Kelsi's Blog

And GREEN wins!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:41:58 -0500

Last week Chuck and I found ourselves with a slow drain in our shower. Naturally Chuck wanted to run to the store and get Drano, but I convinced him to let me try something first. I poured a half cup of baking soda down the drain, and followed it slowly with a cup of vinegar. It made spectacular bubbles and was cool to watch. I followed it with a pot of boiling water once the bubbling ceased. It WORKED! The drain is no longer slow and I didn't have to pour caustic chemicals down the drain.

Drain cleaners/ uncloggers are not only bad for the environment, but they also may kill the good microorganisms at the sewage cleaning plant. 90% of clogs can be cleared with a plunger. The other 10% may need an auger or a plumber. If you use a drain cleaner and it does not work, you will be putting yourself or the plumber you call at risk because the caustic drain cleaner can splash on the de-clogger when he/she uses the auger or clears the J-trap on a sink.

Of course, my wonderful husband had still purchased the Drano, so now I need to convince him to return it so I can say I saved money too.

Yes, I am a

Kite day!

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:13:06 -0500

Today we went to fly the kite Ari earned for good behavior all week. The kite is shaped like a butterfly and not the easiest thing to fly, but we got it up a few times

Chuck tried for a bit while Ari helped and I kept Abby entertained, and later we switched and I tried to fly it as Chuck played with the kids (Ari was helping intermittently). We went to a local elementary school so there was a playground. I'm adding in a few pictures for your viewing pleasure, and I think Ari and Abby will "post" in a bit. Chuck takes like an hour to write an email sometimes, so I'm not sure if you will hear from him, but if you do, I'm sure it will sound better than my rambling!

An odd situation to be in

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:48:16 -0500

Well, for all you Nibbana followers there are out there (Hi Dad) I'm just updating. We are in an odd situation. Our condo is on the market and we have had a few showings. IF (and as you can see it is a big if) we get a contract on our condo, we have nowhere to go. In other words, there are no houses we want to buy (that we can afford) so we may be out on our butts. Obviously, we'd have at least 3 weeks to figure something out. Our options are to move in with family and get a storage unit or rent something month to month. Living with family is cheaper, but of course you end up with some inconvenience. We could do this for awhile and hope the market corrects itself while we wait, so we can afford something we want, but I'm not sure it will correct itself that much. There are a few houses out there we could buy, but there is "something " wrong with each one, for example this house, which has a nice yard, but is pretty ugly or this house, which looks ok and has a great lot, but is on a busy road or this house which backs up to powerlines.

Anyway, that is the goings-ons in my head, and I'll bet Dad is thinking of spiders, so I wonder what is up with Chuck? - Poor guy is working tonight on something for work :o(

Chuck is telling me not to get excited

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:27:40 -0500

I have a hard time not thinking about the house we found. I know anything could happen - the house could be sold, the bank could refuse to negotiate to a price we can afford, we may not be approved for a rehab loan, ect, but I just can't help thinking about the possibilities. I have run numerous searches, such as how to buy a bank-owned home, financing options for a house that needs serious work, and even the neighborhood (I did find something interesting, see link). I am thinking about what we could do and what we would have to do to make it habitable. Hmmm... I wonder if this is some sort of mental disorder (LOL). I know part of it is just wanting to have something house-wise to look forward to since we lost the possibility of buying the house in Perry Hall. I'm also wanting to have somewhere that we can go outside without going through two locked doors, and I can send Ari "out to play" when she is driving me nuts!!!

Anyone have suggestions for something else to focus my mind on? I know Chuck will suggest that I work on keeping the condo clean so we can sell it, but I'm thinking of something more fun.

In other "news" I'm watching a documentary (2006) on the Titanic and it is pretty neat. They have found sections of the bottom of the Titanic, and you can see it on the program. It was pretty cool!

The ugly duckling

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:37:48 -0500

So Chuck and I drove around with our agent looking at houses in Columbia today. We looked at 7. They all needed a bit of updating, but only one was a true "fixer-upper". Wouldn't you know the one we like is the fixer-upper! It is truly the 'ugly duckling". It is on a nice lot - .66 acres, and on a corner. It has a in-ground pool that we don't know what we would do with. It was built in 1962 in a contemporary style, meaning it has lots of windows and looks a bit funky. It was bought as a fixer upper several years ago and started, but never finished. It is 1700+ square feet and has 3 bedrooms/3 baths. It also has a full basement the same size as the house. It has a 2 car garage with a tiny apartment at the back, but it looks like it has some rot. The house has some visible mold, but the structure looks sound. I think it needs a bit of work to make it livable. Why is it that Chuck and I can't seem to be happy with something that is move-in ready?

Test...

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 20:05:10 -0500

So Chuck wants me to type something in to test out the blog and I am sitting here thinking - what should I type? Hmmmm... so I'll just start with 34 weeks pregnant is a tough place to be. You are big enough to feel like you are carrying around a house in you belly (in a way I am) but you still have 6 weeks until the baby is born unless it is early, and Ari was late so I am thinking it may be even longer than 6 weeks. At the same time some people think your belly is cute and that is always fun! Oh, and everything hurts at different times during the day. Plus, now I am testing my blood sugar 4x per day and watching my carb intake so that I don't have too much sugar in my blood since my body does not seem to be making enough insulin to deal with a lot of sugar at time.

Ok, enough complaining, because I really am excited to meet this kid (and Chuck and Ari share my excitement)!