Descaling our Tankless Water Heater

This blog post is completely for me, unless any of you have an interest in descaling tankless water heaters. We have been meaning to do this for a while, but were hesitant to call an expensive plumber since all of the Youtube tutorials rave about how easy it is to do yourself!

I am writing this post so I remember how to do this next year when it's time again.

This is the youtube video we used. He explains it so well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FaqGod3VU

Supplies:

4 Gallons Vinegar

5 Gallon Bucket

Submersible Pump 

2 Rubber Washer Hoses

Today I went for it, even though Alan and I are not at ALL "handymen". Alan was working from home, which turned out to be great, because even though I did all the research on how to do it, he seemed to know how to troubleshoot all the issues I encountered.

First make sure all water is shut off to the house, by turning all these red switches perpendicular. (They are on in this picture.) I didn't turn these off at first (I didn't hear it mentioned in the video :P), and got shot with cold water right in the stomach while trying to attach the washer hose to the cold water side. Alan mentioned it might be a good idea to turn the water off.

Turn off cold water coming into water heater, hot water going into house and gas. Leave electricity on.

Unscrew hose attachments and open up the valves directly underneath them. Let water from water heater run out. (Should not be very much. Unlike the first time I unscrewed them with the water still on...) Then take out pre filter and clean if dirty. (Our filter was stuck, I had to use a pair of scissors to grab it and get it out. Alan's idea.)

Pour vinegar into bucket and insert submersible pump. Attach rubber washer hose from pump to cold water side. Attach second hose to hot water side, and other side directly into vinegar. At first I couldn't get a seal, and vinegar was spraying across the garage from the cold water hose attachment. Of course I consulted Alan, and he added a second rubber sealer inside to fix it.) Do you see the pattern that Alan figured out all of the issues. Glad he worked from home today. :)

Turn on pump for 90 minutes, then close up everything in reverse (including washing the pre filter out again). And, done! Yay!

Did I mention 3 kids under 4 were all in the garage with me as I was trying to figure this out? I feel like I graduated to a real adult today :P

Ramblings

I am looking out the window here at the hospital (yes, I'm blogging at work... I'll get to that), at 6:15pm and it's already dark outside. That threw me off guard! Boo to going back to Standard time. And this morning, sunrise was still 30 minutes off as I was driving to work. I do not like missing all of my daylight hours. :( I love the long days of summer :)

I have time to blog here at work because I am only taking care of ONE baby today. He is in isolation because he has (or had) a "superbug" that we don't want the other babies to catch. So, lucky him, he has his very own nurse. He is a cutie, and I've been able to spend a lot of time holding him (unfortunately I don't think he gets held very often)... but one sleepy baby is not enough to keep me busy for 12 hours! (I'm sure I would be busy for that long if I had a baby of my own at home.. but there are other things to do there.. and this baby sleeps all the time, lol). So this has been a looong day, but also a nice break from all the craziness that can happen around here :)

On a side note, my husband has been earning lots of brownie points lately. I also worked yesterday (I don't usually work Sundays), and I got home to all of the laundry done AND hung up (he always does the laundry, but sometimes we hang it up together), and he had ordered a pizza for us (not the healthiest meal, but I didn't want to cook, lol). Then this morning, he got up at 6am (as I was leaving) to take out all the trash, and he deep cleaned our cat's litter box (big job). I married a good one <3

Southern (& Hispanic) Hospitality

This week my work schedule is Monday, Thursday, Sunday.. which gave me more time (3 days) during the week to do my own thing. So what else to do than try some new(ish) recipes for me and have people over?!

Last Sunday night we had Alan's side of the family over for dinner. I made them a Mexican dinner to represent my Hispanic side to all of those white folk ;) My Grandma on my dad's side makes WONDERFUL tamales.. she actually used to sell them. That is one of the main things I remember about her & about visiting my grandparents in Arizona when I was growing up, so that's what I decided to make. This was my first attempt at Tamales, but I think they all got eaten, which is a good sign.

The Menu was:

Green Chili Tamales (For the record, these are the easiest kind of Tamales to make, which makes them a great place to start)

Mexican Rice

Black Beans (Alan's mom kindly made this for us.)

Chips & Guacamole

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Tonight we had over my parents, brother & sister-in-law for our weekly Friday night dinner. :) (My mom usually hosts it since Virginia & I are usually working Fridays). I decided to make Chicken & Dumplings, because my Grandma (on my mom's side) used to make this for us all the time when we visited!

The Menu:

Chicken & Dumplings
Corn on the Cob
Salad
Tamales (Extras I had frozen - I wanted to see what my family thought of them)

Dessert:
Blackberry Cobbler with Ice Cream

I love having people over and cooking meals for them, even though I am very much a work in progress when it comes to cooking.

The other thing I made this week that I would really recommend is a Homemade Pizza. This was my first attempt at making it, and it was delicious. I froze half the dough, so next week I should be making a second pizza, yay :) My schedule next week is crazy.. but hopefully having the dough already done should make that an easy meal.

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As you can see, I get a lot of my recipes online. The internet is awesome :) I really recomment www.mex-recipes.com -- it is the best site I've found for Mexican food, the rice & guacamole recipes are very tasty.

I have special spots for my laptop in our kitchen, because it is almost always up with a recipe when I am cooking. Here's the laptop on the island, lol: (This is soon after we moved in.. there are different decorations now above the cabinets)

Update

I am exhausted today, but I feel like blogging. It has been a few months since my last update, but it feels like more because of all of the changes we've been through! Here are some of the highlights that have happened over the last few months (in rough order).

• Someone broke into our apartment. They stole some money, checkbooks, passports and jewelry.
• I had a stressful, emotional week at work that involved some tears on my part.
• We started looking for a house before our apartment lease expired.
• We chose and closed on a home.
• Before we moved out, a fire destroyed a building in our apartment complex (our apartment was thankfully unharmed)
• We moved into the new house.
• Deep cleaned the apartment and turned in the keys.
• Set up the new house! (Still finishing up decorating, and one of the guest bedrooms is still full of boxes... it's a work in progress!)

And finally, yesterday we had a Mother's Day Lunch for my mom and Alan's mom. We had my family over and Alan's parents.  We ate, talked, and played pool/ping-pong. It was great having everyone over, enjoying themselves. After yestday, then staying up late watching Survivor (guilty pleasure), and then getting up early and working 12+ hours today, I am exhausted. Tomorrow, it's work again, and then one day off to pack for our one year anniversary trip to Buffalo, NY/ Canada! 

So a busy few months in the life of the Orr's! 

New Year - 2009

Economy dampens celebrations for New Year's Eve

Fireworks, good cheer, but long shadows as world hails 2009

Most of the New Year's headlines were negative towards 2008 as being one of the worst economic years the country and the world has seen in decades. 

While this is true, 2008 was probably the best year of my life (and the most full of life-changing events). Here is a brief overview:

For the first 4 1/2 months of the year, I was engaged to a wonderful man <3

(One of our engagement pictures taken January, 2008 by Kami Flavin)

I was also finishing up Nursing School, which I graduated from on May 8, 2008. I was so glad to be done with college forever!! (Unless something possesses me to go back.) I went to the Pinning Ceremony instead of the Graduation Ceremony. The speakers played a short clip I had recorded thanking everyone for helping me get to that point. My parents pinned a Nursing pin on my on stage. It was really nice. 

(My future in-laws, my future husband, me and my parents at my Pinning Ceremony)

6 days later, on May 14, 2008 I got married to the best man ever. The wedding was beautiful and I loved sharing it with my closest friends & family. I was most excited about spending the rest of my life with Alan <3 

For our honeymoon we went up to Wyoming near The Yellowstone National Park. :) It was beautiful.

After the honeymoon, we started our life together in our apartment. We had most of our stuff set up before the wedding.

I had 3 weeks to be a housewife before I started my first "real" job as a Graduate Nurse at a Neonatal ICU. So I enjoyed setting up/decorating the kitchen and the rest of the apartment.  And of course spoiling my new husband with homemade meals when he got home. I had waited a long time to be a wife and have my own apartment, and it definitely lived up to my expectations ;)

(The first meal I made Alan after we got married. Isn't he adorable? <3)

On June 9th, I started my new job. I wasn't an RN yet though.. I still had to pass the licensing test.  So I stressed/studied over that until I took the test a few weeks later. When I finally took it, It was the worst experience of my life. I was sure I had failed it, and I knew the computer knew if I passed or not.. but I had to wait DAYS for the results.  I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling of dread I had waiting for those results.. but I PASSED. Thankfully! I became an official Registered Nurse on July 1, 2008! I was in orientation in the NICU until about 6 weeks ago.. and I have been on my own since then. I still love my job. I love helping the smallest and sickest babies "finish cooking" and getting them ready to go home with their families. 

Also in June, we adopted our two kitties, Hobbes and Lucy. Lucy is cuddling with me in my lap right now & being a sweetheart.  (As I was writing that, Hobbes got in my lap too, haha) No human babies in 2008 though ;)

(Me, our babies, and a book. I still have my work scrubs on. I thought I could stay awake long enough to get some reading in.. but I was wrong, lol)

(Lucy and Hobbes (younger) taking a nap on the couch... It's a hard life)

In October we went to Jamaica with Daniel & Virginia. Our first Feast together as a married couple.

(The four of us on the snorkel cruise)

All in all, it's been a great year filled with a lot of blessings. I am looking forward to what 2009 will bring. Unfortunately, Alan and I slept right through New Years this year because we are an old married couple ;) And because I had to be up at 5:20 for work! I did get my New Year's kiss later though ;)

***Correction*** Alan brought to my attention that he did wake me up at midnight to give me a kiss. I must have been out of it. So we didn't entirely sleep through New Year's after all ;)

Here's to everyone having a great 2009!

Saturday Morning Breakfast

When I was growing up, my parents always fixed us/we helped them fix a nice Saturday morning breakfeast every week. It always made Saturday special, and gave us a nice meal to anticipate.

I wanted to do the same thing for Alan when we got married, so every Saturday I've been cooking a nice-ish breakfast. (It's the only day that I fix anything for breakfast actually.)

This morning it was an alvocado & cheese omelet, turkey-o-sausages (Alan's personal favorite), oranges and waffles.


Alan pretending he doesn't like it:

Still not quite a smile, but he said he liked it :)

My Day "Off"

Since I am an RN working as a staff nurse, I work 3, 12 hour shifts a week. I get weekends off, which I spend with my husband, with friends, and at church. That leaves me 2 days off during the week, which is really really nice!

I had yesterday off. Today I had mostly off, except I had to take a test with the rest of the NICU/Newborn interns. I didn't really know what to expect from the test, but our educator seemed pretty laid back about it, so I didn't spend too much time studying.

This morning I planned to study until the test at 1:00, but for some reason when I plan to study, cleaning the apartment seems much more appealing than usual. Does that happen to anyone else?? So after some studying, I started cleaning. I got more done today than I would have if I didn't have to go into work. The test lasted about an hour, and it wasn't too bad.But I was most proud of my work on the apartment! Take a look: (I have been working on being a good wife and cleaning more often)

Also, the kittens are getting along a lot better today :) Hobbes is still attacking, but not nearly as often. And Lucy actually chased Hobbes a little bit, haha.