Updates are better with pictures!

First of all, Werty had a job interview this morning. (Yay!) They said they had a short list of candidates being interviewed, so that's good to hear. He thought it went well, but we aren't getting our hopes up too much yet. He thinks it's a 50/50 chance.

This week Werty repaired the evaporator cooler. He had to reconnect the floater to the water line and tweak it because it leaks. The ceiling around the internal vent will need to be repaired later. As it is, he rotated the vent fins (really heavy - it's steel, not plastic) 90 degrees so that he could anchor it and keep it from falling down. The negative to that is less air blows into the bedrooms now. Ah! But the plus side is now more cool air hits the kitchen! And that makes cooking more pleasant. You can see from this pic how big the vent is, the side is almost as wide as a standard door.

We go to the hardware store almost every day - it's become a family event. We buy 2-3 different versions of what is needed, see which fits best, and take the rest of it back. I'm told this is normal.

Werty finished the major plumbing yesterday - so we shouldn't need to turn off the water for 6 hours at a time anymore. Hooray! Here's what it looks like now:


Here are some close up shots of new things that Werty has added (isn't he wonderful?):

He had to move the gas line, and install new hot and cold water lines for the washer.

Here's the ice maker shut off valve and the electrical box for the new outlets, one for the washer, one for the dryer.


The new drain. It took some creativity to get it to fit in with the existing drain (white pipes) while still being hidden in the wall. This used to be a second kitchen with a cabinet along the wall built on to the exterior wall with all the pipes exposed. We have it framed for insulation and dry wall. That meant Werty also had to extend out the connectors to the old sink, this time with their own shut off valves (the old sink was only partially attached and easily overflowed). The photo below is a piece of the sink pipe up above in the ceiling that Werty replaced because there was evidence that it used to leak, although rust had plugged the leak. Turns out it leaked because the threads on the pipe were stripped on one end, making it impossible to seal. Good catch, honey!



There was a window here a few days ago - with a wooden sill that the inspector told us to remove as it could attract termites. Werty had to pry out the wood in sections, as it was wedged into the concrete of the carport, and then fill the hole with concrete. The window is being cannibalized for the installation of a dryer vent.


And, if you were patient enough to read all that boring stuff above, here's your reward: pics of BooBear!


This one's for Ddonn and her girls who once asked if he had fallen asleep during dinner yet.



This last one shows his new haircut. One week after cutting his hair for the Idaho family reunion, I buzzed it because it was too hot outside. I almost cried. Oh, and if one of his aunts thinks the ball looks familiar, yup, it's yours. He found it at Grandma and Grandpa's. It's so big that sometimes it knocks him over.

Progress on the Remodel

Werty has framed the laundry room and finished most of the plumbing. Yesterday, we (I helped this time) installed the hose for the ice maker. Yay, ice whenever we want...which is something we just aren't used to having, so we will have to remember to use it. Next is the electrical and the dryer vent installation.

As for me, I am still trying to get my license renewed. I already had to be fingerprinted twice because of technological errors. I was planning on working on organizing my classrooms and files over the summer, but they are using my room for summer school, and the assistant principal cleared all my piles of files I had pulled out along with the leftover junk from the school year that needed to be sorted all together in to a big mess. So, I haven't been working at school after all. We did however, find someone to hire for the part time Aide position for next year who I think will be great. Not Gloria, but nobody is Gloria except for Gloria. Closest we could find.

Sunbeam Humor

Werty and I teach the Sunbeams class in Primary, that is, the Sunday School class for 3 and 4 year olds. Today during sharing time, the Primary President held something cupped in her hands and asked the children to guess what it was. After several guesses, she gave them the clues that it was something that starts out small and grows really big and really likes water. "A water balloon," "a hot air balloon," followed by "a camel" (someone must have recently learned that camels carry water in their humps...but I'm not sure how a camel was supposed to fit inside her hands). It was a seed in her hand, of course, because she was giving a lesson on how faith is like a seed. The teacher used Joseph Smith and the First Vision as an example of exercising faith, because they have been studying it all year. "Do you know what happened when Joseph Smith went in to the woods?" "He died" said one kid. "Yeah, he died," piped up another (not exactly the answer the teacher was looking for).