House Stuff

I don't even feel like talking about it, but Friday, I was downstairs playing with the boys when I noticed their socks were wet.  I was trying to put their shoes on so I could take them to the pediatrician.  Adrian had to have his ears rechecked to make sure the drops helped his ear infection and that it went away.  Well, I looked around to discover the source of the water.  I was imagining that old Lexi had peed on the rug and the boys had stepped in it.  But as I walked, the carpet went "squish squish" under my Tevas...the whole area near the washing machine and the fridge was flooded--all the way out to the foot of the stairs.  It wasn't that there was inches of water, but the carpet was completely saturated.  

At first I didn't know where the leak was coming from.  I had just done laundry so I thought it might have been something to do with the washer.  However, the night before we had also moved the fridge out of the built-in space so that it could be serviced.  We had to throw out well over $50 worth of food in the freezer because it was unfrozen.  The fridge and freezer simply weren't cold enough!  So I also thought the flooding could be related to that.  I had to put the boys in the pack and play to investigate.  They were screaming and crying so hard they were red in the face.

I had to hunt for the flashlight, and finally, I was able to see behind the fridge.  The flood was due tp the copper tube that leads to the ice maker and water dispenser.  It was leaking at a pretty good clip.  Of course, the shut off to that copper pipe was rusted shut.  Couldn't budge it.  Nor could I find the water shut off to the whole house.  Our garage has like 15 valves and faucets and switches.  I finally found it (so I thought) but when I turned it, the water was still on.  

By this time, I had to leave for the pediatrician, and I didn't want to miss the appointment since if Adrian still had an ear infection I'd be asking for a referral back to the ENT doctor.  I also knew there was no way I was going to be able to watch the boys, take them to pediatrician, shut off water until we could repair it, shop vac the water, and otherwise move furniture and clean up without Carlos.  Poor Carlos was pissed at me at first, but he left work (which cost him a very valuable vacation day) to come home and help clean up.  He still thinks I exaggerated, but if we had left the water in the carpet all day, especially with the heat and humidity now upon us, I think we might have had a mold issue and definitely a smell issue in the basement.

So, he cleaned up while I entertained the boys (hard because their whole play area was wet and/or torn apart!  Then the fridge repair guy came.  $250 and a few hours later, the leaky pipe was fixed and the freezer and fridge temp was normal.  It needed a new part that keeps the back wall of the freezer from completely icing up.  

The next day (Saturday) I noticed a pipe on the furnace dripping!  I hadn't seen this before.  So I called the plumber.  He told me to put a bucket under it (which I had already done) and he'd call me Monday to take a look.  Always freaking something!

There is no bottom to this tube!?!

On a more positive note, we updated the house number on the side of the house.  The old number on the side of the house was small and beat up.  I like our new floating number much better.  I bought a second black floating number 8 to replace the brass number on the front of the house, but ultimately we decided we like that one better for the front of the house (It's bigger).  It can always be pained another color rather than brass....

Carlos used wood filler to patch the holes left by the old number and will touch up with paint as soon as the humidity will allow the stuff to dry!

In the backyard, the hydrangea is in full bloom, and it's gorgeous.  The former owner told me that her mother gave her the hydrangea.

Here's the backyard, basically taken from behind the garage.

An instagram photo of the porch and the tiger lillies and hydrangea bush.

Here's my new compost pile.  It's got a nice layer of leaves on the bottom followed by some grass clippings.  I need to add soil and it will have all the necessary components.  I'm not sure it will work or I'll even keep it up, but I wanted to try!

In the area photographed below, we are talking about extending the patio that Carlos started for his grill.  We'd like to have the patio go out to the stairs and the end of the porch.  Not sure when we'll have time to do this, but we'd like to put our "new" glider swing (more on that in a future post) there and maybe a table or fire pit.

Lastly, we bought this picnic table from a lady who was selling it on the Easton Online Yard Sale.  $15.  It's in good shape, and the boys will love it!