Hello there! It's been awhile since I've posted an update on the family and I so here goes.....
The new year started out with the loss of a former co-worker who lost her 3 year battle to cancer. I visited her in hospice 4 days before she passed. It was heartbreaking to see her so weak and frail. She was unresponsive, so I 'm not sure she knew I was there, but I felt I needed to see her. She left behind her husband, son (age 12) and daughter (age 13.) Extremely heartbreaking.
February was pretty much filled with trying to get Em and Kaye to reach their Girl Scout cookie goals. Since this is Kaye's 1st year in Daisy Scouts, she wanted to earn enough to earn the cookie patch. Em's troop goal was for each girl to sell 80 boxes, which was way more than Em has ever sold. But somehow, even with the price of a box of Girl Scout cookies rising to $4 per box, she met the goal and even went a little bit over that number! Em's troop did a cookie booth on one of the coldest days of the winter and that helped her exceed her goal.
Now we are two weeks into March. Last week Jay did massive amounts of overtime because there was a sink hole 4 blocks from our house. Jay works for our township in the physical plant division (he is the township electrician, however he also does a lot more than that; i.e: pump station work, fixing things at the community center, inventory/purchasing for projects, etc.) He also had a 6 hour electrical seminar last Saturday. It was one tiring week for him.
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| "The sinkhole, which was 30 feet wide and 12 deep on Sunday, was about half again as big by Monday afternoon. Township employees said they would shore up a sewer pipe beneath the street, then fill the sinkhole with a mixture of sand and concrete. Gallagher declared Jenkins' home uninhabitable. On Sunday, Jenkins said the ceiling in part of her house separated from the wall, likely due to the house shifting." |
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| "The sinkhole was caused by a sewer main leak, has been stabilized and is no longer a threat to the neighborhood. The hole remains open, but contractors are expected to fill it with grout beginning Wednesday, Gallagher said. Today's rain shouldn't make the issues worse, since paths have been created for rain water to flow away from the hole, he said. Engineers will do radar and probing work today, he said. The weather is not why the hole isn't being filled in today, he said. It's a logistics issue getting everything to the site, he said. Sewer main work was done recently (at the intersection where this house is), to repair problems that officials said caused several small sinkholes. Sunday's damage was caused by a secondary leak in the same forced main that was put in during the 1970s. It has since been repaired. The main has been temporarily rerouted above ground and will be moved below the surface as the hole is filled. A forced main means water is pumped up a hill to the sewer plant, rather than driven by gravity. Forced mains operate under higher pressure than gravity mains, adding that the leaking main was old and deteriorating. While Gallagher initially said (the house) couldn't be lived in because of cracks to the foundation, facade and roof and the smell of sewer gas, engineers have since determined it was safe for the residents to occupy the home while repairs are made. Insurance companies are negotiating who will pay for the work" |
I'm not sure I'd want to go back to living in that house just in case the engineers are wrong!
My daughters have been sick with colds off & on for the past 3 weeks. At the beginning it started off as a cold with Kaye, turned into a nasty cough, 3 days later Jay got it, 3 days later Em got it. Kaye and Em kind of kept giving it back and forth to one another for a bit. I thought I had dodged this sickness, when this past Wednesday I awoke with post nasal drip and a sore throat. I am now on Day 3 of this nasty cold and it is holding me back from accomplishing a lot of things that need to be done around the house and errands that I must do.
Right now I need to get a birthday gift for one of Kaye's friends; the party is next Saturday. I also have barely anything for Easter baskets. I am not supplying a bunch of candy this year and I'm not big on 'trinkety' things you'd see from Oriental Trading Co. I've been perusing the internet for non-candy ideas. Most ideas I've seen online I've done in the past (sidewalk chalk, small puzzles/games/cards, hair clips/barettes, stickers, small toy, etc.) I will post a photo of what I end up purchasing for baskets as soon as I have the loot!
Well, my eyes are starting to water and I feel like I've used 1/2 a box of tissues as I've typed out this post. I will leave you with a picture of the successful surgery that I performed this afternoon. The patient was Kaye's pink Webkinz poodle. She will be a happy little girl when she comes home from school today!
When Em was around 4 years old our cable company offered this show On Demand and she LOVED it!
"St Bear's Dolls Hospital is a wonderful world where dolls and toys from all over the world are nurtured and mended. St. Bear's is a fun-filled environment that help children learn about friendship, teamwork, respect and understanding."
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