Large Loud Compressor & Big Scary Digging Machine

Yes, those are the technical terms.




Starting around 10:00 this morning, two guys have been working on digging holes with this machine which is drilled/anchored into the side of our garage. That's where our sidewalk used to be--now there is a 4 ft deep hole and the corkscrew diggy thingy. I'm assuming they are making the holes to start putting the piers down into the ground. They were delayed yesterday because of rain--no fun--and not too safe to be in a mud hole trying to dig down 30 feet. Just the compressor is loud--but it's parked on the street so it's not too bad for me--just probably most of the neighbors. Oh well. Sorry about that!

Now who's going to clean all that up?!

Definitely not me!!

There is this huge pile of dirt on what's left of our basement floor--came from digging out under the floor beams (I think).
Looks like a scene from CSI...
Luckily they delivered a huge dumpster today & parked (plunked) it right in front of the house for all the upcoming clean up.





p.s.
the dumpster was just for dirt. They have since taken away one whole dumpster load of dirt and just took away the second today...(Friday 4/28)

Easter Finery

Happy Easter!!!

Sophie, Emma, Julia

Julia

Sophie

Emma

Goofing

Me & My Gals (with dogs goofing)


The gang (with Mark's nieces & nephew) at Karen & Mark's excellent Easter lunch & egg hunt...
Julia, Jaxon, Jocelyn, Joelle, Sophie, & Emma

Easter Eggs

When Emma got home from school Friday we took some time to decorate Easter eggs. Last year after Easter I found a cute egg decorating kit with 3-D bug stickers so we made fun, buggy eggs. But no snow to dump out the extra dye into--didn't quite know what to do with it--it's been awhile that there hasn't been snow to color after the eggs are done!! Just went down the drain--boring!!

Such Concentration

Waiting...waiting...waiting for just the right color...

Sophie & Hammy Julia

Cheers!

Peekaboo

Here is the 'fence' they put up yesterday so they can start digging the big hole next to our house. They just rotated one wood fence panel back 90 degrees and then stretched chicken wire from the back end of the wood fence to the side of the house.
The foreman said they're ready to start the pier work now.



Like Kelly is not freaky enough--now she gets to stand there up close and personal with a front row view of all the strange men & machines. Maybe it will be good for her--maybe she'll get so tired of barking that she'll never ever want to bark again.
Then again, she really hasn't been hanging around the new view so much--maybe that's just what she needed--to be able to see what's out there--instead of just wondering through the wood fence. We'll see...

Ahhh-Silence

Nobody came to work on the house today. There were some guys hauling away our old insulation for awhile but otherwise, it was peaceful. Wouldn't you know it--Wednesday is my busy running around day--hardly home--but nice to have a little break before they start up again.

Yesterday they installed plastic over the bottom of the stairs (think 'Boy in the Plastic Bubble') to keep the dust contained but I stuck my camera in through the little slit they made to turn the lights on/off & found that they have removed some of the floor boards...

Today's Construction News: Jackhammer

Need I say more? Even if I did, you wouldn't hear me. Can't hear myself think. Off to the mall...

BEFORE


AFTER


Also, the honeywagon brought a big blue gift for my front lawn--I already have one photo of that on my blog--one is enough!! Don't worry-not posting another one...although it looks rather tippy so hopefully March will go out like a lamb and the thing will stay upright...

ok-that's loud

So finally they started repairs on our house this morning. It's only been one guy the whole day--the foreman--but man is he making lots of noise. Cutting wood, drilling holes, banging metal etc. etc. He came (1 hr 15 mins late because of this morning's snow) at 9:15 & changed our basement doorknob into a deadbolt & then headed downstairs to make the opening in our window. Apparently, it's going to be the same size as the window is but now it's a plywood door on hinges--locked from the outside. I sneaked down when he went to lunch & noticed that there is a draft coming in around that which I may address with them if it's not fixed later.

He also installed scary looking steel supports, I'm assuming to hold up the foundation when they start drilling in the piers. They look a lot scarier in person than they do in these photos. He's back now banging around so I'll go down after he leaves to see what all this new noise is about. I'm thinking more supports...Tomorrow they're supposed to be jackhammering our front walk cement--think I'll take the girls to the zoo...

Green Eggs & Ham

Speaking of teaching kids inappropriate eating habits...Julia's preschool class just enjoyed a green eggs & ham breakfast & books at a local Egg & I Restaurant. The mayor of our city read two Dr. Suess books and then the kids enjoyed GREEN scrambled eggs with diced ham mixed in, little potatoes and fruit. Julia was totally into it--but her friend Autumn was having none of it!!
Mayor reading

Julia

Autumn's not so sure about all that...

Cookie Monster...Seriously?

Emma just told me a horrible rumor she heard at school. Baxter was telling the class that Cookie Monster no longer snarfs cookies wildly but instead eats veggies and has green fur. "No way," I replied and ran off to Google Cookie Monster. Sure enough, he is getting the PC change to healthy snacks but not to the extreme length that Baxter said. He'll still be blue & eat cookies but now cookies will be a 'sometimes' snack for him and he will eat other, healthy fare as well. They're even changing the song. Sacrilege.

Did anyone really eat more cookies as a child just from watching Cookie Monster do it? Did anyone besides me notice and wonder why Cookie's mouth and throat were just black and none of the cookies actually went inside--they just crumbled all over the place? Did anyone besides me know that monsters have different rules than humans and that if a monster wants to go nuts on cookies, you let him?

Then again, I also watched Wiley Coyote try to blow up the Roadrunner with ACME dynamite several hundred times, and never once did I think I'd try it. Never thought of dropping an anvil on anyone's head either, Bugs. As a mom, I've never given in to an arguement because my child says "Well, Cookie Monster does it."

And as long as we're fixing things so kids don't learn bad habits, let's remember that Cookie Monster starts all his sentences with "Me want..." and has since the beginning of time, and I (and most of my peers) managed to overcome that without too much trauma.

Maybe kids today are just that different.
Maybe their parents are too.

Maybe it's just me.

Or maybe not--I just found an online petition to boycott Sesame Street until they change poor Cookie back. That's a little extreme for me--I just vote for less Sesame Street tv time and more walks, parks & swing set time.
That should do the trick.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Bronco/petition.html

Special Delivery

The Porto-delivery guy stopped on our street today...
Ew. Oh no. Not yet. Can't be happening already. Why does it have to be so blue? How will I keep the kids away from it!? Yuck. Gross...

Oh. Wait. Never mind. He delivered it to the house across the street.
Stay tuned...

If I Only Had a Heart...

Well. Our DR Horton rep, Les, must have visited the Wizard overnight. He just left a message saying that yes, DR Horton is replacing our entire garage floor and sending out a garage door company to repair the garage door railing so it is usable again. They are going to wait until the work is done on our sidewalk so that we have access to our house at all times--so thoughtful. Maybe our little chauvinist is not so bad after all. Or maybe he reads my blog. Either way, HOORAY!!!

I Quit

Yep. I actually did it. I quit my night job the other night. I saw my manager alone in her office so I went in and sat down (even before I took my coat off) and told her that the new 7-11 hours just aren't working for my family and made up a story about having another job just for good measure.

She tried her best to talk me out of it.

She even said that they could just not schedule me anymore but keep me as an employee in case the 'other job' doesn't work out. In fact, I could have stayed in job limbo for up to 90 days before I'd have to reapply, but I held firm and told her my projected last day would be the 21st. Then she asked sheepishly if I could please work on the 22nd--the night before Easter--a humungous sale night because of Easter dresses etc. I said 'ok' because I felt pretty bad about all the groveling that was going on.

Later that night, she called me over and gave me a piece of flair to put on my name badge that said 'reward' and said it's to thank me and everyone for working with management to change our schedules & staying late & stuff.

But even the flair won't make me stay.

Blessings

Hooray!!
Grandma Bonnie came home from the hospital today after spending 8 days there with pneumonia and various other ailments the doctors came up with. We are so thankful she's home and we're hoping for a speedy recovery!! Go, Grandma, Go!!! : )

Plan of Attack

Er, I mean, plan of construction. 'The guys' from our builder and the construction company all came over this morning to have a pre-construction meeting for the foundation repairs to our house. They are so funny--they all wait parked outside until exactly appointment time and then all descend together. Better than ringing the doorbell 6 different times, I guess.

There were 2 guys from DR Horton. The ladies man, Brian, who we all love and the male chauvinist hard-nose, Les, who, well, he's not our favorite. The three from the construction company were all very pleasant and had a detailed timeline. The main construction guy was very nice and introduced his team as the foreman, the coordinator and himself (who mainly oversees everything in the office)...he said they're also known as 'Daily, Weekly and Monthly,'in that order, as far as who we'd see or who to contact.

They are starting on March 17 (c'mon Saint Patrick!). That's when they will come and make our side basement window into a door, install a lock on the door to our basement stairs and move the side fence back towards the back yard. They will also be dropping off a port-a-potty to park on our front sidewalk (so attractive) and maybe a dumpster. Day one will mainly be a preparation day.

Then after day one, the fun begins--(nice timing with Bob leaving for spring break--should be extra exciting for me)--they will start drilling holes in the foundation, and demolitioning the concrete sidewalk leading up to our front door. The actual pier work will take about 1 1/2 weeks depending on the weather.

The floor in the garage is still in question. Of course, Les (boo) says 'no' but Brian (hooray) says 'let's go above and beyond' and is trying to have that done too. I showed them how one slab has moved up 3 inches and is bending the metal guide rail of our garage door to which Brian said 'holy mackeral, I don't think I saw that before!' to which I replied, "yes you did, and you said 'holy mackeral!'" But all of that will be done 90days after construction with all the other 'cosmetic' repairs the builder will do (repairing drywall/brick cracks, stuck doors etc.).

(this rail should be going straight up and down--the floor did that)


All in all, they said the job should take 6+ weeks depending on the March weather...we won't tell them March is the snowiest month around these parts. I can't remember what the groundhog said in February, but we're hoping for good weather--and early spring.
Oh, and maybe a nice new set of earplugs.

In Like a Lion...

The girls didn't have school today so we planned a leap day trip to the zoo. This lion was waiting for the keeper to bring his lunch and so was going back & forth between the door and this window. I think he was looking for his lunch from the keeper, but I caught him a couple of times sizing up the little appetizers standing right in front of him!!


Sophie posing by Meerkat Manor

It's tough to be 4

Then again, maybe not

Random Monkeys...