Staycations, Soccer, and Car Shows

I've decided I need a Staycation sans husband and children. I want to take some time off to putter around the house and sew. If wishing were hopin'.... It's difficult for me to take time off because I don't have vacation benefits with this job. If I don't work, I don't get paid.

We were up bright and early for C's make-up soccer game. She had to be at the field at 8:30. I didn't get up early enough so M took her to the field and then came back for me. He bought me breakfast at McD's, but no coffee since I'd made my latte at home. If I'd of only known, I would have held out for an iced coffee. C's team lost and one of her teammates broke her wrist when she fell by trying to brace herself in the fall. I get ill just thinking about it because I think about C getting hurt. She' been pretty lucky so far--the only injury she's really had was when she broke her toe years ago on the playground kicking a soccer ball around with the boys wearing inappropriate shoes. She's got a nagging foot injury right now that we're not sure about the cause--the ball of her foot hurts after exercise. She's been icing it, but she's in discomfort after playing. I'm probably going to have to take her to the doctor. He'll probably just tell her to rest it.

It was also picture day today so M spent an hour or so this afternoon hanging out at the park with the kids so they could get their individual and team pictures taken. M reminded me to take their pics together before they left.



Soccer, Soccer, Soccer..... This after the three games yesterday!

M headed off to the Automobile Show when they got back. He loves to go and I'm happy to stay home. It would probably be like me dragging him to a quilt show. At this stage of our marriage, we don't even pretend to be interested in going together to events like this.

I tried an experiment last night and I'm not sure about the results. S spent the night at her friend's house. I slept in her bed. I didn't sleep all that well. I think I woke up just as much in that bed as I do usually in mine. I wish I had used my earplugs to make the experiment even. I'll have to wait until one of the girls spends the night to try again. It's 9 and I'm exhausted! I did work hard this weekend so may be that's why?

I took some more pictures of some of the uglies in my house....

From a couple of years ago. M thought this brown would be nice.

We used to have stained glass in the window of the door. It fell out and we now have plexiglass. So....Attractive and safe.

Thank you dogs for the tear and the snotty glass. One of the many screens that needs to be replaced.

The fireplace. The previous owner thought it was a good idea to paint the brick black and speckle it with white. The brass front doesn't fit right and the heat from the gas fireplace has discolored the paint. The chainlink screen is filthy.

Thanks, again, dogs! No we don't have rabid termites... The dogs chewed the wood posts when we used to keep them back there during the day.


M started patching the wall a couple of weeks ago. He hasn't done anything else. He left the container and spatula on the floor. It's still there as we speak.

Nagging Until it Hurts

M and I do a lot of dancing around each other.

On our good days we do our best NOT to annoy each other. I look the other way when he drops a couple of paper towels on the floor to clean up dog pee and walks away. (I pick them up after him and 409 the floor without comment.) He insists that he would eventually pick them up--he was just waiting for the paper towel to do it's job of soaking up the mess and drying for easier clean-up. (Yeah, ugh....leaving a pee soaked paper towel on the floor for 24-hours is the worst of his habits.) HE ignores my spending habits and the fact that he has to clean up a lot my financial shortfalls and messes. (I think these worst of our habits.)

I generally try not to rock the boat. There are times, usually when I'm in a bad mood about something else, that I push the envelope. I did that today. I wasn't really mad about anything else, I just didn't want another Saturday to go by without getting some stuff done around here. I voiced my desire for M to clean out our.....HIS....closet last month. MY plan is for the closet to be cleaned out and organized so that we can get rid of the dressers in our room. A good closet is going to waste while we barely have enough room to navigate the limited pathway between our bed and the dressers which are clothes storage receptacles and that's about all. I stopped using my dresser a long time ago except as a catch-all for unmatched socks, important documents like the kids report cards, and the top to store the clothes that I do wear. M has clothes in his dresser that he hasn't worn since we were first-time parents except for one drawer of T-shirts.



I've been after him for years to go through and get rid of stuff. He probably would have complied if it had been his own decision and not me trying to get him to do it!

I woke up this morning raring to go. (I love Saturdays because I get a HOT shower.) M made pancakes for the kids while I puttered around the house picking things up and vacuuming. (Stuff that needed to be done, but more an example of someone working and that I wasn't going to be a weekend slacker.) I made a list of chores for the kids to complete this weekend, mostly kitchen-related. Then, I dropped the bomb on M. I've had bags for M to take to Goodwill for a couple of weeks. I knew he had errands to run that included a grocery store run and a trip to Grease Monkey to get my oil changed. I casually asked him what his plans were and he confirmed the previous. I suggested--okay, told him--that I would like for him to take my stuff to Goodwill. In the same breath, I suggested--okay, told him--that it would be great if he would go through his stuff to include in our donation. He grumbled, but when I got back from my trip to get the needles I like for binding sewing he was doing it.... Well, wonders never cease!!

The closet is still a disaster and I need a dust mask to work in there, but we've got a good start. I'm noticing stuff that I bought years ago on clearance for Halloween and Easter, three totes of more clothes that we've not missed in years and probably don't fit, and a bunch of toys that M took away from Z in punishment. There was also a pair of size 13 Vans tennis shoes that I bought in error for Z that I couldn't return because I lost the receipt. S could have worn them a shoe size ago so I'll have to remember them for A.

Oh, and I discovered a whole stack of quilting magazines, books, and the instruction manual to my sewing machine that I thought were lost forever!

I'm being a baddie as I sit here and blog. I'm grinning because the kids all wanted to go run errands with their dad and no amount of dissuading them could get them to stay home--boring as heck at Grease Monkey, no lunch out, and "I'm not buying you anything." The sacrifice of being out with their grumpy dad probably had something to do with my list of chores. The house is quiet--no kids fighting... I'm as happy as a lark even if I'm doing laundry and cleaning a closet.

The Kitchen: After is ALL You're Gonna Get

The slideshow above is the best I can do. I took the pictures on Monday before the room could get too dirty again. hahahahahaha

The kitchen got cleaned....enough. The stove got delivered and I've been baking up a storm to make up for lost time. I still have a lot to do, like clean inside the cupboards and get the organizing done. M was nice enough to get me a new vent cover.

I've never liked my kitchen! White just isn't my color....

The white floor is the worst!! I've never been able to keep it clean with the dogs and the kids. Not only is it white, but it's textured so dirt gets imbedded in it only to come out with serious scrubbing. You can see that it's already dirty from the dogs tracking in mud from the backyard the same night I mopped. I feel like I need to have a Swifter velcroed to my hand. The floor got rips in the vinyl over the years in the main traffic area. It desperately needs to be replaced.

The walls in the kitchen have the same textured treatment as the rest of the walls in my house. What were they thinking?! Dust actually catches in areas of the wall. I enjoy my view from the kitchen to the dining and living room area. The stove is right under the opening. However, I don't have any type of exhaust system or fan above my stove.

Michael put the door between the back door area and the kitchen years ago upon my request. He never finished it. It will probably have to be replaced since it's so scratched. You don't want to see the other side--it's the side that faces that room where we used to keep the dogs while we were out before we had crates. They've scratched right through the hollow door to the kitchen side.

We're not sure what we really want to do in the kitchen to spiff things up. I'm more concerned about the rest of the house and if we have to keep replacing appliances, we won't be doing any major work in there any time soon. The stove this week, the fridge six months or so ago, and the dishwasher a couple of years ago. I know we will paint. M even said it's a shame we can't paint right away before things get dirty. I'd also like to take the tile up to the area above the open area by the stove. I think it would be easier to clean than the paint. We need to caulk between the tile and the counter in the worst way. The floor is the floor.... It's M's focus, but it's not mine except to say that he could pitch in and pick up a mop once and awhile. Oh, and he could clean up that junky counter! His other focus is doing something with the cupboards like painting or refacing them. Sure! Some of the drawers are falling apart so we definitely need to do something with THEM.

I'm happy that we cleaned in there. Anything else will be just gravy. Everyone helped so I'm hoping that we'll all be invested in keeping it clean.

My Room

I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe the dirt. (Shannon--may be you can see the build-up of dirt on the door frame of M's closet and laugh. A CSI-type test would prove it's M's dirt.) I have been after M to clean the bedroom screen for......years. I'm a horrible housekeeper, but the one thing I do try to keep up with is the cobwebs. Eeew! Part of not cleaning the windowsill is principal on my part.

The scratched drywall is a newer thing. The dog's scratch the heck out to the wall in their impatience to get out of the bedroom when M gets up to let them out during the night, in the morning, or whenever. I am so MAD!!

The yellow walls are my fault. They're the reason M refuses to paint for me again. I waited until he was done to say I didn't like the yellow. I like yellow, but not his shade and not this much. He painted the room for me before we changed bedrooms when I was pregnant with child #3....I think?

M's plastic roll-around nightstand is a new thing since last weekend. I hate it. He wanted something to put more stuff on since the dresser is piled high. I'm one to talk. My dresser is piled high with my clothes. I have none in the closet and I don't put clothes in my dresser. M's dresser is full with clothes he doesn't wear except for socks and underwear in the broken top drawer and a couple of T-shirts in the second. He won't go through his clothes and give anything up.

M says the room is 12x10ish, but I'm going to measure.

The plan:

1) Clean, clean, clean the dirt.

2) Clean and organize the closet (Use whatever means necessary to get M to get rid of some stuff so we can both use the closet). I will probably have to get some Elfa baskets for the stuff that won't hang.

3) Get rid of the dressers. (We can barely walk between the bed and the dressers to navigate the bedroom.)

4) Paint--still undecided on the color. M is being stubborn.

5) Get a new bed and mattress for us. I'm leaning toward a platform bed, but M is being difficult. (May be I can bribe him with a real nighstand?)

6) Curtains for the window

7) I want a quilt behind our bed and on it.

Michael wants to move the bed to the opposing wall that is near the door. One of us won't get a nightstand if that's the case. I see his point since our bed is in view of the window that faces the neighbor's house and we've never had a curtain. (Perhaps that's why he won't clean the screen?) In the summer it's not so bad since a leafy bush/tree grows lushly in front of the window.

Welcome Home

This is my home.....

We moved in late 1995. (I think in November, but I can't remember for sure.) We'd been married for a little over a year and I was pregnant with C. We were so happy to buy our first home.

We looked at a bunch of new homes and even having one built to specification, but M and I both were in agreement that we didn't want to live in a cookie cutter neighborhood controlled by a home owner's association and covenants. We were lucky to get this house because the price was right and it had had a lot of work. Many of the older homes that we looked at were in varying states of disrepair. We knew we wouldn't have the time or money for a fixer-upper. After 14 years of hard living, that's exactly what we have now. Moving isn't an option.

The house was built in 1916 according to M. He also says that the addition was added in 1920. The upstairs is about 850 sq feet. We have a basement, but it's unfinished. (My washer and dryer is down there with a lot of other junk, including all my fabric.) We have the one bathroom. There are three bedrooms. My living room and dining area are in the main room of the house.

I'm happy to have a roof over my head so don't get me wrong. I'm unhappy with the state of many things, though. We're cramped for space. We've destroyed more than we've worked on. The dogs have chewed and scratched up so many things. The kids have written on and banged up the walls. I've never been the best housekeeper and so baseboards and my walls are simply dirty. I have to nag everyone to get the simplest of things done around the house. I haven't had a shower wall in the only bathroom for about 10 years. We've only ever painted the bedrooms. The carpet was pulled up long ago to reveal unfinished floors that we still walk on today. M replaced the windows in the first couple of years after moving in to help with energy efficiency.

Our financial situation hasn't changed and, in fact, is worse than it ever was. We've not done things around the house because of financial issues, but mainly because M and I can never agree on improvements. We have different ideas, goals, and styles.

I'm overwhelmed by the state of my house.

I've got to get going on fixing things up or I'll go crazy....

I know my house needs more than a quilt in every room to be right again. When I imagine my house, though, I see a quilt in every room and other homey decorative touches. I see wonderful colors on the walls. I've got to make it happen!

Next Up: How bad can it be: A photojournal of the good, the bad, and the ugly.