The Mystery of the Sudsy Septic System

I got up with Dave this morning to enjoy a cup of coffee before he left for work. I glanced out of my back window while drinking my coffee; I love to do this in the early morning. I am usually greeted with the happy sounds of goats (baby goats even!) frolicking around in the field behind our house, birds chittering and flying about, and Violet running around the yard chasing bunnies. Not so this morning. This morning I was greeted by a sudsy mass seeping out around the cement cover of our septic system. I’m new to this whole septic system business, but I was pretty sure that was not supposed to happen.

Dave left for work, laughing and saying “Have fun with that.” Nice. Such a helper he is. I called the company that is responsible for our septic upkeep. The man I spoke to chuckled and said he’d never seen that before. Really? They’ve been in business for over 30 years! We’ve been the owners of a septic system for less than one month and we’ve already created an anomaly. Super. He said he’d be out to check it sometime this afternoon.

I thought about it and realized the only recent change was new laundry soap. I’d recently purchased some of the ultra concentrated variety. When all the kids got up I asked them if anyone had done laundry the night before. Yes, said Annika. Turns out, she put in 2 caps full instead of the ½ cap full that she should have. Uhh, yeah. I think that’ll do it.

I called the guy back and told him that I don’t think he needed to come out after-all. The suds were dissipating and the problem had been solved. WAY too much ultra concentrated laundry soap (and perhaps a mom that needs to pay more attention! Apparently Annika ALWAYS uses 2 caps full! NO WONDER we’re going through laundry soap so fast!) He chuckled some more and told me to call him back if we have any other problems.

Well, at least I brought a little laughter to someone’s day and I bet the inside of my septic tanks are clean, soft, and smell of lavender.

Merry Christmas!

Of Sunrises and Sewer Smells

I woke up early this morning and made coffee. While the coffee was brewing I looked out my large kitchen window and could hardly stand the beauty outside.



The tall grass in the field behind our house seemed to be made of gold standing there as it was covered in frost with the suns first rays shinning through its blades.



I took my freshly brewed cup of coffee and went and sat out on my back patio, marveling at the beauty that surrounded me. I am so blessed to live in this place.



As the sun made its way over the horizon, the mist started rising up off the ground and the pool. It was a sight to behold.



There was no sound except the birds chattering. It’s so quiet out here. Even Violet seemed to appreciate the majesty of the moment, and just sat and looked, and listened.



I sat for a while, in awe, marveling at God’s creation.



Then I heard a faint sound. A car or truck, perhaps? It got louder and finally, I could tell it was in my driveway. These guys. Here to fix the septic tank. At 8 am. Killing my ambiance.



Now, a mere 30 minutes later I sit in my living room, drinking my coffee to the sounds of men yelling, machinery running, and the smell of sewer in the air.

I could do nothing but laugh at the juxtaposition of these two situations.

I guess a properly working septic system is worth the loss of solitude…and the smell.

Merry Christmas

We are moving to this house...



Tomorrow...

The Saturday before Christmas...

Yes, I am insane, why do you ask?

Merry CrAzY Christmas Everyone!

In the last two weeks… (And this is only the highlights folks.)

This is the entire crew we had at our family gathering. Everyone except my Father in Law. He was not feeling well and went home. It was interesting feeding this many people but many hands do indeed make light work, and my sister in law who headed it all up is amazing. It was fun.



And now...the reason my hair is falling out and I am bleary-eyed.



1. We were scheduled to close on our house and the one we are buying.

2. We have packed pretty much the entire house and have a stack of boxes almost to the ceiling waiting to be packed with the rest of the stuff.

3. The loan for the people who are buying our place hit a snag.

4. The loan for the people who are buying our place came to a complete halt.

5. My husband had to get involved with their loan guy to get some documents about an easement behind our house (The same easement that was not at all an issue when we bought the house btw) so they could get their loan.

6. We are still waiting on one document from the notoriously slow power company, so they can resume the loan process, and we can resume the loan process on the house we are buying.

7. All the contracts expire Friday. Cut it close much?

8. My Sister was diagnosed with a rare and scary form of peritoneal cancer. Major surgery was scheduled and a LOOOOONNGG recovery assumed.

9. My aunt was diagnosed with a brain tumor and major surgery was scheduled.

10. My uncle (not the one married to the above aunt) had a heart attack.

11. Thanksgiving happened. Much cooking.

12. My sister’s surgery happened and there was NO cancer. Miraculous. Recovery not so long now.

13. My aunts tumor was benign.

14. My uncle only had a ‘small’ heart attack, they got to the hospital in time and he is now home resting comfortably, albeit with a sack full of new medications and a long list of must do’s and must not do’s.

15. I have taken up drinking.

16. Just kidding on that last one.

17. Kinda.

Why I'm twitchy with grey hair.

I received an email last week saying the college campus one of my sons was on, was on lockdown. I promptly texted my son to see if he was okay.



This is why I have grey hair and a permanent twitch.

Teenagers!

Oh happy day.

We got some good news on the house front yesterday. I’ll spare you all the details, (you’re welcome) but basically, after some back and forth, we agreed on a revised contract with the sellers on the house we want. They did not come down as far as we were asking, but they came down far enough to make my husband happy. We should close on both houses around the end of November. We may move right away or we may wait a few weeks depending on how long the repairs take.

I am very excited!

We’re going from this little, tiny house…




…to this not so little, tiny house with LAND!



When I stand outside my current house, I can hear the highway. When I stand outside my new house, I can hear the sound of goats and sheep in the field behind the house.

I like the sound of goats and sheep much, much better.

Hahahaha!

A little funny for your Saturday morning.

Oh the stress of it all!

Buying and selling a house is a wee bit stressful. So stressful that I have had a flair up of shingles. Seriously? I thought I was handling it all fine, but apparently my body thought otherwise.

Our house sale is moving right along. That's nice. A lovely young couple is buying it. I actually knew him growing up, though not well. His parents are quite a bit older than Dave and I, and their kids (this young man and his older siblings) are younger than us, but not so young as to be the same ages as our children. Even though we all grew up in the same church, we've never run in the same circles.

He is military, and she seems like a sweet young lady. They have one toddler and another on the way (I think. No way am I asking though!)

All things related to the sale are progressing. The house we want to buy? Notsomuch. We got the inspection report yesterday. Seems the septic system is a mess. It's leaking, it's against code, and it even has unresolved violations on file with the city! EEEK! The chimney is also falling in internally, and will need extensive work to make it usable.

So we're re negotiation the contract. We're asking them to significantly lower the price of the house to cover the cost of repairing the fireplace and replacing the septic. There are other small issues; minor drainage issues, windows that have a leaking seal, etc. But we're not really worried about that. It's not a new house, we expected some minor repairs. But replacing a septic? That's major.

The price to fix/replace those two things is huge. If they don't agree to lower the price to cover it, we'll have to walk away. This makes me sad, but I don't want to buy a house and then have to drop huge money to fix it. NOt at the price they're asking.

So...our house could sell by the middle of Nov and we may have no place to live. We may end up staying in our RV until we find something. OH SWEET MERCY I hope that does not happen. But if it does, it does. What can you do?

Buying and selling a house is not for pansies, that's for sure.

Family Photos!

Last weekend my family and I had our photos taken. It was REALLY time for a family photo.

Misty Colvard Photography did our little photo session. This is a little sneek peek of her work. It was so much fun to have them done. She got some slightly grumpy, I-have-better-things-to-do-than-have-my-photo-taken teenagers to smile and look happy!

This was our last family photo. Holy cow, why do children grow so fast!?



This is one of the photos Misty took. She even got the dog to look alert and interested!



Um, yeah. I think it was time for a new family photo.


I can't wait to see the rest!


If you're anywhere near the Dallas area, give Misty a call! She did a great job! (and I've only seen a sneak peek of our photo session!)