Just Simply Holly

After going through 3 bouts of pouring water coming in through the slider door the beginning of the week, and finding out that my husband hadn’t yet called the landlord about it, and hearing that we had more storms coming in overnight and today, I took the situation in my own hands last night…LOL!

I found a tube of indoor/outdoor silicone caulk last night and we put that in the thin gap at the top of the door as well as partially down the sides. Then while I was talking to her on the phone, my mom gave me a heck of an idea. She said something about finding a way to affix a tarp to the house above the slider door in a way that the water couldn’t come through the top of it, instead it would just run down the tarp as it laid down the side of the house over the slider door. While that was a great idea, I couldn’t deal with the thought of totally blocking the view and the light that comes in through the door.

So what we ended up doing was cutting a piece of heavy plastic sheeting that was a little wider than the slider door and about a foot or so long. We then cleaned off the siding above the door and used some white duct tape to attach it so that the water couldn’t come through up at the top, then simply let the remainder of the plastic drape over the slider door on the outside.

I woke up around 9 to heavy rain hitting the bedroom window, so I came rushing out here to the family room to see if our “quick fix” worked and was THRILLED to see the rain running down the outside of the plastic sheeting we hung over the door rather than pouring in like it did the beginning of the week. I know this is just a temporary fix to the problem, but with more storms coming in today, at least I won’t have to deal with major flooding in the family room! I need to call my mom and tell her thank you!

After you read this, you will realize that I am a VERY boring person…LOL! Today was the kids’ last day of school until March 31, they officially started spring break. Well, techincally my daughter started it yesterday because she was off school sick today. And before you ask, I forgot to call the doctor today, but tonight she doesn’t have a sore throat, so I’m pretty sure it’s just a bad cold and nothing more. We’ll see how she’s doing in the morning though, if the sore throat has returned, then I will call her doctor.

So, back to my spring break plans. Since we have so many pets, going away just is not going to happen, period. It would cost too much to kennel the dogs, even if it were only for a couple of days, and hiring someone to come into the house to check on them, let them out and feed them isn’t a possibility because of the fact that at least one of the older dogs likes to chew up things that shouldn’t be allowed. So since I know that getting out of Dodge isn’t an option, I’ve decided maybe the kids and I could do some around the house projects and get a few things taken care of that I’ve been on my husband to do for a while now. The kids aren’t the best at helping with housework, but the love to help me with projects. I don’t know what the difference is, but I’m not going to complain!

One of the smaller projects I have in mind is painting the back bathroom and getting the opaque tiles for the ceiling that will allow the light to come through from the light fixtures that are already up there. Replacing those isn’t something that I care to take on by myself, I’m not good with wiring things most of the time…LOL! But if I can get those tiles, we’ll be good to go without having to spend money replacing the actual fixtures!

Since we’re finally at the stage where using the wood burner daily is necessary, I’m going to move the desks and furniture around out here in the family room so that we have better access to the sliding glass door. That’s the main door that I take Sage outside through and right now my desk is in front of it, and it’s not the easiest thing to try and hold her and open the door, then squeeze through behind my desk….LOL! But since we don’t have to worry about the wood burner running 24/7, I now can put one of the desks over by it without having to worry that it’s too warm and/or too dry for a computer to be near. I also think that I’m going to take the one recliner back out to the living room and bring the small couch/loveseat back out here. I wish this room were just a little larger or that I hadn’t of agreed to take the GINORMOUS corner entertainment center from my sister. With having no choice but putting the TV in a corner, I only have 2 options of where I can put it since the other two corners are taken up by the wood burner and the sliding glass door.

So, there are just a few of my boring Spring Break plans. I know the kids were looking forward to the Florida trip that we had been planning, but that simply wasn’t in the cards. But I’m also not planning on the whole week being work filled, I’d like to take the kids to the zoo one day and I HAVE to take my daughter to the mall as well, she’s got some Build a Bear cash that’s been burning a hole in her pocket since Christmas…LOL! And since neither my son or husband like going to the mall, it’s a girls day out kind of thing for she and I to enjoy!

As you know, we moved a few weeks ago. I’m happy to report that we’re all adjusting and settling in very well, even the dogs. We had to upgrade the exterior lighting at the front and back door because the lighting that was there just wasn’t bright enough. We’ve now come to the realization that it’s just too dark at the end of the driveway so we’re going to have to come up with some sort of lighting for there as well. I came up with the idea of a pair of post mounted lights from Hinkley Lighting. We could put one on each side of the driveway and it would provide us with plenty of light and will make it easier for the bus drivers to find the house in the wee hours of the morning when they pick the kids up.

It used to be that I looked forward to the weekend.  I loved the lazy mornings and being able to sleep in.  I loved catching up on housework that I hadn’t gotten done during the week, I just loved weekends period.  But that changed a few months ago when I volunteered to help my sister get her new house ready to move into.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all about helping my sister, if anything I’ve enjoyed the time with her.  But because I’ve been going up there at least one day on the weekend and sometimes two, it has really cut into my time here at home.

It also seems as if something around here always goes wrong on the weekend.  A few weeks ago our septic system backed up and someone had to be called out.  A week or so before that we woke up to major internet problems and our DSL being down for almost the whole weekend.  This weekend is no exception.  I was getting ready to head up to my sisters and was walking to my room when I got hit on the head with a huge drip of water.  I looked up to see the kitchen ceiling leaking above the refrigerator.  I quick unplugged the fridge and called the hubby to let him know what was going on.  I got to thinking about what part of the house was above the fridge and realized that it was the bathroom, so I went upstairs and turned off the water supply to both the sink and the toilet and went back down stairs to check the ceiling.  It had, for the most part, stopped leaking.  So I knew that I had narrowed it down to one of 2 things that was causing the leak.  I then turned on the water to the toilet and flushed it and went back downstairs to check the ceiling, it still wasn’t leaking.  So I went back upstairs and turned the water to the toilet off and turned the water to the sink on and went back downstairs and we had water leaking again.  I went back up, turned the water of, came back down and the leaking had stopped again.  So, until we can “fix it”, the bathroom sink is now off limits.  We know it’s not the gray water line because I’ve also turned the shower on and that doesn’t cause leaking.  Now I just have to get ready and head up to my sisters.  Have a great day!