Life in Chapters

It has been altogether too long since I've really blogged.  Time for another "Life in Chapters" post... because its going to be RANDOM!

Chapter 1: Cleaning Madness
I thought we had fleas.  Hudson woke up a couple weeks ago with like 6 bites around his legs along the diaper area.  And I have a couple random bites on my body and so does Ryan.  Porter doesn't, however, but he's been wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts all summer (more on that later).  We came back from camping and I kept feeling just... itchy.  I was reading a lot of posts on FB about a couple different people having fleas and stuff so I figured I was just getting the heebie jeebies (empathy scratches) from that.

So, yesterday I went and spent $120 at the pet store (vet was closed for holiday weekend) on Frontline and a flea bomb and a flea collar to put in my vacuum cleaner bag.  And then I set out to work.

I bathed Duncan and Ramsey.  Tore the sheets and blankets and pillowcases off all the beds, vacuumed all 4 bedrooms (area rugs and baseboards), vacuumed the living room and baseboards, and vacuumed the entire basement.  It is disgusting as I had just put on a brand new vacuum bag and it was FULL.  Disgustingly full.  I tossed it, just in case we had fleas and got it out of the house.

I folded 3 loads of laundry in addition to all the bedding.  It felt good that the house was SO clean.  I was exhausted and fell asleep with Porter around 8pm and slept till morning.  WHEW!

Chapter 2: Riding Lacey
Friday I took the boys to go ride Lacey.  They'd been bugging me to go riding since Cannen's Open House the beginning of June.  I also wanted to start teaching Porter how to ride alone in hopes that someday soon we could go riding together (although I'd probably still lead him while riding Rocket or Lacey...?)  Hudson had a huge grin on his face when I rode with him but his fun was short lived.  He preferred to chase the cat around the yard.  Porter, however, had a blast.  He rode with me, and then let me lead him, and then I taught him a little bit of how to turn and stop Lacey and he rode all by himself!  He had so much fun and was so brave.  I'm so proud of him.  I took a video and he watched it about 10 times later that day and said "I'm so proud of myself!"  So cute.  I'm hoping to take the boys back once a week... if life busy-ness doesn't get in the way.




Chapter 3: The Kitchen Remodel/Facelift
I guess you can't call it an actual remodel b/c we used the original cabinets... but it was much more than a facelift as we knocked out the entire effing wall between the kitchen and dining room.

My countertops came on Tuesday.  I'm in love.  I love love love them.  They look so nice and I can not wait to have the backsplash, floor and the beam finished.  Its going to look so nice. Now if only I can replace the appliances with black or stainless steel.  We currently have a black dishwasher but white stove and fridge and microwave.  I would probably just buy from Craigslist, and I am considering putting our stuff on Craigslist (as well as the stove and fridge from the apartment above the garage) and taking the sale money from that stuff and buying a used black fridge and stove and microwave for the kitchen.  Just for the time being, and then eventually replace it with stainless steel.

We had to get a new faucet for our new sink (SOOO happy to not have that white scratched and stained sink anymore!!).  The sink has two different sized basins and only room for a faucet in the center or to the right.  So we got a new faucet with a pull down sprayer and I love it. 

Chapter 4: Re-Opening the Pink Apartment

Awhile back I opened a Pink Apartment... a blog where I was anonymous and could blog my vents and frustrations and irritations to people who don't know me, won't judge me (or if they do I don't give a shit), and won't know who I'm talking about.  I haven't blogged there in awhile, which was probably a good thing because that means drama and irritation in my life was low. And I just typed a whole bit and then deleted it because... HELLO.... put it on the Pink Apartment.  Sheesh.  No need to have more of my words taken out of context.   (Ashley, while part of this does pertain to our "misunderstanding" last week... its most definitely not all about you :) Nothing bad. No hate. ) 

Chapter 5:  4th of July 

We have had literally ZERO plans for this weekend.  The Huffs invited us up to their (family) cabin in Evart, but we decided we have enough stuff here to do.  Yesterday we cleaned all day.  Today we were going to go to a movie (Toy Story 3) but Porter is already in a sassy mood.  Tonight we had planned to have a "camp out" in our back yard but everyone is pretty much out of town or busy.  And last night was fireworks in town and we decided not to go.  Not that we have EVER gone... I despise crowds and can't see the fun and enjoyment through being crammed in the same 10sq ft as a million other people.  Tonight we will probably go to my Grandma's brother's house on Michigan Center Lake and watch the fireworks.  And tomorrow we're going to Dave's to cook out but other than that... nada.  Big holiday weekend.  LOL!

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I felt like I had so much more to say, but apparently can't remember any of it.  Go figure.