Yes, it's true. Thanks to the awesome powers of ActiveRain and its readership, both my grandsons were spared what would surely have been a cruel and painful demise. Thank You, ActiveRain, for saving my boys!
It all started at about 9:45 this morning. I was downstairs in my kitchen making the boys breakfast. It was their favorite, scrambled eggs with tiny little pieces diced ham smothered in ketchup. Grandpa was at his computer in our bedroom so he could monitor the sounds from the boys' bedroom while I prepared their breakfast. They seemed to playing remarkably well. Except for a little loud laughing nothing seemed to be going on. Ha! WRONG
When I went in to get them I couldn't believe my eyes. They had totally wrecked the room. My husband stood there staring at me, figuring I was going to kill them any minute now. I had spent the night before doing all their wash and neatly stacking them into their draws. I had wiped down all their sticky gooey toys and loaded all of them with fresh batteries. Yep, death was the only suitable punish for a crime of that nature.
Just I was reaching to grab one of the little felons it hit me. I ran back to the desk in my room, pickup my trusty Cannon digital camera and proceeded to take these pictures. My husband thought I was gathering the much-needed evidence that would totally clear me in the eyes of my peers, but no, that was not my plan at all. I took my pictures, smiled at the boys a left the room. Draws, clothes and toys all over the place. My husband slowly followed, very much confused. "What gives he said? You've been known to give them a time out for half of what they did."
I laughed and said, "Dear, I just got material for a new post. This is going to earn me 225 points right off the start. Most of the folks who read my blog have children and grandchildren; the laughs will be big. Then there are all the extra points for comments and who knows, I might even get a feature in one of my groups. Best of all, their mom can deal with her young ones when she gets home from work. Can't train the kids, need to train their mom.
Everyone that knows me knows I love old houses. There's just a certain something about them that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. During the course of my home inspections I inspect inside first leaving the basement and attic for last, then I inspect the outside. It's just my way of minimizing dirt and dust, besides those require me to put my shoes back on.
So knowing how much I love old house you can just begin to imagine how much fun I was having inspecting this old 175 3 story country home. When I went into the basement I discovered this:
All I can say is this made my day. I couldn't believe it when the homeowner told me that it was in use as recently as 4 years ago. That's when he purchased the house.
The one thing I can guarantee him is that this old unit is far from efficient. I love heating with wood, but come on now. I don't even want to think about how many trees it would take to heat a 2800 sq. ft., 175-year-old remolded house using this bad boy.
Now you wouldn't just open a bottle of fine wine, pour and drink would you? Of course you wouldn't. You know that once you open that nice bottle of wine you must let it breath. Once you pour your glass, you must take a minute or so to enjoy the fragrance and once you drink you hold it a few seconds before you swallow.
Well, ActiveRain is just like that bottle of fine wine. You must start out by opening your account, adding your profile, writing a post or two and going out there to meet a few people. Relationships don't happen over night, they are nurtured over a period of time. So are the relationship we build here on AR. They take time, but once they start they last a lifetime.
We share, we learn, we communicate and then we share some more. Eventually we make real friends and business associates, but you can't expect it to just happen overnight. You can't just write a couple of posts and disappear, then expect great things to happen. So next time you think ActiveRain is loosing it's juice, ask yourself what you've done for the ActiveRain community lately.
I'm sure that when we think of safety tips to keep our homes, families and friends safe we don't usually think of our best friend Fido. After all, dog is mans best friend right? How can he present a safety hazard? The answer is simple: dogs bite! Even the kindest, sweetest most lovable puppy might bite by accident or by provocation.
But we as responsible dog owners can help to prevent this from happening by observing some simple steps:
If your dog bites someone be responsible. It's not about whether it was your fault or not. It's about making sure the person and your dog are properly cared for. Your reaction can greatly affect the out come of the situation.
The most important thing to remember is that sometimes despite the best intentions or planning things go wrong and accidents happen.
In addition I would like to add to very good point that was just bought to my attention from my AR friend John Mulkey, Housing Guru. For anyone who hasn't read his blog yet I've added the link so you can check it out.
If you are a dog owner who is trying to sell your home, please don't leave the dog in the house during showings. Doing so creates serious liability problems and is a turn-off for some buyers.
My friend Barbara Duncan has also bought up a couple of good points that I will now add to this post. If you don't know Barbara, I have included her link here so you can check out her bold. Here is Barabra's suggestion:
Don't leave their water dishes and food dishes out in plain view and it would sure help to repair any doggie damage before listing too.
Okay, I'm not sure this post will even make. For the past 3 hours I've tried answering to comments, making comments and reading my favorite blod posts, but this just isn't working.
502 Errors can't get yada yada errors. My comments disappear and I must retype them in order to attempt sending them again. There must be a glitch in the system somewhere and I'm caught in it. I feel like I'm lost in that Verizon commercial. No cell signal and my house is surrounded by crab grass.
I know it's not on my end; I can work on my websites, read my mail and surf with no problems. I just can't seem to play in the Rain. So I'm giving in, calling it a night. Tomorrow is another day and maybe then I'll be allowed to play again.
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