Git 'er Done

After a month of illness . . . the inside of the house looked like a whirlwind whipped through and the outside of the house looked a little abandoned. Buck had a day off and we decided to try to knock a few things off of the to-do list. The first big one, we safely dropped the truck off at the repair shop. Check! Next was replace the two fire alarms that CONSTANTLY go off, even when no one is cooking. Check! After that, time to address the leaky garbage disposal (and oh, great, mold) in the kitchen.

Red, ooh la la! We also noticed the water line to the dishwasher was dripping, and we're very anti-drip around here at the moment, so Buck tightened that up, too. Check and check!

With the great room switch, Caelan has been decorating her now bare walls. We have a cool stud finder that also shows where electrical is located. Graysen was picking up on electrical everywhere, so, not wanting to "blow up the house," he waited for Buck to help Caelan with her decor. Buck taught Caelan the drilling, wall anchor basics. She had to go to the store for a different kind of plant hanger for her potted macramé greenery, so the project paused and then resumed. She said, "I still have a lot to learn about being a plant mom," as some of her well-sunned collection looked a little droopy. Ha! But her room is looking cute! Check!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Graysen was replacing yet another round of cupboard hinges. The plastic dries up or something over time and the cupboards won't stay closed. We keep back-up hinge supplies in the garage, because it happens at least once a year. But the cupboard closes again, so, check!

With recent rain and cooler temps, our overgrown yard and concrete weed situation was a little extra. I sat in the driveway and pulled weeds from the cracks. Buck trimmed the hedge and front tree. I pulled weeds from the retaining wall, sidewalk, and steps--more activity than I've done in a while! 

While Buck started unwrapping the steal of a deal solar lights he snagged at work (they got tucked away on a shelf and were the last to clear out their category in inventory, so Buck's boss marked them down from $60+ to $15). I've been wanting replacement lights for up on the hill around the chicken coop, as the ones we bought several years ago stopped working several years ago :)

I moved around to doing some weeding in the back, plus general deck and yard trash clean up. Then Buck and I sat on the swing and rested. Once we were ready, I picked the spots for the lights, and he put them in place. They look SO pretty at night from the house, love! Check!

While we were up there, I noticed the chickens needed all three waters refilled and they were completely out of food. I let them out to forage while I did a muddy slip-n-slide to gather eggs. Brennen took care of the water when he and Gabby and G$ got back from running errands, and then he mixed and filled the chicken food when Caelan and Noah got back from meeting with the new worship pastor and buying food (and plant hooks) at the feed store. Brennen also mowed the front lawn while we took G$ to football practice. We look way less abandoned around here, check!!

While Graysen was at practice, Buck and I went to dinner. We tried a new (to us) steakhouse and really liked it! It was our first date night in over a month. I guess I haven't been eating as much as usual while I've been sick (probably a good thing!), because when they kept rolling out more and more food, it felt overwhelming :) Actually just being out and in a restaurant was overwhelming, like sensory overload. I told Buck I felt like I could be dreaming, it was that kind of a weird sensation. I'm wondering if all the coughing has killed off enough brain cells to alter my perceptions of reality . . . is that a thing? It was nice to spend a couple hours just with Buck. He's pretty cool, I like him a lot :)

And why wasn't Brennen at practice? Well, several months ago he and Gabby got tickets to a concert. The start time made it pretty hard to get home and cleaned up from football, so he just didn't go. In the meantime, their former piano teacher (my NGF's sister) forgot that she'd bought a ticket to the concert and had scheduled something else. She offered the ticket to her brother, our nephew's doppelganger and everyone's friend, C. He mentioned that our two were going to the concert, and maybe he could drive them all together. To his sister's shock, his mom said, "That's a great idea!" We're all a little surprised at the newfound enthusiasm of allowing Gabby and C to spend time together. They've been sweet on each other for two years, and last year they were not allowed to even speak to each other. Suddenly, they are spending every day together with his parents' approval--you may have noticed they invited Gabby to church and took her out to lunch last week to get to know her better. It is feeling like answered prayers, for sure!

Buck went to bed early (he's got BIG boss walks this week and preparations are intense!) and I stayed up until midnight waiting for the concert crew to return home. Just me and these two knuckleheads, who decided to get along and not fight for a while . . .

The house "feels" better with the fixes and the yard clean-up. We still have a ways to go, but it feels accomplishable. I just need to psych myself up to finish school planning and to pick a start date. You can see in the double dog picture the corner of Graysen's Econ book peeking out, so I am trying :) I'll give that a "check!" too.