Thursday, December 3, 2015

What a Week

It has been a rough week here. By rough, I mean really rough. I don't know why but it seems like every time John leaves everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

Benjamin finally broke his fever only to go into the pool.  By go into the pool I mean Evil Knievel speed into the pool on his big wheel.  He landed in the middle of the deep end.  Thankfully he knew to lay on his back which he did. Jason was closest and he jumped in to get him.  By time he got there Benjamin was starting to sink.  Even laying on his back couldn't compensate for the bike attached to him as well as the jacket and shoes. Benjamin, it didn't phase him.  Everyone else, nervous wrecks. There were three people in the backyard watching him.  He was fast. He can now only ride his bikes in the front yard where we worry about cars. Sigh. This boy will never have a battery operated vehicle.

Now he has a cold.  Well, everyone in the house has a cold. I don't think that the dump in the pool helped him. He has become very clingy after talking with his dad on the phone.  Every time the front door opens he runs to the door calling for daddy. He doesn't understand why dad isn't coming home so he wants to be on mommy's hip all the time. I may lose weight between carrying him around all the time and my struggles with eating while holding him.

Our pool, it is green.  It also has a leak.  It is green because the leak is in the plumbing so I can't run the filter. Once I realized that I had a leak I realized why the back corner of cement is breaking up.  I am not happy.  I have called the pool company who installed it 2 years ago, they said that they would call back. Tomorrow I will have to call again since I haven't heard from them.

I also haven't heard from any of the roofers I have called.  Our roof still leaks. With all the flooding around here the roofers are busy.  I understand that.  At least call me bakc and put me on your waiting list.

Then there is Larissa. She was complaining about her gums. They were swollen.  I called the dentist. They didn't call back. The next morning I called and callled until I got through and got her an appointment for later in the day.  Then she woke up.  Complaining abut her throat being sore.  I didn't want to take her to the dentist unless I was sure she didn't have strep.  I called the doctor and the only time they could see her was when she had a dentist appointment. I made that appointment and called and callled the dentist to change her appointment with them. We went to the doctor and the strep test was negative so we headed over to the dentist.  They pulled a stuck baby tooth but said that the problem was two molars that were stuck and couldn't come in.  They referred me to the ortho.  Today we went to the ortho and he said that although it appears that they are on top of each other, they actually aren't.  One of them looks like it will come in the roof of her mouth.  We go back in February to see if she has enough adult teeth for braces.  Larissa says that she hates her teeth. I can't blame her, they are a mess.  I can see her canines up there too with nowhere to go.

Then I have the dog.  Michelle left the gate open and he got out.  She didn't tell us she left the gate open.  She mentioned that she thought she left a trash bag in the backyard and went out to find it. Odd, this is very odd. She later comes in the front door with an injured George.  He is missing some skin on his leg and forehead.  He limped for a bit but thanfully didn't seem in any major pain.  I wanted to take him to the vet but had a short window of opportunity for doctor visits and had to take Larissa.  My moms caregiver will watch the other kids so I can take kids to appointments. I am not going to attemp the vet with all my kids.  Nope. If I thought he had a problem I would have one of my other kids come over and babysit while I went.

Speaking of Michelle.  I found around 10 books in her bedroom with her teachers name on them. I asked her teacher about them.  This is the second time she has had a stack from school.  He teacher told me that the kids aren't allowed to take the classroom books home. I can understand that. She also told me that she has talked to Michelle about this before when she caught her with a stack.  Of course Michelle doesn't remember that rule.

Tonight I heard helicopters flying around.  I thought it was odd but not a big deal.  We are near Ft. Jackson. Then I check facebook and learn that  a prisoner has escaped so we need to lock our doors and windows. A quick check of the house made me realize that we had several windows that weren't locked.  They are now and the house alarm has been set for the night.  I hope that he is caught without incident.

On a good note: Benjamin knows how to go on his back when he "falls" into the pool, it is not swimming season so a green pool is OK, my ceiling leak is slow and is managed with buckets, we have good insurance and I can take the kids to as many dorctor, dentist, ortho appointments as necessary, George didn't get killed with his encounter with a car (I wonder how the car fared), Michelle likes to read and my house is secured.

I need a vacation!

How has your week been?

7 comments:

  1. You somehow have the ability to even make disasters sound like a piece of cake - how you manage is beyond me! Still as I read between the lines, I see your strength, calmness and flexibility to roll with the punches. Even when you experience heart-stopping moments, you have the ability to overcome and move on, keeping pace with whatever life throws your way. You don't just need a vacation - you deserve one too!!! Blessings to you.

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  2. Wow what a week! Pool fences aren't required there? By law we have to have them. Takes a little worry away.

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    1. Pool fences aren't required here. The yard does have to be fully fenced and the door leading from the house has to have an alarm. That door is the only door in the house that has multible safety devices/locks/alarms which he can not open. He is never allowed out there alone. There were three people out there when he decided that he wanted to be in the pool. He didn't fall in, he did it on purpose. We use a transfer of responsibility here. One person is responsible and if they need to do something else or have been watching for 20 minutes or so they can transfer the responsibility to someone else. We never assume that because there are a bunch of people out there that he is being watched. I woorked hard last year teaching him to float on his back and this year I hope to have him swimming. However, we have discussed putting in a fence because the grandbabies will be increasing over the years. The problem is it would have to be a fence that Benjamin would not be able to climb. He is very accomplished in that way.

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  3. It's against the law here to have a green pool because of child drownings and pool fences are required for all foster homes with children under 5 and in most places you can get a free pool fence , the removable kind because of this.

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    1. The green pool is my biggest concern. We have never had a green pool, we always maintain it. However, with the plumbing leaking it won't maintain a water level to run the pump. I put some water in it with chemicals to get the green out but the water level only stayed high enough for a few hours. Now I realize that the water is going under the cement. Ugh. I wonder if I can block off that outlet and prevent the water loss until I can get them to come out. The frustrating part is that they are all busy since the flooding and I haven't been able to get them to return my calls.

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  4. When ours turned green they said too high phosphate level is lots of food for algea and to drain and add new water. We choose to seriously super shock it quadruple the normal amount for our size pool and leave the pump on all the time for a week and it cleared. We had just changed the water the summer before so it wasn't old. It worked

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    1. I quickly got my water blue but can't get it clear. The PH level looks good. The only thing that is off is the salt level but when the weather turns cold it normally doesn't read. I think that it is struggling because only one skimmer is working.

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