Somebody Must Think I Have Broad Shoulders

On Friday I was doing laundry, as I often do during the day. I stepped on the pile of dirty laundry on the floor and found that the clothes were soaking wet. Great!--I thought. The washing machine has a leak. I cleared up the entire area around the washer and dryer, used a bunch of towels to sop up the water, and tried to determine the source of the water. Luckily, our washer and dryer are in the unfinished portion of the basement, with concrete floors and cinderblock walls. Aren't they beaUtiful?? PS--the picture below is after cleaning up.

I left the house for a little while and came back to re-investigate. Found the source. Not what I expected to find. The source of the water was a 3-foot section of my basement wall/floor that connects to the neighbor's house (we live in a townhome). The house next door has been vacant for a year now. The water was coming from the vacant house.

Super.

Now let me give you some quick background.

We live in a townhouse, which means that we are connected to two other houses. The house on the left has been vacant for about a year now--foreclosure. Last January, I had a suspicion that a pipe had broken next door. The water company came down and confirmed my suspicion, but all they could do was to turn off the main water supply.

Fast forward a few months, and again I noticed that something was not right. Our sump pump was working over time, and we have rarely heard it during the 11 years we've lived here. The water company came back a few weeks ago and at least were able to confirm that we did not have a leak.

So when I found the water leaking in our house from next door, I came up with a scenario, and all of the sudden I got scared. I spent hours yesterday on the phone making calls, but nobody was in the office to answer my concerns. Guess who came through for me? I finally called the police, who sent Fire and Rescue out within 15 minutes.

Four of the nicest guys I've ever met climbed in through a window next door and went exploring. Unfortunately, they confirmed my fears. Not only was there standing water in their basement from the leak 5 months ago, but their sump pump is overflowed (and will continue to overflow as long as we have rain) and...here's the best part....there is black mold 4 feet up every wall. And yes, it is most definitely Black mold--the toxic kind. No question about it.

The fire department says that I should not let the kids go down in our basement anymore, and to call the Dept. of Health 1st thing Monday morning to have the house condemned. Luckily (?!) the government takes black mold very seriously. Here's a little bit that I learned about black mold this weekend:

Allergy to mold -- Symptoms can include runny nose, itchy eyes, wheezing, and skin rashes.

Infections - Skin, eyes, and lungs are often affected.

Mold can irritate mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory system.

Trigeminal nerve effects have been associated with mold and Volatile compounds (VOCS) produced by mold are thought to cause headache, attention deficit, inability to concentrate, and dizziness. (OMGoodness!! I've had all of these symptoms!!)

It is uncertain whether exposure over time to moldy odors can desensitize an individual so they have less perception of all odors, or cause them to be more highly irritated by odors.

Some molds (fungi) produce toxins or poisons.

Toxic molds can suppress the immune system, or damage intestines, skin, or lungs. They can increase susceptibility to cancer. They can cause blood vessels in the skin or lungs to rupture. (Could that be the cause of the deep bruising on my ankles that appeared out of nowhere and won't go away?!!?)

Toxic molds are reported to cause nausea and diarrhea, depression, headaches, tremors, kidney problems, and infertility.

No wonder I've been having head and body aches for weeks!
No wonder Twizzler and KitKat have had throat problems all season long! And to think that I just scheduled their surgeries last week!!
No wonder my brain feels muddled and I can't go to sleep.

I hate to imagine what else breathing this mold has done to us!

So....we have not lost about half of our living space. As soon as CandyMan came back in town last night, we started the massive process of removing all of our belongings from the basement. We are already crammed into our space as it is, and now we have 600 square feet less. (that picture over there is my family room last night after the kids carried load after load upstairs. They were good sports, but not the most organized)

We will have to wait for the Dept. of Health to measure the spore count in our house to determine if the main floor and bedrooms are safe for us. If not, then I suppose we'll be looking for a new place to hang out for a while.

As if I didn't have enough stresses right now.

My friend Helen told me that someone must think I have pretty broad shoulders. Should I take that as a compliment?

The Green Teen

**UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who commented! I was 9 comments away from winning. So close! I loves reading everyone's tips and notes of encouragement. Again, I really appreciate how you all pulled together to help me try to win the gift card.**

Fellow mom Jenn Savedge has recently released her new book, The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen's Guide to Saving the Planet. The Green Teen (http://www.g2ggreen.org) shows teens how to minimize their environmental impact at home, at school, and in their communities and get their concerns recognized by school officials, politicians, media, and even their own parents.

To celebrate the release of her book, Jenn and The Green Teen are taking a blog tour and spreading the green message.

I received an e-copy of the book last week. While I was perusing the e-book, my 7th grade daughter, KitKat, walked up behind me and asked me what I was reading. I think the "teen" caught her eye, and she was probably worried that I was reading something about how to fix your teen. Luckily, we're still surviving together pretty well.

Earlier this year, KitKat was supposed to do a project for one of her classes at school. I say "supposed to do" because she had the assignment to pick a few green habits on a list that her teacher had made and implement them in our house. We already did everything on the list. So she took pictures of herself doing them.

I honestly don't consider myself "green" but I think that may be due to the fact that I was raised in California with environmentally conscious parents and peers. The things that I do are second nature. But I could be doing so much more. I may recycle every single little thing that comes into my house, but I could be reaching out so much more beyond my own home. I love the ideas that this book presents, and I love the fact that it focuses on teens. Start them now, and let them focus their peer pressure on something worth-while.

Be sure to join us tonight (May 29) for the Green Tenn Twitter party from 9-10 EST. The hash tag is #TheGreenTeen. I'm sure there will lots of great tips and questions.

**OK--here's the deal. Twittermoms and New Society Publishers are hosting this blog tour, and have offered a $100 Amazon gift card for the blogger who gets the most comments on their post about the Green Teen. Please help a blogger out! Comment like crazy! Tweet about this....Anything! I only have a few hours to get the comments racked up.

Here are a few ideas to comment about:
*Do you have a teen in your life who could benefit from this book?
*What do you do to be green at home?
*What is the best Green tip you have heard?
*Did you tweet about it? List your tweet here!
*Are you planning on stopping by for the twitter party?

Thanks for commenting!!

Give Me Your Best Shot #16

In looking through my photos from this week, I discovered that I had more than my usual number of candids of people outside my family. Kind of fun for me! That's one thing I love about having a big 'ol zoom. I can sit in one spot and inconspicuously snap pictures of people in their element. Those really are my favorite types of pictures. The raw, real, uncheesy candids. I loved the colors in this particular shot of AJ's best friend's baby sister. She is a doll, and I love how brave she was playing in the rain (and how her hair curled up so cute!)

As you have probably heard, Mr Linky is going through some changes right now, so we've got a different "look"....but you can still add your post with your favorite photo to the linky. I can't wait to see what your favorite shots were this week!

Fix-It Friday--Little Precious

This week's Fix-It picture from I Heart Faces is a great photo to start out with, in my opinion. The biggest problem for me was that it had a lot of noise. So in addition to brightening and boosting, I tried to reduce the noise. Here's the original:

I kept things simple (for me) and did two easy edits in Lightroom 1. I just love her big, blue eyes!

A slightly closer crop and a black and white conversion. Sorry I was so boring today!

This little girl is just so precious, she didn't need much!

AJ's Party

Could I really have let a week go by without sharing pictures from AJ's birthday party? Impossible. Have I really been that busy?

AJ's party was perfect for me. We packed the food and the presents and the kids (and the bubbles. Don't forget the bubbles) across the street to the park. The kids played for 10 minutes, then blew bubbles for 5. Then they played for another 8, and ate for 5. Back and forth, back and forth. Lots of running. Lots of smiles. AJ has some great friends.

Two of AJ's current obsessions: bubbles and his cowboy boots. Funny--he never wore his boots with pants, but he LOVES wearing them with shorts. Silly kid.




Ride 'em, cowboy!
My friend's baby girl...I can't get enough of her baby fat.


I love this kid. Have I mentioned that lately?


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

PS--I'm also adding this late to ATWT. Happy Thursday!

You Capture. Family.

I love joining in with I Should Be Folding Laundry's weekly You Capture challenge. It gives my photos some direction. Something to look for through the week.

Except this week. I don't think I thought about the theme once. Oops. Thank goodness I take a bajillion pictures and still have some to share.

This first shot was last Monday (so technically, outside the allowed shot dates...you'll be easy on me, right?). This is classic, unhindered, pure family for you.

On Saturday, I noticed KitKat and AJ sitting together eating a snack at the BBQ we attended. KitKat could have sat anywhere, but she chose to sit with her little brother. That's family.

Our gracious BBQ host asked if I'd take a few pictures of her and her dogs. That's family, too....don't you think? (notice the dogs' faces? My friend, Safire, was holding pieces of steak above my head!)

Speaking of Safire....isn't her family adorable? They have a tradition of taking a family snapshot each Memorial Day weekend. Glad I could help capture that. :)





64

Pooh! Rain to a Bear is Nothing at All....

We'll picnic here and let it fall!
(from one of my favorite Berenstain Bears Books)

We didn't let anything as silly as rain ruin our Memorial Day picnic fun. I sat under a tent with friends and enjoyed good food and chatting....and the kids ran around and got WET!


A wet, slippery moon bounce? Who could ask for anything better than that? How about add a few 10 year old boys....Oh yeah!

The first watermelon of the season. Have you ever noticed that watermelon STAINS are hard to get out!?


And on the way home....roads were closed because of all of the WATER. But my kids wanted to continue to play out in the rain.

How is it Wednesday already??

Tuesday Tribute--Beth and Ezra

Today, I am writing about a friend of mine--a mother who just discovered that her 2 year old son has cancer. I could tell you all her story, but it means so much more coming from her mouth. Read my friend Beth's story of her sweet little Ezra, who just turned 2 on May 23rd. I am shocked at how much has happened--how their lives have changed--in one short week. In a nut shell, last Monday the 18th (my AJ's birthday), Ezra was bitten by a spider.

Beth noticed that he was not acting like himself--a little lethargic, and limping in one leg--and so they took him to the doctor. By the time his birthday rolled around 5 short days later, he was already receiving chemo for the cancer that they didn't even know was there a week ago. My heart breaks for their family, for not only do they have to deal with the pain of his sickness and the cost of the treatments, but they have other costs mounting by the day. Beth needs transportation to get Ezra to his doctors visits 2-3 times a week. Their house must be sterile so that Ezra is not exposed to infections.

I can't even imagine.

All I'm asking today is that you stop by Beth's blog today (Manic Mother) and leave her a comment of encouragement, and if it's within your means, leave her a little donation. Every little bit will help, I know.

I Heart Faces--Silhouettes

Back in October, I met my sister and her little family in the banks of the Potomac River just outside of DC for some family pictures at sunrise. Andrea asked if I would take some silhouette shots as the sun was rising. I had never attempted to take silhouettes before, but was pretty pleased with the results. This was the picture that came to my mind when the silhouette theme was announced at I Heart Faces for this week. I've already seen some of the shots people have caught for this week's theme, and I can honestly say--I'm blown away!

Kim's Kool Kolumn

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!

For today since it's Monday I thought I would do a NOT ME MONDAY, and I thought I would do a post on funny things that people (including me) in my family have said, even though I wouldn't say this, NOT ME.



For those of you who didn't see the first Kim's Kool Kolumn, check it out at The First Kim's Kool Kolumn. For some backup info...this is a "kolumn" that I will try to write every month. I am Lolli's daughter(kit-kat but I refuse to use that name, my mom can use it in her posts if she wants but I am not going to). So keep a look out for my Kolumn and just keep up those komments, I love to hear what people think about it.

When Necco was about 4 we were at my grandma's house and she went into my aunt's room and came out with no shirt on and a purple sleeping mask on as a bra and said, "I'm not a boy"

When I was about 2 Necco was playing in the curtains and instead of saying "What on earth are you doing little lady?", I said, "What are you doing little earth lady?"

Last night Twizzler and my dad were talking about genetic makeup and when my dad said that Necco had genetic makeup she said, "I don't wear makeup."

When Twizzler was 4 or 5 he started to have a major obsession with yellow so one day he went around the house collecting everything that was yellow and when my mom asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm collecting the family jewels."

Twizzler: "Andrea, you got fat."
Andrea: "No, I'm just pregnant."
Twizzler: "Yeah, but you got fat also."

Soon after my mom had Twizzler, I found her water bottle and was very confused:
Me: "Mommy I thought you said this broke."(holding up the water bottle)
Mom: "What?"
Me: "Yeah, when Twizzler was born you said your water broke."

The rest of these are just word for word out of a book:

When I saw that my sandwich was made of store-bought white bread, I said, "Oh! Not the yucky kind of bread!"

I rode the bus for the first time and when asked how it was , said, "It was great! I want to ride that everyday!" Earlier that day when one of the other mothers commented on how I looked a lot younger than the other kids i said, "I am not young!"

9-11-01:
K: "Today was a VERY special day... Mom gave me popcorn and ice cream"
(Kind of a scary date to be special about something like that)

When my mom was sick I said," Sometimes when another person is hurting, I wish that I could hurt instead. That's how I feel right now. I wish I could be sick instead of you."

My mom and I were talking on the phone(she was in Cali) and when she asked if she could talk to Daddy I finally said, "Ok, fine." There was a brief pause and then I came back and said "hello?" in a deep voice and started cracking up at my own joke.

After having a nightmare that we were at a neighbors house where I looked out of the window and saw our house on fire, I asked my mom quite a question-"Is it true that fires make big black things & if you look at it, you'll turn to a pillar of salt?"

When told that I would have P.E. that day i said, "Oh, dang-it. I don't like P.E. day because all the things are so hard for me. Except scooters. I love scooters!"

K: "I think I'm really going to marry Kaleb when I grow up."
Neighbor: "Oh yeah? And what will you do when you're married?"
K: "We'll get lots of kids, and I'll be really busy all the time."

K(after smelling something stinky):"Ooh! Something stinks!...If Daddy was here, I would have thought it was him...Cuz he's stinky a lot."

When my dad didn't come home for dinner one night, I went on about how my dad's boss was such a mean person. I said, "Mr. E must really like Daddy to work for him, but he just doesn't understand that we we want him here with us...Mr. E must have a lot of work for Daddy."


Well, hope you got a few good laughs out of some of those...speaking of which, don't forget to follow the FISHFUL THINKING motto and be optimistic. Once again, Happy Memorial Day. Also, if you have any ideas about what I should do for other posts, TELL ME! Thanks for reading!

Can You Read This?

I have had a few emails saying that some of my readers have not been able to get onto my blog. According to Known Issues For Blogger there's been a problem with Internet Explorer loading some blog pages. It seems to have something to do with the followers gadget.....so I have removed it temporarily. Grr! Maybe this is why I'm not getting many comments?

PS--please let me know which browser you are using, and if you've been having similar troubles.

Another edit--I have added the followers gadget back onto my blog. Are the problems back? (although I suppose the people who couldn't see my blog before wouldn't be able to tell me if it were happening again...)