Friday, July 27, 2012

The Story of Why Our Basement Smells

Everytime guests come over I get embarrassed about taking them downstairs. It smells. My mom always reassures me that it's an unfinished basement in a really old house so that's just how it is, but I always buy several air fresheners each time I go to Walmart to put down there anyways. It's not that bad with something smelly good canceling out the weird musty smell.

Well, Scott and I decided we're going to re-floor by putting down some pretty wood-looking laminate over the scraped up/nasty/orange wood on the floor upstairs and finish the downstairs (and cover all the cement). Upstairs? We haven't done it yet, but we're not anticipating any huge problems. Downstairs? That's a whole different ball game.

You see, we have an old drain down there in the middle of the hallway on the floor. It's all rusted over and nasty looking.

So I thought, let's clean up this old nasty drain. Drain-O, right? That cleans drains! Let's pour some Drain-O down there and maybe that'll help. And then I had this nightmare about what came back out of the drain after we poured the Drain-O in. It was very Mummy-esque. Remember the flesh-eating bugs that came out of those little hill things? Yeah, that's what I dreamed about. Spiders and all other sorts of nasty bugs coming out of the drain.
 Fortunately, it was just a dream. However, it did dampen my desire to pour any thing down there.

I thought that we could just cover the drain up when we re-floor it downstairs. Scott thought that might be a bad idea though (which is totally valid). Call a plumber? No, waaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive. So when my parents came up, I asked my dad. He pretty much knows everything. He said that there should be a trap or something that before the sewer. We should be able to cover it up if we sealed it properly. This is what it would look like ideally (from what I understand):


When Scott and Dad went down to look at it though, this is what they found:

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, no wonder it smells down there a little. Not that it ever really smelled like sewer. It just smelled funny.

Gross.

So apparently that was a problem. And we had the hot water pipe leaking which added to the smelling problem. So Dad opened the valve all the way and voila! It quit leaking.

The Mad Haderlies, fixing one problem at a time.

But we've defintiely decided we're covering up the drain or something. I know it's for emergencies, but the drain isn't even near the washer, dryer, or hot water tank or anything. It's really oddly placed.

Hurray for fixing up old houses!

By the way things are looking currently, we'll be here longer than originally planned. According to our dream plan when we got married, we would be moving out next May. However, with my new job and Scott planning on going to Pocotello to get his masters, looks like we'll be here another few years. Sigh.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Lists and a Growing Garden

1. I love that the clock tower that chimes at noon every day in my neighborhood sounds exactly like the clock tower from Majora's Mask. It gives me a sense of impending doom.

2. I'm really grateful for a wonderful husband who's an enabler when it comes to my movie / Nintendo / Zelda addictions. It makes living together something special.

3. I'm nervous about what I should wear and how I should do my hair for my school picture and access tag. Curly? Straight? That's why I'm procrastinating my duty to call the tech people.

4. I really like it when I get to french tip my nails because that means they're long enough to be square-ish. I feel like it makes my hands look pretty.

5. PicMonkey is my new best friend (if you couldn't tell).

6. Everybody needs to look at my friend Sara's blog. She is so dang adorable. I just want to be her. I hope she thinks it's cute (though maybe a little pathetic) and not terribly annoying that I try to copy all of her outfits. She introduced me to the fabulousness gingham, and now I can't get enough of it (...if only I had the money to shop for it...!).

7. When I was younger, I thought I had no gift with children. I never felt instant an instant rapport, so I felt uncomfortable being around them. I don't know how/when/why it happened, but I am so glad that Heavenly Father softened my heart and opened my eyes to the beauty of children. Honest to goodness, I love kids. Even the ones that drive you insane because they don't listen or don't try or have a hard time getting along with others. I may not like them all the time, but I sure as heck love 'em. And I've discovered getting along with children is pretty easy--just show them that you love them!

8. I love: polka dots, "how they met" stories, seeing the Montana state sign, finding an outlet just where I need one, the special and close relationships I have with each of my sisters, and having my favorite song come on my Pandora station.

9. I am going to finish my skirt today. Yay! I started sewing it forever ago. All I have to do is take it in a bit and add the lace. I'm wearing it to church on Sunday, and if I'm brave enough, I'll share it as a "good news minute."

10. I am still convinced that eating Oreos and peanut butter will forever bring me happiness.


And LOOK!! My garden is growing!

Pumpkin

Watermelon

Tomato

Green Pepper


Can't wait 'til it's all ready to eat! :D