Sudsy Pool

Last weekend, the kreepy krawly in the pool stopped working. I took it to pieces and couldn't see anything wrong with it, but it still wouldn't move around the pool. We sent it to get fixed on Tuesday, got it back on Wednesday and still it wouldn't work.

In the mean time, the water in the pool wasn't circulating properly and the pool was turning a beautiful shade of green. Yuck! I put tons of chemicals in it in the hope that there was some circulation and the pool did end up looking less green, but it was apparent that there was something wrong over by the pump and the filters.

It got a thorough cleaning today and did have tons of dirt and debris in there from all the storms we've had this summer. The kreepy krawly started its job of cleaning the dirt from the bottom of the pool and circulating the chemicals.

Michael and Cassie wanted to go in the pool this evening, but as it was a little cold, they jumped in the hot tub and I went to switch it on. When I did, all the chemicals I've put in over the last week started circulating through the hot tub and tons of thick frothy bubbles covered the hot tub and started spilling into the pool.

I've never seen it do this before and it was pretty yucky, but we should have a nice clean pool again in a couple of days. Needless to say, they didn't stay in long (but long enough for me to take pictures!) and made sure they showered off all that strong chlorine.

Some Randoms

 Christopher on his first day at Pre-K.

 Oh yes, he's definitely a cheeky monkey!

 Walking to school with his "girlfriend". LOL

 The gang! Katelynn and Christopher with their friends.

Danielle on her 5th birthday. She looked so cute, like a 1920s flapper! Loved her dress!

 Can you see him? Christopher is halfway up the tree!

 It was hard work! Time for a nap on the porch!

Gardening?

 Max taking a nap...

...and finishing off the ice cream!

Another engagement!

It only seems like two minutes ago that Jordan and Britney got engaged, and now another one of my boys is getting engaged too!

Here's Michael and Cassie and I just love these black and white prints. It's funny how years ago black and white was considered cheapo, but now, I love them! I think it allows you to concentrate on the people in the shot without getting distracted by the color.

Michael told me that Cassie was a little bummed as she didn't like this color that she'd had her hair died. I think they should just have some more done with her natural brown!

 More photos = LOVE!!!!

Jigsaw

Brent and I have been practicing our patience and teamwork recently by doing jigsaw puzzles! This is the second one we've done recently and it was pretty challenging. It's a 1000 piece (pretty small pieces if I may add) puzzle by Eric Dowdle called Temple Square, but really it's the downtown area of Salt Lake City around Temple Square. We just finished it tonight so it will stay on the table until the morning when we get to practice our demolition skills and move on to the next one we decide on.

Saturday's Storm

It's been storming a lot recently! Well, it IS the monsoon season, but I think the last couple of weeks it's been fairly consistent. On Saturday just before 5pm, I noticed that it was getting dark and blustery, so Brent and I rushed out and gathered up the pool toys, put the umbrellas down and then rushed back in again before the dust storm came.
Danielle was staying with us and Michael had his fiancee Cassie over with her two kids, so I had a loin of pork and stuffing in the oven ready for dinner. I had no sooner put the vegetables on to cook, when "ping" the electric went out. Needless to say, I was not very happy. Only about another 30 minutes and dinner would have been ready. We were all starving, particularly the kids and when I went on my phone to check out the SRP website, it said that power wouldn't be restored for 2 hours!
Plan B...we had sandwiches and a picnic in the living room, then sat outside to watch the rain...a real treat in Arizona!

Jordan took this picture of the dust storm from his front door in Mesa. I don't think we had as much dust out our way which is a surprise, as they normally start in the SE valley, but I guess we were lucky that day!

Here's Danielle, Dion and Mariah relaxing after their picnic and Danielle and Dion outside enjoying watching the rain.

Michael's Truckin' On!

Since Michael lost his job at Christmas, he has been very busy applying for jobs but with no success. I can't even count the amount of applications he has put in. The competition is really tough right now and they are losing out on a great employee! (Do you think I'm a little biased?)
One trait that Michael has is that he doesn't give up easily. He decided to see if he could get his Commercial Driver's License (CDL) as that would open up another area for him to look at,  but he was a little disillusioned when he found out it cost about $4000. Money he didn't have. He dug a little deeper and found out that he could apply for a grant, which is what he did and he was fortunate enough to be able to get it and he started his training last month.
Well last Monday, he passed his class and got his CDL!!!! Yay!!!! Here he is with his graduating class. When he showed me the photo I told him I thought it was a real motley looking crew and that he was the best looking of the bunch! (Biased again!!)

He went for a physical today for Roehl Transport (pronounced Rail) and passed that, so he's just waiting for an orientation date. It's still a long process to go through as they're pretty thorough in their training, but I'm so proud of Michael and the perseverance he's showing. I'm hoping and praying for the best for him!

Busy Bee

So yesterday I was put on call from work and I was pleased I was because I had in my head a number of things I wanted to do. Here's what I managed to accomplish.

Laundry Room

 I cleaned out and organized my laundry room. I pulled out the washer and dryer, found a lonely sock and some dog hair, but really it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I washed the floors and everything else I could find, sorted out the baskets and the area beside the dryer where I keep my laundry supplies and overall, it was a lot neater. Now I don't have some fancy laundry room. It's very basic and functional, but it does look so much nicer now that it's a little tidier.

Sewing projects

Several years a go I bought a body pillow when I was on a trip to Las Vegas. I loved it because it was a soft suede type of material and it was purple. It's had a ton of use over the years and I'm afraid to say that the inside had gone rather lumpy, so I decided to cut off the cover, attach velcro to the end and now it's a cover for a new body pillow that I have yet to buy. I'm excited as it will be so much more practical. Now, I'll be able to take the cover off, wash it and use it again and again. No pictures, sorry!

Next, I made a washable fabric liner for this USPS box that I had re-used by covering it with washable vinyl paper. I was a little generous with the liner as it doesn't have the tight look I wanted, but it'll do for a first attempt and without me measuring it accurately, what should I have expected? It holds some extra CD's that I have. 
Finally, I did some sewing repairs!

Crafting

I bought a wooden letter G (for Gwynn) a few weeks ago at Hobby Lobby and then saw this neat idea on Pinterest to paste family pictures on it. I printed off a few pictures of me and my family over the years (in grayscale), and then modge podged them onto the letter. The camera flash made this color look a little sepia looking but in reality the pictures are very black and white. Cool eh?

Organization
For my bathroom I wanted something like this Pottery Barn tiered organizer ($69) to stand on the counter between the two sinks. I've seen similar things in various stores but have never bought them.

Now I know why!

I had a brain wave!!!

In my bedroom I have had this tiered organizer thingy standing on a corner with nothing on it for years and years! Sooooo, I re-purposed it and used it as a cheapo, no money version of the Pottery Barn idea that I love. It's ok and the purple grapes on it go with the purple color scheme that I have going on.

See, if I'd have been at work, I would never have accomplished any of this!!

 

Sparkles on the 4th!

Despite the overcast and gloomy day with pool water that was a little too cold for my liking, we managed to have a fun Independence Day, especially with Danielle keeping us on our toes. We watched Glory, The Patriot and Independence Day, had my homemade chicken enchiladas, Heather's homemade potato salad, cake and ice-cream. We swam a little in the pool, sprinkled magic fairy dust over everyone, did rolly polyies and finally Danielle had her first ever sparklers. She was a little frightened at first, but soon got the hang of them.
Later in the evening, Grandma and Grandad drove out onto the Hunt Highway and parked up on the side of the road with tons of other vehicles and watched the free version of the Schnepf Farms fireworks display. The display was fantastic but far enough away that we didn't hear the loud bangs. Overall, a great wedding anniversary and a great Independence Day!

Cousins

We've had our niece Jamie visit with us for a few days and it's been really lovely to have her. She's visiting a few parts of the USA to determine whether there is a university she wants to apply for to do some post graduate research at and we're all hoping its ASU!!! I don't think the heat here put her off, even though our upstairs air conditioner broke the night before she got here and didn't get fixed until the day she left. Ouch! Those bedrooms were really HOT!!! She loved being out sunning herself in the pool.

Out of her 4 Arizona cousins, Olivia is living now in New York and Jordan was on vacation in San Diego, but she was able to meet up again with Daniel and Michael. Ah, just like old times when they were all small!

What a difference a day makes

The Pool...
Yesterday... kids, pool toys, jumping, squealing, splashing
Today...me and hubby, one floatie, quiet, peaceful, serene


Hhhmmmm