More Random Thoughts

Today was absolutely beautiful! I think I got the start of my summer tan, and yes farmer tans totally count! I was loving having all our windows wide open (which reminds me I need to close them before it gets any colder in here...hold please... phew alright done) and we took a stroller walk. We also swung in the back yard and then Daddy took baby outside and when they came back in a little someone was covered from head to toe in dirt and grass. I would have been slightly irked that she was dirty, but she was too happy. 

I keep breaking my "no TV" rule. I decided way before she was born that I wouldn't let her watch TV very much at all. My husband was worse- he didn't want her knowing what a TV was! Well for about the past week I've had the TV on about 1 hour per day... and I'm going crazy because of it! I love that she likes the shows and they keep her entertained so I can get stuff done, but I hate that zoned out look on her face when she's super engrossed in Word World, Veggie Tales, or Sesame Street. It's not that the shows are bad, but I didn't want the boob tube to become the babysitter... The up sides to this? One, I'm liking the shows too and end up watching them with her... ah-hem... Two, some classics never die like Sesame Street! Three, she's going to Grandma and Grandpa's house tomorrow for 2-3 days!!! YAY!!!

Okay and the reason I'm so excited about pawning my beloved child off on my parents is this: We've been renovating our home and trying to do that in a timely manner while keeping a 15 month old toddler entertained is entirely impossible! She's been under lockdown. The lockdown is consisting of either her room, her playpen, her highchair, or downstairs in the family room. She'd be fine with most of these if she had 115% of our attention... that's the problem. Grandma and Grandpa can be much better attention givers for the time being and she will have the run of their house instead of being confined. This is also why I've had to put on Sesame Street and Word World to distract her from the banging of hammers and such. Word World rocks by the way... just saying... "it's time to build a word, let's build it, let's build it now!" k I'm done.

During this renovating process we're discovering things about our child. She is terrified of our shop vac. It's been dubbed "The Big Scary Monster" that mommy and daddy have to turn on from time to time. She also REALLY wants to play with the ripped up carpet, loose nails/screws, carpet padding, and piles of junk that are laying around. She hates that we have to tell her "no." 

Some tips for house fixing-upping: (yup made that phrase up too)

1. Don't throw carpet padding away until you're absolutely completely done! Why? It makes a great barrier on your floor if you're painting the walls. It protects your hardwood floors from scratches if you're moving furniture back and forth like we are. We've had to move furniture a lot because we're working in sections. We finish a section, then put carpet padding down so our couches don't tear up our nice new floor. Plus the padding stuff is really comfy to stand on while you're working.

2. Don't EVER EVER EVER put multiple layers/rows of carpet tack strips down. I currently have a grudge against the people who did this to my home... We've been poked in the feet countless times because they never heard the phrase "less is more." They thought, "Hey you know what this house needs? MORE nails, tacks, screws, and staples! We won't fix the problem, we'll just put more screws and nails in and it'll be good to go!" UGHHHHH!!!! I think we pulled a good 20 screws/nails out of our banister that we took down. And at least 80% of them were bent, broken, stripped, etc. I swear the people who "fixed up" our house before were very closely related to the Beverly Hillbillies. 

3. Don't use 3 inch nails for attaching baseboards and don't nail them in every 2 inches!! Again, here's my rendition of our builder's thought process (read this in a very redneck accent- it'll help get my point across), "We better nail these here boards on real good! You never know when one of 'em might just jump out and bite you! Heck, they may even raise up and start a riot- maybe even beat us to death in our sleep! Better nail 'em on there so they don't get any sneaky ideas." I swear they could have had better results using all those nails on voodoo dolls... oooh... OR I could take all my baseboards with nails galore sticking out of them, tie some fishing line to all the nails, and make the world's largest homemade guitar!!!! HEHE!! That's my next project.

Okay so now I'm just going crazy and a little Mad Hattery-ish... So I'm going to go now before I turn into Dr. Evil or the Joker- for my safety as well as yours... Good Night!