Predictions

During breakfast this morning, Andrew looks up at me and matter of factly told me, "Mom, in 100 days, you are going to die." WHAT THE HELL???? How does one respond to this? I, of course, over reacted and was hysterical. On the plus side, it did get him to do all his morning duties without being told. What a way to start the day. Well, the day really did start with me cleaning up cat shit off the rugs.....

Are stickers really all that sticky?

So, yesterday, my darling son finds a Jayhawk sticker and proceeds to plaster it onto his little soft arm. At the time, I was thinking I should probably take it off, but he liked it, so it stayed. Last night during his shower, he peeled off most of it - and it went down my drain. Stickiness and all. When he got out of the shower, I thought he had 3rd degree burns that had started to peel. Luckily all it was was the goo stuck to the hair on his arm. I did my best to wipe some of it off with a washcloth. He didn't like so much the ouchies. Alas, I slathered Polysporin all over it, and he kept the arm above covers all night. Once he was tucked into bed, I called the guru of all knowledge. Mom suggested WD-40 or Pam. Both required plenty of ventilation and immediate washing of soap and water. I waited until morning. When he woke up, the arm was much better. We did the WD-40 trick, and his arm is back to its soft cute self.
The things we learn due to our little cherubs......

Is a scraper really necessary?

Left this morning at 7:45 for an 8:00 soccer game. There was a light frost last night. Apparently. When I got in the car and turned on the wipers to remove the "dew" from the windshield, nothing happened except an annoying noise. For the longest time after I moved from KC to SD, I kept an ice scraper in my glove box. Well, it was more of a case of never taking it out. I finally threw it away, or maybe it went with the car during trade-in. Anyway, after 18 years in southern Cal, I never had a need for one. After seven months in NH, I need one. I was told to get one with a brush on the end. That, or park in the garage. Not having an attached garage, the driveway is closer to the door.....

For those of you wondering about Paris. One would think that the 1st week of October would be a good time to go to Paris since most Americans would be in New England staring at leaves. Not the case. Maybe the Americans I ran into were all New Englanders getting away from all the tourists. Anyway, Paris is Paris, and Claire and her family are wonderful. Reed & Elizabeth are great traveling companions - can they say the same about me??? The wine & cheese are incredible, of course. The one food that stuck out in my mind this trip? Mashed potatoes. According to Elizabeth, it's all about the butter. French cows make better butter.

Salut ya'll.

It Pays to Pay

It also pays to procrastinate! The hail storm was only two days before Bill & Jared arrived in July to build the deck. I didn't think anything of the damage until a couple of weeks ago. I noticed very sizable holes in the siding of my house. That is not good as moisture can collect inside. Plus, 100 years ago, houses were not insulated as they are today. I had already figured that the damage to my car was minimal, thus not even thinking about calling the insurance company. I rethought things when my good friend John was here for a visit. He said that there might be roof damage, and even if insurance pays for a portion of that, it's worth the deductible. Well, folks, right now, a grand is a huge amount of money. Actually, a grand is always a huge amount of money. I went ahead and called State Farm just to see. She gave me the number that I thought was a number for me to open the official claim. As most of you know, I hate the phone, thus did not make any follow-up phone calls. Guess what? About three days later, they called me. State Farm, as most insurance companies probably do, have a service where they can have their prescreened companies contact you to set up appointments and such. How wonderful! Now, they call me, and I follow them around when they poke and prod at my old home. The guy last week found substantial damage to the siding. He took pictures and notes and left. Then I got a call from a State Farm employee. He came out today with his really long ladder and went up on the roof. Did a bunch more poking and prodding around. Guess what folks?? After years and years and years (you get the idea) of paying INTO the system, I get the big reward. No, not winning the lottery, but pretty darn close! It appears that the house, as well as the garage, needs a new roof. So, for the aforementioned grand, I get a new roof, gutters, snow shields, replaced facia, downspouts, screens, siding, AND a claim form to report the damage to my flagpole, a planter, and two of my A/C units. Pretty damn awesome in my opinion! Now, with winter approaching, just when will these repairs happen? That's where the procrastination comes in. Everyone else called right after the storm, so over the past almost six weeks, their claims have been processed and work completed. Making room for my repair/replacements!!

Another exciting thing happened today. The furnace/boiler/heater whatever it's called that burns the oil from the big tank in the basement was serviced. Good thing too. Since the oil tank burned empty twice this past winter (HEY! I wasn't living here yet to monitor), the filters and pipes were filthy. That was nothing until the serviceman opened the air filter cabinet. YUCK!!!! A year of using the furnace, not changing air filters, having major renovations completed, etc really took their toll. Luckily the previous owner had a spare - IN the filter area, so it was pretty much useless. Off to the hardware store! I also need to get something to kill the poison ivy decorating the east side of my driveway....

Happy reading.

It's Been A While

Wow. May. Really? It's been May since I've last posted? I almost feel like, "forgive me blogosphere for I have sinned. It's been over three months since my last post." What has happened these past many months? Andrew finished Kindergarten. He left with his Dad on 9 June for 10 weeks of a San Diego summer including, but not limited to, surf & soccer camp (at different times). Some might be wondering if I whooped it up those 10 weeks. Yes and No. The first week, I schlepped down to Jersey for a voicemail class. Figured, even if I wasn't gainfully employed, at least I should keep my skills sharp. It was a great class. The instructor was awesome, and made a couple of new friends. I was even able to hop a train into the city for a couple of evenings. How many people know that Shakespeare in the Park is free? It was a perfect evening even if Macbeth is not one of my favs of Sir Bill. Taking that class the first week Andrew was gone was the best thing I could have done. Instead of moping around the house having pity parties, I learned a valuable skill. AND spent two awesome evenings in NYC.

The self-employment/sub-contractor thing picked up soon after my class. At first, it was just keeping the lights on, but now it actually is paying the mortgage also. Since Andrew has started back to school, things have slowed down, but I am hopeful projects will start pouring in again soon. They better!

June finished up with me working on work, and the house. Actually got a few pictures hung. I was also able to drive solo into Boston for the first time to meet a wonderful friend in Cambridge for dinner. This is one of the fabulous people I met at the Chateau last year in France. Such great times!

July started out with a weekend trip up to the lake house in Maine of my friend Beth's parents. It was an idyllic weekend. Even with two teenagers! Hey, they aren't mine! ;) Beth, you know I love all ya'll! Mid-July was greeted with a freak hailstorm (insurance is still working the claim to fix the siding on the house, and check the roof). Our little town of Exeter made the Weather Channel AND the local San Diego news. It was quite the experience. My car looks like it had terrible teenage acne. Poor thing. It will stay like that unless I decide to give it some vehicular Botox. Not likely. Since we moved here late March, everyone has been saying what unusual weather we've been having this year. Well, apparently, EVERY year is unusual weather. Sheesh. I've stopped saying that I moved away from Southern California for the weather. I'VE HAD ENOUGH!! Two days after the hailstorm, brother-in-law Bill and nephew Jared arrived from KC to build me the best deck ever! It's a beautiful deck. They don't like it because it's not cedar. For me to get cedar boards would have cost me 4x as much as the ACQ that I did use. Cedar is not that common, or readily available in New England as it is in the rest of the country. I stained/sealed the deck in a cederesque tone. It really is lovely. Due to the fact that my yard floods each and everytime it rains, the deck is occasionally referred to as the dock. Beth's son Zach, lovingly donated his buoy to the cause. My first deck/dock ornament. It has a place of honor resting atop the Eiffel Tower. It's heaven having coffee on the deck in the mornings when it hasn't rained or isn't raining. Also in July, due to the sub-contracting work I've been doing, I was able to make a quick trip to San Diego for a few days. It was great to see Andrew, friends, & family. It was also a wonderful vote of confidence that moving out of there was the correct thing to do. TOO MANY PEOPLE AND CARS!!!! Oh, sometime in either late June or early July, I had to purchase and install window A/C units. They saved my tookus. As well as my computer equipment. I had forgotten how hideous the humidity can be.

August started innocuously enough. Hot, muggy, lots of work. The days started to get into single digits for Andrew's return. Mom flew back with him, and definitely earned more Granny Nanny stripes. He was a challenge. I'm SOOO looking forward to the teenage years. NOT! We had a lovely faux bbq during Mom's visit. I say faux due to the fact that I do not own a bbq as of yet. OH! How could I forget one of the most exciting events of the summer. I purchased my very first lawn mower. I think it was in June. Had to. Either that or get a scythe. The crabgrass was getting out of control. While Bill & Jared were here building the deck/dock, I rented a trash dumpster hoping to get most, if not all, of the crap out of the garage & basement. Exeter has really odd trash/recycling rules. I was NOT about to cut up and bundle my 100+ moving boxes into 2x2 bundles. Also, since during the hailstorm, my garage flooded - the basement gained a lovely new water feature (now gone thanks to the deck/dock) - I had to toss a bunch of stuff that was still in boxes. In cleaning out my garage, I found a lawn mower. The general consensus is that it's more of an antique lawn ornament than an actual useful tool.

Andrew stared 1st Grade this year. By day two, he and the principal were tight. Not in a good way. It's hard being in 1st Grade already knowing everything and having to live by the rules. We are hoping (and praying) for exciting reading & writing assignments. Andrew also starts Soccer next week. That should be fun for him. A chance to get out, run around, follow rules, take his turn, and make friends. Oh yeah, and the snacks after the games. School picture day is Friday, so once I have those, I'll make another post, in the meantime, I've attached his first day of school photos. Apparently, I am uable to attach pictures for some reason. I will attempt to update my shutterfly account for all to see. They are quite, um, shall we say "charming"?

September has started and the A/C units are out of the windows. They are on the floor, and not properly put away, but that will happen soon. I hope. They are wicked heavy and need to go down in the basement. Two of the units are upstairs. I'm afraid to take them up the "ladder" to the attic as the "ladder" might break under the weight (the A/C units, not mine....). Less than a month before I head to Paris for the Fab40 trip. Should be fun. I'm really looking forward to it. Mom is returning to lovely New England, and bringing Dad along for the fun. What a hardship to be in New England in the fall. I do hope that Dad will at least be able to smell autumn.

My next post will be less than three months away! ;) Have a great September, and feel free to call, email, smoke signal, etc.

Love to all.
Nancy, Andrew, & Natasha

Day of Reprieve

Today is sunny and warm. A day where I actually broke out into show tunes "Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!..." when I walked out the door taking Andrew to school. He of course was mortified. I kept wishing everyone a happy sunny day. Andrew, again, was embarrassed. Isn't this why we have kids? :) Anyway, it's also a day of open windows and open doors (ALL doors - see photo) in an attempt to dry out everything before the next set of storms hit later this tonight or tomorrow. Yesterday, Susan & I had the worst case of cabin fever. We packed up the kids in all their foul weather gear and headed into town. She & I wanted (read needed) professionally made coffee, and we ALL needed the exercise. The most common site along the route around town was hoses and various sump pump paraphanelia. We feel very fortunate to be as dry as we are. Susan keeps saying that she has the only dry basement in all of Exeter. I told her to hush because she's going to jinx herself. Our dehumidifier is working well, and hopefully the open cellar doors will help also. I can't figure out where the water is coming from. I've attempted to follow a trail from the floor to various places on the wall. I even did a full walk around the house this afternoon looking for standing water and possible places of entry. Couldn't find it. Thankfully, it's a manageable amount of water. Hopefully it'll stay that way. Well, I'm back outside while it's still sunny!

Exeter Big Dig & Flood of 2006

Ok, so some people might know of the "Big Dig" completing in Boston. Well, we had our own
version of this on Garfield Street last week. Now known as the Exeter Big Dig, or EBD for short. Andrew had a blast "helping" the guys. The reason for EBD was that I got to replace my sewerline from the house to the street. Nothing like having to spend large sums of money before procuring proper employment. Also, who ever thinks they'll need to do such a major repair within the first 6 weeks of living in their new home? When/IF we ever move again, I'm going to insist on the camera shoved down the pipe in the inspection. The brightside of this all is that it reared its ugly head BEFORE the deck was built. That will hopefully be done this summer. You can see these photos at www.nancyrehfeld.shutterfly.com.

Big Dig turns into Big Pond.

Many people have had to evacuate their homes since they live near the river or on low ground. I feel very fortunate to be on high ground a mile from the river. Due to EBD, my basement is a bit damp, but isn't that why the make shop vacs and dehumidifiers, right? Oh, that reminds me, I need to go check on that. It might be full already. A neighbor went for a walk this morning into town to take a look at everything. She made an AOL photo album. I'll see if that can be added to the shutterfly account also. Susan & I took a walk this evening in a rare moment of light sprinkle, however towards the end of the walk, the rain was coming down again pretty hard. The thing that hit me the most was the sound of the water. What power it has. We need to harness that power as a renewable energy source. Save Mother Earth speech will be later. The poor houses along the river. The "Loaf and Ladle" had a sign on its window "Gone Fishing." They are the yellow house nearest the bridge. Some of the windows were open. We don't know if that is because of a quick evacuation - although temps have been hovering around the 47 degree mark - or the power of the water pushed them open. The water is to the top of the underpass of the bridge. It was replaced after the flood of 1996, and residents are worried about its strength now. It is currently the only way into and out of town in any direction. Glad I went to the market on Saturday. News this evening was school is closed again tomorrow, and we are not to drink town water. Andrew is scared, and I'm a bit unnerved, yet I need to be strong for him. He has been wonderful through all this. He has put himself in charge of ALL the flashlights in case there is another power outage. We have had 2 or 3 already today, and I'm sure there are more to come. I am thankful that we still have our home, and we are able to eat and drink safely.

Still job hunting. Thanks for hanging in there with us.

til next post....

Nancy & Andrew