Saturday, January 30, 2010

In charge by default

Hannah: Daddy, I'm hungry. Can I have some cheez-its before lunch?

Link: I don't know. Let's ask Mommy. Diane, what is our lunch plan for today?

Me: I don't know. Why do I have to decide?

Hannah: Because you're the Mommy.

A wise young man

For Christmas Jake received Super Mario Brothers Wii which allows up to 4 players to play at the same time. It is quite interesting because you have to work together and you can actually be a hindrance to your teammates if you don't work together. Jake sometimes has a problem getting through the levels and it's easy to get frustrated with him. Heck, it's easy to get frustrated with Lincoln and Hannah too. Basically everyone gets frustrated with everyone else and you have to stay in a good mood or the game starts getting played in what Lincoln refers to as "divorce mode".

Jake: Mommy, will you play Super Mario with me?

Me: Sure.

Jake: But you can't get mad at me. We're not going to do the castle, okay?

Me: Okay.

Jake: You can't get mad at me.

Me: If you're goofing around and you do something wrong, I might get mad at you.

Jake: But making mistakes are part of growing up!

Me: (laughing uncontrollably)

Jake: They are!!! Mommy!! Mistakes are part of growing up!

Me (still laughing): Give me a hug. You're too funny. And you're right. Mistakes are part of growing up.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Naughty word

Hannah: Leo wants to go in. He's freezing his ass off.

Me (shocked): Did you just say ass?

Hannah: No....Yes....Maybe.

Just once I would like people to agree on something

For the past four weeks I've been dealing with the damage caused by the flood in our office on New Year's Eve. Everything is starting to come together now but we're still finalizing selections for certain services to be contracted such as for the new HVAC system, the electrical upgrades, and the plumbing upgrades. For each service I need to obtain three quotes for review before my boss will make a selection.

Here's the problem. Every person has a different opinion. If I call out three plumbers one will say "You should do Option A." The next plumber will say "Option A will never work but you should do Option B." And then Plumber #3 comes out and says "Well Option A might work if you want a really crappy system but Option B definitely won't work so you should go with Option C."

Thanks guys. That's not really helping.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Maybe I should have sent Hannah over to help her

I may not have any ironing skills but at least I know the basics about sewing. Last night my friend Tracy posted on Facebook that she was wishing needles weren't so hard to thread and of course all her friends were making fun of her because the idea of her sewing is hilarious. This morning I decided to call her at work and check on how she did.

Me: Hello. How's my favorite little seamstress this morning?

Tracy (laughing): Good.

Me: So, why didn't you use one of those needle threaders last night?

Tracy: I just bought this little kit thing. I don't know what was in it. There was a little prong thing in there.

Me: Was there a little silver foil disk with wires sticking out of it?

Tracy: Yes.

Me: That's for threading the needle.

Tracy: Really?

Me: Yes.

Tracy: How?

Me: You stick the little wire through the eye of the needle, put the thread through the bigger hole made by the wires, and then pull it back through with the little silver disk. Voila! A threaded needle!

Tracy: Wow. Cool.

Me: And that "thing with prongs" is a stitch ripper.

Tracy: So that's what a stitch ripper is!

Good Lord. Did she never take Home Ec? I may not be any good at sewing but at least I know what starch is and how an iron works.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Home again (Subtitled: Thank God I don't have to spell Albuquerque anymore!)

We're back home and now and it's back to the daily grind. Work, school, the usual.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Kids and Puppies

Tonight I was snuggling on the couch with Leopold when Lincoln came over to kiss me goodnight.

Me: I love you Honey. Thank you for letting me spend lots of money on this puppy. Isn't he worth every penny?

Link: So far.

Me: Even though he pees and poops all over the place?

Link: Well, so did the kids at first.

We're really going to have to keep an eye on him

Lincoln and Jake on the plane on Monday.

Jake: I'm thirsty.

Link: You're going to have to wait for them to come around with the drink cart. What are you going to have? A martini?

Jake: Sure, I'll try one.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Dad's new hair

Today while we were walking around Old Town with my cousin Julie and her family her husband found this wonderful new hat for Dad. Doesn't he look great with hair?

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Family time

As great as it has been to see all of the aunts and uncles and cousins and their kids, the best part of the weekend, so far, was hanging with my cousins last night. After everyone arrived, and the kids were all put to bed, many of us cousins got together and had a few drinks and just hung out in one of the hotel rooms. It amazes me that even though we don't always get to see each other very often, we're still an incredibly close family and every time we get together I feel like we've barely been apart. It was for fun to just hang out with them and we stayed up until about 2 a.m. chatting which has made for a very long day today. I think tonight will be an early night.

Albuquerque - Day Two

We've had another busy day in Albuquerque and another day of crazy weather. Today it has snowed, rained, sleeted, and hailed. And then we had beautiful blue skies and sun while looking at dark, scary clouds in the distance. This weather is insane.

Today was Rachel's bat mitzvah. Considering there were about a dozen kids under the age of 14 - and most under the age of 10 - they all did really well. The ceremony took a little over two hours and, if you've ever attended a bar or bat mitzvah, you know it's mostly in Hebrew. The fact that all of the kids sat quietly was a minor miracle in itself. Jake, Ava, and Zachary actually slept throught most of the ceremony so that was nice.

After the bat mitzvah we had lunch and then Lincoln and the kids spent 4 hours in the pool before getting out long enough to eat dinner and get back in for Rachel's pool party. Tonight is the "Taco and Swimming" party. Jake and Hannah are back in the pool along with the other kids, some of my cousins, and Rachel and 6 or 7 of her friends. On top of that there is another family with about 9 kids and 5 adults so it was pretty packed. The pool also has a really nice water slide so that is adding to the fun - and the chaos.

Tomorrow morning is a family brunch over at Mike and Robin's and them most of the family starts heading back out. We're here until Monday and so are my cousins Julie and Kathy and their families. Between the three families there are 9 kids so I'm sure the pool will be pretty packed again tomorrow night.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Albuquerque - Day One (Subtitled: Why you should never teach children about time zones)

In our first 24 hours in Albuquerque we have had 60 mph winds, snow, pouring rain, hail, sleet, and sun. Not necessarily in that order. It was more like wind, pouring rain, snow, rain, sleet, clouds, drizzle, sun, clouds, rain, sun, clouds, rain, hail, sun. Needless to say the weather is a bit kooky around here.

This morning I woke up at 4:59 a.m. to find Hannah staring me in the face. As soon as I opened my eyes she said "It's almost 7 a.m. on my body time." Damn time zones. And damn her for knowing how to add two to the time on the clock. I couldn't fall back asleep so at 5:30 a.m. Hannah, Jake and I headed down to the pool which opened at 5 a.m. and let Lincoln get some more sleep. We had a nice morning down there and after we all got showered and dressed we headed out to Denny's for breakfast with Mom, Dad, Aunt Sandy and Uncle John. After breakfast we set out on a quest to find swim goggles (for Hannah) and a swim ring (for Jake) since I had forgotten to pack both. We went to Walgreen's, Wal-mart, K-Mart, Sports Authority, and another Walgreen's before, at the very last minute, we spotted a Toys R Us hiding behind the big Dillard's across the street from the hotel. Score! We made out with all sorts of pool loot and the kids are back down there swimming again. The indoor waterslide gets turned on in an hour so they're excited about that. My cousin's two daughters are here as well and they're 8 and 10 years old so I'm sure Hannah will have a blast with them. My other cousins are bringing a bunch of other kids today as well so by the end of tonight there will be a whole pool full of kids in all age ranges.

We also made a stop in Old Town today which was a lot of fun. Hannah and Jake fought it at first because they wanted to be back in the pool but I think they both really enjoyed themselves even though we were only shopping. They found a lot of fun trinkets and both spent some of their allowance money. I also bought Hannah a yellow kerchief-style dress that is very similar to one that I got in Old Town here in Albuquerque when I was the same age as her. When Mom and Dad get back to Seattle they'll have to send me the picture of me in my yellow dress and I'll post both of them here. For now, here is Hannah in her dress. We got it a little big so that she can wear it this summer (minus the clunky black shoes).

Two peas in a pod

You can never say that my dad and his brother John don't look alike.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

A long day of travel

Well, we made it to Albuquerque. It has been a long day but the kids did great. We flew from Boston to Dallas and then into Albuquerque. What was different than our usual travels is that we 1) didn't fly during the night time or very early in the morning so it wasn't really prime nap time for the kids and 2) we didn't fly JetBlue so there weren't TVs for the kids to watch. But the kids did awesome. They really are excellent little travelers.

Due to our new found discovery that Jake gets motion sickness if we travel too early in the morning when he hasn't had enough to eat, we decided to take a 1:30 p.m. flight out of Boston. I was smart enough to pack the DVD players but not smart enough to charge them beforehand so Hannah got to watch about 1/2 of a movie and Jake just played Nintendo DS for most of the time. Luckily we brought all the chargers with us so we can charge them up at the hotel. Hannah also had her iPod so she listened to music and played games on that.

We're here in New Mexico for my cousin Rachel's bat mitzvah. I'm really excited to be here as I missed her older sister's bat mitzvah when I was heavily pregnant with Jake. A good chunk of the Lentz side of the family will be in town this weekend and it's a nice little mini-family reunion. The last few times I've been back to large Lentz family events have been for funerals and I haven't had Lincoln and the kids with me so it's nice that we can all be here for a happy occasion. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of my aunts and uncles and a number of my cousin's and their kids.

More from Albuquerque later....

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A summary of why the Democrats are in trouble

I am a Democrat through and through but even I can admit we're seriously lacking in party leadership.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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What a vicious little boy - listen to that growl



Payback is a bitch - part 2

As I mentioned back in December, Jake repeats himself over and over again until you acknowledge what he says - even if it doesn't require acknowledgement. Hannah used to do the same thing and it drove me nuts. Now Jake does it to Hannah and she hates it.

Me: Hannah, please acknowledge him. He's just going to keep repeating himself until you do.

Hannah: Fine!

Me (to Lincoln): I love watching her have to suffer through that. It's great karma. I always thought I'd have to wait until she had children of her own before I got my revenge but I guess not.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

My brave little girl

Hannah had to have a tooth pulled out today and she did awesome.

Let me give you a little dental history on Hannah. She is a perfect cautionary tale to parents on why you should never let your child fall asleep with a bottle of milk every night.

I believe it was the summer after kindergarten (or maybe first grade) that it was discovered that Hannah had 6 cavities. Yes, SIX!!! That is too many to fix in one setting and the dentist said they would only do one quadrant of her mouth at a time. Hannah and I headed in to her regular dentist's office for the first visit and Hannah flipped out. Novocaine just wasn't going to cut it with her. No needles. No being awake. It just wasn't happening.

The dentist referred us to a "kiddie" dentist that uses laughing gas. This of course required a consultation with the new dentist before we could even start the procedures. I'm telling you this so that you can count up how many dentist visits we had over the course of the summer. You'll need more than one hand but I don't think you'll quite get to using your toes.

But I digress....

After the consultation Hannah and I headed back the next Friday to do her first quadrant. They gave her the laughing gas and everything seemed to be going fine until they actually started working in her mouth and the first dental power tool fired up. The noise FREAKED her out and she started thrashing around and screaming and crying. Eventually the laughing gas wore off and they couldn't do anything for her that day. While consulting with the dentist I was told we would try it again the next Friday, and that they could fix the cavity while she was screaming and crying but they couldn't do it if she thrashed around so the next week they would have a "papoose board" ready. What is that you ask? It's a board with straps that would wrap her up like a papoose and strap her down while they worked on her. Now keep in mind, even if I could stomach watching that once in order to get the job done we would have to subject her - and me! - to that horror THREE more times. (Remember, quadrants...)

Instead I came up with the idea of letting her borrow Daddy's iPod. At the time she was really into the Dixie Chicks so we grabbed his iPod, made sure the Dixie Chicks were on there, and snagged a pair of our noise-cancelling headphones. While the dentist worked on her teeth Hannah had the laughing gas to keep her relaxed and the iPod and headphones to block out the noise. It worked like a charm. The only problem we had each week was her crying and freaking out in the parking lot afterwards as the Novocaine wore off and she had to deal with that tingly sensation that everyone hates.

So every Friday for what seemed like the entire summer Hannah and I headed to the dentist. For those of you that have lost track that is one regular dentist visit, one failed Novocaine attempt, one consultation, one failed laughing gas attempt, and then one visit per quadrant for a total of EIGHT delightful dental visits that summer.

A month or so ago Hannah went for her dental cleaning and was told that she had a baby tooth that wasn't falling out but had an infection in the gums above it. It wasn't really bothering her and it wasn't anything to worry about but the dentist said if it didn't fall out on its own she'd suggest taking it out before it became an issue. Since it didn't fall out on its own I scheduled her to have it removed this morning.

When the dentist told Hannah she might have to have a tooth pulled Hannah started crying. I'm sure she had horrible flashback so the Dental Summer from Hell so I don't blame her. I felt a little sorry for myself too since I didn't really want to experience the torture again either. I didn't tell her when I made the appointment and I sort of hoped she'd forget about it until this morning. The tooth started to loosen up on its own and I know she was doing her best to try and make it fall out but it just wasn't going to happen. In the meantime her gums above it were getting more and more sore.

She didn't sleep well last night but this morning she got ready for her day without much fuss. When we got in the car, however, she said in the smallest little voice "I'm scared Mommy." I told her it was nothing to worry about and that she'd be getting the laughing gas again. I cracked a bunch of jokes and had her laughing by the time we got there but I knew she was still worried. She sat beside me while I filled out all the paperwork and waited patiently for her turn to be called. When they called her name and we stood up to go in she threw her arms around me and hugged me as we walked but still didn't utter a single complaint. I once again got her laughing when we went into the office. We had been referred to a different oral surgeon this time and it turns out that instead of the laughing gas they were going to knock her out completely. This was fine with me, although it made me a little nervous, but I knew it would be easier on her.

The scary part was when they started hooking her up to all the wires. They carefully monitor the patients while they're out and so they had a blood pressure cuff on her arm, a blood oxygen monitor on her finger, and three electrodes on the inside of each wrist and on one ankle. She looked up at me with a brief look of panic when they started strapping her into everything but I could tell she was doing her best to be brave. She asked for the iPod and headphones, which luckily I had remembered to bring, and she listened to iCarly while they put her out. The dentist had me leave the room for the procedure but the whole thing took less than 10 minutes and then she was in the recovery area.

Do you know what was the greatest part about this whole thing this time around? It was how proud she was of herself. When I walked into the recovery area she was beaming from ear to ear, with bloody gauze hanging out of her mouth, and said, "Mommy, I did it! I did it!"

I am so proud of her.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Getting back on track

We finally took our Christmas tree down today. I can't believe it has taken us until January 17th to get this done but needless to say we've been a little busy lately. I'm also finally getting the closet and bathroom cabinets done and all the other crap on my "to do" list in order.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Could I embarrass myself any more?

For the most part I've managed to keep my musical knowledge - or lack thereof - a secret from my boss. Everyone else in the office may know that I thought Led Zepplin was a person and not a band but for the most part I think my boss thinks I have at least a smidgen of musical knowledge. And except for the New Kids on the Block framed artwork in my office he doesn't know I lack any discernible taste either.

Until today.

Right now I have four autographed guitars in my office because our Director of Promotions got displaced in the office flood and they were safer in my office than going into storage. My boss was in my office today and we were discussing the guitars and he said that he has a signed guitar in his office. I have worked here for a little over 7 years and I've never noticed the guitar in his office, although to be fair, there is a lot of musical paraphernalia in there that I've never looked at. Some of it is just propped against the walls on the floor and not on display.

Why is this important?

Because he informed me he has a signed guitar in his office from Meatloaf and I gasped. GASPED! I love Meatloaf. I'm actually rocking out to Bat Out of Hell as I'm typing this. Heck, we had Bat Out of Hell as our recessional at our wedding (just the instrumental version of course).

So he has his back to me, checking out the signed guitars, when he tells me oh so casually that he has an autographed Meatloaf guitar that I've been walking by for SEVEN YEARS and never noticed. And yes, I gasped. He turned around and gave me the strangest look.

I have taken so much flak in the office over the past seven years for my love of Meatloaf. I think today I finally sealed the deal as a complete idiot.

And now I'm plotting how I can get that guitar down here in my office. I'm sure he'll never notice that it's missing. Right?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Such a wonderful little girl

One of the things I love best about Hannah - and trust me, there is a lot to love - is how sweet and kind she is to the other kids.

Last night we were driving home and it was just the two of us in the car. We were talking about her day and what she had learned in Science and how her book report was coming along. Then we started talking about recess and who she had played with that day. She told me the name of a boy whose name I don't usually hear from her. I asked what they played and how it came about that she was playing with him. Her response was that she saw the other boys kick him out of their game and he was all by himself so she invited him to come play with her. A few of the other girls came over to play but then wandered off to do something else and she stayed and played with him until recess was over.

Ever since she started kindergarten she has come home with stories like this one. She doesn't make a point of telling us about them, and I'm sure there are a lot more examples of her kindness that we never hear about, but every now and then when we ask about her day she'll toss out a story about so-and-so having their feelings hurt or so-and-so being left alone and how she played with them or invited them to join her in some activity. I also think it's cute that her current "best friend" is the new girl in school.

She is such a sweetheart. I really love that about her.

Update on Houdini

Leo hasn't passed any string out his bum yet but he also seems to be doing fine. He's playing happily and eating normally so we'll keep an eye on him but it looks like he's going to be okay after his little string of popcorn incident yesterday.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

We obviously should have named him Houdini

Guess who broke out of his crate last night? Let's just say, it wasn't Jake.

This morning we woke up to find Leo on the loose. I suppose the damage could have been worse since the doors were open to the kids' playroom. Instead we just found Jake's socks up on the couch with a bit of doggy drool on them and a lot of popcorn from the Christmas tree all over the place. He didn't chew up the couch or any of the pillows and even though he still peed and pooped on the floor at least he went back into his enclosed area on the linoleum to do it instead of on the carpet. He also doesn't appear to have touched any of the dozens and dozens of stuffed animals in the playroom. There are no signs that he bothered any of the dangling Christmas ornaments but we are a bit concerned about the fact that we can't find the string from the popcorn. He's headed up to doggy daycare today so Di will keep a close eye on him for us and if he has to go to the vet we'll take him this afternoon.

We have no idea how he got out of his cage. This is the second time he's done it. The first time I was in the room with him and had my back to the cage. I just figured I must not have closed the lock tight but now I'm thinking he's actually figured out how to get out. He licks and chews at the latch all the time, and in theory, if he pushes it out far enough it could slide out easily enough.

I guess we're going to need to figure out a new solution for our little Houdini.

Smart cookie....warm doggie

Leo has discovered what Auntie Rachie and Hannah have discovered before him.....the best place in the house to sit is on the heating vent.

A Lazy Sunday Morning


Sunday, January 10, 2010

I really want to resume our regularly scheduled programming

My life is chaotic right now. Chaotic is different than busy. We're always busy. Chaotic is when I don't have two minutes to sit down and get organized. And when I'm not organized life can really suck.

Today was the first day that I haven't had to go to work since New Year's Eve when the office flooded. And not only have I been at work every day I've been there early and left late many of those days. At night I dream about the office. I toss and turn and worry about the contractors and what I have to get done. I'm exhausted. Which means I'm not focusing as much as I should on stuff at the house. The mail is piling up on my desk. Nothing is organized. I can't even focus long enough to make a "to do" list. The only good thing that has happened this week is that Lincoln and I actually did make it out for a date night last night.

It has even taken me an obscenely long time just to write this post because I can't get my thoughts together. I've been attempting a third paragraph for the last 15 minutes and I can't even figure out what I want to write about. I'm giving up. I'm going to bed and hoping that I don't dream of water and contractors and employees that make me want to pull my hair out.

I just can't wait for life to get back to normal. I need normal. I want normal. I crave normal.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

What was I saying?

Lincoln always complains that I never finish my sentences. He certainly has a point considering I just walked up behind him and said "Oh no.....We didn't.......ah, screw it." and walked away. That's pretty typical for us around here. That and things like "You know what is really important? We need to make sure we........" before I go walking away. I do it to him all the time.

On the flip side, my co-worker Kegan (a.k.a. my little brother), will never let me finish a sentence. Instead of being patient like Lincoln and letting me think through what I'm trying to say he just jumps in and fills in the blank.

My random thoughts with no end really got to Lincoln one day and as we were sitting at lunch and I trailed off for the umpteenth time he just sighed and said "I sure wish Kegan was here."

Date Night vs. The Powers That Be

Lincoln and I don't often get to the movies together since we had Hannah. When we first had Hannah and we got the rare date night out we'd each pick a movie starting around the same time, go to our individual movies, and then meet up afterwards to talk about them. Neither of us have a problem going to the movies by ourselves and it actually made sense. For the price of one babysitter we each got to see a movie we wanted and when we met up afterwards we could each talk about the movie we had just seen instead of both talking about a movie that the other already knew about. It worked out perfectly.

Over the years we've stopped coordinating with the babysitter and just started going to the movies by ourselves whenever we could catch one. If there was something one of us was dying to see we'd go on the weekend while the other one watched the kids. Sometimes one of us would get a random afternoon off from work and sneak away to see a movie before heading home.

This coming weekend we're planning a date night that includes a DOUBLE feature with not two, but THREE movies. How, you say? Link wants to see Avatar and I want to see Leap Year so we'll each head to our own separate movies before meeting up afterwards for Up in the Air. After that we'll pop over to the restaurant next door for a drink before heading home to the babysitter and the kids.

Of course all of this is contingent on life not getting in the way which seems to be happening way too often lately.

Wish us luck.

The yearbook timing is always terrible

Amidst all the other stuff going on this week I also had to get the cover of the yearbook designed and ready for submission. The cover design and the organization of the portraits were on my "to do" list for the holiday break and needless to say they were pushed off the top priority list by Nate's death and the flood at the office. It's going to be another busy spring but once I get a chance to take a breather and get organized I suspect the process will be a lot smoother than last year. I really hope that is true. If not I'm going to be in big trouble.

Leopold's new best friend

Leopold's new best friend at doggie daycare is my sister-in-law's dog, Bruce. Aren't they adorable? I'm also posting a great picture of Leo playing in the snow. Doggie daycare is the best thing!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Iowa Touch

My aunt Bonnie - better known as Sister Bonnie - is celebrating her Golden Jubilee (50 years as a nun) this June. Mom and Dad sent out the party information yesterday which included the hotel room stuff. I called the hotel this morning to book one of the rooms from the block and had a nice chat with the guy at the hotel. While I was doing all of this Lincoln was in the next room with the kids.

Me: Okay, I got the hotel room reserved for Iowa.

Link: You're already booking our Iowa trip for next summer?

Me: No, this is just for Sister Bonnie's jubilee weekend in June. I wanted to make sure we got a room in the hotel block.

Link: It sounded like you were talking to a friend in there.

Me: Well, it is a hotel in small town Iowa. Same thing.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Doggie Daycare = Doggie Exhaustion

I never thought I'd be a dog owner.

I never thought I'd be a dog lover.

I certainly never thought I'd own a dog that went to doggie daycare.

Guess what?

I am.

Leopold is such a doll. It is so pathetic how much love we lavish on that little pup. I get jealous when he chooses to snuggle with Hannah instead of me. I'm ecstatic that he prefers me over Lincoln. When I was gone for three days working on the office clean-up I missed him as much as I missed Jake and Hannah. He is quite literally my third baby.

My sister-in-law, the other Diane Snow, owns a doggie daycare. Today was the first day since we got Leo that both Lincoln and I had to go to work so Leo went to Di's doggie daycare today. Talk about a seriously worn out pup. He is exhausted. Tonight Hannah was playing on her laptop next to him and this was the most energy he could muster up. He didn't even try to eat her mouse and he chews on everything these days.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Water damage clean-up - A Photo Essay

Well, after 3 long, long, loooooonng days we are fully up and operational for the office to open tomorrow. It may be a little rough for a few weeks but we'll be up and running.

Ceiling damage:

3rd floor hallway:

A water soaked electrical panel on the 2nd floor:

1st floor:

1st floor - opening a trench into the sub-basement.

When the contractor cut a gash in this duct work water came pouring out:

2nd floor:

3rd floor:

Lauren's office is going to be pulling double duty as the copy and fax room:
2nd floor:

My assistant, Andie, went through and put together basic office supply packets for everyone who got relocated and had their desks packed up and put in temporary storage:
Tomorrow morning we will open for business as usual. It has been a long 3 days but I'm proud of what we've accomplished.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Another long day

Today was another long day at the office. That's all. I'm too exhausted to type more.

Friday, January 1, 2010

That doesn't seem like a terribly comfortable spot

When I came home tonight Jake was sitting on the counter playing video games while Lincoln cooked dinner. He was VERY into the game and I think he barely noticed I was taking pictures much less the fact that I came home after being gone all day.

This is not how I planned on spending the first day of 2010

At 2 a.m. this morning I got a call from the fire alarm company the monitors my office. Apparently the alarm had gone off and when the fire department responded they could see water pouring through the ceiling into the lower floors. I was on the phone with the on-site responders until 5:00 a.m. and then up at 8:00 a.m. for a long day at the office meeting with plumbers, cleaners, adjusters, etc. A 40-gallon hot water tank on the 3rd floor died of old age and decided to go out in spectacular fashion. It flooded the 2nd and 1st floors below it creating a GREAT amount of damage. I guess the office is going to be getting an unscheduled remodel.

These photos are chronologically backwards but to be honest I don't feel like fixing them. I am way too tired. Please start at the bottom.