What a Week

We have been devoting our time to the apartment house and I have been working again, so the blog time has been mimimal lately. Our original tenants are gone now (moved last weekend) and luckily, no major damage. I did not want to have to put major repairs into that one too! There is even only one room needing paint!! Our upstairs tenant is moving over to this bigger apartment next week, and then back to advertising their current apartment for rent. Third apartment will be ready in a month - fingers crossed, I've said that before. But we have the rooms with the plumbing in them done - so no more plumbing surprises (we had to totally replumb - is that a word?- the bathroom. Most of the elecrical is done, that takes SO LONG to fish all that wire to bring it up to date. Mike needs to fix the plaster cracks and sand the plaster and drywall a last time. Then I can paint the bedrooms and living room. I can tell Mike is getting tired of all this too - he is letting me do things in this apartment he does not usually like to have anyone do but him. We are still trying to do it all the right way, but we just want to get it done!

Check

Apartment 3 bathroom done? Check. Apartment 3 kitchen complete? Almost check. I will be painting the trim today and the walls tomorrow, then check. I have even painted some extra drawers for the kitchen cabinents that will be stored in the barn until needed. Have I mentioned that the rental house is so old it is the only house in town with a barn on the property? Just a small one, but still, a barn. If we would get one semi-warm day, will get the front doors hung. There is a temporary door and a plywood filler piece up right now. I painted the double doors a couple weekends ago, but it has turned very cold since then - and even though they open into a hallway that leads to the entrance doors of Apartments 2 and 3 so it won't make someone's living space cold, it is still awfully cold to work outside - especially since Mike has an aversion to wearing his gloves. I am hoping by the end of the weekend I will be painting the living room too.

We Dodged The Bullet

Over the weekend we only got 3 or 4 inches of snow. Our neighbors about a half hour away recieved 30!!! Most of our snow came Friday night and Saturday, and Pete had a ball on Saturday. This time of year is when our hilly yard is a blessing. He had lots of directions to choose from as he got out the sled, and I think he used them all. He also started 3 different areas with snow forts - apparently you never know when you may need to have cover from a spontanious snow ball attack. His only complaint was the snow was very light and fluffy, so it didn't make a comfy base for sledding, and he added water to the walls of his snow forts to make it hold up better. We are supposed to get a couple more inches today, maybe it will be better snow for winter fun and games.

I remember liking math when I was in school. Tonight, Steven is doing math homework (On Sunday night, he realized he still had homework to do) and it consists of that dreded math function - fractions. Mike has been the homework parent tonight and done most of this worksheet with him. Mike got stumped and I placed the call to my sister the teacher. She also has a 13 year old son, in 7th grade. I was hoping they had just done this math and she could rattle off the procedures to me. Wrong, they are doing something totally different. But after a quick consult, I got the jist and Steve moved on to the next section of the worksheet - with Mike as his guide. It's only been 20 some years since I was in 7th grade - he doesn't understand why I can't just pull this stuff up from my memory. Wait till he's as old as I am helping his own children with math - maybe he'll get lucky and Aunt Jenny will still be available for a quick consult!

I want to get rid of the TV. My husband and sons will be horrified at the thought, even though Mike has threatened the boys with loss of the television for various infractions of TV rules/courtesy. We just watched on CNN another story of people standing around taking video of voilent crime but no one calling 911. I believe part of this trend is all the violent shows on TV, you can't even watch shows at times young children are around without seeing things they should not be subjected to. Used to be those kinds of shows came on after 9 PM. Now everyone is gettting de-sensitized to violence. I also realize part of this is due to U-tube and all the other internet places this stuff can be posted- hence the supervised use of the web in our house. I am sure I will be out voted on this, but this is along the lines of "It takes a village to raise a child". People in this country need to feel like they used to about saying something to kids doing the wrong thing, crime happening, or anything of this sort. Maybe not step in like they used to, too many crazy or just angry people with guns out there, but at the very least call 911 or tell kids partents what they are doing.

He's Fired

Yesterday, when the alarm went off, my Darling Husband got up, went down stairs to get the boys up for school, and stayed downstairs with them. Meanwhile I got a leisurily morning - actually getting to take my shower BEFORE I came down. I hear breakfast being eaten and the regular morning chit chat happening as I mosey around upstairs. Every Wednesday the boys go to school 20 minutes later than the rest of the week, so they were in no rush. When I came down, they had about 20 minutes until they needed to be out the door (mind you, they had been up for an hour). DH was watching a movie he had recorded the other night, and Darling Youngest was sitting at the table, in his pajamas, watching the movie too. Where is Darling Oldest? In the bathroom I'm told. "Steven, are you dressed?" "No". UUUHHHH. So much for leisure. I begin the process. Everyone Get Dressed! Then teeth brushed, hair brushed, bags double checked, did anyone make lunches? NO? I'll do that while you get ready. Then turn to DH.....that's why I don't allow anything on the TV while they are getting ready except the news. And you have to stay on them the whole time. You can't be the "get them off in the morning" parent anymore! Wait a minute, I think that was his goal.....did he just win?

He Just Can't Win

My mom gave me this really cute wallet and checkbook cover for Christmas. Since I joined the 20th century and started using an ATM card (yes, I know that this is the 21st century, but I am always a bit behind on my technology), I don't carry the family checkbook anymore. HOWEVER, I do carry the rental checkbook since we don't have an ATM card for that, and I deposit rent weekly and do lots of other bill paying and rental buying. I am the one who usually takes care of all the rental money, so into my cute, hot pink, polka dotted checkbook cover it went. Unfortunately, we had to have new glass cut for the entrance double doors we just had restored for the rental. Big, heavy pieces of glass - so Mike went to pick them up. He asked me for the checkbook and his face went pale. "I am NOT carrying THAT anywhere! I'll take the checks out and bring the reciept home for you to enter." Then he opened it up to see my really cute polka dotted checks I ordered for our rental account. The poor man just can't win.

Girls are girls, no matter the species. This morning I was straightening up the bedroom. The kitties were both upstairs - no surprise there. And they both wandered into the bathroom. OK, wait for it...... whenever they are together too long a fight usually follows- lots of hissing and growling. HMMMM, silence. With these girls, just like with children, too much silence can mean trouble, so I went to investigate. Santara was sitting on the bathmat, looking toward the litter box. Fiona was in there. Just like with any other bathroom, there is ALWAYS a line for the Ladies Room!

Our Sadie Baby loved her Christmas present! This is a real bone - a femur (cow I think, but it could be the guy who pulled in our drive way the other day, she hates when people do that....) She is a powerful chewer, and we figured this would last her awhile. On New Years Day I picked up the small pieces of what was left of this bone. She has one bit left, about 4 inches long that she hasn't cracked yet into pieces too sharp or too small to be safe for her. Mike is now looking for something from a Mastadon for her(the boys have been wanting to visit the Smithsonian since watching "Night At The Museum"). Maybe that would last a whole month, instead of only 7 days!

Today is COLD!! Winter is letting us know that two day peep into spring weather, was just a tease. At this point I could use a little sunshine and good cheer. Oh, wait, the boys go back to school tomorrow - there is my blessed bit of good cheer. Mike has been off since Christmas Eve, with the factory shut down, and the boys are on Christmas break. By yesterday, we were all on eachother's last nerve. Too Much Togetherness!!! I always said I was a better mother because I worked and was not home with the boys all the time.