OH WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE SUMMERTIME WHEN YOUR ENTIRE BASEMENT FLOODS?

Many of you may remember this past Wednesday evening the viscious thunderstorms that came through central Ohio. Well of course true to form, Eldon was out of town and I was alone in my bed listening to Tornado sirens wondering if and when I should move the children to the basement. I had taken a Tylenol PM at 10 pm and the sirens woke me up at 11:30. (RUDE) I thought to go check on our laundry room. We have a door that goes to the outside in there and in the stairwell outside, is a piddly excuse for a drain that often clogs and sends water into the laundry room. Since it was raining so hard, and if you notice the state of my laundry room from the previous post, I should at least get the clothes off the floor so that the already clean ones wouldn't have to be washed again. I cleared the drain in my garments and then picked all the clothes off the floor. I looked out the window at all the lightening and marvelled at mother nature.



The next morning I thought, I should check the basement. It's always been a little sketchy during wet weather. I opened the door and saw Lake Gale. True to form a little toy floated by at the stairwell. Panic began to make my throat swell shut. That day I had a HUGE day at work trying to close deals out for the quarter ending June 30. The President of our company had already called that morning asking me how things were progressing on a certain deal. Jackson had a Dr. appt. at 10 am and Eldon was out of town. I called my mom in a panic asking how you got that much water out. We thought about calling someone to come do it, but I didn't want to pay $1000. I decided there was nothing I could do at that moment so I left and took Max to his swimming lesson, Jackson to the Dr. and then made a stop at Home Depot. Now this part of the story is my favorite.



Eldon and I are very different. He would have paid someone to come fix it, or would have thought it not a big deal and bought the smallest most affordable solution. Normally I would have paid someone as well, or I go buy the coolest gadget on the market to work on it myself. Jackson and I went into Home Depot and I bought the coolest Wet/Dry Vaccuum. I also bought one of those industrial strength fans. It cost a bit, but I thought well it's not $1000. I made plans for my mom and Lisa to come over after lunch to help. I also sent an email to Eldon that just said, FLOODED BASEMENT, CALL ME. Since his new promotion, he now has a secretary that can read his emails. Oh yeah, then the largest stress of the day, the State called me saying there was a problem with my quote on the deal that the President of my company had called earlier about and I was going to have to scrutinize a spreadsheet of 1000 lines before 2 pm. HOW!!!!



I dropped Jackson off, ran into work to try and solve my issue. I got a team of people working on it and then left. On my way home I stopped at Wendy's for lunch and ordered a large drink. I got going and it was a large Iced Tea. I add this only because I hope that many of you can relate to how annoying something that little can be. I can't drink Iced Tea!!! I don't want it, I want my drink! So I turned around and got it taken care of. Just more stress. I came home, and realized that we had to assemble the vaccuum. HMMM and I started moving stuff out of the basement while my phone kept ringing. Lisa came over while we were assembling the vaccuum and just laughed at how serious we were about it. Eldon called and said he got an early flight home and would be there. We started to work on the carpet in the basement. Eldon got home and we looked at the sump pump. It was totally fried. AHA an answer to our problems. I look outside and the sky is black. I thought to call Steve Sabin in our ward to ask him what to do. Well I dialed the number and handed the phone to Eldon so he could pretend it was his idea.



The tender mercies of the Lord were upon us as Brother Sabin answered the phone, said he was on his way to High Priest meeting but would stop by before and tell Eldon what parts to buy and then come after to help him put it in. The whole family jumped into the car because Eldon doesn't like to shop by himself for some reason, and we headed off to Lowe's. We bought one of the few sump pumps they had left and headed home. I put the kids to bed, realized I was exhausted and laid down while Eldon and Brother Sabin installed the new sump pump. They said that it ran straight for 10 minutes just pumping water out like crazy. Thank you Brother Sabin.



Our house now smells like a diseased bog, but we are getting it cleared up. I'm looking forward to spending time in our bog this weekend doing nothing! I feel like my test right now is fitting in everything that comes at me as well as what I already have on my plate. It's become a fun game (at least I pretend). You know after awhile, you can't smell the bog once you get used to it. It's probably not the best time to come visit us!

Tagged by Becca

This is a really fun tag. 10 photos you have to take with out cleaning up first. So here is an introduction to reality at the Gale house.

1. Dream Vacation - The Four Seasons Hotel in Bora Bora. I think the picture says it all.

2. Self Portrait - My toes after I had the ingrown toenail surgery. I guess the Half Marathon was a little too much for my toes. I apologize for the remaining iodine on some of the nails that is truly disgusting.

3. What my kid is doing right now - It's a little grainy but you can see that Max is watching TV in his underwear and Jack is pretending to watch too.

4. My Closet - It's a disaster. So no pride here you go.

5. Favorite Room - Eldon and I love this room. It's finally done. We just sit in it at night and feel the peace. It's the only room that is clean 90% of the time. I LOVE IT.

6. Favorite Shoes - These are my beloved slippers. I love them. I wear them in all seasons and they make my feet very happy. Eldon hates these slippers with a passion, but he has never offered to replace them, so they are still my favorite.

7. My laundry room - This is the messiest room in my house 90% of the time. I should have put it as my closet since we always get dressed in here. I have in my mind a system but it has yet to be fully implemented. The clothes are on a table, they aren't piled that high off the floor.

8. Second Bathroom - I love this bathroom. I picked the colors and the mirror. I love it.

9. My Kitchen Sink - I can't believe the dishes were done. Lucky for all of us, it looks like this.

10. My Fridge - I declined to show you the inside. We stack everything we don't know what to do with on top of the fridge, and have lots of family pictures on it.

I tag anyone who would like to participate.

Update on the weird rash

The weird rash is poison ivy. I must be the most naive mother on the planet. I thought we were totally void of it on our property until some Landscapers came to give us some bids to do some work and pointed it out. I was terrified of it and wouldn't let the kids go near it. Well the Landscapers pulled it all out and apparently dragged it along the grass! Well my little Darth Vader was fighting invisible villans in the same grass that evening. Of course it was all over his face the next day. I just thought he was the special sick kid who got weird things from time to time. I guess that is usually my role so why would it not have passed on to my child? Anyway, he has poison ivy, he is on an oral steroid that is working fantastically and I think we are on the mend. He told the baby sitter today that he did not need any Benedryl for itching because it would just interfere with his plans. He knows it makes him tired. I was proud of him for actually turning down medicine. He did not get that from me, definitely his father's side on that one. I still don't think I could identify it even if I'm looking at the attached picture. I was not a very good science student. I better beef up on it!

THE ANNUAL WEIRD RASH

So for the last two years, Max has come up with some unexplained contact rash. Last year, it was all over his chest and wouldn't go away without steroids. This time unfortunately it's all over his face. It's so sad because he is so handsome and so not handsome with swollen and red puffy dots all over his face. It's impossible to tell him not to scratch it, he's 4. So instead of waiting two weeks hoping Benedryl would cure it, I took him to the Dr. on day 2. Hopefully the steroids will work their magic and we will be back to normal by the end of the week. The Dr. and I cannot figure out what causes this on him. If anyone has any good ideas, let me know.

Gale Family Vacaton Part 2 - The Waterpark

The night after the Circus.

I grew up going to waterparks. I love the water. I do however have some pride, and hurdling myself down a slide and landing non-delicately in the water with everyone watching has lost its appeal over the years. But, I have to give my children the same opportunities I had growing up and Max has been in swimming lessons for the last year and a half and is no longer scared of the water. We went out to the Cherry Valley Lodge water park. We got a suite which consisted of a separate bedroom with a king bed and a couch bed in the main room. The room itself could be described as tired. I could see it's potential which reached it's height probably 10 years ago. But it was something that I wouldn't care if the kids ran around and played with things. The landscaping was amazing. I enjoyed that. We checked in at 11:00 am and changed into our suits. I then describe the next part as the "GLORY WALK" through the hotel in my swim suit cover up to the waterpark. Thank goodness I had a cover up! When we got our wristbands on and went in, it was a bit overwhelming. So much to do and where to start. We found a table to put our belongings on for the day and then hit the lazy river. Max loved it, Jackson was unsure. The water was plenty warm, just a bit swift for the little dude. I was stopped by the Lifeguards that I had to be in the tube not on it. That was a bit challenging as the hole in the tube was smaller than Max's mommy. But the good thing about water is it is slippery and somehow I got in there. I wanted to be the mom who had cool hair while she played at the park, but no such luck. I have short hair and when it gets wet, it is man hair. So I just stiffened my upper lip and walked with pride around the place. My kids loved it. In the little kid area, there was a zero entry pool that was about 1.5 feet deep. They had a dual slide that was about 10 feet long. I seriously believe that no child has gone down that slide more than Max did that day. It was HOURS of sliding down the kiddy slide. The funny thing was Jackson. He was very nervous. One of us took him to the top and the other stood at the bottom to catch him. The tricky part was whoever went to the top had to go down the slide after him. That was exciting for big mamma to go down the kiddy waterslide. Once he went down he was hooked. So Eldon and I took turns and it was fun. The nice thing was that they lowered the hot tub temperature so that the kids could get in it. It was one of those indoor/outdoor kind where you could go in and out. Jack liked that the best. After about 4 hours we were STARVING and EXHAUSTED. We ate a small lunch played a bit more and then went back to the room for a nap. All four of us were out for 2.5 hours. We got dressed, and then went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. It was good, but looming over us was Max saying "Mom I want to go back to the waterpark." In order to avoid going back the next day, we put on our wet suits and tromped back to the water park. We did the lazy river again and the kiddy slides, the hot tub. I don't know if exhausted is enough of a word to describe how we felt that night. I kept waiting for the kids to crash. I hear they do that when they play like this. We got everyone's pj's on and turned on the TV. Wouldn't you know that High School Musical 2 was on. Max has been dying to watch it. He's 4. I don't get it, but we pulled out the couch bed and got them all settled and we all watched. Max waited to the last song before he shut his eyes. They both slept well, but Jackson was up at 6:30. The kid needs to be slapped! We were on vacation!!! We packed up and went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. YUMMY!

My boys watching High School Musical 2.

Overall it was a great weekend. We spent quality time together. That was the goal. I am happy to say that I was considered a fun mom. That's what I have always been going for.