Lesson #6

Lesson #6: When trying to protect your newly coated, newly made pool don't drop cinder blocks in it. And whatever you do, don't let go of the wet vac.

So, the pool, the long awaited in ground pool, was finally finished and all that was left was some outside cosmetic work on the stairs. The large piece of plastic covering the pristine water was held down by cinder blocks. What was my brilliant idea? Pull the cover to the side and drape it over the wire fencing. Sounds simple enough. Yeah, well, there were holes in the plastic and as we tried to roll the cover it started taking on water - making it impossible to actually lift the plastic out of the pool. So, being the smarty that I am, I jumped into the pool - fully clothed - and tried to use my Herculean strength to lift the plastic out. Yeah, great idea, only one of the cinder blocks fell into the pool.

I have to give my dad credit, the hives were starting to pop out on his forehead and he still managed to keep a little bit of his cool. After all, he loves me and I was pregnant and it would look bad to kill a pregnant lady over a cinder block. We managed to get it out and there was no damage. Of course, now there were big pieces of cinder in the pool.

This called for the wet vac. At this point, I pointed out that a pool vacuum might be a good investment. And yet another hive popped into existence on his forehead.

So, there we are, my mom and I, holding onto the wet vac that's plugged into the outlet as my dad dives under the water to suck up the cinder with the wet vac hose. Maybe this lesson should be part of a "Top 10 Things Never To Do" post. =)

Anyway, the lesson is to keep cinder blocks away from the pool, don't dive underwater with a wet vac, and make sure you're a couple thousand miles away from your dad when you retell this little story. I can just feel the hives popping up all the way from here!

Love you, Dad!