So yeah my day is going to suck...

It's Monday... I work at 4... my car has a flat tire... my husband has a meeting from 3-4.
I see several things going wrong today.
First off, Austin's meeting was scheduled after he already had my schedule. He says he had forgotten to mention it to me. Like I really believe that... So anyways, he called this morning and said he already talked to his mother about it and she will be over at 3:30. Um... HELLO... my house is no where near M~I~L ready. I worked all weekend.
Second I had planned on taking his car to work because, hello, mine has a flat tire. I ran over something on the way to work yesterday because I know it wasn't low when I left the house. Why you ask, because I had to drag out the air house myself and do it because my husband is worthless like that. He thinks I should take care of my own car. I tell him he should be taking care of me and that includes things on my car. We go rounds and rounds. I told him last night after he accused me of 'forgetting' to check that tire that from now on I was taking it to a mechanic to even put windshield washer fluid in it.
So that leaves me with the truck. You remember the awesome green truck. That is if the stupid thing will even start. He changed the battery just a couple of weeks ago when we were way below zero and I don't think he got the battery cables tight. He says he did. Let me put it this way; If they were tight you wouldn't have wiggle them before starting the damn truck.
Honestly. I think he just likes to argue. Yes I realize that they could be tight but still have a bad connection because of corrosion etc. All I have to say to that is fix it right and then you don't have to worry about it. Don't tell your wife 'Well if it doesn't start just wiggle this cable and then it should.' Do you know what that gets you.
Just guess.
That's right Shit on a stick for supper all week.
Let me tell you he is one lucky guy.
I got off topic...
Third- His mother. I didn't want to spend my whole day cleaning. The living room needs picked up and vacuumed, along with the dining room, the kitchen needs swept and mopped and dishes done. (I think my husband is allergic to dishes) The bathroom needs picked up also. Austin decided to give Mason a bath last night and now all the towels that were clean are now dirty. He had taken two of the folded ones on the shelf and unfolded them until they were just halves and laid them in front of the bathtub for his knees. It's okay I laughed too. Then he said he was getting Mason out of the tub and somehow dropped the towel into the water. So he got another one and got him out but Mason wouldn't let him use it to dry his hair. So instead of getting out a hand towel for his hair he got out another huge bath towel.
That is all 5 clean huge bath towels. We have more towels but we mostly use the huge ones and there is only the 3 of us so we don't need a huge number considering Mason has his own towels but Austin obviously doesn't know where they are. I really need to get back to that re-training. He is driving me nuts. I actually got mad at him on Friday and told him it doesn't matter how bad he actually does it still needs to be done and he will get better at it. Perfect example was the bath. Now if I could only convince him to do the dishes. I wouldn't even care if he did a really bad job. Sometimes effort counts for a lot.
Those are just the obvious things I see that are going wrong today. It does not take into account the whole multitude of things that will go wrong. Like Mason getting on the dining room table a hundred times or the dog marking my fridge because I forgot him outside. And Austin wonders why I want to paint the office pink. I am horribly out numbered by these inconsiderate jerks. I think I need a vacation.
Well I better go get my butt busy. I am only going to get as much done as I get done. I am going to start on my usual Monday stuff. The bedding is already in the washer. The bathroom is back to looking like my bathroom and not a truck stop. The living and dining rooms are ready to be vacuumed. The kitchen is ready to be mopped. There is a rank smell coming from the stove. Like actually from the stove. I have this sinking suspicion that my husband forgot something in it. I really don't want to open the door on the oven but it is unavoidable. I will have to. Next is to get the dishes washed and put away before M~I~L gets here. If I don't she will put them away and then I won't be able to find anything. Last time she actually rearranged my cabinets and forgot that I am short I couldn't reach the plates. Literally. Couldn't reach them.
Hope everyone has a better day than me.

One Of Those Days...

that you want to slap the people who say 'Good Morning'.

Well it is Monday.
There is snow on the ground and the roads are icy.
We got the bathroom painted (one coat) and I need to go get more paint.
I took a bunch of photos this weekend and now can't find the card reader.
I have exactly half a gallon of milk and 4 diapers.
This week is not starting off so good and I don't see it improving. I have so much to do before my PartyLite party next Sunday. Truly if you like candles call you PartyLite lady and get in on the really good hostess deals this month. Double hostess credit if you have a party by the 15th with one booking. That is even better than the deal I got in on this last July where I got $350 worth of stuff for a whole $20.
Anyways enough about that already we'll just say that I am busy. I have to get he second coat of paint on the bathroom and hopefully get the ceiling painted, it would be nice but sure isn't a requirement so I am not going to kill myself getting it done. Then I have to get all my little decorations hung. I have a couple of things that I got from my last PartyLite party that need hung in the bathroom. Along with a couple of wall plaques and some photos. I also have a little corner shelf that needs painted. Fun stuff you know.

Counting...

I have to count my forks. They keep breaking so I keep throwing them away and I don't know if we have enough for everybody.
Our plates and silverware came from Robin and Jeff when we got married. They got it for a wedding present so it is very old. At least in the way of cheap silverware.
I wouldn't mind having to buy new silverware. We should have replaced it long ago but we always had better things to spend our money on. Like groceries. Then you just get used to it and don't think about it anymore. Then we couldn't agree on a style. When you think about it this is the only silverware Austin has really ever known. I think I might just have to bite the bullet and buy some. He will just have to like or get used to whatever I pick out.
Sounds like a plan to me.

My weekend

Well we were ready to start painting on Sunday but we were just too tired. We worked really hard getting the last of the mudding done on Saturday and then sanding ALL day Sunday. Honestly it hurts to raise my arm to even brush my teeth. I am so proud of us.
Austin is putting up the primer today when he gets home from work and then tomorrow we are going to paint.
I now have to dust the whole house because it doesn't matter how careful you think you are when you are sanding. It gets everywhere. I do mean everywhere. I have so much to do before Thursday. Well actually Wednesday because I will be cooking all day on Wednesday so I won't be able to clean. Should be fun. Wish me luck!
On the good side Austin's mom is off work this week so I am going to coerce her into watching Mason this afternoon.
That was our weekend. It was literally spent in the bathroom. I am just so glad it is finally getting done. I am so ready to start hanging all my decorations back up and getting it really clean. I am so tired of the grungy construction bathroom. To be able to get my bathroom to smell of candles and bleach again. What a wonderful Christmas present. I know I'm weird. It's okay.
Well I'm off to get the house ready for Turkey day.

I'm really not surprised...

Monday is almost done and I feel as though I have got nothing accomplished.
Austin ended up not being home very much on Friday which was a good thing. We would have ended up arguing if he had been home.
The whole weekend went smooth. Very rare indeed. We both worked on the bathroom and hopefully we will be painting it next week. I guess I will rephrase that. We WILL BE painting it next week.
Austin has Thursday and Friday this week and I am really hoping that he has something to do that will keep him away from the house and out of my hair. It would be really great if he could take baby with him and let me have some quiet time. I know this won't happen but I can dream.
Well I didn't get anything done that I wanted to and now it is time to make supper. I think he will eat PB&J. I don't feel like cooking.

Shelving

This last Sunday Austin and I put up some shelving and we didn't argue or anything. He didn't even make a squeak when I told him I wanted to paint them red. Not just red but hormonal red.

I couldn't believe our teamwork/cooperation. No one lost a finger or anything. There was no unnecessary yelling. Very unusual for us. We were all done in about 4 hours. Best yet they cost us literally nothing. Everything was re-purposed. I think that is my favorite part.

The long black thing you see to the side is actually the level that I was using to hold up that support because I was not tall enough to reach it on even a chair and Austin was already on the ladder.

Before we put the supports in this was just empty useless space behind the door to the stairway across from the bathroom.

Here are the shelves in and unpainted. There is enough room under the bottom shelf for 2 stacked totes.

I left the blue painters tape up in some spots because those areas need a second coat. Now I have a designated spot for my laundry detergent and misc. My bath mats are in the plastic sack waiting for my bathroom to get done. The white little tote is for Austin's stuff. He was shocked when I showed him that he would only have that little tote out of all these shelves. He has been trying to convince me that he will need one entire shelf. I very calmly told him that he has whole shelving units in the garage that are empty. He was less than thrilled with me. I then had to explain to him that it is not my intention to just keep junk on these shelves. If we did that we wouldn't ever be able to find anything.

Clear up on the top some misc baby items that we no longer need, guest bed bedding, Austin's old toys that he doesn't want Mason to play with collectibles.

The next shelf has all my sewing material. Someday when I am able to find time to sew again I will finally get a couple of projects done. I know I will have to find the time somewhere in the next couple of weeks to get some curtains made for these shelves so that you can't see them from the kitchen. It wouldn't be so bad but we painted them to match the trim in the upstairs not the trim in the kitchen. Hind sight is 20/20 I guess.

The 3rd shelf down is pantry. My kitchen cabinet shelves are not tall enough for a box of cereal so I have designated this shelf for cereal and whatever other pantry items I want to put on it. I will also be putting some of my PartyLite stuff on it. The Global Fusion Hurricane usually sits on my dining room table but I have my fall centerpiece out now and next month I will have a Christmas one out. Eventually I will get my stuff organized into totes and put below the bottom shelf but I will have to do that on a day that Mason is spending over at the grandparents because he is just too much help.

As of right now the bottom two shelves have no designated purpose and I'm sure that Austin will fill them with junk. As long as he knows that anything that spills out of his tote can be thrown away at any time he can put whatever he wants on them. I have learned that he needs to be aware of his boundaries and reminded often.

Oh Happy Days! Happy Days!

My washer and dryer are upstairs and running. They are stacked nice and pretty in my bathroom. I have done 4 loads of laundry since last night. I love it.

Last night I get home from doing MOPS stuff, I walk in the door and Austin says 'Are you ready to help?'

Naturally I was skeptic whether to say yes or no so I said 'That depends.'

He starts towards the basement and says 'Nope it is now or next month, late next month.' So I said 'Sure!' still not knowing what it was.

I get to the basement and he has the washer ready to come up the stairs. This washer 275 pounds and he expects me to help him get it up the stairs. Well as you can guess we got it up after much fighting, yelling, name calling and cussing teamwork, cooperation and relationship building.

The dryer wasn't near as hard to get up. It is much lighter. It did take some more yelling and cussing teamwork and communication to get it stacked on the washer.

It was actually really comical. We get the stupid up there, the vent hose put on and attached to the washer and Austin says 'YOU forgot to plug it in!' I start laughing and Austin starts thinking of ways to get it plugged in.

After much deliberation we went with my suggestion. Austin stands on a chair to get to the top of the dryer, climbs on, I hold his feet while he sticks the top half of his body behind the dryer to reach the cord and get it plugged in. All I have to say is thank god he is tall and skinny and not short and fat.

So now my washer and dryer are stacked in my bathroom and we are still married. I would call that a success.

Now I have to go put a very tired little boy down for a nap. I might even take one as well. I hurt in places I have never hurt before or will ever again.

Now enjoy this beautiful photo:

And He Got Mad...

I reclaimed my dining room table and Austin got mad. I know hard to believe. I hung everything back up in the kitchen on the WELCOME wall and shelf. I moved all the misc bathroom tools and stuff to a tote that I sat by the back door.

He was mad. He couldn't believe that I would just move 'his' stuff. We have been married for 8+ years he should have known that I would only allow it to be there for so long before getting tired of asking him to move it and move it myself. He is lucky that I didn't just throw his tools out the back door.

I also washed all the ceiling fan blades down stairs. He was mad about this also because he thought that I took them all off at the same time and didn't put them back in the right order. Well I didn't. I took them off one at a time washed it and put it back before taking the next one off.

I know some people are wondering what the big deal is. Well all the blades are on in a certain order and weighted differently to keep the fan from shaking. While I was on my cleaning spree I cleaned the light fixtures also. I have had all the windows open all summer (I didn't turn the central air on once) and living on a gravel river rock road things tend to get a little dusty. Tables and such I keep dust free with my weekly dusting but the ceiling fans are a little more difficult to do on a weekly basis.

I think tonight I start to nag him on painting the bathroom. I am so ready for this project to be done. If when he got work early he actually stayed home and worked on it it would be done by now. However he has decided that his 'desk' job is not strenuous enough and has decided that he would like to help a local seed company harvest this fall. I don't care what he does it just looks a little ridiculous for him to do that. Considering he makes a fourth an hour harvesting as what he does at his 'desk' job. I don't think his 'second' job even pays for the gas. Actually I'm fairly certain it doesn't because he doesn't put his paychecks into the checking where his gas money comes from.

I might be a little annoyed about this 'second' job because he complains about having to get up at 3 am like I am making him work 2 jobs. Whatever makes him feel better about being a dumb butt.

Bad Mommy Morning!!

Austin gets home today!! Yeah! Oh why bother, I could take him or leave him today. Why? Well because I am picking him up from work at about noon. Then he is coming home... with me... and its raining!! That means he is going to be a thorn in my backside ALL DAY! I suppose I will just have to get over it.

Now on to why this is a Bad Mommy Morning. First happened right off the bat. While I was getting his breakfast around he was crawling around the dining room. I know it sounds harmless enough right. Well wrong. Last night when I washed sippies and bottles I was a sippy short. Couldn't find it for the life of me. It was about 9 when I was doing all this and I was very tired so I figured I would find it in the morning. Yep!! Mason found it. I knew it was about half full and he brought it to me empty and had milk on his chin. I felt horrible. I opened it up and it didn't smell spoiled but I felt really bad. He hasn't thrown up yet so I am assuming he is OK. Second, I vacuumed. I usually wait until Austin gets home so one of can distract Mason. Not today I just let Mason cry while I vacuumed. Third, I took a shower. I know that sounds normal right? Nope because I have to take the whole highchair in the bathroom with me because otherwise he will scream and scream until he upchucks. Needless to say I usually shower before going to bed to avoid this. Well I didn't make it that far last night and so I put his toys on the tray and into the bathroom we went. He was okay for about 5 minutes. Then he got fussy. Well by the time I was out of the shower he was asleep and you know what I just left him there. I tiptoed my butt upstairs and left him there asleep. It wouldn't matter how gentle I was if I tried to get him out of the high chair and into the p-n-p he would wake up and be grumpy.

So there are my bad mommy moments of the day and I didn't even include the animal cracker he ate out of the dog kennel. I think it is one he found in the high chair he was playing by and he took it into the dog kennel because I am fairly sure if Hyde found a cracker in his home he would have eaten it. So I am not counting that one. I figure the day only has to get better right? Then I remember that Austin gets home today and the only things left on my honey-do list are all outside and it is raining. Maybe Mason will take a long afternoon nap and save us from fighting.

Saturday

Well we are having people over on Saturday for supper. Austin was able to bring some Slovakian brandy home and just can't wait to 'share' it with the guys. He also has a ton of photos to show off being that he had a whole day to play tourist in Vienna. Everyday he gets a little more excited.
I think I'm going to fix a turkey. Austin has been bugging me for one for a couple of months. They are just so much work that I don't want to prepare a whole turkey for just the two of us. Having people over to help eat it is a great idea he has even offered to help clean after everyone goes home. I am not going to hold my breath on that. I am the dishwasher so I think I am going to hold him to it this time. Afterall he always says we need to work on our teamwork. I think most of the time he means that I need to learn how to 'take an order'. Now you can get the picture of how our home improvement projects go. Him yelling because I have done something wrong and me ignoring him and doing it my own way. Sounds to me like he needs to work on his teamwork. Mine is just fine as long as he tells me how to do it the correct way the first time. Not after I have done it his way and he then realizes it is wrong. To cover his mistake he blames me on not listening. I think it might just a little bit miscomunication. I am not an engineer and do not think like an engineer. Anyone married to an engineer knows that they are a whole different breed of guy. They know how it should go and sometimes leave out some things when giving directions because as he would say it is a no-brainer. Well I guess I have a lot of brains because I didn't put 2 and 2 together and get 5. Did I happen to mention sometimes his directions are illogical. Well they are.... Now I forgot what I was talking about.... That's right... Teamwork... We don't have any. If we had teamwork my washer and dryer would be in the bathroom closet instead of in the basement.

So we are having people over on Saturday. I never thought of Austin and I as social people. In highschool neither of us had a big group of people we would have called friends. Austin was anti-social and I worked all the time. When I wasn't working I was in Ames watching Austin play hockey on the weekends. When we first got married we didn't need to have friends other than each other. Well now we have learned we NEED friends so we are in a group of 4 couples. Two of the guys Austin worked with at a part time job and thru all of the job changes and moves we have stayed in touch and do quite a bit of stuff together. The 4th couple is a friend of one of the two. We have melded into a bunch of good friends. Not like the normal maybe the husbands are friends and the wives just tolerate each other. Everyone knows what I am talking about here. All of us girls can get together without the husbands and there is deffinately no lag in conversations. We all came from small towns and just seem to connect somehow. We are all transplants to the area so when we go to area resturants we get the tourist look sometimes. Like we are intruding. This would be when the ladies we don't like come into play. I don't know if they think we are intruding on their teritory the more we get involved in the community or what but I am still looking for the right pile.

New Door

Today we are drywalling the entryway. We finally had to break down and buy a new door. That means we had to cut a bigger hole in the wall. The door we had was very old and wasn't the standard size. We went from a door that was 30*78 to a door that is 32*80. I would never have thought that the little difference would change that much but it is surprisingly a lot easier to get baby out of the house with all of his stuff now. That and I now have a window in the door. Now that entryway isn't so dark and I can see who is in the driveway. I love the window, well at least after noon I do. This door faces directly east so that morning sun really comes through and is blinding. Hyde LOVES it. Now he has patches of sunlight in almost every room until late afternoon. I know that dog is spoiled.

These are the best photos I have of the old backdoor.
I know I had some better ones but Austin erased them before unloading the camera. Therefore I didn't think we needed to take any "before" photos, I thought we already had some.

Don't mind the mess these are from when we redid the kitchen floor and painted.

My new backdoor. I love it. Another good thing is that when we are all done there will only be a memory of that horrible green. YIPEE!!

This is how it looks on the outside. We are going to paint the trim tomorrow night. Later this spring we are getting a new doorbell to cover the hole beside the door.

I have complained about this doorway since we moved in almost 2 years ago. It is always cold which in turn makes my kitchen cold. We tore down all the old plaster and lathe and what do we find, NOTHING, that is right, nothing. There never has been any insulation in the outside walls. There is now. I have already noticed a huge difference.

I cannot wait until it gets warmer outside. We are going to put o a plantation style screen door. Just plain wood and screen. The winter wind is not conducive to an actual screen door. So we want one that we can put on in the spring and take off in the fall. We will have to put a little lock on the inside that way Mason can't just go outside whenever he wants. Can't wait for those arguements to start. We plan on putting up a jungle gym/swing setup later this summer. We have a whole acre side yard to play with and we are 6 miles from town so it will have to be something that will keep Mason entertained but strong enough to last for years and years. Austin already shot down my idea for a pool. I will broach the subject again next spring. For right now I am just thrilled to have a new backdoor.

Christmas Vacation

Only 4 more days and Austin goes back to work. I don't have enough projects to keep him busy. That means for a couple of those days he will be annoying me.
Today I got lucky and he is helping a friend cut down some trees. He should be bringing back a good truck load or two. That would be nice. Otherwise I will find myself out in the grove making sure that he doesn't kill himself cutting down some of our trees. I know that this spring we will have to cut some down but it will about 50 degrees not 10.
I know that you get two guy friends together with chain saws and some bad stuff can happen but Austin and Sterling don't drink. They should be relatively safe. Sterling is experienced at cutting down trees. I am too but I don't count for advise because I am a girl and therefore don't know anything useful about stuff like that. Yeah, Right. Maybe I can use my power of persuasion and get them to come to my house tomorrow to cut down some. Anyways. Today he is occupied. Tomorrow he is probably going to be my headache, no, no I meant handful. I swear. . . Anyone want to trade for the day.
I am sure we will spend half the day arguing. I love to argue. I call it my hobby. It is just that I am sure he will want to do something that I think is dangerous and will try to talk me into letting him. Like working on the corn crib. I won this argument last weekend because of the ice.
What does he think I am? Stupid. There is no way I am going to let him work on the corn crib. The thing is leaning and creaks and pops really bad when the wind blows and he wants to get in it and take out a beam. No way. His life insurance policy doesn't cover stupidity.
I don't know why he can't be the type of husband who moves a recliner and a TV to the garage to avoid his wife. Sometimes that would be great. To know that he is just in the garage watching TV instead of doing something idiotic. I have even suggested it and he said. "Why, I like to keep busy."

Finally

Well we finally finished the kitchen. Now I don't have to worry about Mason crawling in there. Not to mention we got rid of the horrible green color. We chose a dark reddish brown for the trim and a slightly lighter color for the wainscoting. The new color combination makes the kitchen feel warm and inviting.

I am pleased with the results. Austin, I am afraid is still getting used to it. He did ask what room was next for paint and I told him the living room. He thinks that next time we should buy a little can and do a test spot. I have already decided though that the living room and office are going to be country white. He wants the trim in the office to be a dark navy blue. I have a feeling I will have to do some fast talking to get my way. Should be fun.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Not As Planned But Good None The Less

Before

After

Well my weekend plans didn't go as I wanted. Saturday Mason and I went to Marianne's for Jesse's birthday. We ended up staying the night and coming home on Sunday. I dropped Mason off at Grandma Robin's right at one. I got home at 1:30 ready to get to work on the basement. Austin didn't want to work on the basement so while I was in the basement he was tearing out the carpet in the kitchen. It looks totally different in there now. Hopefully we can decide on a paint color today or tomorrow. We have quite a few to choose from. I cannot wait until it is done.

We want a paint color that won't clash with or blend into the color of the cabinets.

I like the middle green. The light one is just too light.

I like the middle one. It doesn't blend in like the darker one but it doesn't shock you like the light one.

I liked these in the store but when I got them up on my cabinet they tend to look too pink.

I grew up in a country blue kitchen so these were way too close for my comfort.

This is Austin's pick. I personally think it is too greeny blue and will clash with all my apple stuff and the grass on the other cabinets. I had to pull out the veto on this.

I love the dark brown but Austin pulled out the veto on this. I think he did it more in retaliation.