A Bit of This, A Bit of That

Another one of those weeks where Nat and I have been doing a little bit of everything. Trying to whittle down our “To Do” lists of those little things that you want done, but tend to put on the back burner.

One of Nat’s projects was to paint the two bedroom dressers white. We originally bought them from Ikea in brown and Nat has been hesitating because they had to be sanded somewhat. It took him a close to  a week only because of the coats he had to put on – a couple coats of primer and then a couple coats of white. We’re both pleased with the way they turned out and now consider our bedroom 99.9% complete. Our only complaint now is the wall-to-wall rug which is original to the house. We’ve steam-cleaned it to at least make it look newer, but the style is all wrong. I’d really love to get hardwood floors with a large area rug. Way, way, way down the road!!

While he was on a roll, Nat also managed to re-paint the photo cabinet in the office. When he made it back at our old house, it slowly began to bleed and it’s been on his “To Do” list for sometime. At least now he’s got the cabinet back to where  it looks like new again and I’ve had a chance to give it a good clear out of junk that’s been stored. We’re back to new and it’s looks great. The Office is another room where the rugs need to be changed – but again, way, way, way down the road!!

During his time working in the garage and outside, Nat discovered another dead chipmunk, only this time in the rain barrel stored in the shed. He looked like he’d been there some time, so Nat tossed the bones in the woods and is throwing out the rain barrel. We’ve never really used it except for the first year of purchase. The other years, we’ve never had enough rain during the summer to put it out.

While Nat was working on his projects, I decided to finally bring up that new steam cleaner from the basement. We bought it almost a year ago and haven’t used it yet, so I had Nat bring it up while I read the instruction booklet and begin the job at hand. I couldn’t believe how easy it was and even how effective it was. The bedroom rug finally “looks” clean, as does the area rug in the living room. The living room rug is a lot thiner in pile so I placed towels underneath to soak up whatever moisture might seep through. I was pleased how they all turned out, and since my major job was done, the other days I decided to get some cookie dough in the fridge and try and keep ahead of the cookie supply in the freezer.

The solar panels are due to be started either the end of July or in August sometime. The new roof is due to be installed this Thursday. We both have a case of the guilts, as our roofer is a retired gentleman and does the job on his own. He has help once in awhile, but this time he’s on his own. I know it’s going to be very difficult for Nat to sit back and listen to the scraping, shuffling and nailing as he sits in his recliner or on the patio relaxing.

We were blessed with the company of Susan, Felicia and Bridget on July 1st. The girls had that week off and it was nice of them to drop by. We’ve haven’t seen Susan since her new haircut and as always we had a good time. Felicia and Bridget have grown up so fast – as well as Lucas and Karly – that it’s hard for Nat and I to get use to it. They’re all teenagers or older and it’s now difficult to keep up with their busy lives, their texting, Facebooking and everything else inbetween. We’ll probably won’t see them again until Thanksgiving, if that. What a shame as they’re only 30 minutes down the road.

As Nat and I had cancelled the extra cell phone that I use about 3 times a year, we asked around if anyone wanted it. Gail replied thinking she can use a better one for her texting, so Nat and I drove out yesterday afternoon to give her the phone and visit for an hour or so. Gail and Bonnie had just returned home from house hunting (Bonnie’s been looking for another place for awhile) and Gail was in the process of loading all of the pictures she took onto her computer. Besides the photos the real estate agent took, it seems Gail snapped away at every other nook and cranny in order to remember what they’d seen and if the place was worth putting an offer in. I can only assume they’re still thinking about it. We still had a great visit and got caught up on a bit of news, had a few laughs and discussions. It felt great for both of us to be talking to other people besides ourselves. After living out here in Ridgeway alone and not seeing family much at all, we both get to be a bit dull. We’ll start discussing things we’ve already discussed previously, remind ourselves several times of what we’re going to get up to the next day and even make excuses just to go down to Walmart. Seriously, how sad is that!!