If you're wondering where I've been

I've been here, up to my eyebrows in chaos.

Lets see... to start.. the big chaos-

We had a water line break in our front yard. So I walked outside and noticed a big puddle. And while people who don't live in CA may see puddles in their yards- here- unless you've actually turned on a faucet- you don't see water. Especially nothing that goes "splash" when you step in it.

And this is the point I should have just told myself that God blessed us with a spring in our front yard much like Moses did when hitting a rock in the desert... but... I didn't.

Instead I got a shovel and dug down 3 feet and found a bunch of white PVC pipe, one of which was spewing out water.

So we turned off the water main and had take out pizza for dinner. I called our home insurance (it came with the house- I myself would never, ever, ever recommend buying it) who said if it wasn't in the foundation, it wasn't their problem.

Then I called 4 or 5 irrigation companies, thinking it was a sprinkler line. The first time one could come out was 4 days later.

Larry (with help) hand dug the pipes out of the front yard and exposed them. There are 3 layers of pipe deep. And while the bottom most one leaked, the top one took some damage in the digging. Both were repaired. The bottom most one by the guy who could come out soonest, the top by Larry who thought I never should have paid the guy to fix the pipe, much less the money he charged. *I* on the other hand just wanted it done and the 3 foot deep trench in the front yard filled back in.

And it could have ended there. Pipe fixed, end of story.

But then that would make a boring blog. And that wouldn't be life here.

Larry decided we needed to "just fix the yard" while we were at it since the front yard was effectively destroyed.  And rented a backhoe. A real live full size backhow. It was 7.5 feet wide. Of course knowing how wide it is is rather important because we have 8 feet between our house and the fence that separates us from our neighbor. (on one side, the other side has less)

So backhoe arrived on the back of a flat bed truck while the neighbors watched at a distance in disbelief. Everyone of them were working in their garages, yards or just walking back and forth to the mailbox 4 or 5 times. No, stealthy they're not.

So the hole was filled in and the wall that attached our house to that 8 foot away wall was taken down by said backhoe- on purpose- so that the backhoe could get into the back yard and dig up the yard. About a day of digging and the dead trees and not dead brushes were pulled up and tossed over the fence with the torn down wall and dirt which was removed to angle the yard away from the house and to dig a part perfectly level for our future shed.

The shed will be the latest home for Little Lions' excess inventory. Dispite my threats to sell, close and/or give away the company its still been hard for me to let go that control. It's finally growing and I kinda want to see where it's going. And I really like the wholesale aspect of it. I realize Larry was right- wholesale is far less time consuming and stressful, so I'm hoping to develop more in that direction.

Right now we've been waiting for them to pick up the backhoe. They were supposed to get it 2 days ago. When Larry called tonight, they said they thought they'd picked it up.( Well... if you don't want it... I'd be happy to keep it -said Larry). This is the same company who needed a driver's license number to be able to rent/deliver equipment and when Larry said it was a VA driver license, they said 'you don't really expect us to deliver to VA, do you?!' and Larry asked 'why? will that be a problem?' 

The backyard is still dirt, tho the hole in the front yard is covered. There is a different perpetual puddle on the concrete which we're both plugging our ears saying "la la la la la" and pretending like we don't see it. Larry says he's going to tackle it next. After he finished the back yard. As long as he completes one project before tackling the next, I won't squawk. Much.

The backyard is now piles of dirt. In theory there is a mostly staked out frame for the theortecial shed, but if you look at it, it's just alot of dirt. some holes. And a big mess. All the old sprinkler pipes are now out of the ground and will need to be fixed. We've called an acquaintance who does landscapes for a living and hope he can help us out out of the goodness of his heart or offer to take over the project for a price we can afford. He'll be here Saturday.

Prior to all this fun, the plan was for the house to be treated for termites this month. XYZ termite company who did our inspection for us to close were chosen for their ability to let us close without delay due to termite damage discovery. But not for their accuracy. Our neighbor had massive work done this past month which prompted us to start looking, found active termite problems got a good inspection and as a result of that will be having our house tented. And treated for all things creapy and crawly. Starting Friday they come to do the attic.

I have some more time on my hands because as of yesterday, the oldest 2 went to spend some time with my parents.  And it's changed the dynamic here. I'll elaborate on it further, but the mess containment, which I had been primarily been blaming on our 3 year old hasn't been nearly as bad as is is with all 4 of them here. And I had a chance to steam clean the couches, area rugs and re-steam clean the guest room.   Tomorrow I tackle the furniture re-arrangement in the boy's room and possibly move the tread mill into the guest room and book shelves out of it. We'll see.