and the not so good parts

The water is getting lower and lower in the floor

paint is crumbling off the wall

The baseboard is pulling away from the wall.

The floor outside the boys' room. The metal piece that marks the door frame is standing up against the door frame, the flooring is dried up and loose.

I will get the boys' (and maybe our) lead levels checked when we leave here.

As our date of departure from China approaches, I am reminding myself of the downsides to living here. I've blocked them out for the better part of the past 2 years 9 months, but it is time to remember them, or, rather, pay attention to them, again.

Not long after we first moved into our house here, we noticed a bulging in the floor outside the boys' bedroom. The workers came to investigate and told us there was a pipe with a problem. They "fixed" it and the floor and said more work would have to be done at some point.

Everything was fine until about November of last year when we noticed the floor was uneven again and then we noticed water coming from the door frame after we showered in the master bathroom.

We called the workers again. The "boss" came to investigate and told us it would be best if we did not use the shower in our bathroom. They said they would fix it but it would take 4 weeks and we'd have to cover everything because of the dust. Two major issues with this came to mind. One, 4 weeks really means twice that, probably. Two, dust? In China? This could be filled with lead or worse.

So, we told them to wait until we leave. We had Jack and Jed start showering downstairs in the guest bathroom. Huck and Zeke bathe in the 2nd upstairs bathroom. We continued to use the shower in our bathroom until last week when I noticed the problem was getting much worse and began to fear that the floor would cave in and we'd have to move out of the house. So, now Tom and I also shower downstairs. It's a big pain in the neck but not as big as having to move out of the house earlier than necessary.

This inconvenience and building toxin fest in our house is a big help in preparing me for our move. I am much less sad about leaving than I once was. Yes, I will miss my great friends, the neighborhood, the schools and, of course, the help, but I will not miss the pending disaster we call home, or several other things I will write about some other time.