Rough Week

Wow it's been a rough couple of weeks! Seems everything is falling down on or around us.

• Waterline to the icemaker gave up.
  
• Waterpump on the truck gave up.
  
• Kids TV died by loosing all color but red.
  
• Check engine light came back on the truck.
  
• Last night an odd sound in the bath led me to check the septic line, the septic tank pump had died.
  

But keeping a positive outlook

• We caught the ice maker leak quickly before it got very bad, so no water damage.
  
• The check engine light got me to the mechanic and the Waterpump gave up completely in the parking lot. So at least we were not stranded out in the middle of nowhere.
  
• The kids tv was about 12 years old, and we were talking about upgrading our TV in the Den.
  
• The code is an stupid emission code in a sensor in the tailpipe.
  
• We caught it quick, so nothing backed up in the house!
  

Last night we took a break and had a night out on the pergola, we cooked hot dogs over the fire, and the Kids and I carved

Pictures... old Pictures

Worked this weekend on some old photos that we scanned from Aunt Mary. I think it is very important to scan pictures before they degrade any more or something bad happens to them. For example to the right is a greatly scaled down scan of Elsie Herbold. She was my Great Aunt who died in a horse riding accident in 1913 at 20 years old.

Sad part is I have a lot of pictures of Herbold who we don't know because it was not written on the photo, and we have not found anyone yet who can tell us who they are.

Also working on scanning a lot of post cards, some had pictures of people turned into post cards, and others were just standard post cards. I Like this one for example because of its age. It was written 101 years ago from a branch of Herbolds in Pennsylvania.

So any Herbolds out there that want to share some info... let me know!

Update

Had a good week, but we are ready for the rain to go away. The front that has moved through put Kim down for a bit. The kids are enjoying school, with the exception of a mix up with Josh on the first day where we went to pick him up from school and he rode the bus. Gave us a bit of a scare. I updated my DSi and there was a new flipbook app that allows you make basic animations. Attached is my second try at the app.

Weekend Update

Kim is up and about a bit more, and is now able to walk around a store for a bit. We were able to go out to eat this weekend as well. I think she might have over done it a bit yesterday, as she was in bed by 7.

This summer has flown by, with several things I wanted to do with the kids tabled because of larger projects. But they are doing well. This weekend they all but finished shopping for school supplies, and spent the following hour or so unpacking them and getting them organized. I am sure they will re-organize them as the time draws near. Even Josh is excited for the new year, though he tries to hide it.

Update on Kim

She is able to get and up and walk a bit more today. Still moving very slow however, but that is to be expected. Where they had to go back in turned into about 3" cut instead of the normal 1/2" one. Needless to say she is very sore on that side. That plus the migraines kept her down most of the day.

I got the yard cut, now if I can just find the time to "weed eat".

Arg...

Yesterday we heard a rumor that Josh has a "Summer Reading List". This was news to me, as we did not hear anything at the end of school, nothing in the mail, etc. I have been on their website off and on all summer, but never saw anything about it. Another quick trip to their website now showed a link to a reading list with the following text.

In an effort to raise the bar of excellence for middle school students, we are requiring all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to read one novel this summer. Students should have already read the book by the time school starts—August 19. Before the novel is discussed in class, teachers will give an assessment to determine completion of reading and level of comprehension.

We encourage you to purchase the assigned book for your child and read it with him/her. Hastings in Benton will have copies of all the books by mid-June. If you do not wish to buy the book, the Bryant Public Library and both middle school libraries have copies for check out.

Sounds like it has been out all summer, and my lack of parenting skills let this slip by doesn't it? However I checked the metadata of the Adobe file, and it has a creation date of 7-22-09! Wow, wonder how many kids will not have read the book? Josh loves to read and will not have a problem finishing the book. Good thing it is not War and Peace!

Kim

Kim has been taken back, prepped, and is headed into the operating room. I am keeping the facebook updated, but they are expected to take about 2 hours. Kim is now out of surgery and it only took an hour.

She is in recovery, but not awake yet. She will spend the night tonight.

She had a bleeder and they had to take her back in. It is a small one and it should not be that big of a deal. Had to sign more paperwork due to them having to put her back under.

She is out of recovery and in a room. She is now sleeping while I catch up on work emails. (Yea for the hospital's WiFi!) I will get the kids this afternoon and bring them up to see her. Kim will stay the night here, so the kids and I will be back up here in the AM.

North Little Rock Secrete

Just back from a great lunch, and I thought I would share a great secrete that my family has. It is a little blue plate that we have been hitting up for lunch for a year or two. The name of the place is BJ's Market Cafe (link). It is located in the North Little Rock Farmers Market. Today I had their hamburger, fries and a Dr Pepper for just over 8 after taxes, and it was worth every penny. The place is a hole in the wall, and you might have to flag down a waitress to get a refill, but they know many of their customers by name. You need to be there as close to "on the hour" as you can, as they get crowded every day. (Monday - Friday 6 - 3) Link to google street view.

Meagan's Room is done.

Finished up, well for the most part, Meagan's room today. The room had a crack where a roofer miss-stepped, and cracked the sheetrock a good foot and half long. They repaired the crack, and because the room had to be cleaned out anyway we chose to scrape that stupid popcorn off and repaint.

Well I got it repainted over the weekend and tonight I used batting for the clouds instead of painting them on like I did last time. Meagan was happy with it, so we continued and hung all but a few of her butterflies. I grabbed the picture to post to our blog here, but needed a wider angle lens.

With the exception of cleaning up a few things outside this wraps up all of the work that centered on the new roof. Even with all the trouble, I am so glad we did it, and would do it again with the same guys. So if you need a new roof, I have someone I would recommend.

Long Day

As you can see from the picture I had an exciting day today. On the way to work this morning I heard what I thought was a loud muffler in the duly truck next to me. It got louder as I got closer to him so I backed off, only the wap-wap changed pitch. At that point I knew what it was, by the time I changed lanes the car started to vibrate. I was on 630 but there was no where to change the flat due to the retaining wall. I made it to the next exit and changed it. Ran to Walmart and picked up two new tires.