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10 More Days in Review
The last ten days have been busy as we have been tying up loose ends to get ready to go to Australia. The plumbing disaster was threw a bit of a monkey wrench into things as it added a bit more stress (house rearranged due to stuff having to be moved out of bathroom and laundry room, having to be here to meet the people coming to do the work, the five day of having machines here to dry everything out. Four people and only one bathroom, but as all things, it really wasn't that horrible and we muddled through. We even managed to pull off a successful family cookout on the 6th of September with one bathroom and one of the exits to our home blocked.
But, here we are, three days before we head out, and most things are back to normal. We have new tile in the bathroom and laundry room. The machines are gone. There is quarter round in both rooms that makes it look very nice, The washer and dryer are hooked back up and I am knee deep in laundry now. The leak has been fixed. Jack and Katrina's shower, which hasn't worked for years, has been repaired. The plumbers still have a couple of things to do (the reason we called them to begin with before we realized we had a leak), we have problems with air in our water and they have ordered parts to fix that, but they are slow in coming. The insulation hasn't been returned under the house either. The friend that was going to do it, decided he really didn't want to crawl around in the crawl space with insulation. I can't blame him, but I don't think we are going to be able to have that dealt with now before we leave. Hope the insurance people are going to be okay with that.
Plumbing aside, we have been busy getting ready. We made sure that all of our reservation information and vouchers had been printed out. We made itineraries for our parents and our neighbor who will be watching our home and critters while we are gone. We made arrangements to have fun with my friend, Lizzie and her family, while we are visiting in Perth. I took the Nissan and got the oil changed and got it all cleaned up. I got the house all cleaned and tided up (though the plumbing disaster messed that up a bit).
I took the dogs to get them groomed on Friday morning. Katrina and I got up early and got them to PetSmart at 7 am. We told the groomers that this was the dogs first time being groomed by someone besides us and we warned them that Ginger, the Irish Setter was skittish). Then Katrina and I left and enjoyed a lovely breakfast at Bob Evans. Then we went to do some shopping. Katrina needed some long pants for the upcoming trip. I was surprised when the phone rang around 9 and it was Petsmart. We were supposed to get the pups around 10:30. Turns out Ginger had done great and was all done. Plato didn't like the dryer and they were having to 'kennel dry' him and said it would be 11:30 before he would be ready. So we shopped some more and Katrina got some very cute pants and a couple of outfits.
Here's how cute the pups looked after grooming:
Sunday, the kids and I got up early. Ashley came over and we all headed to Strasburg for the family reunion. Daniel was supposed to come with us, but he stayed here in case the friend working on the floors needed help or ran into any problems. We arrived at my Dad and Dianne's house about 10. We visited with them for a couple of hours. Dianne has a way with flowers and she makes neat flower gardens using interesting items to perk them up (old tea kettles, sea shells, wheelbarrows, etc). We chatted and enjoyed the pleasant weather. Dad had done me a favor and built a wooden gate for us for the deck. We had a pet gate we had put up for the dogs to keep them off of the deck and away from the hot tub, but the plastic pieces that held the metal gate to the deck had given way under the dogs weight from where they jump up to say hello.
Ginger and metal gate
Ginger and Plato with new, sturdy, wooden gate! Thanks DAD!!!!
Then we headed to the reunion. It was wonderful seeing so many family members. I have an Uncle who sold off his home a couple of years ago, purchased a RV and began to view the U.S. He has been loving it! He had to have triple bypass surgery last month, but is doing pretty well this month, though he does have to be on oxygen 24/7. All of my aunts and uncles were present as well as many of my cousins. I really enjoyed chatting with everyone and was thrilled to find several family members on Facebook. The kids didn't have as much fun as there aren't many children in our family that are their ages and the ones that are weren't not there yesterday.
