So we have a mouse (hoping just one) in our "real" house, not the rehab. This guy has evaded us for weeks. He first showed his pointy little nose a few weeks ago. (On a side note, this may explain Wynne's complaints about a gopher in her room. Maybe it wasn't a dream....)
Anyway, we set out snap traps with peanut butter. No luck (had to get up early every morning and collect the traps so the kids did not get caught.) We still have not found a nest or any mouse nuggets but we've seen him in the kitchen near the dishwasher. So we decided to try glue traps. We put them out at night, pick them up in the morning, put them out before work, pick them up when we get home. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. No mouse.
Today after work I did not pick them up since I put Emmett right into his booster for dinner. Figured he would not get trapped so no reason -- wrong!
While making dinner, I stepped right into the trap and was...trapped! I COULD NOT separate my sock from this thing. Wynne, ever the cool head, instructed me to take my sock off. Good thing it had a hole in it anyway.
So if you are keeping score:
Mouse - 1
Jen - 0
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Stabbed!
Just a quick update and reminder to always keep sharp objects away from babies.....Earlier this week Pete was loading the dishwasher and Emmett came up and grabbed a butter knife from the silverware basket. Pete picked him up and Emmett knifed him right in the face!!!! No need for stitches but he did get quite a puncture would. Glad it was not a steak knife. This kid is dangerous....
Friday, November 14, 2008
Back at the house
Finally had a day that I could dedicate to working on the house. It got old really quickly.
We started off the day doing a project for work - we have an employee giving campaign - if everyone gives we all get a free day off. So we are doing a You Tube campaign talking about what we would do with our free day off.
Mine is below but this was actually round two. We shot the first one and I went back to our house to pee and upload the video and realized that I had to re-shoot. If you ever want to get really depressed, shoot a video of yourself with no makeup on. I am not usually that vain but this was AWFUL. So I had to put on makeup and try again.
As far as actual work goes -- it was kitchen cabinet day. We removed the (33!!) cabinet doors and sanded the gunk and grime off of them. Our contractor suggested an easier way to clean the doors -- we used a chemical to strip the gunk and varnish.
That worked for the moderately dirty doors but I had to go back to the belt sander for the really bad ones. (Note to self - pay more attention to the cabinet doors in our kitchen - I usually only wipe them when I spill something. Really don't want to have to use a machine to clean them.)
The plumbing inspection was supposed to be today but they were too busy so maybe next week. If you watched the video you will see the fancy way we flush the toilet. Luckily the house is only a few blocks away from our house because I still drove home to use the facilities. It is weird enough with no door -- has to be a pretty big emergency to use the bucket/flush method.
I also scraped a part of a wall (many many layers of wallpaper) while I was waiting for Pete to deliver the chemicals. I think it will take another solid week of just scraping wallpaper.
I am realizing that home improvement projects are like the snow. When it first snows - you want to play in it, don't mind shoveling it and are generally pretty excited about it. Then it keeps coming. And coming and just starts taking over. OK - not really that overwhelmed by the house just yet but I am lucky that Pete is doing most of the work and does not seem to get tired of tedious work.
We started off the day doing a project for work - we have an employee giving campaign - if everyone gives we all get a free day off. So we are doing a You Tube campaign talking about what we would do with our free day off.
Mine is below but this was actually round two. We shot the first one and I went back to our house to pee and upload the video and realized that I had to re-shoot. If you ever want to get really depressed, shoot a video of yourself with no makeup on. I am not usually that vain but this was AWFUL. So I had to put on makeup and try again.
As far as actual work goes -- it was kitchen cabinet day. We removed the (33!!) cabinet doors and sanded the gunk and grime off of them. Our contractor suggested an easier way to clean the doors -- we used a chemical to strip the gunk and varnish.
That worked for the moderately dirty doors but I had to go back to the belt sander for the really bad ones. (Note to self - pay more attention to the cabinet doors in our kitchen - I usually only wipe them when I spill something. Really don't want to have to use a machine to clean them.)
The plumbing inspection was supposed to be today but they were too busy so maybe next week. If you watched the video you will see the fancy way we flush the toilet. Luckily the house is only a few blocks away from our house because I still drove home to use the facilities. It is weird enough with no door -- has to be a pretty big emergency to use the bucket/flush method.
I also scraped a part of a wall (many many layers of wallpaper) while I was waiting for Pete to deliver the chemicals. I think it will take another solid week of just scraping wallpaper.
I am realizing that home improvement projects are like the snow. When it first snows - you want to play in it, don't mind shoveling it and are generally pretty excited about it. Then it keeps coming. And coming and just starts taking over. OK - not really that overwhelmed by the house just yet but I am lucky that Pete is doing most of the work and does not seem to get tired of tedious work.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
What a difference a month makes
Yesterday marked one month since we bought the house. It has come so far (yet so much more to do...) The outside of the house looks so great. Pete was able to put the railing back on the front steps (one side rusted off and was laying the front yard). This involved using a grinder, new footings and other things that sound really difficult. Wynne noted that he painted the numbers on the house and said that was her favorite part...
Pete has spent a total of about a zillion hours bagging leaves. We have three giant trees and they keep dumping leaves. One half of a tree is left so the end is in sight.
Most of the "in wall" plumbing is done - just waiting for inspection. I have not worked at the house in weeks. Looking forward to having more time for that in November.
The second half of October was just crazy at work. I had three out-of-town trips in two weeks (one over a weekend), lots of presentations and I helped to organize a meeting for 35 people (much harder than I thought it would be). Add in two birthday parties for Wynne and you have a recipe for exhaustion. I probably got about five hours of sleep per night for the last few weeks. I realized just how tired I was when on Friday I looked at myself at the end of the day and thought my shirt looked funny. well of course it did - it was on inside out. Not a good look. Luckily I worked from home and only left the house for bit.
Got caught up on some sleep this weekend (no sleeping in with kids).
Pete has spent a total of about a zillion hours bagging leaves. We have three giant trees and they keep dumping leaves. One half of a tree is left so the end is in sight.
Most of the "in wall" plumbing is done - just waiting for inspection. I have not worked at the house in weeks. Looking forward to having more time for that in November.
The second half of October was just crazy at work. I had three out-of-town trips in two weeks (one over a weekend), lots of presentations and I helped to organize a meeting for 35 people (much harder than I thought it would be). Add in two birthday parties for Wynne and you have a recipe for exhaustion. I probably got about five hours of sleep per night for the last few weeks. I realized just how tired I was when on Friday I looked at myself at the end of the day and thought my shirt looked funny. well of course it did - it was on inside out. Not a good look. Luckily I worked from home and only left the house for bit.
Got caught up on some sleep this weekend (no sleeping in with kids).
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