What's Been Going On...

To update everyone on our accredidation. On Monday I had the honor to taking one of the surveyors around to the various crews we have. Her name was Anita. She is from Illinois. We had a very nice time. I so enjoy showing off the crews and our program. On Tuesday we visited people who are in indiviual placement. That was fun. On Wednesday morning we visited a couple more crews we weeren't able to visit earlier. We were joined by the other surveyor, Larry. He was from Kentucky. As the morning went on we discussed Tennessee and our moving there. It sounded like our idea is a good one. Later that afternoon we received our Exit Review, it was very positive. The CARF surveyors can not tell you the final outcome. We must wait until we receive the report from the home office in 4-6 weeks. I am sure we will get the maximum 3 years. I really enjoyed these days, but boy were they exhausting! It felt very good on Thursday to be totally done with CARF.
On Thursday evening Grace had her first band concert. She is playing percussion. She did a great job! I am so very proud of her.
Friday evening was Family Movie Night at Grace's school. We watched CARS. It was the first night we used the new sound system. Everything went great and there was less things to set-up. That alone is a major benefit.
Yesterday was spent working on the house. We are turning in the water damage to our homeowner's insurance. It is just to bad to do ourselves. We repainted all the heating vents. They look brand new! I also had to fix the leaky toliet. The stopper was leaking causing it to run all the time. It is alot quieter now. I also screwed down the 8x8 planks that border our deck. It looks so good now.
Today I put new framing/molding around a door in the playroom. It definately looks much cleaner. Just needs paint.
The list of stuff to do is getting alot smaller, only a couple more things.

Busy, busy busy.

Also today our church voted to purchase a house next door. The is a home that has been landlocked. All surrounding property is owned by the church. It is a good deal and I cannot wait to see these fences come down.

I was speaking to my friend Dave (a fellow Volvo owner) about the fuel problems. He thought it might be a fuel sensor. The same thing happened to him and that was the culpret. It's about a $40.00 part. Let's hope that's all it is.

In case you haven't noticed I've added a few new links to the right. A couple are disability links and some coffee links. Enjoy.....

Weather today had been 60+ and beautiful. The ride to church was in the low 30's. Chillyyyyyyy.

-Norm

12 Hour Day!!!

Today I worked a twelve hour day. Most of the day was spent restriping the work areas. I also spent some time getting caught up on paperwork. We are in CARF mode. Commission for the Accredidation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) awards programs a certificate of accredidation. The maxium is a three certificate. We have an excellent program and I am excited to show it off. I will be a tour guide of sorts for one of the surveyors. It should be fun!
Back to today, I had one instructor call in sick so we had to cover his crew. Another instructor called me at about 11:00 Am to let me know her father had passed away and she needed to leave. It was an interesting day. I am thankful to be home. I am battling a cold. It will feel good to take some medicine and go to bed. I get to sleep in tomorrow. I need it.
The house battle also continues. I will be taking the carpet out tomorrow and probably going to replace the foam pad. That should be fun.........

Weather today was excellent 60 degrees and not as cold at night. Suppose to be windy tomorrow.

-Norm

Water, Floors, Crawlspaces and Stress

Most of the day today was spent under the house repairing a waterline. The waterline I cut yesterday was the wrong one. It was the coldwater line to the sink in the front bathroom. I thought I was cutting the line to the swamp cooler. That line is attached to the sink line, only it is in the wall. I capped the swamp line up in the ceiling. A place I didn't want to cap it. I will be watching this. To repair the line I cut, I purchased a techtite coupler and a techtite cap for the swamp cooler line. Once I got everything in order, it was not that diificult. It just required a few trips in and out from underneath the house. It feels good the be done that that part.
It looks like we are going to have to take a drive to Sacramento. The laminate flooring in the hallway took the brunt of the abuse. It is swelled at the joints. The flooring is still available through Lumber Liquidators. Add this to the list of things still left to do before we sell the house.

Weather today-very, very, very cold. I am beginning to doubt this whole global warming thing.

-Norm

Our Own Series Of Unfortunate Events

Yesterday I had to work. It was an interesting day. The O.C. is only open on weekdays, but yesterday I had to conduct a CPR training. I hate working on the weekend and so did just about everyone in my two classes. Yes, I did two CPR classes training twenty people all together. I came back into town and headed to the church to play drums for a benefit concert to help Laurel go to the D.R. When I got home I was totally bushed.
This morning started out as usual Sunday morning. I got up took a shower and headed off the the church. After we got done with the music part of worship, Hope came in and said I needed to leave now. When we got in the car Hope said that there was water in the back bathroom. I had driven about 1/4 mile and the car stopped. We pushed the car. I thought it might be out of gas so I ran across the street and bought a gas can and gas. I put gas in the car but still it wouldn't start, all this time I wasn't sure what was happening at home. I ran across the srteet and called Tina to tell her I couldn't get home but was trying. I tried to explain how to turn off the water at the street, but she couldn't get it. I asked her to go to the neighbor's house next door to ask Mark if he would shut it off. Next time I called Grace said mom was coming to pick me up. Tina explained to me what was happening while we were behind the world's slowest drivers. They apparently were not trying to get home to a flooding house. By the time we arrived home the water was off. Poor Grace was handling everything like a trooper. I scanned the house to discover it was a copper pipe in the attic. This was the line to the swamp cooler. I headed back to the church to see if I could borrow Bill's wet/dry vacuum and picked it up at his home. We cleaned things up and put a blower on the carpet.
Steve and I headed to check out what was happening with the car. It was discovered that the there was something going on with the timing. Possibly the belt or chain. We had to rent a tow dolly to get it home. We rented one from UHAUL.
The car is now home. Tina and I head off to Home Depot to get a cap to cap off the copper pipe. Home Depot didn't have any the size I needed so we bought a coupler to cap it with. We got home, I changed clothes and headed under the house. I cut the line and discovered the coupler was the wrong size. I headed back to HD to discover they were closed. The perfect ending to crappy day.
There is nothing I can do until morning. Home Depot opens at 7:00 Am. Hopefully tomorrow will be a tad bit better.

Current weather-It has been cold. 25 degrees at night. This is the reason for the broken pipe. It has been about 55-60 degrees during the day.

-Norm

Paying Bills

I hate paying bills! I mean I really hate paying bills! It seems that money goes away quickly. Sometimes there just isn't enough to go around. It does feel good to them paid and know where your standing. Sometimes it means I do without. Sometimes that can be a shakey place, other times it's a good feelin'. The mortgage is paid, the car payments made. We do have food to eat and the house is warm. I have come to also realize that I don't like money either. I know we need it to get by, but I don't like it.
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Whew glad to get that out!


Tonight our family took communion. It was a time of scripture reading, prayer, wine and crackers. We all shared what we are thankful for and a wish. It was really special.

Weather today: a mixed bag. Rained alittle. Fog happened. Clear sky. It is cold tonight. The next few days are to be clear and sunny. My plans are to powerwash the deck and stain it while the sun is shining.

-Norm

Current Flix

We have watched a number of movies lately. Some on dvd and a couple at the theater.

Recent views include:

Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest- not only are both of these are on the list due to Tina being a fan of Mr. Depp but I really enjoyed them. We watched Curse on New Year's Eve. I think it interesting how the writers can mold a story around a ride at Disneyland.

Little Miss Sunshine-This was an incredible film, but be prepared for some strong language. It was funny. I think I might have lived parts of this movie! The shooting style reminds me alot of Napolean Dynamite.

Lady In The Water-I am struck by this movie. It takes a community and confession to complete this task. M. Night always puts together a good movie. There is always so much written into them, you almost have to watch them a few times.

Talladega Nights-Funny in parts. I think Will Ferrell is better in skits(i.e. Saturday Night Live)

Night At The Museum-History does come alive. It was great to see Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Roonie on the big screen again. Great movie!

Happy Feet-Good movie, but some of the musical selections chosen are not appropriate for children even though it is marketed as a children's movie.

I am getting the itch to watch The Matrix series. Don't be too suprised if I post something about that in the near future.

Weather today-chance of showers and a Winter Snow Warning. I drove the car today.

2007 A Year of Change

Here we are, it's 2007! We started the New Year with the Greers. It was a nice evening of talking and watching the Pirates of the Caribeean I. Yesterday was spent mowing the lawn and cleaning up the back yard. I woke up late and it sure felt good. We went to Tina's parent's in the afternoon, ate, payed games and watched Lady in the Water. That is such a great movie! If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it!

This year will bring about many changes for our family. Selling our house, a pending move to Knoxville, and a new job(somewhere). It is all so exciting! This month I will begin my job search. I have updated my resume and am getting new Letters of Recommendation. I am confident I will find a great job.

Last night Grace was praying before going to bed. She prayed for each member of our family and added a comment for each person. It was great to listen to her pray. I totally loved it and I'm sure the Father did too! I couldn't help but think her relationship with Jesus is real and she is willing to share her thoughts an concerns with Him. It was great to hear.

Weather today-65 degrees and a little cloudy. Yesterday was beautiful and a great way to begin a new year!

Happy New Year everyone!

-Norm