What a Week

Sadie went to the vet yesterday for a shot (actually a nasal mist- who knew they make those for dogs too?). The vet weighed her and in the 6 weeks since her last appointment she gained 20 pounds!! She is 4 1/2 months old and now weighs 44.4 pounds. She's a big girl. My nephews are spending a few days with us, so the two youngest went with me -- ugggh, the complaining "why can't we stay here and the other boys watch us?" Yeah, right, 4 boys alone in the house - not gonna happen. We had an early dinner (Mike had an errand to run) and then took the boys to Yups for ice cream.

We've had a busy time, working on the house:

I have painted: ceiling in the kitchen and hall way
walls in the hall and half the living room (other half goes today)
the front door, inside and out
and spray painted the kitchen register

I have put up or on:
two registers in the living room
replaced the register in the bathroom
the toe kick around the kitchen cabinets and the kitchen register
Mike "helped me" put a handle on the front door (I just wanted help with one part, he ended up doing it all)

Mike has:
taken off the double doors in the living room to the office
framed up a wall to replace them
put on drywall, mudded, taped, and sanded and a coat of primer on that
tried to work on the crown molding over the kitchen cupboards - kept splitting and the angles on part of it had to be looked up since the cupboards come together on a 45 degree angle, then to cut for the molding angle, well you get the idea....
Cut the toe kick for me (He has a fancy, smancy new saw courtesy of the one ruined in the apartment vandalism)
fixed the door between the kitchen and dining room (it is now functional instead of stuck open) and put a coat of polyurethane on it
Tried to fix the new handle we put on the front door, but it broke again (actually was the original handle he had on, but he took it off several years ago)

There are still tons of things that need to be done. Where does the time go? When we went to bed last night my feet ached from painting barefoot all day (got to remember to wear those orthotics for stuff like that) and my back ached from all the painting ( bending over, stretching, ladder climbing). I'm getting old - I could not move from the bed, even when I decided some Motrin would be a good thing.

One Tired Puppy

When we went to pick Steven up from camp we left Sadie with my parents, Pete decided to stay there too so he did not have to spend the whole day in the car. I knew my sister was coming down to spend the day at my parents but we weren't sure if my nephews would be there as well. When we got there to pick up Sadie and Pete we found that the nephews were indeed there, and every time Sadie tried to lay down to take her daily 3 hour nap, someone would wake her up to play. So, home we came, unloaded the plastic kiddie pool that we bought her today, and fed her dinner. When Pete took her out to potty, we filled up the 5 foot pool and in she went!!! She jumped, she splashed, she tried to catch the fish that are painted on the bottom of the pool. It was great. Now she is snoring - loudly - in her crate at 9 PM, I'm sure she won't stir until morning.

The Hold-Out

When we were on our honeymoon last year, Mike told me that this year I could pick where we go on our family vacation, the only stipulation, we both agreed, was it should be somewhere "fairlee" close to home. When Mike's job decided to send him to Macanaw this year, we decided to go as a family, have a weekend of fun and then the evenings after he is done for the day. I assumed we would just count that as our vacation.......fast forward to this morning when we were on our way to pick Steven up from camp (he had a fabulous time and can't wait for next year). We stopped at a rest area, and while I was waiting for Mike, I began browsing the tourist brouchers. My little eye spied right away one labeled "Santa Clause, IN". Well, hold the phone... Pete and I love Christmas, this sounds promising. Oh, yeah. Big Christmas store (like Bronners), a campground on Lake Roudolph, right next to the Holiday Time Theme Park, and the campground has a light show set to music at night. Out comes Mike fromt the bathroom to the ambush "You've been holding out on me, why didn't you ever tell me about Santa Clause, IN?" Needless to say, reservations were made this morning, and we are all set for a weekend of Christmas fun...in the middle of summer.

The Chinese Are Coming

I feel like Paul Rever saying that. So, a few months after we thought they would be here, they are coming next week and staying a couple weeks. They are staying at a local inn at the best Amish restaurant here in town. Mike ordered and received 2 cases of Chinese beer to make them feel at home (they asked him last night if they can bring us some Chinese Rice Wine ( Mike hates that stuff!! Very potent, very bad hangover the next morning). 3 days after we come home from vacation, they are coming here for dinner. I still don't have any idea what we are eating. Not even sure if I am cooking or Mike is grilling out ( a very American summer meal!!) I'm thinking we may have hamburgers, brats, corn on the cob.....MMMMM. Once they get here, Mike wants to take them out to the Chinese restaurant here in town to show them what American Chinese food is like. He knows that Western food is not the same in China as it is here.

On the up side, Mike wants to get the main floor of the house done before they come to dinner. That makes me very happy.

Our Vandalism, Repaired

We did not have much vandalism in here, spray foam on the vinyl floor, and the wall between the tub and toilet. Here is the completed bathroom. Beautiful!!

The kitchen didn't have much damage either, mostly they just left a mess from them making snacks, although there were cleaners running down the walls.

5 gallons of paint in the carpet, carving in the wall paper, and a hole punched in a wall. Fixed, fixed, and fixed!!

The bedroom was by far the worst with damage. Paint, primer, and plaster spread all over the floor. A bag of plaster powder thrown all over, flooring adhesive flung onto the windows, walls, ceilings. Paint and adhesive on all the walls. The parquet floor could not be saved.

After all the work, we are done. I love the muted colors we chose, it really makes the place light, bright and look bigger. Now we are just waiting a a great rental applicant. We thought we would be taking a break right now, but one great applicant we did see wants the bottom apartment, and there is a ton of work to do in there right now. As soon as we are back from vacation, we are back to work there hot and heavy!!

A Happy Camper

My darling oldest son is off to camp this week. My parents went with me for the long drive, thank goodness (12 hours from the time we left the house until we returned)! I drove there and dad drove back. It was a bitter sweet drive for me, the first time my son would be away for so long and so far from home. Granted this camp is set up specifically for kids 11-17 years old with the same sorts of medical conditions that he has. We got him a pay-as-you-go kind of phone - I was going to just send my cell with him, but then I got several calls over the weekend for info on the apartment and decided I could not send him that one. I showed him the basics of how to use it - I had programed mine, Mikes, and my parents numbers into it so he could call who and when he wanted. I realized when we got there we had forgotten to pack his alarm clock. By the time he called me that night he had figured out how to use the alarm feature on his phone and was checking out the other cool things he could do. As we closed the call I ended with my standard, "I love you". For the first time there was a LOOONNGG pause, then "you too. There are a lot of people here, Mom". Pretty much the same response the next night when after he told me to tell Mike and Pete he said "Hi" I said "we all miss you" ........ crickets, crickets, crickets......... "Bye, Mom". Last night he called all excited, first he appologised for forgetting to call me Wed night. They had just returned from spending the afternoon and evening at Kings Island. They stayed for the closing fireworks and then back to the dorms at Xiavier University were they are having the camp. He was not given a ton of spending money for camp and he complained about the price of the ice cream he wanted because he was so hot - $5 for a small cup, Mom!!" While we were talking his councelor for his group (#6 for those of you who may care) got on the phone with me to tell me what a great kid he is, how well he is behaving there, and that is is using his listening ears when they are giving directions. Good to know that stuff lasts even when he is away from me. I am ready for him to come home, even though the peace of only one child at home will be over. Fiona really misses him. Every time I go down to the basement she is laying on his bed. Oh, and when we hung up last night, he told me he loves me too!!!

Today is supposed to be the last day of this heat wave. I hope so, since I am not one to handle excessive heat well. Add into that a couple of hot flashes and working on the second floor apartment of a house with very un-efficient windows, even with air conditioning, it gets up to around 80 degrees by the end of the night. I am looking forward to a break. The sky is getting dark and I hear rumbles of thunder. That should cool things off now!!!

Since we are having an open house at the apartment today and tomorrow, I bought Sadie a folding crate. Well, more like a pop up tent. It says it is for dogs up to 75 pounds, but my baby girl is already looking like she will out grow it in another month. She is not so sure about it. She is used to her crate with metal sides and top, this one has mesh windows and nylon sides. Good thing she has not realized how easy her claws could rip it open and out she would go....... It is still too hot out to leave her under her tree and with this apartment all but done, we don't want to risk pet damage. She has figured out that she can move around in her portable crate. She pushes on the sides and rolls it over until she gets to the other side of the room. It's very funny, and freaks the boys out!

Making A List And Checking It Twice

Progress continues on the rental house. A bit frustrating for both Mike and myself since we have totally different approaches to the project. Mike is a do one thing at a time kind of guy. He will go through the whole apartment doing the wiring, or the baseboards, or whatever the project is. I like to complete one room at a time. My approach gets one room complete, so I can look at that and say "Wow, we're making great progress". Mike's way makes sense too, since while he's in the mode or has out the tool, he can get them all done. His just takes longer to see the completion. I work off a "To Do" list that I can cross things off with a sense of satisfaction. He just plugs away on what needs done. He is getting into my list thing though.....the other day he told me to cross whatever the project was off my list. I had to admit that was not on my list, since it was not something I had thought about. So, he told me to add it to my list so I could cross it off.

He's not totally on board with my list making though......he came across my list the other day of what I need to pack for the family camping trip later this summer and asked me if that wasn't just a little over the top. I told him fine, then I will delete the list on my computer, and he can pack for all of us without forgetting anything. I haven't heard anything else about my list.