My new toy

After moving into this house we realized the last people had pets that peed and pooed on the carpet A LOT! I was debating on renting a steam cleaner or buying one. We use one at the daycare that is light weight and easy to use. After some research (and seeing what Wal-Mart had available) I decided to get the same one. It's a Bissell QuickSteamer Lightweight Deep Cleaner.


The last 3 days I have been cleaning carpet. This machine isn't a true steamer since it doesn't heat the water. You add the cleaner and hot water to a tank and then the dirty stuff is sucked up into another tank. Very easy to use and works great! I can't believe how much better my carpet looks. I did my bedroom, the living room, dining room, and hall. Kinsey's room was not bad so I haven't done it and the spare room has to much "stuff" in it for me to do it right now. That whole room project is on my to do list for the near future. It will be my sewing and guest room. I have it all planned in my head, just need the time to do it.

Neal pulled the carpet up in Kinsey's bathroom today. There were so many stains on the sub floor that I now realize where the smell was coming from. I poured a box of baking soda on the floor and let it soak up any smells it could. That helped a lot. I plan to go to Home Depot to get the tile we need for that bathroom next weekend and hopefully we can get it installed right away. Kinsey's not that impressed with sub floor as her new floor...lol! I have her pretty new purple rugs down so she doesn't scrape her feet.

Another great dentist appointment!

Kinsey had a dentist appointment today and didn't have any cavities again! The dentist said she had great dental hygiene and was taking good care of her teeth. Neal and I don't have the best teeth so we are diligent about Kinsey brushing her teeth and taking good care of them. She will have another appointment in 6 months for her semi-annual check up.

20th High School Reunion

Wow...I graduated from high school 20 years ago. I don't feel like it's been that long. I think back on all that I have done (and not done) in those 20 years and wonder where the years went. I've lived in 3 states (moved 12 times!), been married twice, had a daughter, and have seen so much.

I plan to attend my reunion on July 4th and see old friends. I've changed a lot and I know they have too. I can't wait to see them and catch up.

Happy Memorial Day 2008

Last night I stayed up way to late going back and reading old posts. It was really cool to go back and read about things that happened a year or two ago. Things I had forgotten about. I realize I should post more about every day things just so I will have that memory down the line.

Last year was a crazy year filled with lots of pain (on Neal's part), sadness, and anxiety. I honestly thought we wouldn't make it through last year with 2 surgeries, a broken foot, my Grandmother passing away, my Mom's illness, a wreck, and money woes.

This year is looking up. We've finally found a house we love and are enjoying making it ours. I won't say any more so I won't jinx myself ;-)

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!

More future projects...

This house has carpet in the bathrooms which is something that neither Neal or I can stand. In the near future we plan to pull out the carpet and tile the bathrooms in this

I picked it out at Home Depot last time I was there. It's called Morocco Slate tile. It has the neutral colors we like and the browns that match the cabinets.

Today, after scrubbing the kitchen floor, I decided that the kitchen needs to be done. For some reason someone picked out white linoleum for the kitchen and it shows every speck of dirt. I spent an hour scrubbing it by hand today. It's pretty but it won't last. Hopefully this is a project we will get to this summer. The bathrooms will be first but the kitchen will be soon after that.

I've added a new widget

Over to the side you will see a list of concerts we are going to see this summer. After seeing something similar on my friend Kristina's blog I decided I needed one too. So check back in case we add anything else this summer!

Also, things are moving along on the house. We've unpacked more and done quite a few updates to the house and yard. Neal ordered a 10x13 metal storage building that will be in this week. We need to pour concrete before we can build it. It will be so great to have a storage big enough for both of us here at the house. Right now I rent a storage unit in town to keep my Christmas decorations and odds and ins at. Neal will be able to put in his lawn mower, tools and have a work space while we'll be able to put the bikes and other stuff in there. Can't wait to get it built! We worked on cleaning up the yard yesterday and it's looking much nicer. We just keep taking it one day at a time and things are getting done.

I hope to get back to baking and trying new recipes soon. Now that I have tons more counter space I can keep my mixer out and have room to do things.

And I'm back....

I know, it's been almost 2 months since I last posted but we've been busy finding a house, packing, and moving. Throw in all the other every day stuff and you see why I haven't posted. We finally found a house just down the street from where we were! This house is so great. It's bigger than our old house and has a really nice kitchen. I now have a breakfast nook and formal dinning area (aka the computer and work out area). Mine and Neal's room is huge compared to our former house and Kinsey now has room to play in her room. The first thing we did was paint the living room/dining room area. Eventually we plan to paint all the rooms but the front room needed it the most. We plan to pull the carpet out of the bathrooms and put down tile...why do people put carpet in bathrooms??? Neal will also have to tear down and rebuild the front deck. It wasn't built properly and is not stable. We were almost afraid to move our big freezer across it but thank goodness it made it across. We both have ideas of what we want to do so we'll see how those projects progress.

Here is what Kinsey and I have been up to.....Girl Scout camp at Mitre Peak, Texas and end of school field trip to Ft. Lone Tree (outside Capitan). Kinsey and I went to Girl Scout Mom and Me camp the first weekend of May. We had a lot of fun. There was hiking, crafts, singing around the campfire and even s'mores! Kinsey's favorite part was the hiking. She kept commenting on how much she loves the mountains and hiking. I had to remind her that she lives in the mountains and we do go hiking occasionally.

Mitre PeakKinsey and I after we climbed a mountainKinsey on top of the worldmountain we climbed...notice dining hall and cabins down belowKinsey in a lava rock bolder. She said it was like a bathtubGiant cactus at camp. Kinsey is holding dream catcher she made

On Tuesday, Kinsey's class went to Ft. Lone Tree camp at the base of the Capitan Mountains. They had the chance to do an obstacle course, rock wall climbing, slide down a huge water slide, and go down a zip line. I wasn't totally sure Kinsey would do the zip line because she kind of freaked at GS camp jumping from boulder to boulder but she hooked up and zipped down the line. I was offered the chance to try it but decided to take pictures instead ;-) I had to work for the morning so I only got to see her slide down the big slide and do the zip line.

Kinsey getting strapped into harness by Mrs. Rice and Mrs. Young

Kinsey waiting for her turn to zip down the line

Kinsey zipping down the line. It's hard to see her and I can't figure out how to turn it the right way. You can really hear the zip line though.