Everything I own is broken.

When it rains it pours.

This weekend started off great... and got increasingly worse. First - the good news. We got a TON of things accomplished that we needed to. I dropped off the 4 bags of clothing that have been taking up my guest room at the church for their Thrift Store, Eve's closet. Then I went shopping and got massive amounts of things that have been on my misc to-buy list for oh... about a year! Things like curtains for the kitchen, shams for our bed, CFL light bulbs, new tablecloth, etc. And then I did a massive cleaning of the house. While I was doing all that, Dave went to softball and they actually won their first game of the season! (GO FCN!) When he came home, he ripped up the entire front flower bed and part of the side bed. (GO DAVE!!) We've been talking about that for oh.... about a year, and I can not even begin to tell you how much better it's looking. (Pictures and a separate blog to follow!)

BUT that's when things started to go downhill.

Dave injured both feet while digging up the bushes (of course) thus making him a cripple and *almost* completely useless on Sunday. And then the cat got sick Sunday night and we ended up spending hours in the emergency animal clinic. To make a long story short, he has a bladder infection, which they gave us antibiotics for, and in the process found out he is diabetic. We been back to the vet every day so they can check his sugar level and we will have to learn how to give him insulin shots.

Finally last night we were all home, all 3 of us... two of us laid up on the couch, 1 of us still functioning and picking up after the other 2 (I'll let you guess who that was) But about 4 am Dave and I woke up to what sounded like a very large animal trying to dig it's way through the wall or ceiling or floor - I couldn't tell due to the lack of sleep and abrupt awakening.

Great.

So to sum up.... the husband is broken, the cat is broken, and some *thing* is trying to break the house. Just about everything I own is broken.

Well.... the car got me to work just fine so I guess that's not broken.

(Unless I just jinxed myself)

Getting there...

Slow but steady, right? That's what my momma always..... Ehh. Who am I kidding? I'm lazy as the day is long. I still have the bathroom half finished.

In other news - the potted vegetable garden has been moved to the ground and is growing like crazy! (pictures to come) We just got back from a lovely trip to Mississippi to see the relatives, so we are still getting caught up on household chores too.

I think our next huge project will be the yard. I can not even FATHOM another summer of weeding and spraying and cutting and trimming. ACK. So Dave and I decided to rip up all the flower beds and small bushes, till the ground, and either lay seed or sod. The goal is to be able to mow 95% of the yard. Most of these flower beds have not produced any actual flowers in about 2 years (since we moved in) that is, if you don't count the dandelions and flowering weeds. So hopefully we can get that project going this weekend. Dave will need to rip the box hedges out with his truck... stay tuned for those pictures!!

Happy Friday!!! :)

I AM SO HAPPY IT'S FRIDAY! YAY!!!!!!

It's been one of those weeks at work... Hell, it's been one of those MONTHS... and a day off could not come at a better time. I feel like I've been running around like a crazy person for the past month, trying to make progress on the house, trying to make progress at work, running back and forth to my parents house to see my 89 year old grandma who was visiting for a few weeks, and of course the constant (constant!) cleaning up after the husband and cat. I am DEAD I tell ya. I know this because I had a complete meltdown last night and then woke up this morning thinking "Why in god's name did I pick a fight with Dave over BLANK?" (It doesn't even matter what the heck it was. It's usually something totally ridiculous like the dishwasher or leaving the shoes all over the house, etc.) Poor Dave. I really put him through the ringer.

BUT! Today is a new day... It's Friday... I'm on my 3rd cup of joe... I feel great... I am staying positive... and I am *penciling in some me time* this weekend. I've got 3 new decorating/design magazines and a new bottle of melon/mint/sugar scrub for the shower (smell so good!) and a pedicure gift certificate I have yet to cash in. I am taking a break this weekend!

Now Dave on the other hand... I have a honey-do list a mile long... seeing as how I added all of mine onto his ;)

3 Down... 827 Other things to go...

Three more things checked off the list this week.

1.) Painting....... DONE. I chose "Dolphin Fin" by Behr. It's dark enough that you know there's a color on the wall, but light enough to be considered a neutral. And it blends with that "marble" top on the counter. It is SUCH a dramatically different feeling than that old wallpaper had. (Clearly!) I should also note that I decided to paint the ceiling the same color. I am so glad we did. It saved us oodles of time because we used the same roller and paint brush for everything. Just kept rolling up the wall and right over our heads!

2.) Vanity cabinet...... DONE (for now.) As previously mentioned we flipped it (so it was easier to open) chopped off the scroll top, and painted it. I also decided to spray paint the inside a nice clean white and Presto change-o! Much cleaner looking!! Sorry I do not have a before picture of the inside, I just got so excited about spray painting. (I have a problem. Maybe I was a graffiti artist in a past life??) But trust me, it was a gross old dated beige color that just looked dirty even though it wasn't. Eventually I'd like to get a new one all together (or maybe some open shelving??) but for now this will do.

3.) New light....... CHECK. It's actually a Delta bathroom light we found at Lowes. I love love love it. It reminds me of the ones in the Pottery Barn catalogue. Dave was a little worried about it being only 3 light bulbs... but really, I look better in mood lighting.

Now... onto the cabinet, the new pulls, and a new shower curtain. And maybe a big piece of abstract artwork for the wall... hmm.... Oh and I apologize that the pictures are so dark looking. I (of course) didn't actually have any extra light bulbs to put into the new light. It's on the shopping list for this weekend!!

Pump it up.

So our dude did in fact show up at 8 AM yesterday, and took a look at our heater.

Side note... Dave said he actually liked the guy when he met him. So maybe he was having a bad day and just forgot he had an appointment with us on Friday...... and then tried to lie his way out of it...... and sometimes hears music when there is none playing...... ANYHOO who am I to judge?

So there is nothing wrong with our heater (of course) But we found out we actually have a heat pump, which is different than a furnace. It sort of works like a backwards air conditioner, making the air from the outside hot, unlike a furnace that uses electric or gas powered heat. "The dude," as I'm now referring to him, told us it works really well in mild temperatures, but when it gets too cold, like below 50, it works overtime trying to get any heat out of that really cold air, and thus blowing cold air into the house like crazy trying to get the temperature up. It can be very energy efficient - in MILD climates.

Too bad we live in North Florida, where it gets down into the 30's in the winter... and roughly 110 degrees every day in the summer.