Finding Silver and Gold that Has Been Painted Over at Thrift Stores

It has been a super long day with me being out of town most of the day, and then shopping, and getting ready for Halloween has me blogging at nearly 5 a.m. and I am TIRED. 

Here is a video I made showing how I found silver at a second hand store that had been painted over. It isn't the first time that has happened, and probably won't be the last. 

I am not sure of all the reasons why someone would paint over a silver or gold item but it does happen. The only one that makes sense to me would be to paint it to prevent robery. I heard of people painting things during the war to protect it but other than that, I find it odd.



Due to being so tired, I am not going to type out everything in the video. Feel free to ask questions if you have any. 

I hope you have a wonderful and Blessed Halloween! 

Installing a Detachable Sprayer in the Guest Bathroom

I have been using the basement shower more often due to the cracks in the base of my shower until the repair men come.

I had a water filter on the shower head which made the shower head quite low. I am rather tall and I had to bend my head back quite far to get it under the nozzle and it wasn't all that comfortable. I have a very tall son-in-law and thought it must be hard for him to wash his head when he visited.

I also know that at their house, they have a sprayer nozzle on their shower at home to wash and rinse the kids hair etc. I had been thinking about that the past few weeks as they are coming for a full week over Thanksgiving. 

I was at a second hand store last week and found a brand new detachable shower head that is six feet long. It is a snap 'n spray by Rinse Ace. I was so excited about that as it was marked $3 which I am sure is a great deal on the product. I just looked it up online and it is $30 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond here. My Heavenly Father is so good to provide the things I want and need just when I need them! 

I made a video of how it goes on and how quickly it is removed from the shower tip. It does have a good powerful sprayer on it and is a fast on and off. There were some things I wasn't thrilled with as you can either have the sprayer on or the shower. If you want to shift from one to the other, you need to turn off the shower and remove the sprayer. It is a quick change, but I wish they had an option to bypass the sprayer at the top. 

The other issue I have, is that it just hangs down and there is no where to tuck it if you want to leave it on or when you put it on, if it is facing out, you could get wet or flood your bathroom if the shut off isn't all the way off. I think it would be much better if they had a little hanging hook near the top so you could place it up there facing front as to not have a surprise spray possible. 

In all, I think my daughter and her family will be happy with the sprayer and removing the filter to give more height in the shower.  

Have a Blessed Day! 

McDonalds Security is Tight - Princess Five in Jersey

Hola hola!

Sorry for no email last week but it was really good, on Tuesday I met my new companion Hermana Breer! Yes that is her last name. She is from the west, and came fresh from the Mexico MTC! She's She is incredible! She is a miracle magnet! I'm so excited for these next 2 transfers!

This week was crazy! On Tuesday it was raining a lot, but we still went out and knocked some doors luckily our first door let us right in and we were able to share our message with them! A cute little family that we will hopefully meet again with soon!

We had Zone Conference this week, we talked about member work, and Facebook pros. We talked about how it's not missionary work, but the gathering of Israel. How in an ideal situation it would be member focused missionary supported.


We went and taught some of our friends in a laundry mat as they did their laundry, and set up a return appointment with one of their friends that was also there. And, as we were about to leave, a man stopped us and asked us what we believed, so we told him more or less the first 3 articles of faith, and he asked to meet with us and told us he wanted to know what the truth was. His name is Waer.


So we met with him Sunday night in a McDonalds, because the dunkin donuts we were planning to go to was crowded. The music was really loud. And halfway through the McDonalds security guard, told us we had to leave or buy something so Walter bought some orange juice so we could stay. Then he pulled out his notebook and started taking notes as we taught him the restoration, he understands the bible, and also what we taught him very well. In the end the security guard kicked us out. But we will be meeting with Waer again this week, so its ok.😊
Other fun things
•a food delivery man came to the door as we were contacting a man on his porch, and we all had to shuffle around to get out of the way, it was a little uncomfy.
•another man told us we shouldn't be doing missionary work as women and then refused to shake our hands
•hna Breer and I have matching water bottles
•last Sunday we had a special broadcast where we were asked by president Ballard to pray for the country

Cuídense 

Hermana Princess Five

Dis-Membered Ghost Halloween Activity - Fun For All Ages

I have been doing this activity for Halloween for over 20 years. I found it when I worked in cub scouting about 22 years ago. Since that time, I have used it for every Halloween party and class party as it is fun for all ages. 

Here is a link to a post I made about it a few years back that has the poem and pictures of the bags on it. I wanted to post about it again now that I can upload videos more quickly as it is a fun activity but, many people only go to YouTube now and don't read blogs, so I wanted to make a video about the activity. 

Hopefully between the posts and the new video, it is clear enough for you to enjoy and understand. It really is fun for all ages. We did this at our cub scout pack Halloween costume party last week, and it was a hit. It is really timeless. 

Have a Blessed Day~! 

Scout Pack Meeting Halloween Fun and Creative Game

We had a pack meeting and as we aren't having as many meetings due to summer and school starting, Se didn't have a ton of awards to give so at our meeting a few weeks ago, I suggested and costume party and carnival type meeting celebrating Halloween. 

I took a bunch of carnival games I had purchased over the years and I used to have a "pin the nose on the pumpkin" game I made for the kids school parties but threw it away years ago. I suggested another leader make that game as it is fairly easy. 

The cub master said they would bring a game and another leader brought a tossing game as well. The hit of the night as far as games go would be the  game I shared pictures of. 

The put a case of filled water bottles out around the floor. They put a ball into the bottom of a pair of panty hose and the top of the hose go on the top of the head. They then have to used their head to swing the ball around and knock down the most bottles that they can. 

It was really fun to watch them play that game. I think I may take it to one of our family parties and have them play that. 

We did another activity first that I will share about next week I think but I just wanted to post about this game so I don't forget it, and can look it up later. It is funny that I see something and I think that I won't forget about it but then I get busy and I forget. 

I think everyone had a wonderful time and I took some balloon animal balloons also and they gave out a treat. There were lots of smiles in the end. 

Have a blessed day and enjoy the game! 

Fiberglass Shower Leaks Can Be Repaired

I noticed last week that I have some small cracks in the floor of my one piece shower stall. 

I let the shower dry and then coated the cracks with thick clear fingernail polish. When I went to do this, I realized I had many more than just one crack. There were about six. I then realized a day or two later that there is a crack on the opposite side as well. 

A few days later I was working in the basement, and I realized that I had a paint bubble in the ceiling paint in the laundry room which is just under my bathroom. I measured the distance from two walls trying to find the leak as it could have been from the nozzle section in the wall, it could be from the drain, but the paint bubble was exactly below the cracks I noticed in the shower. 

The paint bubble was actually dry inside, so I think the nail polish did work sealing the cracks temporarily, so that is a happy thing, and I hope it keeps working until I can get it fixed. 

I went to several different hardware / fix it stores, and they do have small fiberglass shower repair kits but they don't have colored kits and the one they had wouldn't have covered all the cracks. 

I found larger fiberglass kits and almost purchased a car fiberglass repair kit but, I have a cream shower and the fix is a clear / smoke type of finish. 

I called a few plumbers and they said that you can get repairs done in color but the one that comes to my area said that he may just clear coat the base and see if that would do with a type of resin as the wooden support structures is still strong. I think the damage may be due to my peroxide that I use on my hair about once a month. It also could just be age, but I am sure the peroxide can't help the problem. 

The men are coming next week to look at my shower, so I am praying they can fix it with a small cost as just the shower stall is over $1000 to replace not including installation and that would mean ripping out walls etc. If that is the case, I think I will be showering in a different bathroom and leave that shower alone till I have a better income. 

Oh the things I get to learn owning a home! That shower is one thing I really love in my home. There are things I have wanted to fix or change in my house since we moved in, but the shower is not one of the things I wanted to replace. I'll keep praying they can fix it! 

Have a blessed day!

More Found Money Over $5 since January - In God We Trust

I was struggling a bit today with all the things I need to get done and have a busy week this week. 

I was running errands and was a bit stressed about the yard, weather, phone problems, the methane issue in the house, covering the tube draining from the furnace, the shower fiberglass cracking and leaking, bills, etc. 

If you haven't read my posts about "finding money" and why I pick it up, here is a link to my first post about that. 

I got out of my car at my first stop, I found a quarter on the ground. I then shopped and found another quarter on my way out. I then headed to the grocery store and at the six self checkouts, I found a penny at the one that I ended up using. 

I also noticed at one store, that the song "Carry On" by Kansas was playing and that song has meaning for me. Here is a link to the first post about that.  Hearing that song made my day better, and I know when I find coins, to me, it is a reminder to "Trust God" so I felt better about my stresses.

I got home and noticed that my "found money" container was getting a bit full and I have the grandchildren coming soon so I figured I would count it and combine it with my collection. Here is a post about the container where I keep the "found money" as it was made by my mother. 

I counted up the money and from January until now, I found over $5. It is crazy to me how the funds add up over time. Not that the total of $157 will change the world, but all of that money is money I didn't earn and found. It is amazing that I have had that many reminders over the years to "trust in God." I feel very blessed to have so many reminders. 

All in all, it turned into a blessed day! I hope you also have a Blessed Day!

Methane Gas Poisoning Symptoms in Home - Part 2

Check out part one of this post linked here. I went back to the man who told me I had a methane gas problem in my home due to the gurgle sounds that are consistent in my basement. 

I was hoping by using lots of water I could move the sponge down in the sewage vent so it could go into the sewer, but I was still hearing the gurgle sound regularly in the pipes. I was working on cleaning out the dryer vent in the laundry room and had a load of laundry going. I could smell a rotten egg smell in the air. I smelled the floor vent and it wasn't coming from there. I smelled the drainage hose behind the washer and it was for sure coming out of there. 

I went to the man who figured out the methane issue I was having, and he shared that perhaps the sponge got stuck further down in the sewer vent. I bought a small bottle of "Liquid Fire" drain cleaner which is plumbers strength acid. He suggested pouring it down the back drain of the washer and then after allowing it to sit, rinse it with water. 

Meanwhile, I called a propane gas company and asked if they had a way to detect methane gas. They said they didn't have a way to detect it but maybe I should call the fire department. I called them and the chief said they got a new detector but was sure it didn't detect methane gas in the air. He asked if I would like to have someone come and check to see if there were other sources of gas in the home. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I had two wonderful firemen come and check out my home. The detector didn't test for methane, but at least my mind is at ease that I don't have a natural gas leak or something. I had a friend in the past that actually did have a natural gas leak behind her stove so she was lucky they didn't have an explosion. I also had one when someone put in my new hot water heater and luckily I was able to get the gas company here as the man didn't tighten the bolts enough and I had a house full of natural gas. 

I poured 2/3 of the bottle of "liquid fire" into the washer drain and it smelled for a minute and then cleared. I rinsed after about 15 minutes and hoped I had gotten rid of the sponge problem. I finished pouring the rest of the "liquid fire" into my shower just to clean it out of any hair etc as it is the biggest upper drain. 

I was hoping after doing all that, that my problem would be solved. I get up today and hear even fainter gurgles and realize it is now further down the drain. I went back to the plumbing supply store and bought an entire gallon of the "liquid fire" and poured 1/4 down the washing drain and the other 3/4 I poured down the basement shower drain as I could hear that actual gurgling coming out of that drain when cleaning the bathroom today. I poured it in three different times allowing it to sit and then when I finished the gallon in the drain and had it sit for 15 minutes, I ran hot water down the drain for about 5 minutes on high hoping that the problem would clear the line. 

What I think happened is this, when I got the new bottle home, I carefully put some of it on a cotton ball (wearing safety gear) and wanted to see what it would do to a piece of foam. It became a sticky gooey gel type of mess. So, when I would pour the acid down, I think it just dissolved the portion at the bottom of the pipe and made it like a gooey, sticky mess. the rest of the sponge may get pushed down by the water and then I put more acid in and the bottom becomes a gooey mess. It really isn't a sponge, it is a man made foam that he used in the pipe as insulation, so it isn't breaking down well. I think I am to the point where I need to have someone come and drill the pipe out. 

I hear the gurgling still in the pipe and wonder if there was more than one sponge / piece of foam in the line. One higher and one lower. At this point, only the guy that put the foam in my vent knows and with all the acid and snake etc, perhaps I should just pay to have a camera come. I really don't have the funds currently to spend on this and just found another plumbing issue with the fiberglass cracking in my shower and is leaking, so I am going to have to deal with that as it is bubbling the paint in the laundry room ceiling below the shower. I caught it early but now have to figure out what to do in there. 

I really was hoping to get the pruning finished but have spent a few days working on a phone issue as well as this methane gas issue, so for now, the pruning has been on hold. I am hoping to get to it tomorrow and finish up the yard for the year soon. I still have two flower beds that need cutting back as well. 

Having a home is such a wonderful blessing but it is also LOTS of work! Lets hope I can get it all done before it snows! 

When the furnace came on last night, I had a mild headache start and had heart palpitations so I am fairly sure that there still is some methane gas and the furnace intake is low to the ground outside the laundry room and bathroom in the basement so I think the furnace is circulating the gas. I am still venting as much as I can in the house and hope that this nightmare will soon be over and I can enjoy being in my home again. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Methane Poisoning In The Home Symptoms - Part 1

I had a new furnace put in years ago. I posted about getting an energy audit in 2012 and they felt that there was a crack in my furnace so they replaced the furnace at that time. Here is a link to the post at that time, so the furnace was put in the week or so I made this post. 

That post was written in March of 2012. In December of 2012, I had this problem with the line they put in to drain the pump for the furnace freezing. I show how cold the house got and how I ended up having to dump a bucket every day to keep the furnace working. Here is the link to that post. 

They guy that was over the work crew that put my furnace is was new to the job. I was his first house. The state people were at the house for the inspection day, but not for the install of the furnace. I think that is where my problems started. He was new and didn't probably know any better in what he did, but it has been hell for me for the past 7 years! 

We were both trying to figure out what to do to keep the line from freezing. I even mention in the December post that we were going to try foam in the area to keep the line from freezing. Problem was, he dropped the foam into the line and I didn't know it and also had no idea it was completely blocked. 

He ended up coming back a few more times, and not only did the line freeze in the winter every year, it molded in the spring and fall when the furnace would go on once and then not for a few weeks when it would get warmer and I would find black mold in the pump box and the water line going up into the attic. That is a story for another day. 

They came back and put some tubing down into the vent attached to the end of the drain tube to capture the heat from the sewer line and for the most part, this kept the line from freezing as they also put some insulation around the tube and then buried it in the insulation in the attic yet the tip continued to freeze on the coldest days of the year causing me to have to babysit the pump on those coldest days. 

Over those 7 years, I got more and more headaches. I got more tired and dizzy. I was more confused, and didn't feel better until about 3 in the afternoon which has always been my errand running time due to picking children up from school around then, so I have always been in the practice of leaving the house around three to run errands. 

It wasn't until I lived at my dad's home for 1 1/2 to 2 months this summer that I realized I had plenty of energy and stamina from early morning until late at night as long as I wasn't at home. As soon as I returned home, I had a headache all night while sleeping so my head would wake me through the night. I had massive amounts of heart palpations while trying to get to sleep at night. I had such dry skin that I shocked myself one day going to the store and looked at my legs in my capris and my legs were completely white with dead skin. I was so embarrassed that I went to my car and applied lotion in the car. I put oil on my legs daily and usually more than once. I didn't have that much of a problem at my dad's house. 

In the past few years, I have fallen down a few times being dizzy and have many posts about that as well as being tired, not thinking clearly etc. All of things are well documented on my blog in the past many years. Lists of symptoms for Methane Poisoning in humans are:

dizziness
clumsy
dry skin and dehydration
heart palpations
headaches
confusion / brain fog
forgetful
nausea / vomiting

A few months back I went to the plumbing store and told the worker that I thought my toilet was leaking and I could hear "gurgles" and "glug glug" sounds in the basement toilet and no one uses that toilet. He told me that if I was hearing that, it wasn't a leak in the toilet, it was that there is methane gas leaking into my house from the lowest drain in the house and that I probably have a blockage in my sewer vent.

I was in the middle of stuff with my father and asked if the methane gas in the house was a "problem" as no one used the basement. He laughed at my comment but I was so worried about getting back to my ailing father, that I didn't think about it much as there wasn't a thing I could do about it then. But, I immediately KNEW what was blocking my sewer vent because we had so many problems with the furnace and I knew that they put stuff in the vent to try and fix that problem but I didn't know that it would poison me! 

I get back from helping my dad this summer and I feel absolutely horrible when I get home. Headaches strait for days. I then thought about all the times I left the house and did fine traveling to NY and DC last summer, working in the yard for days, living at my dad's and all those times, I was fine with the long days and getting stuff done. 

I climb on the roof and pull out the tubing that he had stuck on the end of the furnace pump drain tube they inserted into the sewer vent. I look in the vent and see a yellowish foam about halfway down the pipe about the level of my bedroom. I KNOW that I do have a methane gas problem and why at this point. I called the health department, the city offices for sewer and the company that installed the furnace. The first two told me they didn't think they had a way to detect methane gas in the home, but I left messages for the specialist over those areas and never got a return call from the health department or the city sewer workers. I did get information from the install place and they said that they had a complete turn over from everyone in the furnace install department and NONE of them worked there still. They did tell me that my "file" did say that they installed some foam in the vent to try and keep the line from freezing." Other than that, they said they couldn't help me as none of the people who worked on my home were still there. 

I call a friend and ask him to bring over an electrical snake with a hook on the end hoping we can snag the sponge and pull it up. He sticks the snake down and lets it drop. It hits the sponge, bounces up a little and then he pushes it down and when I look down the vent after that, the sponge is now so far down, I can't see it at all. 

I hope that this has taken car of the problem. I am in the basement later and hear the gurgle sound but now it sounds a lower tone but still the same sound so I know that the problem has moved due to the deeper tone but that I still have a problem. 

One funny thing that happened, I can laugh now, but when I was putting my arm into the sewer vent to pull that tubing out, I got my arm stuck in the sewer vent and I can't move and am on the roof and it is getting dark. I had a panic moment seeing myself screaming for help and the fire department having to come and grease up my arm or cut the vent pipe off to get my arm out. I took a few deep breathes, used my other hand to pinch my arm skin and release it as there was moisture in the vent, my arm made a suction. It was only for a second, but I laughed at myself after getting free. 

To be continued.... 

Have a blessed day!