How many staples does it take?

Apparently 20-30 staples per tread on our stairs. I started removing carpet staples yesterday from the stairs. I still haven't finished because my back gave out on me from bending over. I wouldn't have to do this if I had the tool for removing the tack strips. I also realized there are smaller ones which I glossed over on the first couple of steps. Oops.

Next week two waterproofing companies are coming out for estimates. One I'd initially asked about our carport roof will have his engineer in tow. We'd started talking about the mold issue after he'd shown me the roof. Mike called us yesterday saying he'd talked with his engineer about another possibility for grading our backyard. He won't have a proposal for us until later on next week.

Between the three, we'll have anywhere from waterproofing the outside again to regrading the yard. It'll be interesting to see the different proposals and final costs.

Would you like a side of penicillin with your house?

Awhile back I noticed the brick around our wood burning stove appeared to be wet. As I pulled back the carpet I found rotted tack strips, moldy padding and the dubious look of dark concrete.

Fast forward a few weeks I hear Jason cursing the 'goddamn cats' from downstairs. The carpet in front of our entertainment center was wet and Brendan assumed Pixie had peed. She's our usual culprit in pet issues at the moment. It didn't take long before Jason figured out Pixie hadn't caused the damp issue. He glanced at one side of the entertainment center only to find a dark, wet line on the bottom with a slight greenish tint on top.

Over the next two weeks we started pulling things out from downstairs. Random items were tossed in the trash. The spare bedroom turned back into a storage room. Over the holiday weekend Jason started the task of demolition on the one wall and carpet removal. He quickly uncovered mold on the wall. The more paneling he removed, the more mold he found. Once he pulled the paneling off the other wall, we both realized this was a larger task than we could handle.

Servpro came out last week for mold remediation on our basement. They also finished our demolition for us, leaving a blank slate for the next project. We did confirm a moisture problem coming in at the joint on the one wall. I'd taken pictures after the mold remediation so we could see a difference. The task now is getting estimates for waterproofing.

In the meantime, the boys are still banned from the downstairs. Neither one of us have finished removing the tack strips from the stairs or the gazillion staples used for attaching the padding. There are hanging electrical boxes everywhere with the requisite holes in the concrete from where they were attached. The guy yesterday said this was normal back when the basement would have been finished.

We knew the unexpected would happen in owning a home. We didn't figure on replacing the a/c two months into homeownership or mold remediation 10mths later. At least the mold is only in the basement because I don't know what we'd have done otherwise.

Conversations around the dinner table

Brendan: Mom, guess what I'm thinking.

Me: No.

Brendan: Please Mom. Just guess what I'm thinking.

Me: No.

Brendan: I'll give you a hint. It's either butt, penis or vagina.

Cue giggling from Colin sitting across the table.

Me: Butt.

Brendan: No. I'm thinking vagina.

Me: Why are you thinking of vagina's?

Brendan: Because there are some hot girls out there.

Let's play in the dirt again

And let's have a 3yr old track mud into the house and down the stairs.

Our neighbor, Matt, was over yesterday venting about the drama known as getting a fence built within the city of Fairfax. They bought their house about a year before we moved into ours. During the year, trees have been cut down, poison ivy dug up, mulch thrown down and one blue spruce planted. Their yard has a long ways to go which brought up the issues we have in our yard.

There are bushes surrounding the house. I've wrangled 5 of them down: 3 in the front, one on each side. Matt came over this morning for help in digging up the roots from the 3 in front.

My plans for this area are building up a small retaining wall for leveling purposes before planting galore. While I don't think I'll have everything planted this year I want a foundation. I'll be getting a trellis or two for sweetpea growth underneath the front window. I'm not quite sure what else I'll plant. Perhaps some dwarf dahlias in front.

The last time I planted anything was back in Rock Island. I had dahlias, tiger lilies, dwarf asters, sweet peas, phlox, liatris and poppy anemones. We didn't stay there long enough to see how everything grew in but I might considering planting some of the same here. We're still dealing with partial shade issues as we did back in Rock Island.

I'll be buying baby plants or bulbs since I'm not concerned about everything looking full from the get go. I'm fine with things growing a few years before spreading or filling out properly. We'll be here long enough where the fruits of our labors can be enjoyed.

Sex offender be gone

About a month ago we found out a sex offender was living across the street. A parent found this information out, printed out the pertinent information and passed the packet out. He's a violent sex offender towards children. That's all Virginia posts. Some states, such as New York, will go into detail about ages of the victims, type of crime, etc.. Not so with Virginia.

I remember seeing him one afternoon at the bus stop. He was walking on the sidewalk while smoking a cigarette. He screamed of creepy to the point I appreciated having Murphy by my side. Creepy Guy didn't look as if he belonged in the neighborhood even though the jail is a few blocks from us. The time of day didn't correlate with the time prisoners are released.

We've had to reinforce with the boys what the names of their body parts are. They've taken to calling their penis and scrotum 'nuggets' or 'privates'. Since the latest addition in the neighborhood they've been hounded with saying penis, scrotum, nipples. We've talked about how pedophiles expect kids to not use the proper names. How they rely on the nicknames to abuse their victims.

Since the weather has become gorgeous outside we've been running around more and more. Previously the boys would take their shirts off when they got hot. I no longer allow them to do so because we don't know Creepy Guy's preference. I can't even let Jake have naked time for potty training as I normally would because of Creepy Guy. I never thought I'd live in a neighborhood where our kids could run around without a care in the world.

We've since found out the couple living in the townhouse where Creepy Guy is sub-letting didn't know he was a violent sex offender. She is looking into breaking the lease with him because of the non-disclosure and his being a smoker when she specifically asked for a non-smoker. There are families with small children on either side of the townhouse. The bus stop is across the street. The pool and small playground can be seen out back. How this can be a good environment for a known violent sex offender is beyond me. I'd really like to knock some ken into the owner's head for this nonsense. It seems the owner/corporation wants the money more than anything else if they think pedophiles are good additions for the neighborhood.

Hopefully Creepy Guy will be out of the neighborhood shortly.

How to keep your kids in line.

While still living in Germany I started threatening to sell the boys on the Black Market if they kept up whatever they were doing at the time. I came upon this idea while living out in Auerbach since the Czech border was under an hour from us. The drama of their reactions made the tale even better.

See, I'd tell them I refused to have the mob help me find the Black Market because you never wanted to owe the mob, especially the Russian mob who essentially ran Pegnitz, a town not far from us. The gypsies were the ones who knew everything. They would help me find the Black Market so I could sell them. There were times I'd point out the gypsies coming across the border from Czech, which created it's own drama when they saw the trailer's they'd be riding in.

Through the years the threat doesn't hold up as well. We've pointed out new entrances on occasion, such as the Federal Penitentiary outside of Ft. Leavenworth.

Last week we started watching a show on Animal Planet called Fatal Attractions. It's about people who own pets which end up killing them. This particular show told of a man who had rather large lizards as pets. He left them loose in his apartment. As with all owners of certain types of reptiles, he'd been bitten on occasion without any ill effects from the bacteria in the saliva. Until the last time which killed him. His lizards had partially eaten him by the time the police found him.

Sure enough, we started getting a bit of attitude from the boys when it was announced they should go to bed. Jason asked them if we should bring the lizards home. We have found the new Black Market in our house.

Accountable Kids rip-off

Jason and I have been talking the past few months of how to make the kids responsible for different aspects of their daily lives. During last weeks parent-teacher conference for Brendan, I even brought up our coming up with some type of system, especially one in which Brendan's handwriting would be counted towards.

Over the summer Uncle Spencer had mentioned using with his two. He'd gotten the idea from a fellow lax player. Apparently what we've come up with is something along the same lines without paying for a nifty hanging board or cards. Granted, we might end up going that route.

On Sunday, we sat down as a family to come up with how and what we'd check the boys on. It had to be fairly universal given the ages. We also wanted their input on what we'd hold them responsible for. I drew up a crude calendar for each boy and a master list of both positive and negative points. We also decided to 'cash' in the points at the end of each week, with the prizes listed the boys can work towards. They can also hold onto points for a larger prize if desired. Prizes include, but are not limited too, playing on their Nintendo DS, going to the movies, picking dessert for dessert night or the game on game night.

We'd gotten tired of getting them to do basic, everyday stuff without any drama. Some days were great. Others ended in my tears of frustration. Everything we're giving them checks for are basic (or so we think): homework, brushing teeth, cleaning their room and so on. They get a check for doing something without being told. They also have a list where points can be taken away. This includes fighting, being a tattle-tale, being asked several times, etc..

Surprisingly, the boys are really excited for this latest venture in our household. They've been coming up with new positive and negative marks all day. I've been repeating talking with Daddy when he comes home and saying this is a work in process.

The system will most likely evolve and grow as we continue using it and seeing how the boys react.