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Iced Over Mess

Posted on March 7, 2011 8:31 am by TheAngelForever

I interrupt regularly scheduled blog posts to announce that Winter has NOT left the building yet. The groundhog clearly did not specify where Spring would be coming early.

*sigh*

Over the weekend Mother Nature had some fun with those of us living in the north. First, she gave us warmer temperatures. 50 degrees in early March is not too shabby. Snow mountains that were here a week ago looked more like oversized ant hills on lawns. Sunday we watched as the rain came down very steady at times. Then, as the day moved on, the temperatures started to bottom out. Before we knew it, we were well below freezing and the rain turned to ice.

It is hard to concentrate on anything, including sleep, when ice is pelting your house. This morning schools in the entire area went from 2 hour delays to closed. Even our front door was glazed with ice. At first it was stuck shut. Imagine using that as your excuse not to get into work.

The trees are a mess thanks to the rain freezing on them. This is a little one on the side out front:

Ice is heavy and the tree in our yard is hanging down. If it large limbs fall I fear we will not have power, and may need repairs to the house itself.

Every little noise outside is going to keep me on edge. Excuse me while I go run for a blanket to hide under.

Categories:
house messy photos vent weather winter

Busy Day at Home

Posted on March 5, 2011 8:38 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

We stayed home today, but we got a lot accomplished during the time here. This morning Daddy and I pulled out all of the spring/summer clothing. We had to see what the two of you have for the trip to Disney World. After the two of you tried everything on, it was time for lunch. Then, we decided to head upstairs and try to move the big monster desk to the other side of the room.

This sounded like it was going to be a lot easier than it was. The two of you were so wonderful. You sat upstairs watching a movie and helping when we asked. Thank goodness we were able to move the desk. Then, I decided to surprise both of you. I started to move most of the toys from the living room upstairs into the new and improved toy room. This is such a great space that we have not been using since JSL was born. The two of you stayed upstairs with Daddy watching Lady and the Tramp and playing with toys for quite some time.

When you came down here, I had started to watch The Princess and the Frog. You both joined me until it was time to eat dinner. When we were finished eating, everyone piled back onto the couch in their PJ’s and we finished watching the movie.

Tomorrow, we will try to head out for a little while, but I have a LOT of laundry to do to get ready for our upcoming trip. I hope the two of you have sweet dreams tonight of Disney movies and more magical memories coming soon.

Love,

Mommy

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Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday Disney house jsl nhl TechyDad weekend

Knee High Up on the Roof

Posted on February 7, 2011 8:22 am by TheAngelForever

About a year after we bought this house, we learned a new winter term. What is this winter vocabulary item that will now haunt our winter lives? The word is ice dam.

We learned about ice dams the hard way. One late winter morning, I woke up and heard dripping. I slowly turned on the light and saw water coming in our bedroom. Yes, we had a leak there and on the other side of the wall, in our bathroom. We had no clue what was going on. We called a handyman that we knew and he came over. When he went on the roof he immediately saw we had a few giant ice dams that were allowing the rain to flow back into the house via the roof shingles.

Ice dams are something to be feared as a home owner in the northeast. If you drive around and see pretty icicles hanging off of homes, it typically means there is more going on up over the roof. Our fear of water coming into the house from ice dams means that TechyDad is constantly outside raking our roof and working on the ice.

The windows in our upstairs room allow us to get a first hand look at the lower section of our roof on the one side. Checking the ice dams has been very depressing this year. Saturday morning, we were scared of the weather report. It said a lot of rain and ice was coming our way. We went out and bought supplies to target the ice dams after others had suggested this technique. We wanted to make channels for the water to flow off of the roof and not back into the house.

When we came home from Home Depot with the 50 pound bag of calcium chloride, I went and found an old box of knee highs. TechyDad and I filled four of them to begin the experiment. After about an hour, we could see that they were doing something, so we went and filled six more knee highs to tackle the ice dams before the rain. We noticed an area of water pooling in one section and worked there. Sure enough, these nifty knee highs did the trick. The opened up an area for the water to flow off the roof.

So far so good. Of course, next year we plan on installing some heating coils on the lower roof section and other problem areas to try to prevent ice dams from forming. And if you are wondering, I will never be able to look at knee highs the same again!

Categories:
house looking back messy TechyDad weather winter

Saturday Surprise at Home Depot Thanks to the Ice

Posted on February 5, 2011 2:58 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

This morning we decided that we had to head to Home Depot to get some calcium chloride to put on the ice dams. Daddy and I heard that if we put that into some panty hose, that it would help to make channels for the melting mess. Our hope is that this project will help us avoid water coming into our bedrooms.

As we pulled into Home Depot parking lot, we realized it was the first Saturday of the month. That is when they do the Kids Workshop projects set up. After we grabbed 50 pounds of calcium chloride, I took NHL to check out what the project was.

We started the project together, then Daddy helped JSL to get started. You both enjoyed doing this and decorating it when you were finished.

Luckily the project did not take a long time, so we were back home to set up what we hope will prevent the roof from leaking in. Here are your finished projects at home.

Now we are keeping busy by cleaning the room upstairs. Both of you are so excited to have this space for a playroom. Hopefully we can work together as a team to get this going and finished soon.

Love,

Mommy

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If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.

Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday house jl jsl messy nhl photos weather weekend

Spring 2011 Will Come One Day

Posted on February 4, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wednesday, while Punxsutawney Phil was getting pulled out for his Groundhog Day show, we were digging out from an icy and snowy mess. I have to admit that I think Phil may have “said” he didn’t see his shadow just to avoid being on the dinner table around the country. Seriously, this winter has been crazy for so many people across the United States and beyond.

Here are some recent shots from the storm:

As you can see, we are running out of places to put the snow. I was outside for 2 hours shoveling. Thank goodness a neighbor felt bad and used his monster snow blower to clear off the end of our driveway where we had been severely plowed in. Before dinner, TechyDad raked the roof for quite some time.

So this mess has me thinking about Spring. My question for this week:

What are you most excited about for Spring 2011?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.