I don't usually set New Year's Resolutions. You always hear about people setting resolutions and them being very short lived and I think that's lame. And because if there's something I really want to change I'm not going to wait for a specific day to do it, I'm going to just do it! Well I have something I am trying to change that just so happens to coincide with the New Year so I guess I'll call it a resolution.
I have finally plateaued in my weight loss since I've had Edward, so now I have to kick things up a notch. My goal is to get back to the pre-Adrienne weight that I had never gotten back to between kids by Edward's 1st birthday. Since Edward is maybe the last one there's no excuse anymore.
Notice I said Edward will maybe be the last one instead of probably. I'd thought for about the last year and a half that the third would be the last, but not ruling out a fourth. Just in the last few weeks I'm thinking that we probably will have a fourth, not ruling out that Edward may be the last! We'll see where we are a year from now and then decide. If we are going to have a fourth I want that to happen in the next few years so that all the kids are close and so that I am still pretty young. Well enough about that, I hadn't intended to get into all of that.
So we are just sitting here hanging out, playing Wii, nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe a lame New Year's Eve, but such is our lives these days. Mike will be getting up early-ish to paint the exterior of the house. It would have been today, but the temperature was too cold for the paint to dry. It should be warm enough tomorrow (mid 40's) and then raining on Wednesday! He goes back to work on Wednesday too so he really has to take advantage of this small window of time to paint.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Someone's been watching some Dora
Edward spit up on me and I asked the room in general if someone would get me something to wipe it up with. Colette brings me some wipes and I say "Thank you Colette!" She says..."De nada"
Christmas Sunrise
I forgot I was going to put this up with the Christmas pictures. This is what it looked like outside our window Christmas morning.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sheetrock!!
I guess the novelty of a new baby has worn off for Colette. The other day Edward was crying and she was complaining about him being "annoying". That's a new word for her.
So here's the slideshow of the recent progress on the house! We're painting the exterior early this week (if the weather cooperates), it will be "granite grey".
So here's the slideshow of the recent progress on the house! We're painting the exterior early this week (if the weather cooperates), it will be "granite grey".
Saturday, December 29, 2007
No nap for me
Different things kept me from being able to take a nap, but I actually don't feel too bad tired-wise, it's more about not thinking straight or being able to form coherent sentences. Maybe after I take a shower I'll feel better. Probably nobody cares about this stuff. Maybe if I'd had some sleep I'd realize that and not write about this stuff..................
Route
I can't say it was a mistake to go last night because if I hadn't I would have been dead tired this morning going on such little sleep and would have to battle with traffic, and it would have dragged on forever. But, it was one of the hardest route nights I've had.
I took Edward with me and when I started to walk down the steps of the porch I slipped and fell down three steps while holding Edward. He was fine, but my back was pretty torqued up and hurt all night, near the end I was barely able to twist my torso to put the papers in the boxes/move the bundles around without groaning in pain. After some ibuprofen, muscle relaxant (valerian root), and aspirin I feel better. I know I'll be more sore than usual for the next week or two, but it's not as painful as it was on route.
Also, it took an extra hour because of the ice and snow, which felt like much more because of going on no sleep. The car was making a loud rumbly noise that had me nervous (explaining it to Mike this morning he thinks it's a wheel bearing). And to top it all off I had a crazy lady following me around on one of my routes. I get that a lot when people think I'm up to no good, but once they see me delivering the papers they usually leave me alone. Not her. I don't know what her problem was, but she was freaking me out and at one point looked like she was going to hit me, which would have been on the side that Edward was on, and the CRX not being a big car had me really worried. So I called 911, and was able to give them her license plate number, and they were going to have someone come patrol the area, but I don't know if anything ever came of it (I was at the end of the route at this point, so didn't stick around to see what happened).
So I slept from 8-9, woke up to nurse Edward, then 9-10, fed Edward again, then 10-11 and then Colette woke up (the girls have been staying up late during the break, so they're getting up really late...Adrienne woke up about noon). So I've had three 1-hour naps basically and I can't wait until it's Colette's naptime!
So there you go, I won't attempt route on no sleep again, and I won't be bringing Edward anymore either - I don't usually, but I didn't want him to be waking up Mike because he needed to work today. We have had family come over and watch the kids Saturday mornings during construction, when the house is done Mike will watch them Saturday mornings again.
Speaking of the house, I still need to put up recent pics...later.
Time to lay on the couch until naptime.
I took Edward with me and when I started to walk down the steps of the porch I slipped and fell down three steps while holding Edward. He was fine, but my back was pretty torqued up and hurt all night, near the end I was barely able to twist my torso to put the papers in the boxes/move the bundles around without groaning in pain. After some ibuprofen, muscle relaxant (valerian root), and aspirin I feel better. I know I'll be more sore than usual for the next week or two, but it's not as painful as it was on route.
Also, it took an extra hour because of the ice and snow, which felt like much more because of going on no sleep. The car was making a loud rumbly noise that had me nervous (explaining it to Mike this morning he thinks it's a wheel bearing). And to top it all off I had a crazy lady following me around on one of my routes. I get that a lot when people think I'm up to no good, but once they see me delivering the papers they usually leave me alone. Not her. I don't know what her problem was, but she was freaking me out and at one point looked like she was going to hit me, which would have been on the side that Edward was on, and the CRX not being a big car had me really worried. So I called 911, and was able to give them her license plate number, and they were going to have someone come patrol the area, but I don't know if anything ever came of it (I was at the end of the route at this point, so didn't stick around to see what happened).
So I slept from 8-9, woke up to nurse Edward, then 9-10, fed Edward again, then 10-11 and then Colette woke up (the girls have been staying up late during the break, so they're getting up really late...Adrienne woke up about noon). So I've had three 1-hour naps basically and I can't wait until it's Colette's naptime!
So there you go, I won't attempt route on no sleep again, and I won't be bringing Edward anymore either - I don't usually, but I didn't want him to be waking up Mike because he needed to work today. We have had family come over and watch the kids Saturday mornings during construction, when the house is done Mike will watch them Saturday mornings again.
Speaking of the house, I still need to put up recent pics...later.
Time to lay on the couch until naptime.
INSOMNIA
I'm about to leave for route because I can't sleep so figure I should at least be doing something productive. I hope I don't regret this!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas
This is quick, but here are a few pics from Christmas.
The girls in their new pjs that they love. When they're not out-and-about, they're in pjs.
A few other things to notice in that picture - the camera Adrienne is holding is BY FAR their favorite gift this year (a lot of their gifts were for both of them to share). It's pretty darn cool, 5 stars in my book. It doesn't take the greatest pictures (see examples below), but for kids it is acceptable. I'll mention more cool features in a bit. The other thing to notice - I cut Colette's hair. I layered it and I'm really pleased with the results. Her hair is actually wavy! Who knew...it's always been pin straight. So if anyone is wondering how I did it: I had her lay on her back on a towel and brushed the hair out above her head, and then cut straight across. I'll have to take another picture to better show what it looks like. But here you can at least see that it's wavy.
Daddy figuring out how to use the camera to show the girls:
They caught on quickly:
If this picture weren't so washed out I wouldn't have posted it. My hair looks horrible. I don't know what to do with it these days.
So obviously one of the features of the camera are the fun things you can superimpose on the pics. Also there are games to play, and you can make videos! Here is Adrienne's first video. It'll make you dizzy, but it's pretty funny:
The girls in their new pjs that they love. When they're not out-and-about, they're in pjs.
A few other things to notice in that picture - the camera Adrienne is holding is BY FAR their favorite gift this year (a lot of their gifts were for both of them to share). It's pretty darn cool, 5 stars in my book. It doesn't take the greatest pictures (see examples below), but for kids it is acceptable. I'll mention more cool features in a bit. The other thing to notice - I cut Colette's hair. I layered it and I'm really pleased with the results. Her hair is actually wavy! Who knew...it's always been pin straight. So if anyone is wondering how I did it: I had her lay on her back on a towel and brushed the hair out above her head, and then cut straight across. I'll have to take another picture to better show what it looks like. But here you can at least see that it's wavy.Daddy figuring out how to use the camera to show the girls:
They caught on quickly:
If this picture weren't so washed out I wouldn't have posted it. My hair looks horrible. I don't know what to do with it these days.
So obviously one of the features of the camera are the fun things you can superimpose on the pics. Also there are games to play, and you can make videos! Here is Adrienne's first video. It'll make you dizzy, but it's pretty funny:The priciest gift given here was a Wii for Mike (well, the whole family, but I surprised him with it). It was actually a raincheck for one...they were selling them at Gamestop last Friday for $250. When I was looking around to see how much they were the only ones I was finding were in the range of $500-700, then I found the article about the rainchecks at Gamestop. My mom camped out for two hours before they opened, but she was the only one! That was kind of funny. We didn't know how many people to expect, but like the article speculated, people probably wanted something tangible to put under the tree. We were guaranteed to receive our Wii by the end of January, but they called today and already had it! So Mike's setting it up as I type this.
I took some pictures of the sheetrock in the house but I don't have time to upload them all now. So when I do I'll put them in a slideshow and post it.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Then a not so good day...
...because Mike and I weren't able to take part in his sister's wedding at all because our schedules were too tight. Mike had to work tonight, and I was going to try to go to the restaurant after the wedding, but I didn't have enough time after route to get ready and catch the ferry to make it in time.
One good thing about today is that it's the winter solstice! YAAAAAYYYYYY! This is one of my most favorite days of the year. I get the seasonal depression, so I am always happy when every day stays brighter a little longer. This year hasn't been too bad because it hasn't been raining as much as usual.
The sheetrockers are almost done and the house looks AWESOME. I will take pictures soon. It's getting really exciting. We're painting this week, getting our gas line up to the house, and pouring concrete in the garage. Then the next week we're getting cabinets in, and probably the hardwood to get it acclimated. It's starting to feel very close like it's not just a fantasy and almost a reality.
I should have used this evening to do something productive, but instead I watched some more of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '90's" (there are 5 hours) and I wanted to put up some of my favorite videos. I remember the Jamiroquai one and you've got to love it (Emma, I have no idea what it is, but something about him reminds me of Galen). I hadn't seen the Dee Lite one, but it is so fun - Mike tells me it's the second album he ever bought (after C + C Music Factory). The Sinead O'Connor one is my all-time favorite.
This version has the funny beginning that some didn't have, and had the best resolution. But I have to warn you that you might want to stop it five seconds before the end.
I didn't know this was about her mother who she lost when she was 17 (she's 23 in this video). It makes it even more moving.
Oh wait, here's another one that was pretty cool. Weezer's "Buddy Holly".
This is sort of random and I don't know where this came from in my train of thought this morning on route, but I remembered this joke Mike told me when we were dating and I think it's pretty good.
One good thing about today is that it's the winter solstice! YAAAAAYYYYYY! This is one of my most favorite days of the year. I get the seasonal depression, so I am always happy when every day stays brighter a little longer. This year hasn't been too bad because it hasn't been raining as much as usual.
The sheetrockers are almost done and the house looks AWESOME. I will take pictures soon. It's getting really exciting. We're painting this week, getting our gas line up to the house, and pouring concrete in the garage. Then the next week we're getting cabinets in, and probably the hardwood to get it acclimated. It's starting to feel very close like it's not just a fantasy and almost a reality.
I should have used this evening to do something productive, but instead I watched some more of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '90's" (there are 5 hours) and I wanted to put up some of my favorite videos. I remember the Jamiroquai one and you've got to love it (Emma, I have no idea what it is, but something about him reminds me of Galen). I hadn't seen the Dee Lite one, but it is so fun - Mike tells me it's the second album he ever bought (after C + C Music Factory). The Sinead O'Connor one is my all-time favorite.
This version has the funny beginning that some didn't have, and had the best resolution. But I have to warn you that you might want to stop it five seconds before the end.
I didn't know this was about her mother who she lost when she was 17 (she's 23 in this video). It makes it even more moving.
Oh wait, here's another one that was pretty cool. Weezer's "Buddy Holly".
This is sort of random and I don't know where this came from in my train of thought this morning on route, but I remembered this joke Mike told me when we were dating and I think it's pretty good.
Every morning the Trids got up, ate breakfast, and marched over the bridge to Tridville to work. One morning, a troll moved in under the bridge. When the Trids tried to cross the bridge, the troll climbed up and kicked the Trids all the way back to their homes. The Trids decided to take the day off in hopes that the troll would go away, but the next morning the troll once again climbed up onto the bridge and kicked them back to their homes. In desperation, the Trids decided to ask the Rabbi for help. So the next morning the Rabbi walked across the bridge several times but never saw the troll. He went home believing the troll had indeed moved on. When the Trids tried to cross the bridge afterward, the troll climbed up again and kicked the Trids back home. The Rabbi returned to the bridge and called out for the troll. When the troll appeared, the Rabbi asked why he was allowed to cross the bridge but not the Trids. The troll replied, "Silly Rabbi, kicks are for Trids."
Friday, December 21, 2007
Good day
Today has been a good day. It's one of those very rare days where things are taken off my plate instead of piled on! I've been casually doing things like dishes, laundry, etc., the last few hours while watching/listening to VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '90's" and I've just been smiling the whole time. It's been fun to hear my favorite songs from that time, and the ones I'd liked but forgotten about (I'll have to add some to my playlist when I get around to updating it). There are very few that I haven't heard before.
More on the eye
Edward's "iris-pupil thing" as I've been calling it has a more official name. It's a persistent pupillary membrane.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Funny
My mom was telling me something Adrienne did that was funny. She has a little vet costume with a stethoscope and writing pad and vet jacket. She came to my mom and gave her a piece of paper with jaggedy lines drawn on it (representing an electrocardiogram). She says "I have some bad news, your pet is very sick!" My mom said "Oh no, see those jaggedy lines are good, it shows the heart beating, if the line was flat my pet would be dead." Adrienne goes away for a little while then comes back with a folded up piece of paper and says to my mom in an ominous way "I don't know how to tell you this..." My mom opens up the paper and there's a flat line drawn on the notepad. Then Adrienne says in a much more cheerful tone "But the good news is: I have a new pet for you!" (pulling out a new stuffed animal)
Last night Adrienne was telling me how she never gets to put the clothes on her Madeline doll...because "Whenever I have the clothes, I can't find Madeline...and whenever I have Madeline I can't find the clothes!"
Last night Adrienne was telling me how she never gets to put the clothes on her Madeline doll...because "Whenever I have the clothes, I can't find Madeline...and whenever I have Madeline I can't find the clothes!"
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
House Progress
I just found out the highest my thermostat will go to is 88 degrees. We just got our shipment of Tiger Foam and are getting it up to temperature so it will be ready to spray on later today (ideal temp is 80 degrees). Then the insulators will be coming and doing their thing and by Friday the sheet rockers will be starting work! (YAY) My Christmas present is sheet rock. :-)
I am so sore today after working for 5 hours yesterday. I had to get the whole house clean so the insulators and sheet rockers can work. I was able to work with the three kids because Colette napped, Adrienne played on the computer (I still had a monitor in the house so I could hear her, and it has a walkie-talkie feature so I could talk to her too), and Edward was bundled up and slept in his car seat in the house while I worked. Later when Colette woke up I put on a video for the girls and kept on working! Not every day I try to work outside works out so well like that, so I'm thankful that it did when we really needed it to.
Wow, I'm getting really hot while I type this! It's feels like it must be 76 degrees already!........Well my internal temperature is just a bit off, the thermostat says it 72 degrees now.....if it's going to be getting up to 88 degrees we'd better get our swimsuits on and pull out some otter pops!
Well I'll put up pictures when the sheet rock is up, but it probably won't be until after Christmas. It's a three day job.
I'm writing this Wednesday:
It got so hot it was unbearable. Edward was hating it and I had to give him a bath to cool him off. Then it was about naptime anyway so Colette went down in her room with the vent closed and the window open, and likewise Edward and I took a nap in our room with the vent closed, the window open and the fan on. Adrienne stayed in the living room and played on the computer, and I gave her a 30 oz water bottle and told her to DRINK. After naptime it was nearly time for the foam to go on, so it went in the girls' room and we were able to cool off the rest of the house.
The foam went on easier than was anticipated, and the insulators came today and are all finished. The sheet rockers could have started as soon as tomorrow but won't be able to come until Friday, which is still sooner than we had hoped for....for once things are working in our favor! Hopefully this will keep up and we can get moved in by the end of February!
I am so sore today after working for 5 hours yesterday. I had to get the whole house clean so the insulators and sheet rockers can work. I was able to work with the three kids because Colette napped, Adrienne played on the computer (I still had a monitor in the house so I could hear her, and it has a walkie-talkie feature so I could talk to her too), and Edward was bundled up and slept in his car seat in the house while I worked. Later when Colette woke up I put on a video for the girls and kept on working! Not every day I try to work outside works out so well like that, so I'm thankful that it did when we really needed it to.
Wow, I'm getting really hot while I type this! It's feels like it must be 76 degrees already!........Well my internal temperature is just a bit off, the thermostat says it 72 degrees now.....if it's going to be getting up to 88 degrees we'd better get our swimsuits on and pull out some otter pops!
Well I'll put up pictures when the sheet rock is up, but it probably won't be until after Christmas. It's a three day job.
I'm writing this Wednesday:
It got so hot it was unbearable. Edward was hating it and I had to give him a bath to cool him off. Then it was about naptime anyway so Colette went down in her room with the vent closed and the window open, and likewise Edward and I took a nap in our room with the vent closed, the window open and the fan on. Adrienne stayed in the living room and played on the computer, and I gave her a 30 oz water bottle and told her to DRINK. After naptime it was nearly time for the foam to go on, so it went in the girls' room and we were able to cool off the rest of the house.
The foam went on easier than was anticipated, and the insulators came today and are all finished. The sheet rockers could have started as soon as tomorrow but won't be able to come until Friday, which is still sooner than we had hoped for....for once things are working in our favor! Hopefully this will keep up and we can get moved in by the end of February!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Pictures
Here is a picture of Edward's eye with the iris going into the pupil (it's at about 4 or 5 o'clock - if you click on the picture you can see it better). I think they're going to be blue after all. They didn't look so blue in the first week or so, but have since gotten lighter.
One of Edward this morning after a bath and ready for church. I gave him a real haircut this past week - you can see the sides are short, and it's longer on top.
I didn't send Christmas cards out this year, so consider this a virtual Christmas card :-)
This was taken this morning before church. My mom bought the girls their Christmas dresses.
I didn't tell them to do this:
One with the flash on...which looks better, with or without the flash?
(Adrienne's holding her lip funny because she has chapstick on and she doesn't like it)
One of Edward this morning after a bath and ready for church. I gave him a real haircut this past week - you can see the sides are short, and it's longer on top.
I didn't send Christmas cards out this year, so consider this a virtual Christmas card :-)
This was taken this morning before church. My mom bought the girls their Christmas dresses.
I didn't tell them to do this:
One with the flash on...which looks better, with or without the flash?
(Adrienne's holding her lip funny because she has chapstick on and she doesn't like it)
Friday, December 14, 2007
A little bit about everyone
MIKE: Poor Mike. He SO needs this house to be finished. It seems like ever since we've been married he's been working like a dog. When we were first married he did HVAC, a very physically demanding trade. Then he was going to school for Engineering, a mentally demanding course of study. And now he's working a full-time job and then coming home to work some more! This week was crunch time to get some things done before a big inspection today, and not only did he have to keep up his usual rigorous schedule, but he was sick to boot! He looked and sounded awful, but he couldn't slow down...Last night he and I worked until 11pm to finish everything that needed to be done today.
ME: My foot has been bothering me for a few months now. My ankles are VERY flexible and they turn really easily because of that (I don't feel pain as soon as others would and so by the time I do, oftentimes it's too late - or at least that's how a physical therapist from high school years explained it to me). Doctor thinks it's a lot of little sprains over time adding up and that I need physical therapy for it. Not the most interesting thing to blog about and I wouldn't have mentioned it, but it leads me to another story....While I was there for my foot I asked the doctor if I could ask him a couple quick questions about EDWARD: I showed him his eye because the iris of his eye looks like it protrudes into his pupil so that his pupil isn't round. I was supposed to be getting an x-ray on my foot after the visit and he asked if I had time to take Edward to the eye center right around the corner after my visit. I said I wouldn't because I had to pick up Adrienne. He said skip the x-ray, this is urgent. So slightly freaked, but staying calm until reason to be otherwise I take him to the eye center and they got him in right away. They dilated his eyes so they could see better what was going on. Turns out what he has is harmless and just an anomaly, and once they knew that they let me in on what the big deal was about. I guess there is a very rare, but deadly eye cancer that babies can get. The doctor said it's devastating, so maybe something not many if any babies survive. PHEW! What a relief.
ADRIENNE: She was telling me about her friend who has two boyfriends, one of whom is her former boyfriend Gavin. I asked her if she has a boyfriend and she does...Jay. I asked why she hadn't told me about it and she said she forgot. I asked if he knew he was her boyfriend and she said no, that she hadn't TOLD him yet. So funny.
COLETTE: Is such a helper these days! There was a small pile of diapers collecting on the living room floor. I kept meaning to put them in the garbage and by the time I went to do it they were gone! I asked the girls who put threw them away and Colette said she did. I was very pleased...I didn't even ask her to! Then later that day I gave Edward a bath and she was behind me watching. After I was in the living room for awhile getting him dressed I realized she was still in the bathroom. So I went back to see what she was up to and she had been wiping up the drips of water that had fallen on our scale with toilet paper.
ME: My foot has been bothering me for a few months now. My ankles are VERY flexible and they turn really easily because of that (I don't feel pain as soon as others would and so by the time I do, oftentimes it's too late - or at least that's how a physical therapist from high school years explained it to me). Doctor thinks it's a lot of little sprains over time adding up and that I need physical therapy for it. Not the most interesting thing to blog about and I wouldn't have mentioned it, but it leads me to another story....While I was there for my foot I asked the doctor if I could ask him a couple quick questions about EDWARD: I showed him his eye because the iris of his eye looks like it protrudes into his pupil so that his pupil isn't round. I was supposed to be getting an x-ray on my foot after the visit and he asked if I had time to take Edward to the eye center right around the corner after my visit. I said I wouldn't because I had to pick up Adrienne. He said skip the x-ray, this is urgent. So slightly freaked, but staying calm until reason to be otherwise I take him to the eye center and they got him in right away. They dilated his eyes so they could see better what was going on. Turns out what he has is harmless and just an anomaly, and once they knew that they let me in on what the big deal was about. I guess there is a very rare, but deadly eye cancer that babies can get. The doctor said it's devastating, so maybe something not many if any babies survive. PHEW! What a relief.
ADRIENNE: She was telling me about her friend who has two boyfriends, one of whom is her former boyfriend Gavin. I asked her if she has a boyfriend and she does...Jay. I asked why she hadn't told me about it and she said she forgot. I asked if he knew he was her boyfriend and she said no, that she hadn't TOLD him yet. So funny.
COLETTE: Is such a helper these days! There was a small pile of diapers collecting on the living room floor. I kept meaning to put them in the garbage and by the time I went to do it they were gone! I asked the girls who put threw them away and Colette said she did. I was very pleased...I didn't even ask her to! Then later that day I gave Edward a bath and she was behind me watching. After I was in the living room for awhile getting him dressed I realized she was still in the bathroom. So I went back to see what she was up to and she had been wiping up the drips of water that had fallen on our scale with toilet paper.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Kids say the darndest things
Colette: I want to watch Dora!
Me: Okay, can you get me the remote?
Colette: I can, I've got arms! I do!
Me: Okay, can you get me the remote?
Colette: I can, I've got arms! I do!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Today has been INSANE. It snowed several inches over the weekend, I'm guessing about 6-8 inches here at our place. But then (this is the bigger story) today it's been raining so hard and so much that almost all traces of snow have been washed away. I heard that it rained 6 inches today! It was the 2nd most rainfall in a day on record! To put it into perspective, we get about 36 inches in a year! So for those of you that don't live around here, you can imagine that that much rain in one day had to do some damage. I'm going to talk about what I've seen and experienced, but if you want to know a more widespread scope of things around here, here's an article my mother-in-law pointed out in an email.
So this morning I went out to the van to get it warmed up before taking Adrienne to school and this is what greeted me in the shop where the van was parked:
From the drivers side I couldn't tell if the whole shop was flooded and we have some (a lot) carpet matting laying on the floor of the shop on the other side of the van, but luckily the flooding didn't go that far. So we haven't had any damage to any of our property because of this massive rainfall, but it was a close call - my dad dug a trench around a window that leads into the basement and avoided it all spilling over into the basement (where all our carpet is stored). Also it's pretty lucky we just finished with the siding or we'd have more wetness inside the house to deal with.
So when I left to take her the first sign that this rainfall was pretty heavy was the ditch at the bottom of our driveway was overflowing and water was running across our driveway:
This is our neighbor's driveway:
These pictures were taken after I'd already done my errands while Adrienne was at school. So I didn't have my camera with me for the most extreme thing that I experienced. I had taken Edward to my parents house, and then to do an errand up in Poulsbo - on the way back I took the Newberry Hill exit (I know people that don't live here don't have a clue about what I'm talking about - sorry), at the bottom of the exit there was water all across the roadway. This wasn't the first time I'd encountered water across the roadway in the course of the day and I watched a car drive through before me, so assumed that me being in a van it would be okay for me to go through as well...well as I was driving down into the water (very slowly) I stopped and opened the door to check how high the water was...it was just inches from the level of the floor, and I was just barely entering the water - there was probably about 30 feet left to drive through and I could tell it would only be getting deeper. The thing that really made me decide not to go was watching branches float along in front of me and then...a railroad tie (There's actually a railroad track up the hill from the exit, Mike saw more railroad ties later tonight, so I wonder how bad the damage is to the tracks)...so I wasn't about to drive through that water not knowing how deep it was or what kind of debris could be in it. But by now I had to wait for all the cars that were piling up behind me to back up onto the freeway, and as I was sitting there for the 15 minutes or so I could actually see the water rising. It was pretty freaky. So after I got back on the freeway and took my thawing frozen food home I went to pick up Edward. This is what it looked like at the bottom of El Dorado hill, you can see the mud and rocks across the road:
By the time I came back from picking up Edward the road to the left of the picture above was closed. Everything seemed to progress so quickly that I was getting worried that the bus would have trouble dropping off Adrienne or that Mike might not be able to make it home later that day. When I got home I was waiting at the bottom of our driveway where the bus now drops off Adrienne when I got a call on my cell from her teacher that the bus hadn't even arrived yet (then Adrienne's stop is 1/2 hour into her route). So she suggested that I come to get her. I wasn't thrilled with the idea since I'd have to bring Edward and Colette in with me in the torrential downpour and Edward was hungry after 4 hours since his last meal, but at that point I wanted all of us safe at home, plus there was no clue when the bus would actually get here. What I didn't know was that the whole school was being let out early (the whole district actually) and so the parking situation at the school was horrendous. It took about 15 minutes for me to get a parking "spot". Then, and this has to be the most annoying thing of the day, as I'm loaded up with Edward and Colette and a very large umbrella and preparing to walking into inches of water and get soaked up to my ankles (fun stuff) a car pulls forward and cuts me off. The traffic in the parking lot is still backed up and that car wasn't going more than a couple feet before stopping again for who knows how long (and sitting in a dry car I might add). I didn't hide my annoyance and I believe I rolled my eyes and scowled to myself. The driver must have noticed because he/she jerked to a stop and I hastily crossed in front of them. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful except for being sick (body aches) and dropping the lasagna on the floor that was supposed to be our dinner. Mike got home okay, school is canceled for tomorrow.
So here are the rest of the pictures I took - they're on the way to and from my parents'. They don't look quite as impressive now that I just saw an email my mother-in-law sent out that were on the news websites. I'll put those in at the bottom.
Here are some of the pictures from the email my mother-in-law sent out. They're all from places not too far from here.
Oh, here's one last picture, of the trees in our backyard yesterday...thought it looked pretty:
All right well I'm being rushed to finish this up (it's now 10:07...three hours after I started this), Mike needs to use the computer.
So this morning I went out to the van to get it warmed up before taking Adrienne to school and this is what greeted me in the shop where the van was parked:
From the drivers side I couldn't tell if the whole shop was flooded and we have some (a lot) carpet matting laying on the floor of the shop on the other side of the van, but luckily the flooding didn't go that far. So we haven't had any damage to any of our property because of this massive rainfall, but it was a close call - my dad dug a trench around a window that leads into the basement and avoided it all spilling over into the basement (where all our carpet is stored). Also it's pretty lucky we just finished with the siding or we'd have more wetness inside the house to deal with.So when I left to take her the first sign that this rainfall was pretty heavy was the ditch at the bottom of our driveway was overflowing and water was running across our driveway:
This is our neighbor's driveway:
These pictures were taken after I'd already done my errands while Adrienne was at school. So I didn't have my camera with me for the most extreme thing that I experienced. I had taken Edward to my parents house, and then to do an errand up in Poulsbo - on the way back I took the Newberry Hill exit (I know people that don't live here don't have a clue about what I'm talking about - sorry), at the bottom of the exit there was water all across the roadway. This wasn't the first time I'd encountered water across the roadway in the course of the day and I watched a car drive through before me, so assumed that me being in a van it would be okay for me to go through as well...well as I was driving down into the water (very slowly) I stopped and opened the door to check how high the water was...it was just inches from the level of the floor, and I was just barely entering the water - there was probably about 30 feet left to drive through and I could tell it would only be getting deeper. The thing that really made me decide not to go was watching branches float along in front of me and then...a railroad tie (There's actually a railroad track up the hill from the exit, Mike saw more railroad ties later tonight, so I wonder how bad the damage is to the tracks)...so I wasn't about to drive through that water not knowing how deep it was or what kind of debris could be in it. But by now I had to wait for all the cars that were piling up behind me to back up onto the freeway, and as I was sitting there for the 15 minutes or so I could actually see the water rising. It was pretty freaky. So after I got back on the freeway and took my thawing frozen food home I went to pick up Edward. This is what it looked like at the bottom of El Dorado hill, you can see the mud and rocks across the road:
By the time I came back from picking up Edward the road to the left of the picture above was closed. Everything seemed to progress so quickly that I was getting worried that the bus would have trouble dropping off Adrienne or that Mike might not be able to make it home later that day. When I got home I was waiting at the bottom of our driveway where the bus now drops off Adrienne when I got a call on my cell from her teacher that the bus hadn't even arrived yet (then Adrienne's stop is 1/2 hour into her route). So she suggested that I come to get her. I wasn't thrilled with the idea since I'd have to bring Edward and Colette in with me in the torrential downpour and Edward was hungry after 4 hours since his last meal, but at that point I wanted all of us safe at home, plus there was no clue when the bus would actually get here. What I didn't know was that the whole school was being let out early (the whole district actually) and so the parking situation at the school was horrendous. It took about 15 minutes for me to get a parking "spot". Then, and this has to be the most annoying thing of the day, as I'm loaded up with Edward and Colette and a very large umbrella and preparing to walking into inches of water and get soaked up to my ankles (fun stuff) a car pulls forward and cuts me off. The traffic in the parking lot is still backed up and that car wasn't going more than a couple feet before stopping again for who knows how long (and sitting in a dry car I might add). I didn't hide my annoyance and I believe I rolled my eyes and scowled to myself. The driver must have noticed because he/she jerked to a stop and I hastily crossed in front of them. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful except for being sick (body aches) and dropping the lasagna on the floor that was supposed to be our dinner. Mike got home okay, school is canceled for tomorrow.So here are the rest of the pictures I took - they're on the way to and from my parents'. They don't look quite as impressive now that I just saw an email my mother-in-law sent out that were on the news websites. I'll put those in at the bottom.
Here are some of the pictures from the email my mother-in-law sent out. They're all from places not too far from here.
Oh, here's one last picture, of the trees in our backyard yesterday...thought it looked pretty:
All right well I'm being rushed to finish this up (it's now 10:07...three hours after I started this), Mike needs to use the computer.
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