My Birthday

Thank you sooooo much for all the sweet and cool cards and wishes!  Casey and the girls did everything to make sure my day was perfect and it was, even despite our second plumbing leak...

The pipes installed here are evidently not large enough and the workers disposed of items like concrete, plastic bags, and T-shirts in them while building the houses.  This is baffling to me, but true.  Apparently the first contrator has been dismissed and the new houses have a different contractor.  We have had two overflows downstairs so far.  Other families have the same and say it will get less as time goes on.  After the first one we were asked if our kids "put T-shirts down the toilet?"  Ummmm, noooooo.  A huge mound of sand and other gunk was pulled out with this overflow.  The second overflow happened on the morning of my birthday and after this one we were told not to flush toilet paper down the toilet.  Okay everyone, we are not flushing TP anymore.  I much prefer taking out a plastic bag than having to deal with overflows.  The workers say it is only washing machine water, but the smell tells us otherwise.  They are actually quite prompt in responding to our calls for overflow intervention and we get a free cleaning after the event. 

Since the fourth we have not had another overflow (knock on wood).  Theresa is excellent at checking toilets and declaring whether or not Marcella put the TP in the toilet or the trash.  She also is great at reporting that she always puts it in the trash.  Marcella is having difficulty remembering this new procedure (can you blame her?) and likes to tell us that Eben keeps putting TP in the toilet when she is in there....

Anyways, here are birthday pics sans any overflow pics.

The girls made me an adorable rolling pin and cookie sheet with cookies!  I loved it.  I also got zinnia seeds which we will be planting soon.  My sister, Mary has the best luck with these and if we are successful in our planting we hope to bring people we vist or know a bouquet, just as she does in Texas.