Its Sunday and Time for an Update ...

Its time for another update ...... so sit back and relax on this cool stuff .......

We got more new stuff in the house!!!!! Today's new stuff isn't really that exciting (except for the green factor). We replaced the toilet in the master bath this afternoon. Normally, this should be a fairly simple procedure, but nothing is ever simple in our house. During the removal of the old toilet, we (read: Stephen) broke the toilet flange. For those in the know, the flange is what actually holds the toilet down to the floor (nothing like rocking in the toilet room) and insures a connection to the out flow.

I broke it. Not just a little, I broke the entire thing. Mind you, the out flow pipe is fairly important!!! I would prefer the "stuff" (wink, wink ... momma has to be proud that I didn't use another word) to go out of the house not flow back into it.

I am proud to say that I did not freak out at this point!!!

Big E and Little E made a quick trip to Lowes to find a soution. When they returned home, they had exactly what I wanted except that neither would fit the out flow pipe. It seems that breaking the flange still left a small (and well glued) portion of the old flange in the out flow pipe. This means that the out flow was no longer 4 inches, but more like 3.5 inches in diameter. Guess what they dont make, a 3.5 inch flange.

Maybe I'm not the only one to ever make the mistake but I guess it isn't made enough to warrant a 3.5 inch flange.

So, I made a quick trip to Lowes and Home Depot with Big E. Finally, we found someone with a solution at Home Depot. Granted, the solution worked, but I didn't like it and it didn't happen smoothly. In the end, what I thought would be a quick one hour solution turned into a slow five hour and several adult beverages later solution.

Worse, I regretfully admit that the girls got a nice lesson in "drunken sailor talk" before I finally rigged that toilet into place. I am happy to report that it is stable, a nice feature for a toilet, and it is not leaking, that we know of yet.

For all of the hassle, we managed to replace the next to last big water waster, the water heater is the last one in need of replacement. I won't be handling the replacement of the water heater. I don't know when that will occur, but I won't be involved except to actually write the check.

Enough of the funny stuff, lets try a few additonal items ...

1. We decided to do a little work on the front door. I will have pictures as soon as Big E completes the work. She decided to show off her artistic stylings on the door. So far it looks awesome, I will post pictures when it is done.

2. Coupons are awesome. If you need a little help saving money (and who doesnt these days), check out the Coupon Mom or the Thrifty Momma. I added them to the list of haunts. I am also proud to say that I now have my sister doing the coupon and store saver thing. She managed a 45% savings at Publix this week. That is pretty awesome and I bet it is pretty helpful feeding the twins.

3. Hard to believe that school ends in three months even harder believe that we will have one graduating this year. I guess we need to start saving for the big graduation gift.

4. We are three weeks into our Scale Back Alabama thing. So far, both Big E and I have lost 7 pounds each. I probably put them back on today, but Big E is really hanging in there. We are also on week two of the 5k podcasts. I probably will be doing week two again (back pain is getting to me) but Big E is ready to make the leap to week three. If you need an easy way to shed a few pounds, try using these podcasts.

Until next time, get out and enjoy the wonderful weather, try a walk around the block or a thirty minute walk/run.