It started out well. Monday and Tuesday we a little hot, but there was a nice breeze and it wasn't too humid. Spring is in full bloom here and it is so beautiful. This is my first spring since coming back east after 10 years in Utah, and I am amazed at the beauty of it. I took some pictures of the house. The previous owners did a great job planting beautiful plants, flowers, and trees. Unfortunately I have no idea what types of plants they are.
This tree is a dog wood. Those are very popular here. Charlottesville has a dog wood festival every year. They really are beautiful when they are in bloom. Some areas of the city have rows of them in several different colors.
On Tuesday things were still going well. Jenna had "Field Day" at school. She had been talking about it all afternoon Monday and all morning before school on Tuesday. They had a bouncy castle the kids could jump on. They had some water games (it was 90 here). They had pony rides (that and the castle were Jenna's favorite parts). They did face painting (she wouldn't let me take a picture). And finally, they had "bike day" at the same time so the kids could ride their bikes. They blocked the parking lot so that no cars would get in the way. Jenna had so much fun. I did finally get a couple of pictures of her riding her bike. She is getting pretty good at it.
On Wednesday things started going down hill fast. Kevin got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. He came down to tell us that the water was barely trickling out of the faucet. We don't like to be bothered in the middle of the night, so we told him not to worry about it and to go back to bed. Shortly thereafter I got up to use the bathroom. Our faucet was doing the same thing. I told Derek, and he got a little worried that we had a leak. He went out to the crawl space (mind you this was about 5am) to check for a leak. He didn't find anything, so we went back to sleep. When we woke up about 6:30a there was no water at all, not even a trickle. The water company wasn't open for business yet. Derek stepped outside to see if any of our neighbors were without water. Sure enough, no one had water. We are on public water, so there is no excuse for being without water (at least no good one). Everyone that called (myself included) got the run around. They never did reveal why we didn't have water. They said it would be back on around 11am. Like magic it came on at 11am. What a joke! Luckily I have a decent supply of bottled water, so we at least had something to drink. No one could shower (I finally showered around noon), so I decided to clean the house. If we were going to be stuck home dirty I figured I should make the most of it. On top of that, they put a boil advisory in place (meaning we were supposed to boil the water before using it). They didn't bother to actually tell us this, they just posted it at the entrance to our neighborhood. Since I hadn't gone anywhere that day I had been drinking the water. Luckily I was the only one. When I went to the bus stop I found out about the boil advisory, so we drank bottled water for the next two days. Does this seem ridiculous to anyone else? :)
Wednesday afternoon I got a call from the school nurse saying that Kevin had a headache. She gave him some Tylenol. However, when he got home from school I could tell he didn't feel very good. He spent the afternoon in his room (that was due to being grounded for being sassy to his dad and sister earlier in the day). When he came down for dinner he looked terrible and just pushed his plate aside. We could tell he was running a pretty high fever (I rarely take their temperatures, so I don't know what it was). We got him to bed and later that night he threw up. That continued for the next two days. He hasn't thrown up in over 24 hours, so he is improving there. He has also had diarrhea (which I think is improving). He is still running a low grade fever. Curiosity got the better of me on Friday night and I actually took his temperature. It was 102.5, and I could tell he wasn't quite as warm as the night before. He has eaten better today. He seems to have caught a cold on top of everything else though. Poor kid. He missed school Thursday and Friday. He is going to stay home from school again tomorrow. I am hopeful I can send him back on Tuesday. So far no one else has gotten sick, but I am guessing it is only a matter of time.
Here's Kevin asleep on the couch. He has been sleeping a lot.
Saturday morning Derek took Jenna and Jared with him to run some errands. I stayed behind with Kevin. They took some leaves to a big mulching area in our neighborhood. Derek was talking to someone from the HOA and Jenna and Jared were playing in the trunk of the van. Eventually Derek was able to leave, and when he did he realized why they hadn't been bothering him. Jared had found a permanent marker I had left in the car, and had drawn all over the backs of the seats, the ceiling, the walls, the windows and floors. I got it off of the windows, but it stuck everywhere else. For the first time ever, magic eraser failed me. :( (Yes, I have used it to remove permanent marker before). I am going to try toothpaste tomorrow. It may be too late.
Jared's lovely "artwork" (please excuse the crumbs all over the trunk)
Today things seemed to be improving. Kevin is still sick, but I can tell he is doing better. Hopefully this next week will fare a little better for us. :)
6 comments:
What a week! So sorry. I hate having sick kids because you feel so helpless while they are miserable. I'm glad things are looking up although good luck with the perm. marker! Let us know if you find something that does the trick- I have marker on my table that won't come off.
Poor Kevin! Two rough weeks in row. First a tick, then the flu. Jenna looks so cute on her bike. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!
As far as the permanent marker, try writing over it with a dry erase marker. That's how you get permanent marker off of white boards...maybe it will work on the car too. Who knows! It's worth a shot!
Man, what a rough week. Poor Kevin... first the tick, now this. For the permanent marker, you need a solvent that dissolves the marker- try rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover or hairspray. There are also some oil-based cleaners that will probably work, like the orange cleaner. You can try industrial strength acetone or paint remover too. Good luck!
Your home looks beautiful with all the blooming bushes and trees.
Wow! He's quite the artist. Good luck with that! And your tick story--- i'm so paranoid about bugs and Corban-- i'll have to make sure i check him!
Hmmm...the fact that the water was turned off, then they put a "boil advisory" in place, sounds like they had contaminated water that they just didn't want to tell anyone about. Yuck! Maybe that's why Kevin got sick. Poor little guy. :( Good luck getting the marker off your van. Ah, the joy of kids, huh?! It's a good thing we love them so much! And I love all your beautiful plants & trees. :)
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