Rockin and a Rollin'

I was abruptly awakened from a dead sleep on Wednesday the 18th to some loud crashes, creaks and groans and my bed shaking. What in the world was going on? My mind quickly raced through some possibilities. Wind storm? No...a quick glance out the window showed me that the tree branches were not whipping around. A flyover by the jets from nearby Hill Air Force Base? No...I couldn't hear the tell-tale sound of the loud engines. These are both things that as a resident of Davis County shake my house on the regular. I dismissed both options within seconds and came to the surprising but unmistakable conclusion: EARTHQUAKE! And interestingly, more than shaking, it felt like more of an intense rolling sensation. I sat there in a bit of a panic trying to figure out what to do. Should I run to Lilian or was it safer to stay put? Should I call out to her to see if she was okay? But what if she was somehow sleeping through it...I didn't want to alarm her. The earthquake seemed to go on forever but in all actuality lasted about 20 seconds. Oscar and I rode it out together on my bed and then raced to Lilian's room when the rockin' and rollin' settled down. She was sitting straight up in bed, eyes wide. "Was that...??" she asked, "An earthquake!!" I answered. And then suddenly the floor started rolling and her bedroom door started to sway... "It's happening again!" Lilian exclaimed. I assured her it was an aftershock which was normal, and that we'd likely continue to feel them throughout the day. I hurried down the hall to assess damage considering I had heard some pretty loud crashes during the initial quake and found Brandon standing on the stairs having been also jolted awake by the earth moving beneath him. "Earthquake?" "Yep, earthquake." 

I found my big canvas painting on the floor from where it had taken a dive from the fireplace mantle, a little dinged and dented but still okay. Not so okay were some vintage glass bottles that had been swept down with the painting. Also damaged was the framed picture of the Bountiful Temple that had taken its own dive from the downstairs fireplace mantle.





















Bryan had been driving to work when the earthquake hit. He was listening to the radio when he saw what looked like a huge bolt of lightning flash through the sky further south in Salt Lake City and then the radio went dead for a few seconds. He didn't notice the shaking, attributing it to just driving over some rough road. When the radio came back the DJ's were yelling, "Earthquake, earthquake!!!!" 

We spent the day responding to texts from family, and posts on social media as well as pouring over the news reports coming in throughout the day. We discovered the quake was classified as a 5.7 on the richter scale and was centered in Magna, Utah. Not huge, but still the largest we'd had here in Utah since the 1930's when there was a 6.6.  We still have friends living in our old neighborhood in Magna and it was interesting to hear of their experiences...the intensity of the shaking and the damage in their homes of course much more severe than our own 30 miles north.

(The Angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple lost his trumpet in the quake leading to a lot of funny memes...)

It was equal parts fascinating and unnerving to feel so many aftershocks throughout the day and week following the main quake...more than 200 altogether, though we only felt the ones that were at least a 3 on the richter scale. Oscar spent the day following me everywhere I went and cuddled up at my side when I stopped to sit at my computer or on the couch. Anytime the house started creaking his head would pop up and his eyes would get wide.

Wednesday the 18th was meant to be the first day of online distance learning for the kids after schools had closed Friday the 13th. We joked that maybe this was Mother Nature's way of giving the kids a little alarm clock jolt to get them moving so they wouldn't be tempted to sleep in even though they didn't have to catch the bus and check into their physical classrooms. It certainly did give a bit of a break from the non-stop Coronavirus news, at least here in Utah.

Four bedrooms

It's spring break. Because Rebekah at USU does not have time off this week and because Julianne is in Disneyland performing with CentreStage Theatre, that leaves four of us. And because Bryan has deadlines and Brandon hates to miss gymnastics, we did not plan any sort of spring break get-away. And truth be told, with all the traveling we did last year, the idea of relaxing at home was kind of a nice one, you know? So it's been a quiet week for us. Most of our neighborhood is gone and it feels a bit like a ghost town. My Instagram and Facebook accounts are overflowing with pictures of spring break adventures. Disneyland, Hawaii, NY, Oregon, St. George, San Diego, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas....just to name a few.

But beyond living vicariously through my friends and neighbors, I've been trying to spend my time doing some cleaning and various projects that I've been putting off for awhile. Spring cleaning for spring break? Not quite as exciting as travel, maybe...but still satisfying. I had wanted to dig into my yard work this week but the weather isn't being quite as cooperative as I had hoped.

So before I climb back up on my ladder to change some more lightbulbs and continue dusting my ceiling fans, here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday. I found myself in and out of each of my children's rooms multiple times, putting things away and was struck by the variety. I mean, of course they are going to have different styles of decor. They are four distinctly different people and their bedrooms are their sanctuaries. Different personalities, different things they are involved in or interested in.
But, here....look at this.

Rebekah's room doesn't get used as much seeing as she spends more of her time in her Logan apartment right now. But that Union Jack hanging in her bedroom represents the excitement of her upcoming LDS mission to London in 6 weeks.

Julianne hung those hearts up on her wall back in February. In honor of Valentines Day and her birthday which go hand in hand seeing they are just a few days apart. She hasn't taken them down, mostly I think because she is a big fan of love and romance any time of year.

The walls of Brandon's room are plastered with gymnastics ribbons, medals, plaques and pictures. But right now the ceiling is also covered in balloons because his birthday was last week. We're conducting an experiment...to see how long it takes for them to shrivel. We count a few new ones each evening.

Lilian's room is a pig sty. We're just waiting for her to grow a curly tail and start oinking. Either that or a phone call from the reality show Hoarders. But see that pink Christmas tree? Each of the kids have one in different colors. It's supposed to just come out during the month of December. But she refuses to let me store it in the basement when Christmas is over and has had it sitting on her dresser, lights on 24/7 for a good year and 4 months. It's more or less turned into her nightlight. And she sometimes hangs various things from it...necklaces and other such decor. Right now she's got an Easter bunny and chick tucked in there. Luckily the rest of her room is pink and purple so the pink tree matches at least in color if not in season.

Flooding

I don't know when, I don't know how...but at some point I think we must have angered the water gods something fierce.

One day in late April I was driving home from picking up Julianne at a rehearsal when I got a panicked call from Rebekah informing me that there was water gushing into Julianne's room through the window. She was frantically trying to save Julianne's belongings that were on the floor and the dresser that was under said window...and stuff towels into the window sill to staunch the flow. I instructed her to run outside and see if by chance a hose had been turned on and left running...we still weren't sure where the water was gushing from.

Bryan and I got home about the same time and between the two of us and the next door neighbor Rebekah had called in for reinforcements, we ran around from inside to out and back in again determining the source of the water so we could stop it, and bailing the standing water from the window well.

Turns out the city irrigation water had been turned on that day. The pressure of the water had been stronger than in past years and had pushed its way through with such force that one of the T pipes in the box near Juilanne's window had burst.

What a soggy mess. We called a disaster recovery company and they showed up with specialized water hoses and fans. The water had reached every corner of Julianne's room, into Rebekah's closet on the other side of the wall and a little way into the hall. Furniture got relocated into various rooms in the basement...mostly the family room, carpet got pulled up so the pad could be discarded, the water hose sucked as much water as possible out of that saturated carpet, and multiple fans were turned on to dry things out. All of this while Julianne bravely picked through her wet and soggy books, journals, ticket stubs and programs and other such belongings that been on the dresser or on the floor of her bedroom. And did I mention all the laundry to be done? Because Julianne's room had not been clean at the time and many of the contents of her closet were on the floor rather than hanging up as they should have been....

It's a story I have heard countless times from others....who hasn't had some kind of water damage in their homes at one time or another? Maybe it was just our turn? (I'll maybe leave out mention of the basement flood we had living in Magna....because after all, that was a really long time ago and maybe we were just due.)

But then last Monday Julianne made a horrifying discovery in the backyard man cave. She went out to row, she said. Who knew it would end up being so literal? Four inches of standing water throughout the entire building. Gymnastics mats floating like rafts, camping gear soaking up water, baseboards warping. Luckily we did not have to deal with carpet this time...the flooring is colored and polished concrete. (Though it will have to be re-finished.)

Julianne called her Dad immediately and then came in to inform me of the disaster. We discovered that the water had come from the field behind us. The farmer had been trying to deal with some dry spots near our fence and had left the sprinklers on all night long. He and his wife were horrified when we informed them of what had happened. They hustled over and spent quite a bit of time helping us with the sump pump and the clean-up inside. And it did take all day. Because not only did we have to haul out all of those (extremely heavy) water logged mats, camping equipment and other soggy items to dry out on the back lawn...but then pump out the water. We pumped about 1/3 of of it straight out of the front door and onto the dry spots in our own lawn. We then dropped the pump into the sump pump hole and shot it out under the back fence, through the farmers original sprinkler pipes and out further back into his field.

Bryan said it was an opportunity....when asked why the first thing he did after arriving home to survey the mess was to take a few shots into the water at the backstop.

But it took a lot of time to pump out the water because it turns out the floor of the building is not exactly flat. And so though we have two drains....the water was pooling in various low areas throughout the room and we spent a lot of effort pushing the water towards the drains, and continuously making sure those drains didn't get clogged with odds and end detritus floating in the water.

We ran fans all night long. But woke to find more puddles the next day....left over water that had collected under the building and was still finding ways to seep up through the floor. We spent the next few days checking every few hours that the pump was indeed on and working, and mopping up any extra water.

I kind of feel that we've had more than our fair share of flooding and water damage over the past few months. But if that weren't enough....the same night as our man cave flood, our kitchen sink stopped up and started leaking into the cupboard below. And when we went to visit Rebekah's soon-to-be new apartment in Logan last week, we found the carpet pulled back and fans blowing there because of a slight flood due to someone leaving on a hose just outside her basement apartment window.

Anyone know what kind of chants or prayers to say, dances to perform or gifts to bring to appease the water gods? Because I am so done! 

I finally did it

Julianne walked in the door from school and the first words out of her mouth were, "We've been invaded!" She could smell the scent of clean...a smell that because I'd been here all day, I hadn't noticed as strongly.

And the reason she could smell that scent of clean?
Because I finally did it.
I hired someone to help clean my house.
This is something I've been conflicted about for a long time. In my neighborhood, I'm in the minority because I don't have a cleaning lady. And yes, my house is slightly on the big-ish side. And yes, I've had a hard time keeping up with it.
But seriously, I can clean my own darn house!
And I told myself that over and over again. When I would see the cars pull up weekly or semi-weekly in front of my neighbors houses ladened with cleaning ladies and their supplies. When my friends told me stories of how incredibly fabulous it was to not have to dust. Even when I would dissolve into fits of anxiety at how often my house looked like a bomb went off.

I can clean my own darn house!

And I can! Except I wasn't doing it. I can blame it on being busy. I can blame it on being lazy.
Whatever it was, despite the fact that I refused to hire someone to help me clean, I secretly really desperately wished for it.

It was pride. And not necessarily the bad kind either. There is definitely something to be said for hard work and a job well done, yes? But pride all the same. And maybe a bit of a martyr complex.

I also still remember well my sister telling me a story of a friend of hers. She had hired a cleaning lady with the explanation that it was needful because her time was more valuable than spending it mopping her floors. Her kids needed her. I remember being really turned off by that. "What? You're saying that your time is more valuable than ours...the rest of us that are on our hands and knees scrubbing our own toilets? Your kids need you more than ours need us?" I would've respected her more if she had simply said something along the lines of, "I don't really like to clean my house. I'd really rather play with my kids. And thankfully I have the money to hire someone."

So though I'm finding myself a little bit embarrassed to have finally acquiesced....let me assure you, I've hired someone to help me clean my house because even though I can clean my own darn house, I really don't want to. I'm having a hard time keeping up with it and it's stressing me out.
I'm rather excited about the prospect of having a sparkling clean house every other week. (Which is a lot more frequent than has been in past months.) And the idea of not ever having to scrub bathrooms for the foreseeable future. (It's my least favorite chore.)

We worked hard today. Both of us. And I'm downright giddy about the results! I think maybe the giddiness might be able to drown out the pride and embarrassment.

(When I told Julianne that I had hired someone she was surprised and then...somewhat bothered. "I feel white and privileged" was her reply. Apparently that was not a good thing. And then a little panicked, "Please tell me she's not hispanic!!" Too stereotypical, I suppose?)

Finished!

....probably. To the best of my knowledge. I hope.

The man cave is officially done. It was a long process, wasn't it? Or maybe it just seems that way to me because I've been staring out my back windows at it for the past couple of years watching as it slowly but surely inched it's way to completion. Oh, it's been functional for a good year and a half now. We stalled a bit on the exterior, specifically railing for the side porch and stacked rock. The railing came last summer. As of this past week, the stacked rock is finally done. And wow...what a difference that rock makes! It was interesting watching the workmen put it up. It's quite time consuming, kind of like putting together a puzzle.

Here's a before pic....before not only rock but apparently railing also:

Here's some pictures of the rock progress:

These big boxes of rock were in the driveway in front of my side of the garage. I had to park out behind them for a few weeks. It's nice to have my spot back again...

And the finished product....

Doesn't it look nice? As you can maybe see, we have a lot of yard work to do to reclaim our backyard now that things are finally finished up. Things like nurturing our poor lawn that has suffered mightily from construction and trenching and lack of water due to cut sprinkler lines. But also, we need to figure out what to do with the space to the sides and back of the building. I'm kind of thinking some serious hedges to the one side, and maybe some more garden boxes on the other. I'm excited to plant some more trees and fill in that skinny little flower bed that I insisted the workmen make for me when creating that pathway in front of the building to the porch. I'm anxious to get some reclining lawn chairs up there on the porch. I guess what it truly boils down to is excitement for finally LIVING in our backyard. It's got potential to be really, really great. I watched Rebekah and all her hordes of friends back there for her birthday party last weekend (more on that in a few days) and saw what could be, what will be...what really already is to some extent. I'm hoping this is the year.

And in other non-related man cave news but kind of goes along with all the backyard talk....as I was heading back to the house after taking man cave pictures I noticed that my lilac bushes are in bloom. This is my favorite flower bed...even though it's so simple. I wish the lilacs could flower all summer!

 And then I heard a bit of contented squawking, and found these little guys...

...which is kind of funny because last week I found them on the other side of the house here.

 I guess they are enjoying the blooming flowers as well.

If you are interested in the whole man cave saga...
Progress Update
My lawn is crying
Another man cave update
It's done...mostly
One step closer to completion

A couple of things

#1  This is significant. We're looking at not one, not two, but THREE cars parked in the garage. And yes, I realize that it is a three-car garage...this is its purpose, after all. To house up to three cars. But until just recently, only the truck was finding a permanent home there. (And even it spent a few months sitting in the driveway when we had to rebuild during our unintentional great-garage-remodel a year ago. Ha!)  We have a lot of garage stuff. You know...the yard stuff and the handy-man stuff and the kids outdoor stuff. And sometimes it's just easy (aka lazy) to not put that stuff away properly. Especially if it doesn't really have an organized, designated place to be. Which means that Bryan's car spends as much time parked in the driveway as it does housed in the garage. So to even have two cars parked in the garage is something to be remarked upon. But three? I was determined to make it do-able. We took a Saturday and organized stuff, hauled stuff to the backyard man-cave, and even threw a lot of stuff away. But we had this couch....you know, the one that we hauled out of our master bedroom? It needed to go to D.I. But the truck at that point in time was sitting in a repair shop getting a brand new engine. So there was no way to haul it. In the garage it sat for quite a few weeks while Rebekah's new-used car got comfortable in the driveway. But this week we made it happen. And lo and behold, LOOK! The three car garage actually holding three cars! It's a miracle! A miracle to a First-World-Problem, I know. But still.

Another benefit to having all the cars in the garage....now maybe this won't happen ever again.

Actually, I already know this won't happen again. Because when this happened originally, Lilian and Noah (my Monday twins) got the talking to of their lives. And I think they are pretty solid in their knowledge that I will hogtie them if they even think about finger painting Rebekah's car (or anything else, for that matter) with mud again!

#2  I totally understand the purpose and importance behind smoke detectors, I do. Saving lives, homes, property and all of that. But tell me why home builders tend to put a detector on the very tallest of the vaulted ceilings in your home? Sadistic delight when thinking ahead to the day when the homeowner will have to find some sort of creative way to change the battery after being driven nearly insane by the constant chirping of the darn thing? Usually in the middle of the night? Luckily we have an extremely tall ladder. And a partial wall to lean it up against. And a husband with no fear of heights. Seriously, they couldn't have attached the detector to the slightly lower ceiling that runs the length of the wooden floor there? Ah, the downside of those open and light-filled vaulted ceilings. (Another First-World-Problem, I know.)

One step closer to completion...

Man cave updates have been few and far between lately.  Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the building is more or less complete and functional.  But we did get some railing today to go around that porch hanging off the west side of the structure.  And because I was pining for a brownish wrought iron type of railing, Bryan sprung for double the amount so we could re-do our existing back deck railing at the same time.  Aww, he loves me.  (More than likely, he's trying to keep me from complaining too terribly about the amount of time, effort and money that has gone into building a structure that will be primarily his.  But yes, I'm sure making his wife happy plays a part in there somewhere....)
Ready for some pics?

Oh, my aching back

I spread mulch throughout my flower beds today.  Two truck loads worth.  Entirely by myself.  Well, unless you count Lilian.  Which I don't.  Because realistically her attempts to help were more of a hindrance than anything.  (Shh.  Don't tell her I said that.) 
That's hours and hours worth of shoveling, raking and pushing a wheelbarrow around.

 
I came in with a bright red face (it took a few hours to determine whether it was a sunburn or just related to my tendency to turn bright red when it's hot) and covered head to toe in a thin layer of dirt.  (Yes, I wore shoes.  Just no socks.)  I have no doubt my back will ache tremendously tomorrow.

But hey...sure looks nice, yes? 

I think I'll give myself a few days before I tackle the backyard flower beds.  Luckily that should necessitate only one load of mulch.  (I hope.)