Purse Snatching

Last week on my way home from work, I went by the grocery store to check out the on sale Valentine's Day candy. When I was getting out of the car, I heard screaming that sounded like something bad was happening to someone. I got out of the car and rounded the corner to see a small collection of people around an older lady. When I walked up to the situation, there was one man on the phone with the police, another ran down the hill, a lady was jumping in her car taking off down the road, and another talking with the older lady. Lots of things were happening at once and quickly, but now I am able to piece it all together. As the older lady (81 years old) was walking out of the grocery store, a man ran by and snatched her purse. One man had run down the hill after him, another called the police, the lady got in her car to see if she could catch him crossing the next street, and the last man was comforting the lady. Once I had a grasp of things, I ran over to a high spot so that I could see if I could see anyone running. I could see the man who ran down after the purse snatcher and I could see the lady in the car, but no purse snatcher. I watched for a few minutes until the police showed up and then I headed into the store. I was thankful that people had jumped in to help this lady, but so mad at the purse snatcher. I was praying for justice. The next morning I was very excited to receive an email (I receive emails of local happenings from the police department) letting me know that the man was caught and the lady's purse was returned to her. Whew!

Sick Day

Today I called in sick to work. This will be my first time to ever have to miss a day of work for being sick. I actually woke up feeling much better than I had gone to sleep feeling, but that is only saying so much. I am so thankful that my high temps only lasted a day! And I am so glad that I don't get sick very often. I think I am a real wimp when it comes to sickness now. All I was able to do was sleep in my bed or sit on the couch, neither of which was comfortable. I am so glad yesterday is over! Now I need to decide whether to go get the flu shot or not since that is what I think I just had.

More Snow

I cannot believe it...another snow day. That is right folks, Nashville has snow once again. I have lost count as to how many snow days we have had this year, but too many. I really love the snow, but I don't like the idea of going to school in June. I must say that I do love working for the school system though because it means that I don't have to get out on the roads. I was reading friends updates last night about it taking 2-3 hours to get home from work. Yikes, I am glad I wasn't out in that.

Being from AL means that I still marvel at the snow and love to get out in it. Unfortunately, Zach does not share my wonder for snow. So, I was alone in my sledding adventures last night. He was worried about the 9* wind chill factor while I was not worried at all. After all, I had all his snow gear to wear. Aren't there parts of the world where 9* would be a warm winter day. And sure enough, I was on the verge of sweating as I conquered our neighborhood hills. I absolutely love sledding at night as it is so incredibly peaceful out.

Now to continue to enjoy my snow day...

Opposites Weekend

My Saturday and Sunday this week were polar opposites. Saturday I woke up and headed out to a photography class (Thanks Mom!). I learned a lot and feel excited about playing around in manual mode on my camera. I went to church following the class and then it was off to a friends house. I hung out for a couple of hours before going home to pick up Zach to head to a house concert. I got home around 1am. What a day!

And then there was Sunday. I woke up around 10, made some breakfast, checked my email and then took a nap. Yep, that's right, took a nap around 1pm. Woke up a couple of hours later to do a few things around the house. Then time for dinner and TV. What an opposite day from Saturday.

Overall, a good weekend.

Water Heater Week

Water heater week began on Monday when we found out that our rental apartment's water heater was leaking. Thankfully our tenant is out of town right now, but a friend noticed when she was picking up her mail. Anyways, we were up pretty late attempting to stop the leaking and to drain the water heater. We were not successful with either since I could not get the hose to connect tightly enough to drain it and the cut off valve was not working. So, Zach continued to replace the towels until a plumber was able to come on Wednesday to replace it.

Since the plumber was already here, Zach asked him to come look at our water heater. Zach and I have been taking about 7 minute showers for months now because we would run out of hot water. We had gotten pretty accustomed to this, but knew that at some point it would have to be addressed. The plumber was very kind to come take a look at ours and let us know that it appeared that one of the elements was out even though it was reading fine. He had to get to another job, but told Zach that he could replace it himself. He also suggested going ahead and replacing both elements and thermostats while he was at it.

Well, I came home to lots of water on the floor, no electricity* (no heat on a cold day with the door open to drain the water heater and working by lanterns), and still not working water heater. Zach got the elements and thermostats changed and we started filling back up the tank. And then the leaking began. It did not take us long to find the leaking was coming from the new elements. We shut everything back down and Zach tightened the elements. At this point we were already late to a get together with some friends, so we headed out the door. When we got home, we turned on the electricity and filled the tank.

*you might wonder why we turned out the electricity to the whole house...our breaker box is not labeled, so we have no idea which breaker goes to what...next on the to do list*

Thursday morning, all I had was cold water:( Mr. Plumber came back out to tell us that we had burnt out the element we had just put in by turning on the electricity before fully filling the tank. So, finally we had hot water!

But then water began pouring out of the pressure release valve. We turned back off the water heater and called the plumber. He told us we sure did have bad luck and that we would need to replace the pressure valve. Once again, we were late for a commitment, so out the door we went. We did pick up some needed items from Home Depot on the way.

When we returned home, we turned back on the water and the pressure valve did not leak. And so far things have been good which includes me taking a longer than 7 minute shower this morning!

Even though this week has been full of mishaps and frustration over 2 water heaters, I believe that Zach knows more than most about water heaters and how to fix them. Hopefully next time around we will have better luck with our new knowledge.