and now this happens.  Oi! But of course he comes home and we set about diagnosing it and cleaning up.  I recruited Justin and Keturah and for once they didn't complain but pitched in to help me remove some things from the garage.  Praise the Lord that I'm obsessed with using Rubbermaid Roughneck totes!  We had three cardboard boxes with actual real momentos in them that I had to dismantle and distribute to other places.  They were leftovers from moving anyway, but I had not worried about them.  None of the items were wet inside the boxes because the leak hadn't been going for too long, maybe this morning. Other totes and tools and things were wet, but easily dried off with no damage.  My last big wardrobe box got wet, but it only had my stash of cardboard boxes and none of the other boxes inside got wet.  I did consolidate the cardboard boxes and put some in recycling.  I keep different sizes for Christmas gift wrapping and I have 3 or 4 diaper boxes leftover and those are one of my favorite boxes to use because they are small and have handles.  I was keeping the wardrobe box because those are more than $10 brand new.  But oh well, it can be easily replaced.

It's a good thing that I followed my intuition two weeks ago and cleaned up the garage because more things would have been damaged and the whole area harder to clean if I hadn't.  And now that 4 boxes are dismantled, the garage will look even cleaner! Woot! Woot! Meanwhile, Jared dug a trench to channel the water away from the sidewalk and down the yard.  He used a broom to sweep the water up and over the sidewalk edge to the ditch he made and it worked quite well.  Once we shut off the water, the area did dry up on it's own.  What we think happened was there is a leak or some kind of damage between the top of the well to part of the crawlspace wall and/or the water pressure tank.  So, we will have a friend come out tomorrow to dig up the pipes and see what's going on.  I'm hoping it's not the well itself.  I'm also hoping it is resolved by tomorrow evening, not only because we need water, but because it's supposed to start raining tomorrow night through Wednesday.

I'm grateful this happened this week and not last week or I would be going bananas over it.  Instead, I was calm and the four of us tackled it and handled what we could.  I'm also grateful that we do have a little bit of money from the IRS refund which just came in last week to help pay for whatever we need to do.  I'm a little concerned though because the co pays on my arm surgery is around $2,000, Jared's sinus stuff is another $500-1000, and who knows what my surgery co pay will be.  We do not have enough HSA money to cover that, so we will have to do monthly payments.  It's a good thing we didn't get the van into the repair shop last week.  I do want it to be looked at, but I'm glad we take it slow when we have "magic" money in our pockets. I'm grateful that it was a sunny day, cool and crisp, so we didn't sweat but things dried out quickly. I'm grateful the kids pitched in without complaining. I'm grateful for neighbors and friends that have businesses that can come and take care of us quickly and that we can trust. I was just thinking again yesterday how I would find it hard to get help if I didn't have the church as our community.  Church makes it easy! Oh, and I'm grateful Jared works 5 minutes away and the "Executive Director" doesn't care if he leaves for an emergency. So, yup, another emergency, these things happen. I'm glad I was in a decent mood today, until....

Until my body decided to completely shut down again.  I worked "hard" for 2 hrs unexpectedly and then, you guessed it, I hit the wall, and I hit it so hard that I just about bit everyone's head off the rest of the evening.  I had to put myself in time out.  I just physically hurt so much!  And I made sure I was careful lifting and moving slowly and getting the kids to help as much as I could.  It was just a lot of back and forth and some bending over.   And while I am trying to stay very positive, it's not joke that when you think you have a bit of money you can hang onto for awhile, poof, something happens.  I'm not happy about the high medical bills, but I know how to handle them. I'm super grateful that nothing was damaged, but now I have to find places to put those knick knacks, which surprisingly, Abishai and Keturah want to hang up these really hard metal string art LARGE heavy artwork that my dad made when he was in his teens or something on their walls! I mean, they aren't the best looking decor and need a bit of cleaning, but sure, ok, I kept them as a reminder of my Dad's artistic ability and that string art is nothing new. I never thought the kids would be interested in them. I think that's awesome! My Dad would be pleased.

So, there's that.  The water is shut off for now, but we turned it back on for a few minutes to fill water bottles and big buckets to flush toilets.  We can shower and shave over at the in laws when we need to.  I just hope that it's a one day thing so we can turn the water back on and off when we need to by tomorrow night.  I'm grateful that although I have a friend and her boys coming tomorrow, we can be flexible and that I am home a lot and can notice these things and be here for repair people without taking off any work time.  It's how we roll.  I'm sure Abishai will be very interested in what the people do tomorrow like digging a massive hole.  Socks will go nuts too.  Fun times!

Maybe we need to move back to Canada so Jared can have more trees....

My friend and her hubby with their awesome handcrafted fences!

I was pretty happy this morning.

This was cute.  The song "Need You More" was written when this little guy was 8 weeks old and stopped breathing.  Luke said it was his dream to sing it to his little guy Leo on stage like this.  Yeah!

Wow!  I wanted to go for a hike and almost did with Abishai, but we cleaned up the mess instead.

Abishai learning how arcs work by trying to hit the target with his Paw Patroller. 

Yup, we started our Christmas wishlists today.

#Garygoing  He visited the Boeing plant while he was in Washington State over the weekend.  Crazy!

I'm living vicariously through our friends the Grahams this week as they travel to New England, tent camping for the most part, and enjoying the leaf peeping!  So jealous!  I hope to do this next year.  But how cool is that a Vermont motel does this?

Today was Canadian Thanksgiving!

Even my idle miner game knows it's fall, y'all!

Isn't this beautiful? If you are interested, I can send you her information.

Well, the boy said he was going to Ava's house for a few minutes and then go to the Strunks house.  Apparently, he never made it to Strunks house because he posted on Instagram about his impromptu date night. Ava's dad and brother took them to a park for a walk or something and then Ava gave him this bracelet which he wore to bed.  The clear bead is a heart.  I'm telling you, these two are the most romantic human beings I've ever seen.

"I sneaked in here when daddy was 'sleeping.'  Hehehe."

So many giggles tonight!

Day 2 of no water.  Well, our friend and his crew didn't have enough man power and had a lot of other projects going on, so nothing got done today.  I was not happy, but at least that decision was made by 8:45am and I could plan the rest of my day.  I decided that since it's difficult to host others when there's no running water, we would take my friend up on her offer and meet at the apple orchard instead for lunch. So that's what we did.  I was hoping her boys would open up more, but it was kind of an awkward setting.  Abishai got to play on the playground a bit more like he wanted to and he got to roll around on pumpkins and hay.  He also tried to talk to my friend's deaf husband, who just nodded and smiled at him.  Poor Charlie.  I totally should have warned Abishai and I think Abishai would have tried to understand.  This is the sweet family that helped us move to Canada and we've been friends since Jesse and Justin were born.  We met at MOPS.  It was gorgeous outside though, and I was grateful for the fresh air.

Since it's hard to flush toilets without running water, we tried to stay away from home most of the day.  From the orchard, we stopped at the church to show Daddy the BIG pumpkins that Abishai insisted we buy.  Actually, they were huge and they fit well with what we have at home.  Abishai had rolled the big $12 pumpkin that I think weighs almost as much as he does, down the hill at the orchard and also from the van up the sidewalk to the house.  The other pumpkin was much smaller and he could carry that one.  He had rolled it down to us at the picnic tables and had us guard it.  I couldn't say no.  Anyway, after being crazy at the church while Grandpa was trying to work, and using the restrooms, we headed out to do more errands.  First we dropped off recycling at Kroger.  Then, we went to Chick Fil A because Abishai didn't eat the caramel apple that was supposed to be his lunch.  I only bought him a meal and myself a drink.  Justin bought himself a drink and Keturah was of course jealous.  Beniah had been called in early for a leadership meeting, and I thought he would be at the store, but he was instead at the administration offices over the bridge a couple of blocks away.  Oh well.  After CFA, we went to Aldi's first to pick up supplies for the house like paper plates and bowls, toilet paper, milk, eggs, breakfast items, etc. We were able to get everything we needed there.  Yeah!  Not a full run though because the paycheck wasn't in yet.

Then we went backwards a little to Meijer, across from CFA because Keturah needed sneakers.  We bought a pair on clearance that I think are very trendy, and very solid.  She's convinced she needs a bigger size because she's used to lots of toe room, which is my fault because we have always bought a size too big so she can grow into them.  Her other problem is that her foot is slightly wider than the average person.  My sister has wider feet, and my mom's, too.  Benaiah's are super wide.  So of course new shoes will pinch.  But for $20, I think we choose well.  Justin also wanted to go to Meijer because the brand new season 11 of Fortnite came out which revamped the whole game into basically Fortnite 2.  He needed a new gift card so he could buy all the new skins and weapons and such and have them right away instead of earning them.  He doesn't do that with every season, but I know how much it helps sometimes.  Then he can win challenges either.

Oh, speaking of Fortnite (I'm writing this on Wednesday, not Tuesday, so I'm combining memories here), Justin got back onto the game at I think 9pm and all his youth leaders were on!  He got to play online with Chad Monahan, Luke Green, Aaron Schroeder, and Josh Howerton (who's leaving us!), plus Chad's son Abram (who's a year younger than Justin).  He said he carried Luke around and then because he was about to die, he threw Luke down.  In the part of the game they were playing, they ended up 2nd out of 25.  He was actually disappointed by that, but dude, it's pretty good!  They played as a team.  AND THEN today, Justin's small group was invited to meet their leaders at Chicago's Pizza at 11:30am for lunch.  Well, Justin was the ONLY kid to show up!  Yes, this is the same group and men that he got to have one on one time the night before AND a few weeks ago at small group.  Sometimes it pays not to be overcommitted to extracurricular activities.  It is fall break so the others are probably on vacation. Ron Hittel and Will Hopson also came to Chicago's.  So, Justin is fast becoming well known by everyone.  I'm afraid to say it, but Justin might make a better leader than Benaiah.  I think it's a tad more loyal and committed and he has more mercy and grace.  Benaiah leads well, but he has had to learn to give mercy and grace because he advocates for justice.  Benaiah is a 7 with a wing 8 (or so he says) on the Enneagram where Justin is possibly a 9 with a wing 1. So, there's that.  I was the same way, buddying up to my youth leaders, always being at every youth group function, etc but I wasn't as vocal as Justin.  Anyway, how fun!

Ok, back to Tuesday afternoon, oh yeah, the Meijer run.  Well, as Keturah and I were looking at shoes, against my better judgment, I let Justin take Abishai to the toy department to look at Legos.  Well, the Hot Wheels are in the same aisle and Abishai attached himself to this one $10 playset he had to have. We tried talking him out of it, yanking it out of his hands, distracting him, etc. to no avail.  He wailed from the back of the store until we got into the car and I said no tablet at home unless you stop fussing.  He finally stopped fussing.  SO embarrassing!  And this is why I don't got shopping with kids anymore.  I do need to take them out to practice, I get that, but I can't handle all three of them at once.  The fibro fog is real, people, and too much kid noise is overwhelming.  Anyway, when we walked out with Keturah's shoes, we didn't realize that the security tag was still on them.  So, today, I ran back into Meijer to the service desk for them to take it off and it made noise as I went into the store.  Go figure! And on a whim, I went back to the toy aisle and got the toy for Christmas.  It is a pretty cool set, I have to admit.  He still loves police things and the hot wheels cars actually get put in the jail and it comes with a police badge for him and a police car.  Yup, it will be his in something like 70 days.  It was so bad yesterday, that he said he would ride Sandy, the electronic horse, IF he got the toy.  Oi.  He's a tough one! So we left, stopped by the library where I sent Justin in to exchange books, and then finally got home.  I made a pizza and then left at 6:15pm for Mom's Night Out.

At MNO I didn't realize it, but out of the 7 of us, one is the IAHE representative for the counties east of ours, one person's parents were heavily involved in the IAHE towards the beggining, so she's a 2nd generation homeshcooler, and of course my friend Molly, Eli's mom, who recommended us was there.  The IAHE rep was so excited because they've been covering our county in the interim between the rezoning of the reps and now, so for about 18 months or so. Ah! It makes me so excited but I'm so intimidated, too.  I can compare it to when me moved to PEI and I was ready to dig in with everything I had.  I was ready to get to know the culture and speak up and make friends.  I was willing to take big risks, and it paid off. It's such a good feeling to know that I can be excited and ready to tackle something bigger than me, bigger than my health issues, bigger than my hurts.  Now, if for some reason we aren't selected, there are still TONS of ways we can volunteer.  I do feel a little anxious because on weeks like this one, it's going to be hard to fit it all in.  But at the same time, I know I can stay on task better when the needs are urgent. We've gotten a lot accomplished this week and still have more to come. I need a challenge.  I do my best when I'm challenged. Ok, when I CHOOSE to be challenged, right? Lol. Anyway, it was a great evening all around.

My babies circa September 2010 Beech Grove Fall Festival Parade.  Those pigtails!  That blonde hair!  Ah!

They've waited 48 hrs for this....Fortnite reimagined.

And the black hole regenerates the new season 11!

Some new guys fishing for weapons.

Intro video for the season.

Party on the bus, that flies in the air, where you jump from to go down the map where you play the game.  Weird, yes!

The new map!

Benaiah ordered this moths ago. It's a kickstart campaign item, so he paid into it to help them get started. You get to make your own phone!  And it came with all the tools it needs like a sauntering gun.

I have more photos on the DSLR camera, but as typical, Abishai is making a friend!

Yes, we bought the pumpkins.  That thing is ginormous!

The toy he shriekd about through the whole store.  We took pictures of things so we could add them to our wishlist.

Look closely at the top of Keturah's head.  There's a mighty curl going on up there with the hairs that are regrowing from her boo boo a couple omonths ago.  I'm glad it doesn't bother me at all.  Then I remembered the girl in the Grinch, and asked Keturah, who said it was and she said it was Cindy Lou.  And now, Abishai won't leave her alone about it. It's too funny though!

Rolling out the pumpkins like we are rolling into fall.

Abishai insisted on rolling up the sidewalk until we got to our fall display.

Ta da!

He's so proud of his hard work with Mommy!

And this is what happens when preschoolers get super tired. Oi!

Then on Wednesday, the kids tried to have Grandpa Bible Class in the morning, but technology was failing and time was short.  They did sneak it in at 4pm.  Meanwhile, I was trying to eat breakfast and make phone calls to the dentist (my sensitive tooth is acting up) and the doctor (to get a sick note for Benaiah).  At 11:15am I had to take Justin to Chicago's pizza, and then Meijer for Keturah's shoes.  Home for a quick bite to eat, meanwhile Jared comes home to eat as well and check on the status of the water leak fix.  Oh those poor guys!  The workers went to the hardware store at least 5 times.  I felt so bad for them because the lead guy was so super nice. And around 6pm, they finally got it put back together!  Yeah!  We have running WATER again!  The pvc pipe going from the well to the house was 95% broken off the well head!  The lead guy's name was Angel.  How appropriate, eh? Hispanic guy, and like always, I know Hispanics to be hard workers. But it was crazy with making sure the guys knew when I was leaving and who they could talk to.  That's why I had Leah come over just in case while I was gone to Socks' annual exam. Benaiah was around, but I didn't want to put the responsibility on him.  Plus, I thought I was leaving Keturah and Abishai at home and taking Justin.  Abishai insisted that he was going and no one else.  Ok, then.

Abishai and I took Socks to his annual exam this afternoon.  The ride up and back down to the northside of Indy was great for once!  No slow traffic!  It's nearing the end of construction season!  Woot! Woot! Although I was the one holding the leash, I think Abishai wanted Mommy time alone and he wanted to make sure Socks was going to be ok.  I finally met Alisha's favorite Vet, Dr. Johnson and boy he's a hoot!  He puts dog treats in his mouth, talks to the animals like babies, has very high energy, and sure enough explained that he likes to be frugal, so he tries not to do anything that is not absolutely necessary.  He said bloodwork can be done every 2-3 yrs if the dog is healthy.  So, we did skip that this time, since Socks' last labs were in January when he got that growth removed.  Socks gained a couple of lbs and is now back to his weight from a few years ago.  He's so lean that he could use a bit of fattening up. Dr. Johnson said Socks' teeth are cleaner than his personal dogs' teeth at home. And when I said Socks has had only one professional cleaning, Dr. Johnson was impressed. Socks got his heartworm test one and his yearly vaccines. We were in and out of there in less than 20 minutes.  Boom! Abishai was very good during the exam, so I let him watch videos on my phone on the way home.  Bad idea.  He nearly puked when we got into our driveway.  I must be a really bad driver, or my kids just can't handle long drives. Oi!

I got home a little after 3pm and had a bit of time to catch my breathe before leaving again at 5:15pm for dance class with Keturah.  Meanwhile the guys were working on the pipes, Justin and Keturah had Bible class, and Benaiah went to Grandma's for a shower and bought himself lunch at a fast food place. He's feeling fine and is currently sleeping over at Ethan Strunk's house.  Their small group had a bonfire there tonight anyway, but then Benaiah wanted to spend more time with his friend.  Imagine! Spending time with friends!  Only because the girlfriend is on vacation with her family, lol.  Meanwhile I got Keturah to dance and bumped into one of the ladies from last night!  We had a very "informative" conversation about co ops and the Christian version of girl scouts and boy scouts.  Afterwards, Keturah and I beat feet home so I could start putting the house back together.  It took about an hour to clean up all the dishes, run the dishwasher, clean the toilets, sinks and bathtub, and keep Abishai happy.  But all is right in my world again.  We are clean! And now I know what it's like to loose power and not have water.  We have paper plates and bowls for next time.

And now, time for sleep.  Tomorrow, I'm headed out to the dentist, counseling, meet briefly with someone to talk about curriculum, and then teach piano.  Friday is a hiking at Holliday Park. Phew, is it Saturday yet!? Lol

And there she is.  Our well head or outtake valve stuff.

Our little front porch.

The culprit has been revealed!

Need to replace the compressor and joints.

This is one of them.

It's go time!  And this time, you have the whole back seat to yourself!  Enjoy buddy!

Aww, this is the sweetest dog you'll ever meet.  Even anti dog people like him.

A boy and his pup.

What?! I can hear and smell all kinds of animals on the other side of this door.  Let me out!  I want to be friends with them!

Handsome boy, full of air, and very lean. 9 1/2 yrs old.

Sweet picture!

Gotta have Socks in the picture, too!

"Mommy, the puppy is colorful because he's sick (he isn't wrong). We need to make him well again.

I can do it all, Mom!

Ava made it for him.  Just like I used to make things for Jared.  So sweet!  The clear bead is a heart, too.

And our friends, the Grahams, made it my hometown!  And actually, this park is less than a mile from where I grew up!  How cool! She's going to write up a whole blog post it about it, which will really help me as I plan our leaf peeping and historical trip to New England next year during the fall.

Oh how that title so fits this week!  Ugh!  So after a quick morning of getting some things done, I left at 12:15pm for the dentist and didn't return from that appointment and other errands until 6:15pm. I left the kids at home and Benaiah came home from his sleepover at Ethan's house in the middle of the afternoon. I had asked Leah to stop by, but she didn't see my text until after the fact.  Whoops. Abishai of course had too much screen time, but I heard that they spent a few minutes outside, too.  The problem with me being away doing this or that is that I don't have time to go over homework and therefore, they often don't know what to do next. I managed to quickly correct math, but now Justin is completely stuck because I need to go over individual problems with him.  Fall break is fun, right?

Meanwhile, I spent this gorgeous fall day zipping up and down the streets of Greenwood.  I had a dentist appointment at 1pm and he determined that he couldn't do anything with my throbbing tooth and recommended a specialist. Ok.  I called them and I have an appointment for next Thursday. That means another week of pain and being careful how I eat.  Not fun.  They mentioned root canal and that takes 2 hrs or something so who knows.  Plus the pain afterwards.  Great.  Not happy at all about that.  So we'll see.

Then I headed to the Mocha Nut again because it's a 25 minute drive to the dentist and then to my counselor from home, so, I had 90 minutes of quiet reading time. That was wonderful. I started a new book on having great conversations and how to teach it to children, complete with discussion questions and examples.  Simple read, easy to put into practice.  And that's just about my speed right now.  Meanwhile, I waited on a phone call from Benaiah's doctor for the sick note he needed so he can work tomorrow.  After 2 phone calls from me and one from Benaiah just today, I hope that they will have it ready on time for him to pick up tomorrow.  And I hope they let him pick it up without an adult because I'm taking the other 3 and a friend to a special park, Holliday Park, 40 minutes away for the afternoon. Then it was counseling, then I went all the way back up Madison to where Keturah does dance to talk to a lady about curriculum and saw two other ladies I know (we met the church when the families were having their AHG and Trail Life meetings (like Girl/Boy Scouts). I had to stick around there awhile, and then came home, ate a quick supper and it was time for piano lesson.

I'm exhausted.  I don't know how many miles I drove or how long I spent in the car in total.  Maybe 1 hr and 30 minutes? 90 minutes at the cafe? 20 minutes at the dentist. 1 hr at counseling. 50 minutes waiting on/talking curriculum.  I'm in pain, kind of frustrated, and feel behind on things. But we are going to enjoy this fall weather.  Oh, and Keturah threw a major fit all morning, so that didn't help me at all. If we can just make it to Saturday.  But we need to get groceries, too, and I'm exhausted.  Next week is a lot more calm. Just gotta make it through.  And Jared can only help so much since he aggravated his back when he dug the hole for the well pipe. 

Abishai made himself a bed in the hallway, and Keturah was upset about it.  He was playing very quietly.

We brought in the small rocking chair from my childhood and Abishai loves it!  I mean, he loved it before, but now it really fits him!  Yeah!

Old rocking chair and a roaring fire.  Abishai loves it!

Poor Shauna has her double mastectomy and maybe reconstruction at 7 am New Orleans time (central time) tomorrow (Friday) morning.  I can't imagine. Sigh.  It's been a rough year for the daughter in laws.  Hopefully 2020 will be a year of healing instead of pain.

The End