Thursday, July 08, 2004

I KNEW the pool was going to be a lot of work!!!

I've been bumping down the filter every hour! It's constantly losing suction. So I decided to clean out the filter and regenerate the earth. The earth that came out was GROSS. I did it myself and by the time I was done I was totally soaked! I had to jump in the pool to get the vacuum cleaner off the bottom. I spent the whole day soaked...yuck...wet clingy clothes. While the water doesn't look gross anymore it's still cloudy. I'm not sure why...the chlorine and the PH are at perfect levels! I think it's algae, especially seeing as the pool turned GREEN after the kids went in it. Not sure if it's alive or just dead on the bottom.

All day I messed with the filter and chemicals. Looks like the "new" pump is starting to leak along the shaft too. I looked it up online and it seems I have to change a few seals...can't I just buy a new pump!?!?! *whine whine whine* I decided to superchlorinate the pool overnight and see how it is in the morning. Kids probably won't be able to go swimming in the morning and will be disappointed.

I also realized today that the outlet pipe for the filter is LEAKING!!! It's not tight to the pool wall and as the pool fills it leaks more. We don't have the tools here we need to tighten it. So I've stopped filling it...I swear we'll NEVER see this pool filled to the proper level!!!

I MADE it rain!!!! LOL I KNEW if I watered the garden it would rain. We've been hemming and hawwing about watering it. There kept being chances of thunderstorms for the last week and the sky always looked it. This morning was blue skies and I decided it couldn't wait anymore. So I spent 1.5 hrs giving EACH plant a huge drink. As I was finishing it started misting out. By the time I was completely done the sky was BLACK. We ended up getting a major rainstorm. At least the pool got filled more (although it'll probably leak out)...water level climbed about 1/2 an inch!

It was nice to have food readily available. Now the problem is deciding WHAT to eat first. LOL Oh and not letting the kids eat EVERYTHING the first few days....there's no more grocery shopping until next payday which is 10 days away.

Tracy never called me so I'm not sure what's up with her kids. I told her if they didn't want to miss out on the field trip on Thursday then maybe we should plan on me taking them home on Sunday after the cookout at our parents' house. Now I'm thinking I should either pick them up on Thurs night or Friday day and return them at the cookout on Sunday. Not sure if they had plans for the weekend or not though.

Tom and I have decided to call and make an appointment for a tour of a Resort (fancy campgrounds actually) nearby. I got an invitation in the mail and according to their gift card we've won $750 cash (2:15000 chances). It says all we have to do is call within 3 days of receiving the invitation, visit within 10 days of calling, have both spouses available for the 90 min tour, and have an income over $35,000. We know they will pressure us intensely, but really we can't afford it. I don't think they'd want us there anyways....most resorts don't want a family of 12 around. LOL (my sister used to have a membership there but has given it up). I keep looking for a catch to the thing and tiny print, but I haven't found it yet. I'll call them tomorrow.

Things have to change here concerning bedtime. By the time I relaxed and realized the kids were still up it was after 11pm!!! TOO LATE for everyone, especially Tom and I. It took a lot of work (actually yelling) to get the kids to bed. I think they all finally fell asleep about 12:30. Well, except Pat who was on the computer and didn't get off when I wanted him to because I'd fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him to get off! I'm ready to make them all go to bed at 5pm now! Who cares if we don't eat dinner lately until after 7:30! All the more for me! LOL

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