Summer 2011

Well, here it is Summer of 2011 and we are in the full throws of enjoying having AJ around all the time as he has summer's off. Last week was his first full week with the kids and on day one I texted him to see how things were going and he replied with the fact the Maggie was cranky and it was a lot different having two kids! Last summer he had it made with Porter who was one and walking. This summer is a little different with a 2 year old and a 6 month old. But he will survive and the kids will have a great summer bonding with daddy.

And since I am not pregnant this summer, watch out yard and home projects that I can do, here I come. Well, maybe not all of them. I still have limitations as we have a 2 year old and a nursing 6 month old, but when they are napping, I am cutting down trees, trimming branches, mowing the lawn and laundry. Truth be told, I do laundry all the time whether the kids are sleeping or awake! AJ and his dad bought me a weed whacker and last year we bought a very nice lawn mower and some good clippers and trimmers and I am set. Like I said, watch out yard, I'll whip you in to shape.

But that is just the ongoings of owning a home. This spring AJ decided to build a chicken run and hen house with his Dad as Salem now allows for urban farming! We have chickens. AJ's mom calls the hen house the Taj-ma-Coop and says if she and Al fall on hard times, they can move in to that! It is really nice and beautiful and soon enough, the next couple months we should finally have eggs.

We also are going to paint our house this summer that we started the process on last summer. Currently, our house is yellow with brown trim and LARGE patches of gray primer. Very pretty. But by the time we got as far as we did last summer with the trim, school started up and then the rain came. So, we are getting it done this year, no excuses!

So that is the yard, the chickens, the house. And another project we have going is that our main floor we have two bedrooms. Currently, Maggie is sleeping in our room and she is ready for her own room. This means, we all have to make the shift. But before that can happen, we have to do some preparation in our room that we are remodeling in the basement. Long story short, the people that lived in the house before us tried to do home improvement and never should have. Thus, we have to redo pretty much everything and so that is what we are doing. Once we get the room in the basement par for us, we move down there, Porter moves to our room and Maggie gets Porter's room. But that means, painting each room and new bedding for Porter and Maggie and since we are getting a new room, why not new bedding for us as well! So goes the domino effect! Lori has been gracious with helping us with all this as she loves to decorate!

Our house feels like we get it clean to get it messy to get it clean to get it messy! But it is all good things and will help in the resale value someday and just allows the overall efficiency of our home while we live here.

And finally, a project for the fall. AJ's parents are remodeling their kitchen and purchased a new stove/oven and dishwasher. Their old ones were very nice in comparison to our very old and barely function stove and dishwasher. So sitting in our garage are their old ones to eventually replace ours with. The exciting thing is that the stove is gas and we currently have electric so I am looking forward to a gas stove as they are so much nicer to cook on. Shhhh, don't tell anyone I cook!

As you see we have a lot going on. All good things and we love getting our hands dirty and working. This is just all part of being a homeowner and I am looking forward to working one each of these projects. This is the summer of home projects!