Drip drip drip.  Poptarts.  I ran to the basement to restock the Poptarts.  But quickly got distracted.  Drip drip drip.

Took a closer look at where water comes into the house and it is dripping at a connection before the shutoff valve.  Now, we had some mighty heavy storms last night - matter of fact some school districts are closed or on delay - so yes, I palpated to see if the water was coming through the wall and it doesn't seem to be.

I guess this is one way for God to nudge me into dealing with the mess/chaos that is my basement, right?  I cleared out that corner (mostly Christmas decorations) to make sure a plumber could get to it.  My work was disrupted though because kiddo's school didn't cancel or delay, and if the district isn't providing transportation, I'm the transportation - so we headed to drop her off.  One road was closed due to water and crossing Chartiers creek was a little spooky as it is quite high.

Plumber thinks it's just from all of the rain, and he may be right as it does seem to have paused.  Either way, he's popping in later this afternoon.  May as well have him also take a look at the overflow valve on the hot water tank that has been dripping for months while he's here.

This is the first time I've had even a drop of water in my basement.  I'm not here for it.  After the years of water I fought with in Johnstown, I need to know we're good.

I made a run into Johnstown for part of the day earlier this week.  A legend is retiring, and I couldn't miss her gathering.  Fortunately, the weather was good - but yes, there was still some snow in the parking lot.  I'm getting to the age where people I've worked closely with for a very long time are retiring one after another.  It give me hope for me, but it makes me might sad too.

I made sure to snag some meadows and sushi before I headed west again.

I commented about the ticks in my last post.  The flurry of them must be deeper in my brain than I realized as I had a dream about it last night -- and I don't often remember dreams anymore.  In the dream I noticed I had one on my leg, then another, and another.. and it became this frenzy of pulling them off of me -- but they weren't ticks, they were more like leaches, long and when I pulled them off there was blood.  For whatever reason my one neighbor was there watching me pull these off of me and I was frantically asking him to help get them off of me.

I also mentioned that I got some yard and garden work in.  I knew it was too early but I certainly wasn't expecting the 50 degree temp drop and immediate onslaught of 4 inches of heavy snow the next day.  The good news is we're to the time of year where it melts off pretty quickly.

Kiddo's swimming classes end in a week and I'm looking forward to another night or two that I don't need to run after work.

I've spotted several single robins out hoping around this past week.  I've also spotted a ton of worms ready to tend to my soil!  Then again, we've also plucked two ticks off of the dog already - sigh.

The weather was quite nice today so I got out and tended to a few of the pots.  It's probably too early to plant, but here I go.  I put potatoes into several pots, similarly one pot of beet seeds, another of carrot seeds, another with cuke seed, one with onion sets I picked up today, another with green onion seeds, two with peas, and a few seeds for basil in that pot..  I churned up the decorative hangers and tossed some various seeds in there too, we'll see if anything starts.  I also put some of the tomatoes from last year into little seed starter cubes -- those are inside on the basement floor for now.  I topped off the hot tub's water too - maybe I need to spend some quality time in there, that sounds nice right now.

Did I clean out the basement?  No, not the way I need to - but I did try to clear some stuff from the garage.  I listed a ton of it on a FB neighborly page on Saturday and -- nothin.

I only worked for a few hours on Friday.  I caught a small nap, vacuumed, caught up on laundry and dishes, scrubbed the kitchen sink, cleaned the 1/2 bath - but I still wasn't as productive as I should have been this weekend.

Yesterday we almost missed the bus.  Those that know me well know we are 99% of the time outside for 5+ minutes before its arrival and that tracks from Kindergarten to today.

There has been new drivers come and go, but the one that had them move the time back must be coming straight from another job - which makes me wonder how tired they might be, but that's a whole other thing.  Well, I guess they didn't convey this to the other driver that is supporting the route.  He rolled up 10 minutes earlier than the other one has been.  I opened the garage door and stepped outside to catch him while the girl put her shoes on.

I didn't realize how much that routine meant to her as she told me this disruption had her crying on the bus.  The good news is the weather has been nice.  We can go stand and "wait and see" this morning.

The floors have been done for two weeks.  Is everything away?  Nope.  I've been a bit of a slacker.  My office is functional, but I still have a few boxes shoved under the table.  There are still a few things sitting out in the kitchen that shouldn't be.  The left over carpet remnants are still in the entry hall.  My closet and Barney/Church's room are still in disarray.  Don't even get me started on the basement, which has become the catchall for everything "on its way out".

What I have managed to do is... to get my taxes gathered and done, get kiddo's catechism craft complete and delivered when we went for her first communion, ordered things I need for an Easter basket, spend some time outside while the kids played and by the fire pit, dropped off the clothes to donate, did a bit of research for the Alaska cruise, and some recouperation for my lower back.  While I don't see me pulling out all of the Easter decorations, I know where the girl's Easter basket is, so that will be coming up soon.

I managed to get through some work chaos, and not that things are slow but they've tamed down enough that I can breathe for a moment.  I'm definitely looking for a second wind to get things squared away here.

They've modified kiddo's morning bus time back by 25 minutes, which throws off my morning routine a bit, but it might let me shift the alarm back by 15 minutes or so, I'll take it.

Got a bit of a gut punch last night seeing that someone I knew very well in high school passed at the end of February.  He hadn't been well for an extended time after a motorcycle accident and we hadn't talked -- for reasons -- in a long time.  I mourn for his parents, not sure of what that relationship was like but not thinking great; I mourn for his kids, they too I don't think have been close for a while.

Saturday was all day in my bedroom.  After tending to the animals and getting myself coffee I got moving.  I've been trying to deep clean as I go and make purge decisions, so that slowed me down.  I wrapped about 7 and a half hours later with a very sore back and hips.  At that point I had most everything cleared to other bedrooms or the basement except the things hanging in my closet, as I needed kiddo's bed to toss them on Monday morning.

Sunday was truly a day of rest.  While the flooring activity is coming to a close my efforts are far from done right now so I knew I needed to take that time.  It didn't help that a sinusitis attack flared up and I didn't take the sinus calm fast enough, so now I've got a nice bronchial cough going.  I also scheduled Monday off since some of our customers were out and canceled the typical Monday meetings and the girl was off of school.  I used this time to put the big pieces in the living room back into position, which made a good dent clearing things out of my office.  My dining room is still the staging area for the ongoing work, so I can't finalize in there just yet.

Since my room and closet were completed on Monday I hung everything back in my closet and started bringing things back in from the other rooms.  My hips weren't in the mood to sit on the floor (despite the plush and inviting new carpet), so the bookshelf isn't back in order yet and the rest of the closet items aren't back in place.  I did get 3 more loads of laundry done including all of my bedding including the bed topper, so I was able to put it back together in an ideal state in time for bed.

Today they return to finish - all that remains are the stairs!  As they clear out I have quite the process remaining in front of me.  I've decided to get rid of numerous things, but that means getting things in order to donate them for the rescue's auction room and dropping off a few more bags of old clothes.

After the upstairs is in order the basement will be calling.  There is a lot that made its way there that won't be getting thrown or donated.

Also on our plate are the looming needs for different travel related items.  I have a sister remarrying and I need to plan accordingly to attend.  I need to get things in order for girl's first communion.  I have summer cruise related travel to get pulled together.  There is also a request of work travel next month that I haven't even had the mental bandwidth to process and determine if it's an option.  I also gotta get my act together, gather papers, and schedule to get my taxes out of the way.

It feels like this week, when the house was the most chaotic everyone came at us with other requests.  Girl has a craft she needs to get done before her first reconciliation and a poster coming home on Thursday from school as homework (I do appreciate the warning).  Fortunately, my favorite egg glued the table leg last night and it is flipped back over so we have table-space to work at.

Last night I went to bed at 10:30 (and in my own bed) instead of pressing forward with the things I need to do.  After a few days of killing my back and staying up way too late it was so good, my back is happier, my mind feels clearer, and I have the energy I need to get to the weekend.

Flooring update:  the LVP and all trim wrapped up earlier this week.  3 out of 4 bedrooms have new carpet in them.  The upstairs hall is ripped out, that should get finished today.  The living room was ripped out and new pad applied yesterday.  The carpet is cut and laying in place there, so I'm hoping that will be done today -- allowing me to get the downstairs back in order.  At the same time, my bedroom remains, so there is moving things back to the other bedrooms and clearing my space (which is no small task) on my list for this weekend.

We still managed to make both swim practices and jiu jitsu classes this week, but the wheels are coming off a bit on other things.  Fortunately, we prioritized making kiddo's valentine's box last weekend.  I'm also only down about an hour and a half at work so far this week, not that I can't take some vacation - heaven knows I need to start pacing through it before June is upon us.

The water boil advisory was lifted yesterday morning, thank goodness.  I was able to run the dishwasher last night and emptied it and manually cleaned the rest this morning to get them out of the way just in time for the dishwasher to be disconnected to get flooring under it.

Last night I also cleared all of the little things from kiddo's room, so that's where they started with carpet today -- because I didn't get the foster room completely emptied.  I did that room between meetings this morning so it is next in line.  The fosters are presently freaked out in my bathroom.

I'm feeling the stress of the home project, but I'm working to get through and shake it off.  The downstairs is so close.  Then I can put the pantry back in order, freeing up several boxes to help gather things from other upstairs rooms.  I'm also identifying things to get rid of.  Our favorite cat rescue works with a auction place for space that benefits them - so I know where those things will go.  My sister talked me out of feeling bad about a few things that I think will head in that direction.

I'm looking forward to returning to my insanely busy schedule without the additional needs to ready spaces piled on top.  The extra good news is that since I'm cleaning some things as I go the house is getting a deeper clean than it has in quite some time.  I mean, who pulls out their stove and fridge on the regular?  Ok ok, some of you do.  Don't judge me.

Girl has another two hour delay tomorrow morning - this time due to a water issue here in the area.  We've been under a boil advisory since late Friday night due to a large main break in Elrama. Right now I'm just hoping she doesn't go remote as work in the kitchen is to continue in the morning combined with the condensed nature of all of our things in the living room.

I got the boxes open for my office and boxed up under my kitchen sink (my homework as the dishwasher needs to come out to put flooring under it tomorrow.  I also vacuumed in the foster room and brought some of the items out of there (collapsed the large create, and disposed of a well past its life expectancy scratcher.  All of their smaller blankets are in the wash now.  I expect to move them into my bathroom while their room gets new carpet when that commences this week.

I lost a bit of my work time today so we could meet my favorite egg's parents to celebrate his birthday.  We convened at the Kodiax Barn and Grill in Charleroi and it was quite tasty.  We started meeting mid-way between the two of us and exploring some local places with our last summer gathering and it makes for a nice outing.

Progress continues!  The dining room is done and mostly put back together. I've started setting back up in the computer room and can work there, but not as comfortably as I would like at this point.  The glass mat did not arrive yesterday as FedEx indicated and now they're saying it will arrive this afternoon.  This means I am not using my office chair, but instead an exercise ball so I don't damage the floor.  I'd be fine if the exercise ball was a bit bigger/taller.

Yesterday I had a massage appointment and put the dog in the crate (which was in the living room given the work going on).  During his time there he grabbed whatever he could reach.  This included ripping part of a box that contained herbs and spices (and drooling on some of the containers - yay) and snagging the $40 silicone mat that I bought for under his crate (which was not in place underneath at that time).  He ripped several chunks out of it - because of course he did.  It's still mostly usable for the purpose for which it was selected (to go under the create to prevent it from sliding around on the new floor in the dining room), but I'm so not happy with him.

Last night I cleared the kitchen as it is up next.  When I moved the kitchen table (admittedly I'm one person, so I can't lift the whole thing;  I was walking it a bit at a time on each side by lifting and pivoting) a leg completely came off.  My table top is wood but the legs are metal.  As the leg came off the screws just shredded the wood where they were attached.  I have it balanced back on that leg, but now I need to figure out if it can be repaired or if I am not shopping for a new dining room table.  I know it's old, I know "stuff happens", but I'm so over it.  I thought January was out to get me, but February is looking like she wants to be seen and heard.

The new flooring is well underway.  They started in my office with the goal to allow me to get back up and running quickly.  That was 100% finished yesterday, but I didn't move my computers back in last night as I had to get the dining room completely cleared.  I am very pleased with my selection thus far.  I love the color, it works well with the walls and even the vent covers match nicely -- I'm still holding my breath to see it en masse around my kitchen cabinets and countertops.

I have been doing a deeper clean on things (crevices and baseboards for example) as I move things out of the rooms.  The walls behind the dog crate were thoroughly scrubbed.  I have also tossed a few items like the bookshelf from my office which had a might strong gangsta lean going on once the books were removed.  I tossed a few things from the pantry, that felt good.

Today my glass mat is slated to arrive, so I will likely start moving back into the office tonight.  Girl's swimming is canceled for this evening, so that gives me a bit more time to take care of that.  It will be necessary too as I'll need the living room space to pull the couch forward making room for the kitchen table.

I'm dreading when he pulls the fridge and stove out.  I can't get under/behind them to clean and I anticipate finding an extra dog/cat conglomeration made of fur from under each.

I have too much stuff, I know this.  But one thing for sure, the downstairs work has me even more anxious about the upstairs work, where there are quite a few more larger pieces of furniture.

Just coming back to say we are warming back up.  Gas valve replaced.

Dear January, you were obscenely expensive.  Go away.