Britany's Blog

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Britany's Blog

Writing at the speed of life

One More Week!

by | Mar 27, 2023 | Family Life, Repost, The House


(This blog post was originally published on another site just a week before we moved into our current home, February 23, 2008.)

I just have a minute but wanted to post a couple of updates this morning:

1. Brad arrived home last night, safe & sound, but very tired! He was a happy camper this morning when the boys all pounced on him to wake him up. He missed them (us) all very much.
2. Our builder called yesterday morning to tell me that we passed our final inspection and got our Certificate of Occupancy!!!! He later called back to tell me he was able to get our garage cleaned out so we can start moving boxes into the garage today! I’m headed over there with the boys as soon as I can get dressed.
3. Rates remained unchanged yesterday so we still haven’t locked. We’re holding our breath…

I’ll probably have more pictures to post tonight. Meanwhile, less than one week to moving day!!!

We spent yesterday packing, cleaning, and making trips to the new house with boxes. Brad thinks we got about 1/3 of the boxes from storage moved, plus a bunch from the house. So we’re making a little headway.

We made it to early service this morning. It was my first time in church in a while. I think it has been a month since I made it to a service, with all the illness in the family and Brad’s travel schedule. Now I get to stay home again this afternoon, as Samuel is sick. I am pretty sure it’s an ear infection again. In fact, we’re wondering if maybe the last one was never completely knocked out. Anyway, they said he slept for the entire 2 hours he was at church this morning. On the floor, no less!!! His temp when we got home was 101.6 and when I asked him which ear hurt, he consistently pointed to his left ear. He was complaining to me about that ear on the way to church, but I had no reason to think it was anything serious. Now I can legitimately take him to the doctor tomorrow. Brad’s sleeping, too, right now. By the time we were in the car, he had a splitting headache and chills. I am hoping he’s just exhausted and sleep will cure him. Anyway, now it’s my turn to try to catnap while the boys are quiet. I thought I might work on my computer, but I’m too tired.

As I look around here, I have to stop and reflect on what Brad said to me last night: Every day this week will be our last of that day in this house. So this is our last Sunday here. We’ve lived here since September of 1999 – almost nine years now. I think we were probably house hunting in Feb/Mar of ’99, then they started construction in May, I think – right at the end of the month. So much has happened since we moved here. This recliner I’m sitting in was purchased when I was pregnant with Peter, so I could rock the baby out here in the living room. I nursed all three boys sitting right here. I remember the day we brought Peter home from the hospital, to sleep in the bassinet by our bed. A lot has happened since we moved in here. A lot of water under the bridge, and a whole lot of memories. It’s weird to think that someone else will be living here, but I think I’m finally ready. I know I’m going to cry some (maybe a lot), but I’m ready to see what the next phase of our lives is going to bring. I know God has big plans for us. Maybe not so much for me and Brad, but for our boys. They are each amazing in their own way, so brilliant and intelligent, talented and creative – God must really have something great planned out for them. I am looking forward to watching God bring it about.

Now, because I literally cannot hold my eyes open another second, I’m going to stop waxing nostalgic and sign off. Please pray for us this week if God brings us to mind. We really just want our lives to bring God pleasure. Thanks.

Pool, Day IT’S FINISHED

by | Jun 7, 2015 | Pool, Uncategorized

Well, after plaster, we started filling the pool with the hose, per Sammy’s instructions. And it filled all day and all night and by the following afternoon, it wasn’t full, but the kids went swimming anyway!

   

  

 

Then, it was finally all full and beautiful!

   

 

A different Hauk Pool guy came to start the pool. That was Friday, the last day of school for the boys. Of course, they were DYING to go swimming…but the Hauk guy said we had to wait a day, since he had put lots of chemicals in the pool. 

Then, on Saturday, at 8am, the sound of running water woke me up. I looked out the window, and saw the fountains running for the first time!

 
After a few hours, it was still running. I figured it had been programmed to do that, but it was strange to hear/see it.

Saturday was Brad & Peter’s birthday. So we went out to celebrate and didn’t get home for several hours. When we pulled into the alley, we saw a geyser shooting up next to our house, so we ran to see what it was. 

  
On our way in, a neighbor asked if it was ours and if he could help. He told us it had been doing it for a while, which we verified by looking at the water level in the pool, which was back down to just over half full. We started calling the Hauk people, who walked us through shutting it all down.  A City of Frisco showed up shortly after thanks to a neighbor who called. Thankfully, we were back or he would have shut our water off and we would have had to pay to get it turned back on. 

Meanwhile, we have discovered a separate leak at the back of the pool, possibly explaining the middle fountain’s slower flow. 

But we didn’t let all the problems keep us from swimming!  It wasn’t full, but we still had fun. It was our first time to swim as a family. 

  
So…it’s kind of done.  Oh well, hopefully they will iron out all the kinks this week!

Pool, Day 41/53

by | Jun 2, 2015 | Pool

It’s been a few days since I last wrote because, frankly, nothing has happened.  But today was PLASTER!!!  I’m SO EXCITED!!!  I got all my detailed instructions on what we have to do for the next few days and it’s a little daunting (scrub the inside of the pool 3X a day for 10 days???!!?) but at least WE HAVE PLASTER!!!  That means they will acid wash it tomorrow, then begin filling it immediately after.  The hose has to be left on constantly until the pool is full to the level of the tile, then the spa must be filled, but not overflowing the spillway…all very complicated.  The dog can’t run in the backyard until the plaster dries so she doesn’t create footprints – which means, I can’t let the boys out there either!  But the good news is that by this weekend, we should be swimming!  So exciting!

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Pool, Day 38/50

by | May 28, 2015 | Pool

So today is Thursday, the day we were originally supposed to get plaster in our pool.  Plaster is the polymer coating on the inside of the pool that we will actually touch when we swim.  The one we chose is a very pale blue with tiny pebbles embedded in it.  It’s called “Pebble Sheen”.  Once the plaster is sprayed, it dries for a day, then they come back and do an acid wash so that some of the pebbles are exposed.  After that, they use the garden hose to fill the pool, and it becomes our job to scrub off any of the pebbles that might catch on our clothes or scrape our feet.  For about 4-5 days, we have to scrub the entire pool with a pool brush!!!  Fun stuff.

So they can’t plaster the pool when it’s raining.  So when we heard it was going to be dry today, we cheered.  Then Sammy called me yesterday to say the plaster guys are behind schedule and couldn’t make it until Friday.  So we booed.  Then this morning, at 8am, two men showed up in our backyard and when I ran to the front, there was a plaster truck parked out front!  I cheered, and then ran outside to welcome them to my home!  But when I got out there, they informed me the pool was too wet – it’s had rain water seeping in on the sides because the water table is so high – and so they wouldn’t be able to plaster today.  I went back inside and quietly booed.  They said they would have to wait a few days for the pool to dry out, but with our crazy weather, that might be weeks.

<Sigh>

Guess we’ve come so far so fast, it’s hard to wait now that the end is in sight.  However, the fence is up, the dog can run in the backyard, the arbor is done and oh!  They finished the decking yesterday!  So I’m happy.  Here are some pics of the finished deck:

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Pool, Day 34-36

by | May 27, 2015 | Pool

Friday came and went, and we got both green tags – for the pool (pre-plaster) and for the arbor (pre-pier).  Then on Saturday – the only Saturday we’ve had anyone working on the pool thus far – men came and poured the cement piers for the arbor  posts.  (Now that we’ve had workers come on a Saturday, I have to renumber the days.  Before, I was only counting weekdays, but including weekends, it’s been 49 days…<grin>)

Monday was Memorial Day and no one came by, then on Tuesday, we got our arbor!!!

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Pool, Day 30-33

by | May 22, 2015 | Pool

Day 30 was a real disappointment.  I thought this week would be a flurry of activity.  Turns out, not so much.  On the 31st day, some guy showed up to put a document in our sideways Ziploc baggie that’s taped to the back windows, the one that holds the plans for the pool, all the permits, as well as the green inspection tags we’ve received.

Day 32, Sammy came by.  Turns out, for the inspection – scheduled for Day 33 – our gate had to close automatically after opening.  Sammy (thankfully) was able to set it to close 30 seconds after opening, and I’ve had to work hard to remember not to dally pulling out of the driveway.  Don’t want that silly gate to close on my car!  The gate was also supposed to have a back-up battery supply, but ours does have a release, so we crossed our fingers it would pass.  Sure enough, it did!   We are now ready for plaster!

Here’s a video I made this morning.  It might work, if I’m lucky:

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