Methane Gas Escaping Into the Home Through The Toilet - Gas Film In Toilet

I have posted several times about having methane gas escaping into my home due to a blocked sewer vent. 

I had a friend come and put an electronic plumbers power snake down the sewer vent on the roof.  It was only a 50 foot snake and after he left, I could still hear the glugging sound in the house where methane gas is escaping into the home. 

I had hoped that the power snake would have fixed the problem and send the foam that had dropped down into the vent down into the sewer line and solve my problem. 

I then figured maybe if I flooded the sewer vent with a hose, perhaps I could flush the entire vent line. I called my sister for some help with this. I bought 2 new 50 foot hoses. I linked them together and hooked them up to the spigot on that side of the house. 

I had one girl working two baths in the basement to turn them off if the water started to back up into the house. I had one girl looking at the floor drain in the basement to make sure no water was backing up. I had one girl at the base of the ladder to turn on and off the hose in case it backed up. 

I had my sister go into the house and flush the upstairs toilets hoping we could flood the line enough that any of the foam left in the line would be forced down and out to the sewer line. 

I dropped the hose down the straight portion of the line and it was out about thirty feet. It hit the bottom and I couldn't get it around the corner so I had them all turn on the water and flush the toilets. When all that water hit the sewer line, it pulled the hose down into the line very quickly and the hose was fully extended into the sewer vent and line to about 70 feet as the hose had about 20 feet from the spigot, up to the roof and then into the vent. 

Once again, I hoped that the sewer vent was now clear. Within a few minutes, I could hear the glug glugging of the methane gas escaping into the house. 

I began to think that maybe the methane block had been cleared up and that maybe the glugging wasn't methane leaking. I noticed over the next few days as we had lots of hot days, that even when there had not been any water used for ten hours or more, in the afternoon for three days in a row, I heard lots of glugging, but it seems to be on hot days only. 

I have noticed for years that there is an oily / gas water mixture on the surface of the basement toilet water and it looks like gas has been leaking. I have always thought that the noise was coming from the toilet in the basement, but have poured over a gallon of acid drain cleaner down through those drains in the past few weeks. 

I have flushed that toilet in the basement several times in the past few weeks and when I flush it, the oil look leaves and for a few days, it is clear. Then, I hear the glugging and the oily substance is then back in the basement toilet.

After a few weeks, that basement toilet will have moldy lines and bacteria in it even though no one uses that toilet. Also, the water in that toilet gets lower and lower over time and I figured it was just evaporation, but I think the gurgles make it evaporate quicker as sometimes it is super low. 

Also, I am still having symptoms of heart palpitations, dry skin, brain fog, and other symptoms so I am still trying to figure out what is causing the methane to come into the home as obviously my sewer isn't backing up, so I am not sure what is causing the problem. I am still trying to figure it out and am probably going to dig up a sink hole in the yard next. Stay tuned. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

Princess Five Finding 10 New Friends in NJ

Hola hola!

This week was one of those long weeks, you know?



On Tuesday we went to district council and on the way home we had to stop at a Nissan dealership to get an update done on our car. That night we met with Tina We followed up with her praying and she said she has been praying to gain more understanding. Then she has been STUDYING the Book of Mormon and the bible together. Every time she comes across a footnote from the bible she would look it up and make sure that the books agreed. She shared that she had never read the bible before but has a strong desire to come closer to God. She is incredible! We taught her on Thursday as well the plan of salvation and she understood very well and said a super sincere prayer at the end, AND THEN she came to church!! Not many of of members have cars and our chapel is a 15-20 min drive from where most of our friends and members live. So it's super hard to get friends here, and on time, and then getting them back home. But Tina seemed to really enjoy it. The branch went to the temple the day before so there was a lot of talk about baptisms for the dead and Tina was quite concerned, but between classes we were able to explain everything and we will be seeing her again tonight!

This week we had a push called NJMM 500! As a mission we set a goal to find 500 new friends, where as before the most found was somewhere around 380, or 430 or something. We all were on a finding high! We as a companionship set a goal to find 8 people but we ended up finding 10 new amazing friends to teach! And finding 510 new friends as a mission! We kept experiencing one tender mercy after another!

We were going to a lesson with a man named Diver and his Mom, and when we came into the house his sister was leaving with her daughter and said here is my address come over to my house tomorrow at 4... what?! So we went over the next day and taught her the restoration and now we have a return appointment with her and her to sons on Friday!

Our friends Van and Payla came to our Thanksgiving dinner and they LOVED IT! Van was asked to help carve the Turkey, he was so happy and loved being able to help even though he was so tired from his work!

One of our friends is going through a really hard time, and so he wasn't going to be able to meet with us for English class, we called him to get the number of another lady but we ended up reading the Book of Mormon with him for the next half an hour, so that was really good! Hopefully we can meet with him soon.

Cuídense 

Hermana Princess Five 

Pictures

My cute comp!
Thanksgiving Dinner
Us eating a French-toast Bagel!

Six Hour Drive and a Birthday Surprise

I was out of town for a few days and had a sibling with a milestone birthday in another town than where I was visiting. I had a six hour drive today to get to his party and then home and it is after 1 a.m. and I am VERY tired and won't make this long. 

It was really nice to be able to see many family members and support my Brother and his family that planned this surprise party for him. 

He told me he was in his pajamas and his wife told him he had better get dressed as someone was coming to visit him. Yep, lots of people visited him. 

I got to see a good friend that lives near him as well and sweet Princess Two drove a few of the hours with me so I had some company to keep me awake as I didn't sleep well while I was away. 

All in all, it was a good long day! I hope you have a blessed day! 

Fixing Eyes on Stuffed Animals, McDonalds Toys, And Fixing Hanging Fabrics Loops

We bought the McDonalds collectors toy ornaments each year when they were all the rage in the late 1980's and Early 1990's. They had the cutest sewn toys from the newest Disney movies and many had little voice chips in them as well. 

It was something we looked forward to getting each holiday season and then they stopped making them so adorable and started going to just hard plastic toys and they lost their charm. 

We kept the softer and nicer Disney toy ornaments and about 15 years ago, I made all our McDonalds toys into ornaments and we made a tree for a tree show and donated the tree to the local woman's shelter. I got the local McDonalds to donated a bunch of free gift cards to also adorn the tree and it was a VERY cute tree. 

Upon my request, my sister made a cute sign saying, "Every Meal Should Be A Happy Meal" and the shelter was my donation as I used the shelter when going through my divorce to get some help leaving my marriage. 

I thought I had posted about our trees we used to do yearly for the tree show, but I guess I didn't post about that. I will have to make a post on that as we did some really cute trees. 

Anyway, back to it, I went through all our decorations with the girls just over a year ago now and Princess One wanted those handful of ornaments that we kept. I visited her recently and she already has her Christmas decorations up and those ornaments are on the tree. 

She asked me if I could fix the hanging parts on two of the ornaments, as over the years, I guess being played with, those hanging parts got ripped. I was able to just sew on a ribbon on the "Oliver" ornament and able to fix the felt one that had ripped on "Dodger." I just used a similar color thread and was able to stitch the two ends together using a needle and thread. 

The eyes were really scratched up on Oliver and it looked like I fixed Dodgers eyes already and do remember doing that as I was giving some away at some point, but I think it was so hectic the weekend we did all the ornaments that it didn't get done on all of them. 

I basically just use my Sharpie Markers (if you read this blog, you know I am a Sharpieaholic) and find the one that matches the color of the eyes the closest, and then use it to fill in the scratches by dabbing it over the scratch rather than "coloring" it. I try not to color over the actual color, just fill in the scratched area. 

The Sharpie will smudge on plastic/ smooth surfaces, so don't touch it or let it touch anything else overnight or it can come off and smudge. Also, you may want to put some masking tape around the eye so that you don't accidently get it onto the fabric as it is REALLY hard to get Sharpie off fabric.

Just know that I use Sharpies for so many things that you may just want to search "Sharpie" and "Duct Tape" as I have LOTS of posts for those two products because I LOVE Sharpies and Duct Tape! 

Feel free to ask questions. You can do this on any stuffed animal or plastic toy. It works on fabric, stickers, plastic, and even wood. I made a short video showing the ornaments and how I did the ribbon and eye repairs. Have a BLESSED Day!

Working on the House - Jewlery Sort Day

I had a busy day. 

I had a call from the food bank saying they had excess food. I delivered a car full of plums, popcorn, and cereal. I also had scouts and then worked on my leaking shower base. I am super tired and am just going to post a jewelry sorting video. 

Have a blessed day!  

Making / Using a Home Made Car Air Freshener Out of Wood

I have a neighbor and a family member who own Laser Cutters that can cut and write on wood.

Last year, my neighbor made cute little wood cut outs saying "#LighttheWorld" to remind us to do kind deeds of service through the holiday season. 

I put it on a string and use it in my car as an air freshener and put a drop of essential oil on it and turn on the vent to circulate the smell through the car. 

My sister made keychains for all her friends and family, but she used the man made fabricated type of wood for her keychains and the oil doesn't absorb or stay on that wood, so you need to make sure that the wood you are using is a natural wood and not a fabricated wood. 

You don't have to make it into fancy shapes or use a laser cutter, you can just use a saw to cut out any wood shape you want and sand it smooth. Basically, you just need wood that will hold the oil. 

Make sure that you put the lace, ribbon or elastic through the hole in the top like I show in the video or the knot, bow, or tied area will fall to the bottom as it will be the heaviest part of the ribbon. it will also hang sideways on the string if you just put the ribbon through the hole. 

By putting the two ends through the hole and then pulling them back through the loop created on the opposite side, you are creating the heaviest point at the bottom and the tie will then stay at the top. Also, this will make the piece face forward so you can always see the words if you choose to do laser engraving on the wood piece. 

When you are putting oil on the piece, make sure that you hold the piece level and drop the oil on top and hold the piece up and even until the drop of oil is absorbed so that the oils don't drop onto your car interior. You can hold a tissue or something under it as you apply the oil if you are concerned. Make sure you use a dropper top so the oil doesn't pour out and damage your interior. 

Oils can damage plastics and wood finishes so be careful when applying the oil and make sure you use wood that is absorbent BEFORE trying it in your car. You don't want to find out that it isn't absorbing the oil in the car as you don't want the oil dripping in the car. 

I have used old air fresheners for year in the car and just put my own oils on them when the smell is gone from the store bought ones. I really enjoy having these wooden ones as you can put whatever words you want on them. The can enlighten and be refreshing at the same time. Here is a link to my older post about this. 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

Bestest In The Westest - Princess Five in NJ

This week we were able to go back and visit the cute little family we met last week! As we were talking about Jesus Christ and the Bible, we asked if we could share a verse from the Book of Mormon. It turns out that Ria was visited by missionaries before in her country! They helped her family build their home and taught them about the gospel. We invited them to read the living Christ and when we went back the next time they had questions about who Joseph Smith was, because he is mentioned in the living Christ. So we taught them the restoration! They almost came to church but were worried because their baby was a little sick. But they said that they would like to come next week! We have an another appointment with them tomorrow and are so excited!

On Tuesday and Saturday we had English classes with 2 different women from the Dominican Republic. When we showed up to both of these appointments they had both prepared food for us, I tried my first Mangú and it was ok!

On Wednesday, I hit my one year mark! And to celebrate we went to sister Brar's 3 week meeting where President checks on all the new missionaries and their trainers.

One day we were knocking doors, and the street which we had chosen to knock from our area map consisted of about 5 houses and 1 Jehovah's Witness Chapel... so we knocked it anyway and had some interesting conversations. On the last house of the street, we were let into a woman's home, after about a 15 minutes it was clear that she was not interested in our message, and as we were trying to leave she brought out some snacks, and after about 10 more minutes sister Brar looked down at her watch and made a really big gasping sound and said "we have to go right now!" We both stood up and we were about out the door, when this sweet lady said, you forgot your ShopRite cookies... so we took the cookies to go, and continued our search for scattered Israel!



On Sunday, we were in branch council, and were a little down because we found out that Ria and Carl couldn't come to church. We received a text from lsa (who we thought was supposed to be in Pennsylvania) she asked if we were having church that day, we said yes and asked her if she was back from Pennsylvania, and she said, "yeah I'm in the chapel, but there is no one here" so we ran out of our meeting and into the empty chapel, and there was lsa we were so excited! She loved the meeting and said next week she would bring her son so he can go to primary!

The Church is true, the Church is God's, I know this through the little bits of knowledge I gain every day, and through the tender mercies we receive each week, and most importantly from the Holy Ghost which testifies the truth of all things. I don't know how I was the pre earth lottery in heaven to be blessed with the knowledge of the gospel on the earth but it is perfect, and it is life changing. I have seen it work in the lives of many over the course of this last year but more importantly in my own life, especially as I have been blessed with the time to study and share the truths of the gospel daily!

Thank you all for your love and support! As sister Brar would say, you are all the "bestest in the westest!"

Cuídense
Hermana Princess Five 

Me and my cute comp on my 1 year mark

2 of the missionaries I came out with

Leaves