Category Archives: House & Home
A sight I haven’t seen in six or more months!
Killed two birds with one stone—cleaned off the dresser while catching up on two episodes of CSI.
Eww. Just ewww.
Look what I found today.
Exactly. What is it? So I looked closer…and saw tiny clawed feet.
/shudder
A lizard. Completely stuck, tail and all, inside the siding molding of the garage door. I am pretty sure it will stay there until Tom gets home.
My little helper.
Mama! I want to do it!
Maiden Voyage
New car seat + Tom not here to deal with it = mini panic attack
I’ve read the book and watched videos…but I still get really nervous because he’s ALWAYS done them. I’ve NEVER done them. But it actually took longer to get the old one out and clean out the seat than it took to get the new seat in.
The mess under Katie’s seat:
It seems sturdy enough and I’m sure it’s safe but I’m still anxious.
Well I didn’t kill myself or blow up the car.
Katie’s nap today was my designated time to go out and attempt to get the battery charger hooked up to Tom’s car (I was going to do it yesterday but it was FREEZING).
For reference: BatteryMINDer Charger/Maintainer/Desulfater – 12V, Model# 2012
Of course I read all the instructions—and if I ignored all the DANGER! IF YOU BREATHE ON THIS THING WRONG YOUR BATTERY WILL EXPLODE AND KILL YOU! warnings, it looked pretty easy to hook up. I’ll be using the quick connect first (since I know where those ends are since we just used them to jump the car last week) and then if it’s working and the battery is actually charging, I will change in a week or so to the more permanent hard-wired connections.
And honestly, it wasn’t TOO bad. I mean, I had a few minor snafus but I expect that with everything I do—nothing can ever be dead simple (though this came close).
One of the first instructions was “Keep the charger out of the rain and snow.” Of course. There are waterproof models but I didn’t get one of those.
I thought about trying to get the car closer to the garage (hoping the cables would be long enough to set the charger inside) but no, you cannot put a hybrid car with a dead battery into neutral (thanks Google). So the car was staying where it was.
And I had to use an extension cord—which of course isn’t recommended unless you have one with the correct voltage (what?!)—so I’m assuming a typical orange heavy duty outdoor extension cord is just fine. Ugh.
And it said to hook to the positive and negative, but there is no negative. And the bolt we used during the jumping process was too far away. So I Googled and yes, any similar bolt is fine (and then I saw an identical bolt much closer so used that).
Then the moment of truth—plugging the battery in—and….??? GREEN LIGHTS! Like they’re supposed to be! And the light for the Weak Battery is on. And other lights are blinking and pulsing. YAY! I didn’t blow up me or the car! /knock on wood
And here was my solution to make it weatherproof: a Rubbermaid tub in front of the car.
HOW SOON UNTIL TOM COMES HOME?!
I think I’ve been told it could take anywhere from a few days to a week to build up enough of a charge to start it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Just a little windy.
I love going out to the deck to put away the plastic chairs blowing around in the wind…only to discover the 14′ patio umbrella half out of the table and the heavy wrought iron table is what we heard moving around. EEK! Of course I couldn’t leave it like I found it (I should have taken a picture) so I had to finagle the stupid thing (which weighs a ton) and I think I threw my back out getting the umbrella safely removed. Fun!
A Dead Prius
So Tom’s car is a Prius. Since he’s deployed, we took off most of the insurance (I think it has “garage” insurance) and it sits in the driveway. We put Stabil in the gas tank and I go out every so often to start it and reposition it in the driveway so the tires don’t sit in the same spot for six months. I have gone though this routine twice before with two other cars—for 12-13 months each—with no issues.
So of course guess what happened?
I went out to start it the other day and the doors didn’t automatically unlock. I thought I heard a very faint single beep when I tried it, but wasn’t sure. Hmmm, okay, I’ll just pop the key out of the fob and manually unlock the doors. Press the start button. Nothing. Oh crap. Put the fob in the ignition. Nothing.
$&!#
I know NOTHING about this car, really, aside from it’s a hybrid and we probably should have done a bit more research before just going along with status quo. Tom has been gone three months. I’ve started it twice for a few minutes. So I am guessing it never ran long enough and the battery is dead (hybrids have two batteries—one regular 12v that starts the car and the more expensive hybrid system battery).
So I called USAA to see if the car is insured for getting a jump (since it just has the most basic insurance on it) and it turns out I had more insurance than I thought I did—though not roadside and not what I thought I had. Turns out USAA does not offer storage insurance in North Carolina, which is what I thought we had. (I asked if North Carolina ever had storage coverage because I was positive our premiums really decreased past deployments…but she said it’s never been offered…so I have no idea what happened before.) So the increased premium to get us back to what we normally carry is a mere $16 a month… So I have to talk to Tom, but it looks like I will just add on full coverage and try to drive it every now and again. (The other inexpensive option is to plug it in to a trickle charger…so I’m researching that.)
My TiVo friends helped me out with info and links and whatnot (i.e. talked me off the ledge) and today David helped me jump it.
It worked and I drove around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes. I’ll likely go out every day or so now just to start it until we decide on a more permanent solution.
Tom can come home any time now. 🙁
Lobsters!
So pretty…and so daunting. Mom had to help me with mine. 🙂
Carcasses!
How good mac and cheese starts.
Gramma Jean requested homemade mac and cheese and I willingly obliged.
What’s that beeping?
I came home from taking Owen to school this morning to hear some strange noise in the house. Hmmm, beeping. And unfamiliar beeping at that—it wasn’t a toy or the house alarm (which beeps after we lose power). I cautiously walked through the house listening carefully. The sliding door was open—was it coming from outside? No. It was coming from the living room. What is in there that could be beeping?!? Especially something that didn’t sound familiar. Then it hit me. The digital clock we have down here…it’s an alarm clock…that I picked up off the floor yesterday…because Katie had pulled it off…and she must have obviously played with it…and managed to turn the alarm on! Amazing, because even looking at the silly thing it took me a good minute to figure out how to turn it off (I mean, I hit snooze to silence it but had to turn it OFF). I am just thankful she didn’t accidentally set it for the middle of the night!
Helping Grannie make apple pies!
I requested Lin’s apple pies for the freezer, so that was today’s project…and Owen was “helping.” Lin said he was very patient the whole time. 🙂
Owen was playing with Stuffy (the blue dinosaur from Doc McStuffins) and was attaching him to the apple peeler using a rubberband as a safety harness.
A major project done!
(If you can’t tell, the bushes are trimmed. I should have taken a Before.)
The story of my life…specifically deployment.
I like to think I can handle most things while Tom is gone…big or little. Maybe with some bitching and moaning (and sometimes outside help) but for the most part, I like to be self-sufficient. But things out of my control often hinder me. Like today.
The soccer ball needs inflating. No biggie, we have a portable air compressor…I’ll just haul it out, plug it in, change tips, and voilá!
Except no.
We have every other connector—including the ball injector tip—except we’re missing the connector piece that goes between the handle and the ball tip. Of course it’s not in it’s place where it should be (on the unit itself) and there’s no chance in hell of me finding it in the garage.
So $6 at Amazon later I have another full set (5 pieces I don’t need, one I do) on its way…but I’m still frustrated.
Helping Papa make cookies for daddy
He wasn’t terribly interested in helping so I was lucky to get one picture.
The day the pool came down.
I’ve been waiting for a stretch of nice days to take the pool down so it can dry out nicely, but it’s been raining for a week with rain forecast for the next week, too…so I decided to just start since I had help (both for the pool and the kids) and we had a few hours of sun.
I actually started yesterday by draining about half the water (to hopefully lessen the muck around the yard by letting it dry out for 24 hours). So today when I let the water start draining, I told Owen it was his last chance to get in the pool. (Papa had hoped to go swimming with Owen, but it just didn’t stay hot quite long enough.)
Helping me drain the water a little faster.
Then someone else joined the party…
Almost empty…
Hanging it up after a quick scrubbing…and Owen helping rinse it off (he even went inside/underneath to rinse the inside!).
Katie and the emptying pool
This is what happens when I leave the cabinet doors open.
An unexpected visitor!
The pressure washer knocked on the door to let me know he rustled a small bat out of a [box on the side of our house—a vent? filter?] and it was currently laying in the grass, stunned. Cool! So I took Owen out to see it (Katie was napping).
I should have put something in the pic for scale, but I was more concerned with getting a picture before he woke up and flew off (he’d already been out about 10-15 minutes). His body was about the size of a child’s fist.
I tried to flip him over (with our pooper scooper) which woke him up and he started hissing (?) at us. Owen said “GE HAS TEEFERS!” 🙂 Yes, he did!
Then I got him flipped over…
And a minute or so later he flew off. Owen was sad he didn’t get to say goodbye. 🙂
Intrigued by the pressure washer.
He asked for the police car!
He actually asked yesterday…but it was dead. So I charged it overnight and it was ready to go when he got home from school today. It was Katie’s first experience. She liked it okay at first…but then Owen jerked it a little and she wanted OUT.
Rocking Owen’s shades:
Left to her own devices…
I just had a MAJOR kitchen scare!
In the middle of making a double batch of double chocolate banana bread, I thought I was **GASP** out of butter! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! I ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST 2-3# IN THE FREEZER! After a frantic five-minute search through both freezers, I finally found 4# stuck in the side of the main freezer drawer! Phew!
Today my laziness bit me in the ass.
I’ve been woefully neglecting my basil plants…and today I finally got around to harvesting what was left of the wildly overgrown mess. And it was pathetic. By the time I picked around the caterpillar-eaten leaves and the brown leaves…I didn’t even get a full food-processor’s worth. Last year I gave a ton away plus filled a bunch of containers and ziplocked muffin-tin pucks for my freezer. This year? Barely enough for a few meals.
Last year? I think I made at least THREE full Cuisinarts full. This year? Barely 1/4 of one. 🙁
That’s not a shadow.
That’s the color of the water after cleaning the downstairs carpet.
Stupid palm tree fronds.
At a quick glance, this really scared the bejesus out of me. I’m leaving the shower curtain closed from now on. Stupid palm tree fronds.
Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pie!
I really need to learn moderation when prepping ingredients for chicken pot pie —at least now I have one for the freezer plus some extra! (And yes, I did put top crusts on!)
Water!
You can kind of see how she floats around…legs just trailing along behind her!
Get off my lawn!
F the unknown neighborhood kids who rang the doorbell TWICE (because god forbid I didn’t get there in 10 seconds) and woke Katie up. And what did the three of them want?
Girl 1: Looking around and apparently off into space.
Girl 2: gigglegigglegiggle
Girl 3: “We’re offering dog-walking, do you have a dog?”
Sorry kids, if you want to offer a business like that at your young ages, you’d better have more to offer than that. No introduction, no names, no where they live, no paper with information… I almost asked “Do your parents know you’re out here doing this, and can I have their number to talk to them?”
Seriously. Parents let their kids out to do stuff like this?
I’m not so much of a curmudgeon that I mean they need to have a complete business plan or anything—and I’m all for letting kids experiment and do stuff on their own—but if you really want me to let you take care of one of my pets and you are serious about the venture, you had better damn well at least give me some more information. ESPECIALLY if I have no idea who you are.
GET OFF MY LAWN!
:p
Backyard Fun
The weather was cool enough today to actually want to go outside…so we did! The kids managed to stay on the deck for awhile, but then Owen got interested in the hose and wanted water…
He’s helping her put on his shoes. 🙂
