March

As per usual, things have been a bit crazy around here. Captain Jack was sick for a while, so I had to make a few trips to the vet for him. And then Mercury decided she needed to do the same. So I made 3 trips to the vet with her. They both seem to be doing better, but it took a lot of time, energy and of course money to get them both back to normal.

We got more work done a few weekends ago. Anthony ran ground wires for all of the outlets in the living room. We had replaced the two prong outlets to three prong, but there was no ground to them. It was a big concern to get that room done as soon as possible since we have 3 lamps, what I like to refer to as the entertainment system of doom (big tv, dvd player, etc...), and a 55 gallon aquarium. I washed windows and cleaned and such while he did that. We also swept the basement out, we re-did some of the plumbing for the sump pump. Whoever put it in did a very bad job. The pipe to take the water out of the basement ended 3 feet from the foundation and pooled in a low spot on the lawn. The water basically rand right back into the basement almost as fast as the sump pump was trying to get it back out. We cut off the pipe and replaced it so it bends immediately as soon as it is outside of the foundation, and then runs parallel to the house for 20 feet and empties at the front of the porch. The porch doesn't have a full foundation, so it's now 10 feet from where the basement wall is, and comes out at the top of a small incline so it can run downhill AWAY from the house. The sump pump is already running much less often and the ground where it came out originally is drying out. The pipe is a little ugly right now, but in better weather we'll paint it to match the foundation, and landscape around it.

We also got started on the Master Bedroom renovations. They are going really well, but slowly. Between the sick critters, Anthony getting sick this week, and about a billion other things coming up, we're not as far along as we'd like. But, I'm so unbelievably happy to have started it. The drywall is all up, which was an interesting process. I'd never done it before, and Anthony had never done ceilings, so we were learning as we went. But the room already looks so much better. Which is pretty pathetic actually, that sheets of drywall and a bunch of screws looks good. But anything is better than the murder room. (So named because of the crummy bright red paint job that looks like someone was slaughtered and then their blood was used to paint the walls). We wouldn't have been surprised to find a body stashed in the closet.

Anthony starting the mudding. It's something I want to learn how to do. Although I think he'll probably do most of it, and I'll do most of the painting. We're also probably going to re-finish the bedroom floors. They're pretty scuffed up. But they're a decent oak, so they're worth putting a little time and money into. I have a new duvet cover, and we picked paint to match. And I am getting really antsy to be able to actually start the decorating process.