Back to Work

I am sure some of you wonder where I have been lately. I went back to work about two weeks ago. I joined one of my daughters in her husband's family business of repairing houses for resale for government or private individuals.
It is amazing the houses we have done. From ugly ducks to swans in a few weeks time.
I work a full week and come home sore and tired to the bone. Don't let anyone tell you house repair is easy. It can be fun but there is days when you don't want to see another window or caulk behind another toilet that is in a very small room.
One house we are working on now is a newer home that someone came in an vandalized. They broke the patio door and a large picture window. Tore off the wooded stair rails and bashed all the walls on the main floor out with it. Then they used the wood to knock off cabinet doors and broke the toilet off from the upstairs bath. Imagine a two story wall that you need to drywall again.
All the work is getting me into shape for building our home in Libya.
Along the way I have seen some things that you see and say "oh I would love to have that" then when you got to clean it or paint it you realize I am thankful I don't have that. One house had walls that were capped over the kitchen so they formed a ledge and boy did the guys have fun painting the upper areas. The hallway had a very sharp angle that went up almost three stories. And those large walls of windows. Nice but try covering them to paint the walls. Corner bead walls are a pain too. Hard to get edges stright if they are going to be two different colors. And knock down walls are harder to paint than orange peel walls. Think twice if you ever buy a new home and you will be the one to paint it one day. Not to mention those light bulbs that are two stories up!!
After seeing how that poor home was damaged I was thinking how hard it would be to tear up a home that was made of cement blocks and plaster. I am going to get a air compressed powered sprayer for the walls of the courtyard my poor nephew did it by hand while I was in Libya and his arms hurt bad. With a air sprayer it would have been so much easier.

I am hoping to learn more about tile work and maybe some plaster work while I am at this job but in the end it all goes into the database of my knowledge gained in life. If I don't do it at least I will know if they didn't do it right!
Finally! My car will be getting repaired this week. We finally got the parts and they money so we hope to start this weekend on getting it running again. In my off time I am also getting my yard into shape, the flowers are starting to come up and the water ponds are all cleaned out and running again. I need to get a truck so I can remulch the front yard again. Still dry so I am thinking of what to do with the upper lawn. Stones or grass?

Last but not least, the kids are doing better. Fatimah's rash turned out to be strep infection. Suhayb's wounds healed up and he was left with a few blemishes that I hope will fade soon. Aieysha finished Wrestling class and did ok for her first season. She got a ear infection so she missed a few games. Suhayl celebrated his 15th birthday this month too. Funny, we went to order the cake and had wanted the words "Happy 15th ya spaz" written on it. The guy was japaneese and wrote "happy 15th spaz" instead. I think he thought it was his name! We all laughed at the guys looks when we asked him to write it. Last but not least Khadijah did well on her CSAPS exams as usual. I guess maybe I will get lucky and get a few smart kids out of seven. Talk again soon.

Bumps and Scrapes

How do I begin to tell the day I had! Seems just when you think things are getting better something happens to let you know you are not in control of anything!

Monday started out looking busy but I never dreamed how busy it would be. I had been helping a friend with their taxes and it had spit it back to me for almost two weeks with errors that I could just not figure out. So in desperation I called them to see what my error was. They said her birth date was incorrect. I called and triple checked the info yet it still came back so the lady informed me that we would have to go to the local IRS office. This was last Thursday. We got there and if anyone knows your gonna have a wait. We waited three hours. We finally got our number called only to find out we didn't have a paper she needed. So we had agreed to go on Monday to get it done again. On Friday, my youngest broke out in a rash and I took her to the doctor. They thought it was a rash from something she had eaten. Since the day before was the first day she had been out I called my friend to see if she had eaten anything different while she was there. No. The doctor assured me she would be fine the next day. On Monday, she still had the rash and now it was on her feet and palms. Now the fun began. On Sundays my hubby usually buys the kids a dinner from outside so we had gone shopping and stopped and gotten Chinese food. Monday morning begins and he went to the store to grab milk that we had forgotten on Sundays trips to the store. He got home and readied for work. We drove to get gas and when he went to pay, no credit card! Thankfully he had a check and we went back home to look for his card. Nowhere. We called the market, nope not there. So we began to trace our steps from Sunday. Aha, the Chinese food . There had been a problem with the credit machine, did she give us the card back? Nope.

So since it was on his way we went there hoping it was there and had not been stolen. Thankfully they had it. Dropped him off and headed back to pick up my friend to take her to the IRS again. I had called an set another appointment for my youngest to see the doctor for her rash and we had plenty of time.

Got to the IRS office and the ticket said 228 minutes expected wait. Oh my, that is around the time of her doctor appointment. God must have been listening to our prayers because unlike the prior day they had full staff, (yeah in a government building)! We got out just in time for me to run to my house grab my daughter and drop the friend off and back to the doctor with 20 minutes to spare. The doctor now thinks she has Steven Johnson Syndrome. This is a viral rash that can occur after medications or the onset of an infection. Oh yeah, and I had plans for her to go back to classes on Tuesday. We wrapped up there and headed home. I just pulled up and my younger son runs out to inform me that the neighbor had just taken my older son to the hospital. Great back to the car again. I drove without knowing for sure which hospital to go to but I figured that they went to the closest one. Thankfully that was the one. I met up with them in triage.

My first glance he has a neck brace on and blood everywhere. He had gone for a bike ride with a buddy and had barely gotten two blocks from the house and the chain on the bike broke as he was going down a hill and he trashed out bad. He had a large about three inches circle scraped out of his skull above his ear. His face was trashed on the cheek and his shoulder blade and down his arm and leg, both hands were also damaged. They x-rayed and thankfully no injuries. He had passed out so they said to watch him for concussion symptoms. We finished at the hospital and headed home. Finally I can sit. I dished myself some dinner that the other kids had helped make and I sat in total disarray. Then the phone rang. Honey can you come and pick me up I cant find a ride. So back again to the car.

This morning we kept him home and he wont play this week either. My youngest woke up and began vomiting oh yeah. By the way I was going out for lunch today with a friend. Here are some picks to show all.