Friday, August 14, 2026

Toilet diving

For months, the toilet in the kid's bathroom has been plugging. Every. Single. Time.

It started when our house was being rented. My maintenance guy went over, used every chemical known to human kind, remove the toilet, and snaked the drain all the way to outside the house. Nothing. No reason for it not to flush.

It kept plugging.

We got back to the States. It kept plugging. Even a small bit of toilet paper would refuse to go down. Water would slowly leak past and with 4-5 plunging sessions, the water would eventually grudgingly clear.

I was talking with my maintenance man today, saying, "I bet that there's something stuck in the trap of the toilet. This happened to my dad back when my sister was baby--he had a toilet that just wouldn't flush, tried everything he could think of, and finally took the toilet out. there was a spoon wedged deep in the siphon."

So tonight...I geared myself up and stuck my hand down the toilet. Yes, the joys of being an adult. Just about 1" in, I hit something almost completely blocking the passageway from one side to another. I worked at if for a while until I got it loose.

Voila. The culprit. Exactly the right size to fit the entire width of the toilet siphon and not budge.

 



~~~

So what else is new? We all got woken up at 3:30 am by a tremendous flash of light and thunderclap. I never managed to fall back asleep. There were thunderstorms on and off the rest of the night, but nothing quite as loud as what woke us all up.

More storms rolling in throughout the day. On the up side, it's a great time to pull weeds because the soil is soaked and loose. I did a bit of weeding this evening.

Oh...and it's our 28th anniversary today! We went out to eat at a local Peruvian/Mexican restaurant. We don't have any fancy places to eat in town, but this one is decent for basic dishes and tacos.

Dio, Inga, and Inga's best friend went to a football game and then to a restaurant. I love seeing them do things together. Ivy is at a sleepover. We have soccer games (Dio) and soccer practice (Ivy and Inga) tomorrow. Dio sprained his ankle today, so he probably won't be playing.
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Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Storms

Dramatic thunder and lightning, pouring rain on and off today.

Lots of meetings with HVAC companies to get quotes for heating and cooling systems. I am THIS CLOSE to DIY'ing the mini splits. I know I can do it and the cost would be 1/3-1/6 of what I'm being quoted.

Breech work today was video editing, textbook editing, online course module editing.

I did a bit of gardening until the rain made me go inside...did a bit of sewing and now I have new bedroom curtains!
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Monday, August 10, 2026

Customer service

There are a lot of things messed up about the USA. But customer service is great.

I bought a hammock & stand for our backyard, and it arrived with a broken hammock bar. I ordered a replacement hammock and I got send another entire set!

I bet I can make a new wood bar....so that gives me 2 hammocks for the price of one!


Ivy had a soccer tryout at a club 1+ hour away. They arrived 10 minutes early...and no one was there. Apparently they cancelled the tryouts and forgot to tell Eric! (Maybe due to the heat? Both Inga and Dio had indoor practice because it was a "condition red" day today and too hot for outdoor practice.)

Ivy decided to stay in 8th grade and not move up to high school. Lots of going back and forth but unless she really truly wanted to move up a grade, we didn't want to push her.
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Thursday, August 06, 2026

It's hard to wrap my head around school already being started! And all 3 kids have soccer practice right after school, so they don't get home until 6 pm.

I'm redecorating my bedroom a bit. I don't want to repaint the walls, but I'm changing out the bedspreads, curtains, and lamps and painting the side tables. I had a bedspread that I sewed about 15 years ago and I've had to repair it a few times. It's ripped so many times now that it's time to retire :)

Lots of video editing today. Always something to keep me on my toes!

Our amazing repair guy / brick mason / handyman is starting work on the carriage house. Plumbing and electric is the first order of business. There's just one more wall to frame. Then inspections...then insulation and wall finishing.
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Saturday, August 01, 2026

I love Midwestern rainstorms! Dark skies, thunder and lightning, rivers of rain going down the streets.


 
I had grand plans to weed the gardens but the rain got in the way. Instead, we did some attic organizing, going through boxes in our storage closet, organizing the kids' memorabilia, and throwing away or donating things we no longer needed.

What does everyone do with memorabilia going back to childhood? I suppose I could digitize some things, but that's not always realistic with objects that aren't just papers. Eric and I each have a few boxes of things from childhood, anywhere from journals to boy/girl scout badges to photos pre-digital cameras.

It was fun to pull these old things out. It's amazing how much you forget about your own life.
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