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.

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

Crappy Memories

I spent a couple of days reading all of crappypictures.com. It made me laugh really hard, and I'm not even a mom yet. If you need a laugh, check it out!

Tasha was inspired by her, and I've been inspired by Tasha. So with no further ado, here are some crappy memories:


Mom and Dad gave me a Nintendo64 for my birthday when I was 11 or 12. Best present ever? Yes. However, Dad didn't really like us spending money on games. But when Nadine told us we had to try out this game called Zelda and we saw it at the pawn shop, Mom couldn't say no. We kept it a secret from Dad though since we weren't supposed to be getting any new games. Mom and I were sneaking in some Zelda time when Dad was home once. We were fighting Bongo Bongo (the boss in the Shadow Temple--very intense) when he surprised us and walked downstairs. Like lightning, Mom shut off the TV...but we couldn't shut the game off because we were in the middle of a boss and hadn't saved it. He wanted some help shucking corn for dinner. Mom volunteered while I freaked out, hoping he wasn't going to notice that the 64 was on.

Disneyland is probably one of my favoritest places ever. I just get warm fuzzies thinking about it! One of our favorite rides to go on was the Tower of Terror. We went on it over and over and over again (but remember, Sheena's not big on hights). I'm not sure how it came up (thought I'm sure it was one of Tasha's brilliant ideas), but somehow we decided it would be so much fun to hold hands. As far as I remember, there are handles or anything to hold on to, just seat belts. Sheena was sitting in the middle and wanted no part of this hand holding business, but Tee and I were all gung-ho about it. We didn't think it through all the way...so when the ride dropped us and our hands flew up, well...Sheena decided she'd hold our hands after that. :)

This is a more recent memory. So you know how my lappy just died? Well when Scott and I were discussing how these things happen to old lappies, I wondered aloud why his was still working. I mean, his was older than mine! Turns out, I spoke too soon.

Today: His cord quit working (just like mine did). The lappy wasn't registering when it was plugged in. Scott grabbed his external hard drive and transferred all of his files over, and then it died. Because he needs a lappy for work, we went to Best Buy to get him a new cord. When we got home I plugged it in, but I heard this weird clicking noise. I unplugged it, and the clicking noise went away. I tried plugging it in again to see if we could turn it on, but it just started clicking again. That's when I noticed the smoke.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Smoke. Coming out of the USB ports and cd drive. And I could smell it, too. So I unplugged it again, but the smoking didn't stop.

...it was fried.

Considering all this had just happened to me, I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I mean, does the smoking thing even ever really happen?? Apparently it does. Scott was not as entertained as I was, unfortunately.

So I'm typing this up on Scottie's new lappy. Apparently, Scott and I are still learning to have faith and be optimistic, because things have been pretty crappy for us the past year.

These sorts of things make for great stories though, right?

Ode to Lappy

Oh Lappy, how I miss you!

Ours was one of the longest lasting relationships I developed in school.

You were always so good to me! 

We've spent hours together, and I never got tired of you.

I must have loved you too well, for over the last few months you have totally crapped out on me.

First, it was the battery. As soon as you came unplugged, you died.

...But I decided I could live with that. I was getting older, you were getting older. I could deal with you having to be plugged in all of the time.

But then the cord started to unravel, and even when you were plugged in, you weren't plugged in. 

So Mom bought you a new cord! And then it failed. D:  So I bought you a new cord! 

Eureka!!

 It worked!

We had a happy month together after that. I saved lots of very important files pertaining to my new classroom. You were my partner in crime developing my curriculum and classroom decorations. You had all my pictures and music! You were one of my most important assets.

And then...

 One day, it took you a little longer to start up.

 The screen flashed black a few times after finally starting up.

Again I thought, "We're just growing old together. All is well!"

Not so, you decided. A few days after the black flashes you wouldn't even start up. You'd only let me get as far as logging in, and then you'd freeze up. 

It's been a few weeks now since you've given up on me. It's been so hard living without you!

My father-in-law was kind enough to take it to the BYU-I computer help desk. They determined that the internal hard drive is almost kaput. They said it probably had enough life left to try to save some of my stuff...so I told them to get the documents, pictures, and music. Fortunately I backed up everything on Scott's external hard drive a couple of months ago so my life isn't totally ruined if it can't be saved, but I'd be sad if all of my pictures from the last couple of months were gone. That's what I get for not posting them. :(

So now we're looking into getting me a new internal hard drive. Here we come, Best Buy! 

I Went on a Walk Today

Despite getting our wheel stolen, we really like this neighborhood. It really is quite unique.

How cool is that?? It's not exactly in my neighborhood...but it's by the Walmart I go to. :D

p.s. When Mom and Dad came to stay, nothing happened to their car. :)

Also for you to think about--I will be posting about my classroom very soon (I hope). If you get any great ideas about a superhero themed classroom, I'd love to hear them!

I Sure Love Going Home

I love home. I love my family. I love my daddy. I love my mommy. I love my adorable sisters. I really love my sweet sweet nephews. :) 

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've been back, but I've been busy and haven't gotten around to blogging. So here it is! Lots of pictures... :D

We went to the circus and rode an elephant.

Best money Tasha's ever made Mom spend!! So excited we have our tickets to ride the elephant.

Scott, me, random boy child, Tasha, Sheena, Miles

Miles' cool face paint and new light saber (which was a popular toy the whole time we were home.)

It was a pretty impressive show. So much fun!






The next day we went mini golfing at Geyser Park. It was a beautiful day!

Guess who got a hole in one on the first hole? Yeah, she's doing a happy dance/skip to get her ball. Huzzah!!

This is how Miles liked to golf.

Then Scottie went home to Idaho Falls, and many (of my) tears were shed.

But more fun was yet to be had!

We went to Red Lodge for a picnic and a walk around town.

Isn't he adorable?!?!?! I love him to pieces. I want one just like him.

And then we went to this pizza place and got these cookies with ice cream on top of them.

Yum.

Because my other half left me, I got to partner up with Miles on everything. I was more than okay with that! Scott already knows that Miles was the first love of my life. :) I look like I'm stoned. But Miles looks so cute! And we had to get sprinkles on ours. 'Cause we're awesome like that.

Because this is my blog, I get two pictures. I don't look stoned in this one...!

Not entirely sure what happened to my picture of Mom and Dad with their ice cream cookie, but I just about cried when I realized I didn't have one of them. :'(  They were there! And they loved their cookie too!

I'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was, but then everybody was eating the lemons from their waters...

Luckily, Grammy had lots of quarters for Miles to have fun. :D

He rode the bull second. It wasn't as fun as the horse, unfortunately.

Everybody was surprised by how exciting the horse was!

The candy store had an old 1920s player piano. Grammy didn't let us down! She had plenty of dimes too, so we listened to it a few times.

As you saw on Sheena's blog, Tee made us all bunny ears out of pipe cleaner. Even Dad and Brian wore them...what good sports! And Tasha, being the ever thoughtful sister-in-law, made a pair for Scottie. :)  I still need to take a picture of him in them so we can add him to our family pictures. :)

Tee made us twinner ears! Man I love this little guy. He's definitely one of my best friends. I loved playing with him so much! I get a big grin like this just thinking about him and my other favorite-est guy Hudson.

How can you not fall in love with this little guy?? He had us all wrapped around his little finger. And his cute little toes, which I also love dearly. Also, best mom/grammy in the entire world. I can't even tell you how much I love her and miss her.



BEST dad in the world. I dare you to argue with me! :)

Possibly one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Thanks to Pinterest, I found a project I wanted Mom and Sheena to do for me: clutches! And we each got a couple! :D I don't know how I lived without them, because they're all I use now. Plus, Daddy bought us all new Easter dresses. Aren't we cute?

I love my family so much.  I'm working on photoshopping my other half in there. And the I'll edit it and make it look all pretty and hang it up in my house somewhere. :)

I love home. Sheena, come home again. Soon please!

Here is the end of our show. To end, a little clip from a few of my dear ones (that made Sheena and I just laugh):

Next Time, Just Ask--I'll Give You a Ride

My mom, dad, and I were on the way home from the temple when I was there visiting when I checked my phone to see if Scott had texted me.

He did.

He told me that he was driving to Rexburg to visit his parents when he saw this while pulling out of the driveway:



Don't judge us for parking on the already dead lawn. Our neighbors don't appreciate us parking in the shared drive way...

HAH.

Right??

Actually, I cried a little when I heard about it. Scott and I always joke about being dirt poor because we are. I mean, we have enough to get by, but it's not like we have a ton of extra money to go out and...oh, I don't know...buy a whole new wheel and tire.

Scott was way more upset than I was. I was sad, he was mad. But then it was just like, what's the point of being that way? Being mad/sad isn't going to bring the wheel back. It's been done and now we have to deal with it. So then hysterical laughter insued.

I mean, can you believe it?? Somebody stole a wheel from our car while it was in the driveway. Pretty ballsy, eh? I certainly think so.

Scott's wonderful parents took him out and bought us new windshield wipers (they were absolutely TERRIBLE--I'm glad there hasn't been much rain), a locking gas cap, and these lock nut thingys or something for the tires for both cars. A friend in the ward had her gas syphoned a few weeks ago.

With my dad's help, I started calling salvage yards in/around Billings to see if I could find a wheel. I called like, five places, and nobody had the model we needed. So then I called some in Rigby. Ucon. Idaho Falls. Nothing. Well, no wonder our tire got stolen! The person/people who took it obviously couldn't find one either...and they were in dire circumstances. According to Tasha, it was a small, poor (er than us) family. The mother was pregnant and they needed to...I don't remember. Get to her family or something so they could help? Tee--help me out here. But the point is that they really needed that wheel. I mean, they only took the one, right? If they were mercenaries they would've taken all four. ...right? Dad said (half jokingly) it's a good thing we pay our tithing or we wouldn't have had any wheels left, lol. True that! We've only had the tires about a year, so they're pretty new. I hope the wheel and tire work well for them and they get everything taken care of. Sure hope it doesn't have a hole and is slowly leaking...

;)

Just kidding. I would never wish that. Besides, with Scott's parents and my parents helping us out, everything's been taken care of. Scott found a wheel at a salvage yard in Pocatello and we just bought a used tire.

We found this in the alley next to our house.

So beware. If you stole our tire and you were't absolutely desperate, we'll find you.

Just kidding.

Or am I?

But next time....

Please just ask for a ride. I'll give you one. Anytime. Anywhere. Just please don't steal another wheel...