Stormy Start to the Day

I was woken this morning by a storm.  Alot of lightening and some thunder that lasted about 10-15minutes.  I thought nothing of it and got the kids organized.

When we stay in the hotel, the routine is get out by 7.15, drop by Chick-Fil-A for breakfast and head down to school. We got out ok but the first set of lights were out – not a good sign.  ALL the fast food places were shut due to power being out.  Emergency lights lite up the major intersection were two clowns in a hurry had collided, and traffic was heavy.  We headed up to the house to get a poptart for breakfast and feed the cats. 

It was now 7.35 and we need to be heading back to school.  Plan one was foiled – the normal road was blocked off by the police.  We struggled along the main road which was by now a parking lot, and down the main road.  We finally arrived at school by 8.20!

The problem was trees down in the storm, traffic lights out at most intersections, some lights were rotated so that my left turn arrow was turned to the left or right and couldn’t be seen; and we frequently came across blocked left or right lanes that had limbs or firetrucks in them.  In essense – it was a real pain getting round town.

I phoned the septic guy to get him pinned down to a time only to find that he couldn’t make it until late afternoon.  Knowing that the main problem was problably not a septic one but rather a plumbing one, I decided another night in the hotel was likely.

Got the youngest to school just a few minutes late to find that the school had no power and he had the day off.   So we both went down to the Barrington to see what damage had occurred there – all  the trees were still upright, which was great.

 The septic guy called at 2.50 to say he was 10 minutes away. What a rotten time – that was just as I was about to leave to pick up from school.  I delay a few minutes to get him started.  At 3.10 he phoned again – he was lost and had the wrong address.  I phoned the eldest to do the school run for me.  The septic guy finally arrived at 4pm and starts his stuff. 

Around 2 pm that afternoon I had a phone call.  The Christmas tree recycling program lets you get free mulch in return. I had sent off the form.  Yesterday they chose to be in the area and wanted to deliver the mulch.  They arrived at 4.30 to find that the septic guy was parked right where I wanted to pile the 20 yards of mulch.  Quickly worked on plan b for dumping mulch.

So the septic guy finishes and establishes that most of the house is useable but the kitchen area is still blocked.  The plumber is booked, again, for the problem that I told him about on Sunday. He should be here this morning. 

I wonder what today will bring!

I spoke too soon!

OK the carpet did arrive and was installed, followed by the guy who finished off the painting and touched up some small areas damaged when the carpet was laid.

The carpet went down Saturday, my brother-in-law plus wife arrived on Wednesday for a few days.  We installed eldest, who was using the spare room, back into his room in the basement just in time for the guests. They stayed longer than two days – they were here until last Saturday – a total of 10 days altogether.  They were no trouble, but on top of chaos, it just gave one day to get things sorted before yet another Monday.

I broke my rule of not doing laundry on Sunday to get some of the backlog sorted. Got dinner started and began to attack the ironing pile.  That is when I saw a little puddle on the floor. On closer inspection I saw several puddles, all parallel to the counter.

Darn, I thought, the dishwasher is leaking, or maybe the fridge.  Alas as my eye travelled right I ntoiced the old, little bathroom.  This thing is totally against code and common decency. When the people before remodelled they left the small bathroom by the back door.  The door to the room opens right onto the kitchen and with very little effort one can sit on the throne and reach for a beer!  Hence I shut the water off and declared it unusable!

I tentatively opened the door to the offending little room.  I gingerly approached the lid and opened it – YUUUUUUUK!  No further description needed here.

One quick call to the plumber indicated that we could not flush, shower or otherwise use anything that would put waste water, or any other sort into the system. 

We are English.  We continued to complete dinner, and served it in the dining room as per norm.  Dishes were stacked in the dishwasher and kids dispensed to bed.Even the countertops were wiped with disposable cloths.

This morning was a rather less decorous affair.  Minimal water for teeth etc and no major bathroom privileges was rather tiresome. Kids went to school, I went off to the garden and the husband, in town for at least one calamity, stayed to meet the plumber.  Within half an hour he phoned a hotel – it was the septic tank and that couldn’t be dealt with until tomorrow. 

So kids and I are back in the local hotel and the husband is south of the town at a meeting for the rest of the week!

Tomorrow I get to find out if the septic was the only problem or if we have a blocked pipe too.  If the pipe is blocked, I doubtless have to call the plumber back to clear it and that could be another night in the hotel. 

The carpet finally arrives

Well it was way back in November when the leak in the basement happened.  The good news I suppose is that the vermin seem to have taken a vacation over the winter. Not sure if that is the exterminators, the lack of a water source now, or the fact the we have 2 kitties.

Well, today the new carpet arrived.  We had a few hiccups on that along the way.  First the guy that measured for the carpet, came up with a different number to the insurance adjuster. So we had to revisit that.

Then the carpet that we were shown that was supposed to be the same quality, was rejected by the insurance company.  They argued the point and we got the right carpet.

The carpet was estimated to be installed before Christmas.  It was not in stock that was rescheduled.  The first run was too narrow.  That was another delay.

Finally the carpet was delivered to the stockroom.  Now they could schedule delivery. 

Tuesday or Friday, I said. OK, they said, how about Saturday.  I agreed to have the weekend messed up and set the appointment for then.  A truck arrived on Friday to glue the carpet, which was not there, down.  I explain the problem.  They call the office and decide to revisit today – about 9.30.  At 11 this morning I called to see if they had been another delay, but of course the office was closed.

They did arrive about noon, or just before.  They finally went at 8 this evening.

The good news is that the carpet looks great.  The whole place looks uncluttered and clean.

I went to Home depot during the day to pick up some shelving stuff so that we can do that before putting everything back into the room.  Hopefully it will help the balancing act that occurred when too many things get stuffed into on room.  It is easy to lob something in and shut the door.

Tomorrow we refill the room with ’stuff’.  Some has been recycled to the bin or the Goodwill shop, but there is still alot of ’stuff’ to put in there.

Shopping for 9th Grade

This past two/three weeks have been a trail of visiting one school after another trying to figure out where to put current 8th grader next year.  We have so many options and so many good schools that I suppose we are spoilt for choice.  Even the public schools are not bad.  The down side with the public is the size – the local one currently has 2400 students and is bursting at the seams.

So I narrowed the choice to three and visited all three.  Each had definite advantages and each had one or two slight disadvantages.

First was a Catholic HS – great people, superb academics (these guys take 28 – 30 credits to graduate), and they are less than 10 minutes away. Down side – its a covenant school.  We moved here 18 months ago, and although I am Christian, I am not totally comfortable with the local church and the cathedral is great but too far. The other one is nice but I am hopeless at getting there at 8am.  So to enter this lovely school I have to get a pastor to sign that I belong.  I didn’t quite make it to that point yet!! One part of me wanted to go and explain, the other part wanted to forget the idea.This one was also the cheapest tuition wise.

School 2 was great.  Not a  school covenant school but Christian and that was fine.  The school though is nearer 25 minutes or more in rush hour traffic.  It also takes the kids traipsing across the globe on missionary work which I am rather dubious about. The other advantage though was that it may be able to take child number 4 as well – having two kids in the same school would be great, because there is no school busing in Ga for private schools.

Both 1 and 2 need ssat before the admissions package is complete and they do not give the final verdict until April 5th.

School number 3 is the high school for the school that kiddo is already in.  The academics are not as hot as the Catholic one, but they are very good.  Downside to this one is that we have to accept or decline by the end of February to get a place and get a $2000 ‘incentive’ , and it is the most expensive (though not by much).  This was the only one that I was able to drag the husband to - took a major guilt trip to get him there and take an interest in his child’s education!

Finally this morning after many heated/ very heated discussions on why we were not going to the local school, he finally signed on the dotted line and we are through this argument for another few years (I hope). We elected finally to stay where he is, as he has only been there two years (we move around alot), and we are now free to concentrate on child number 4. 

Finding the right school is a mix of location, curriculum and finance.  There is probably not a perfect school anywhere, so we just make the best choice we can for the kids.