Halloween

Our neighborhood is lacking in kids so we figured there wouldn't be many houses passing out candy so we joined the Burroughs to trick or treat in their neighborhood.

The dad's "dressed up" too- they were chippendale rejects.

For some reason blogger want to put all my jack o lantern pictures on sideways except this one so here is G's jack o lantern!

Pumpkin Carving

We had a pumpkin carving party! G did her own pretty much by herself this year and E did his completely on his own. I drew the lines on T's pumpkin and she did the glitter glue and then hammered in her gems. This year P and D and their mom and dad joined us for our annual tradition!

After the pumpkins were all carved we roasted the seeds and enjoyed them while we watched the Gator game!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat Oven to 325

Separate seeds from pulp and rinse.

Ingredients

pumpkin seeds

kosher salt

olive oil

Spread seeds evenly over jelly roll or other pan with raised sides.

Bake 10 minutes (this helps dry the seeds out so the salt and oil will stick)

Spray seeds with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Return to oven and cook 10 more minutes or until seeds are golden brown.

The Well is Fixed

There is a new pressure relief valve in place so no more leaking. Now we just have to go out and fill in the hole the leaking water created. Good thing we opted to keep the dirt they dug up putting the well in.

Still no stove. The schedule was full for today so it is supposed to be delivered tomorrow between 8 and noon. I find it shocking that when they screw up a delivery it doesn't become a high priority to get it delivered. The company I bought the stove from is giving us a free extended warranty for our trouble but the delivery company is like "oh well."

The kids are very excited for Halloween. E is going to be Harry Potter, again, but this time in Quidditch robes carrying his broom. Ge is going to be Hermione Granger and T is Mariposa (a Barbie character). They can pay a dollar to wear their costumes to school on Friday and the money goes to Relay for Life. I am subbing in second grade Friday and have a Professor McGonagal costume I am considering wearing. I am worried I will be the only adult that shows up in costume!

Ugghh... More Troubles

I ordered a stove several weeks ago and it was supposed to be delivered Friday between 1-5. The delivery man called at 5 and said he was running behind but would be here by 6. 6:30 still no stove and the delivery man wasn't answering his phone. I called this morning and the company said he didn't finish the delivery before ours until 7:15 so he didn't get to ours. The schedule was full for today and tomorrow so they are going to try and get the stove out on Wednesday. Good thing I have a job where I can choose days not to work!

The pump for the new well is leaking. The well guy is coming tomorrow to install a new pressure valve and that should fix it. Fingers crossed but the way things are going lately....

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

G's dance studio was asked to participate in a Christmas parade at the reveal of Extreme Makeover Home Edition's newest house. The episode will air Dec 12th with Mariah Carey as the special guest star.

We had to arrive at 11am to get the girls on their float and have the float at the staging area at 11:45. Then the moms joined the rest of the crowd to wait

The first time the parade passed we had a silent parade. The girls danced to no music. The marching band looked like it was playing but no sound was coming out. The crowd clapped silently. Then we waited...

Second take...

G's company was asked with the cheerleaders and one other float to stay for a third take. Rumor had it that Mariah Carey was supposed to pick one of the two remaining floats to ride to the house on. However, one of the staff members told us that she would not be riding on a float because it would give the onlookers an opportunity to take her picture. Apparently she has a personal photographer that does all her pictures. Even the crew and volunteers were not allowed picture with her when she was on set.

She stayed in her white van until the very last minute.

But Michael came out to greet the crowd...

And Ty ran by to give everyone high fives...

Take 3 of the parade...

The family arrives...

Move that bus...

It was an interesting thing to see and G enjoyed it. I could believe we where there for 7 hours to shoot one, very short, parade. Knowing how long it took to film it will be interesting see how much of it makes it too the final show.

Home Today

I subbed for 1st grade (not T's class though) yesterday but I am staying to day because... the well is going in. They hit the first snag this morning first thing- the ground was too soft to drive the truck on they had to go back and get some plywood. Hopefully that is our one and only snag for this project. I called the pool guy and let him know that the well is being taken care of so we can move forward with the pool permit.

Pool/Subbing Updates

Enforcement can't do anything to help us with the well situation since the company that installed it is under new ownership. The new owner did agree to kill the old well for free but it is still going to cost us $2000 for a new well. Now to find out where the neighbor's septic lines are and get all the well permits taken care of. Should be a week or so till the well is dead and then we can get our pool permit.

I did sub for the art teacher last Wednesday. Then I subbed for a second grade teacher Thursday and Friday. She actually had a student teacher in her class that is teaching all the lessons so I mostly monitored behavior and helped the kids with their seat work when they needed it. So nice to get an orientation to the school policies and procedures : )

Nothing on tap for this week yet but E's teacher asked me if I could sub for her for a week either the last week in October or the first of November. She was thrilled to know she will have a sub who isn't freaked out about teaching two different grade levels and is familiar with the ups and downs of gifted students. Oh, and G tested for the gifted program and passed. She will be in "PATS" with E on Thursdays as soon as her paperwork is done and her IEP is in place.

Subbing

I applied for a sub position back in August when the kids started school. After three visits to the district offices, two hours of training, and an almost two week wait to have my information entered in the system, I have my first job. I will be pretending to be an art teacher on Wednesday!

MORE Pool Stuff

While I was waiting for the well guy this morning the entire Health Department showed up : ) The original inspector from the sale in May, the inspector from the pool permit and 3 other guys. They poked and prodded around the yard and verified that the long line runs all the way to the well head and they found a second line. In addition, they found a third line that runs under the footings of the deck.

The inspector is not sure how he missed all this on the inspection in May. But he said it wouldn't have affected the sale of the house anyway. He would have just advised us that no further permits would be issued until the problems were corrected. I told him it sure would have affected the sale of the house because we would have asked that they tear down the deck and provide assurance that the septic drains were not damaged. In addition, we would have either asked them to kill and replace the well or sell at a lower price because the property didn't have a irrigation system that met code. The inspector assured me that the well company would take care of the issue but if they didn't I should let him know and he would talk to enforcement with the Water Management District to ensure it is taken care of. I think maybe they are trying to cover their a**.

So fast forward a few hours and the well guy shows up with his wife and daughter. (The well guy bought the company from his father-in-law, so the guy who originally drilled the well was her dad. ) The well guy verified that yes the well is within 50 ft of the septic line but suggested that the drain lines must have been finished after the well. I pointed out that the septic permit is dated 10/94 and the well was drilled 6/95. He suggested that they might have been working on the septic installation when the well was drilled and then moved the lines after the well was done. He asked to see a receipt for the well from his company. I told him I didn't have a receipt what I had was the instructions with the installation date, serial number of the tank, and the installers name and number written on it. He confirmed that his father-in-law usually did that when he put in a well, but that maybe the home owner had written it. I brought the paper work out and his wife said that was her dad's handwriting. After a couple phone calls the well guy got the permit number for the well and confirmed that his father-in-law had put in the well. But the responsibility for a well goes to the driller not the company. So he says since his father-in-law no longer works for the company and is no longer licensed there is nothing that can be done. He did offer to kill the well and drill us a new one at cost- $1500. So now he is trying to cover his a**.

So I called the HD inspector back and told him the scoop. He said the septic lines had to have gone in before the well. First, you can't get a well permit without and occupancy permit and you can't get in occupancy permit without a septic system. Second, if on the off chance they some how did get a well permit before the septic was done then the septic system wouldn't have passed inspection because the well would have been to close.

So we are back to it being the well driller's fault that the well is in the wrong place and we need to kill and drill.

I did talk to a septic guy. He said I should plan on $7,000-$8,000 to dig up the old drain lines and excavate a new 700 sqft drain field. He said as much as he wanted the work if the system is working we shouldn't mess with it.

Update on the Pool Project

Saturday we marked out where we wanted to move the pool- away from the septic lines. The HD came out earlier this week to check the new placement. They said the pool location was fine but we were still going to have to move the septic line because it is to close to the well. They are refusing to grant the pool permit till we move the lines. We came up with several options.

1. Forget the pool and do nothing. The problem with that is we figure eventually the HD will come back and cite us for the line being to close to the well and have to fix it anyway.
2. Move the line. That will not only involve a lot of time waiting for permit to move, hiring a company to do it, and doing the job but the cost is also hard to predict because we will have to upgrade the system to meet any new standard interpretations.
3. Kill the well and leave the pool in the newly marked location. Then we will hopefully be able to go back later and drill a new well.

I called the company that originally drilled the well to see if they kept records as to where septic lines were when the well was drilled. (The septic company that installed the system had a fire and was then bought out by another company so no records.) I asked the well company for records and a quote on killing the well. The owner told me he would bet me $100 that the HD is wrong about the line placement because they never would have put a well that close to the drain field.

Wayne called the HD inspector who inspected the septic system when we bought the house to find out what he could tell us. When that inspection was done one of the things they were to check for was proximity of the drain lines to any wells! He said from his records there should be 3 lines running from our septic tank and 2 lines running from our grey water tank so the lines shouldn't run 140ft to the well.

So... the well guy is coming out today and the 2 inspectors at the HD are supposed to talk to each other. Our pool is supposed to go in Oct. 23rd so- fingers crossed!

A Walk in the Woods

After we met with the pool contractor we took a walk with the kids through the woods behind our house. There are several well defined trails as well as a creek that runs through the 500 acres of woods . We walked down the trail to the creek and on the way back E noticed another "trail." We figured it would be a good experience for the kids to see what happens where you follow "trails" rather then the well marked path. The trail disappeared and we were lost. We stumbled back to the path through vines and thorn bushes hoping the kids had learned their lesson. They hadn't so when they found another "trail" we did it all over again. After that the kids agreed that they should stay on the paths!

We headed back to the house for lunch and W and E headed off to baseball practice. The girls wanted to go back to the woods. We had told the kids that we would spray paint a mark on the tree on the home trail so they would always know which one it was, but we hadn't done it yet. I told the girls they could go play but to stay on the home trail since it wasn't marked. They were gone maybe 10 minutes before they came back up to the house to tell me they heard a noise in the woods. They weren't sure if it was a snake, a rabbit, or a person. I assured them that it probably wasn't a snake, they don't make much noise, or a person, a person probably would have spoken and a rabbit, squirrel or deer wouldn't hurt them. They went back out to play.

Almost half an hour later I hadn't seen them again. I was surprised that no one had heard a noise, gotten hot or hungry, or gotten into an argument so I stopped fixing dinner and walked out to check on them. As I started walking down the trail I could hear something moving through the woods to my left. It didn't run quickly away like rabbit or squirrel would have so I was thinking it might be a deer. I walked quietly in the hopes that I might see it and I figured if the girls were playing nicely they didn't need to know I was there. I was almost to the end of the home trail when I heard the girls talking-

T, "It's this way this is the trail home."

G, "How do you know?"

They turned up the trail, saw me, and came running.

G, "Mom we left the trail and we got lost and we couldn't figure out which trail led home.'
T, "I knew this was the right one, I heard you."

G, "Mom, where you calling us? I didn't hear you calling us."

T, "I didn't hear her calling with my ears I heard her calling with my heart. I said a prayer on the trail when we were lost and then I heard mom call me."

As soon an W got home he marked the home trail so hopefully no more getting lost. But I am glad T listens to her heart.