Signs of Spring

The weather here is warming up, slowly. I can't complain too much, since we don't have snow (and I am HAPPY for that!) but I do wish it were a few degrees warmer. It didn't feel too much like Easter this Sunday, but the sun was out and it was less windy than it's been the last few weeks. I found these out in my front yard on Sunday morning:







I also have some daffodils starting to come up as well. I really like living down here; the area we used to live in won't have any flowers for another month!

We went over to MIL's for Easter dinner on Sunday afternoon. Dinner was yummy, and we got to spend some time with Chris' sisters and BIL. After dinner, the boys went outside to hunt eggs. FIL colored the eggs, and then he and BIL and Aunt Shawna hid them. I was glad it was sunny and nice out, even if chilly. Last year it was really cold and the boys didn't have much fun. The way they hide eggs over there is funny. For the little kids, they do the obvious hiding spots on the deck, so the eggs peek out a bit and are easy to find; but for the older kids they really make it a challenge. FIL went out into the yard and just dropped the eggs in the grass. Then he moved leaves or grass over top of them to hide them. They boys had to wander around in the yard hoping to come across the eggs. Even funnier is that FIL doesn't pay much attention to where he drops them, so by the end of the hunt, we are all desperate to find the last of the eggs, LOL.







Finally, FIL decided to offer cash for eggs LOL and announced he'd pay a quarter an egg to whoever could find the last 2. Noah was all excited to come up with them, but just at that point MIL yelled out that there were still another 2 missing! FIL upped the payoff to $1 an egg, and everyone looked even harder. Since Levi and Jacob found their eggs on the deck, Levi kept looking there. MIL and BIL told us that all the deck eggs were found, so we just thought it was cute that he was still looking. Well, lo and behold, he came up with one of the eggs! It had rolled under the deck. Samuel found the other egg out in the grass, and FIL gave out the money to each of them.

Here are some pics of the boys playing by the barn. They love using the ramp to pick up speed. Too bad we haven't had enough snow to use it for sledding. Maybe next year!

A Room With a View

One of the things I love about this house is that every room has a great view. We are surrounded by farmland; we only have 2 neighbors that we can see from the house. I love looking out every window. Here are some views:

Living room window, facing north:


I think those deep sills are awesome too!

Living room, facing east:


Kitchen, facing east:


Out the back door, facing west:


Ok, ignore the hand prints on the back door LOL. You can see, we have a back porch, which will be great in the summer, to sit in the evening and watch the sunset.

Very Belated

Jacob turned 1 last month, right in the middle of our move. We waited another week until the kitchen was unpacked to celebrate with a cake and a new movie. Troyer baked the cake for him, and he really enjoyed it!

A Nibble

and not from a mouse! We have gotten an offer on the house already! A full-price offer, which we have accepted. Whew, what a relief. We had visions of our house sitting on the market for months. Pending the usual inspections, we could close as soon as the end of April! Yahoo!

Things Are Crazy (and Dirty)

Wow, I thought I would have had time to post some pictures by now, but we've run into some issues that are taking a while to correct. Biggest on the list is the hot water. We noticed last Sunday that there didn't seem to be any hot water, but the inspection report said the heater was working, so we weren't too concerned. We figured it had to be turned up or something easy like that. No such luck. You see, we have a solar heated system, so usually the water is heated that way and stored in the tank. I had to call in a repairman to look at the system to see why it wasn't working. First off, the computer on the controls was bad and needs to be replaced. Next, there is a back up for the solar, that is the boiler (furnace). The repairman tried to turn off the bypass from the solar so the water would go through the boiler, but it killed the water pressure. It took him 2 more hours to figure out that all the valves were clogged with iron deposits. As in, clogged completely shut. Well, that explained no hot water. So, after replacing several valves and such, he got the water working, but told us the tank was shot and needs to be replaced. Cost for a solar hot water tank? About twice the cost of a nice electric heater from Lowe's. Ugh.

Now, since the heater was ruined by our hard water, we decided to have the water tested and get some figures for installing filters and softeners. After all, we don't want to get a new tank just to have that ruined too. Last night we had a rep from Rain Soft come in and do tests on the water at the kitchen sink. Of course, our water is bad. Bad. BAD. Highly acidic, which is why the copper pipes are leaching copper into the water. Full of iron, which is clogging everything. Luckily we have a UV light to kill bacteria, so he didn't have to pitch one of those to us; but on the opposite side we have high nitrates. Were you keeping track? That's three systems/filters we need installed. Like, immediately. It will cost money we do. not. have. Ack! We explained to him our situation, about how we haven't sold our old house yet, and all our cash is tied up in that right now. Once we sell, we will be able to do repairs. But that could take months, or more if we are particularly unlucky. He did take pity on us, and offered us a super super deal on financing, and included all installation and any parts that may need to be replaced once they start taking everything apart to install it. Considering how the water tank went, that could be considerable. We are leaning towards taking the deal. Oh, he also said he could have it done within 2 days of signing a contract, so it could be as soon as next week. That's how sorry he felt for us, since we have small kids drinking this water. We have Culligan coming in tonight to see what they have to offer. I'm betting they will have a hard time beating last night's offer though.

So, in light of the water issues, the mice pale in comparison. After all, they are keeping to just one cabinet, and I don't even have food in them. I've been putting poison in there, but I know there are too many to kill off that way. I put a trap there too, right where I can see the opening, and it gets set off twice a night, but it hasn't caught them yet. Smart little buggers. A cat is moving higher up the priority list.