winding down

Finally, February is coming to a close. It wasn’t a terrible month, but I’m glad it’s coming to an end. I’m ready for spring.

Last week was a bit of a busy one, as most 4-day weeks are. I got the car inspected and registered for Texas, which was the last thing to do before getting my Texas driver’s license. I intend to try to get that done on Friday.

Yuzu is recovering from a kitty-cold. He started sneezing on Wednesday – cute little kitten sneezes that always seemed to surprise him. It hasn’t slowed him down much, and it hasn’t turned him into too much of a snot monster, so it doesn’t seem to be serious. He’s not sneezing as much today, so I’m hoping he’s getting over it. Mirin has showed no signs of having caught it; we’ll see if that lasts.

We got our tax refund, which will allow us to do a few things that need to be done – namely, painting the room that will (with any luck) become a nursery in time. At the moment, it is a most brilliant hot pink color. I thought I had a picture of it, but there doesn’t seem to be one on my computer. Maybe Geordie has one. Anyway, it’s pink. And not a soft, girly pink but an in-your-face pink. It’s aggressively pink. We wouldn’t have rented the house if the landlord hadn’t given permission to paint over all that pink (did I mention the baseboards are black?)

So, we’ve been talking about what colors we want in the room. At the moment, we’ve agreed on a light green as the main color, with orange and yellow as accenting colors. We’re not 100% sure yet. We do know for certain that we want colors that are bright but still soothing and that are gender neutral.

And to close the post, here is a picture of a kitten. I was finally able to move the living room litter box into the foyer, which lest us with an open space, so we decided to get another scratching post/tower toy for the kittens (because they still like to use the couch every so often). It has a nice bed on top, which is a bonus. Mirin has pretty much claimed it for herself.

on being domesticated

I’m not very “bloggy” today. I haven’t much time to be, really. Because yesterday was a holiday for Geordie, we hung around the house all day, and I didn’t do all of the stuff I usually do on Monday: shopping at HEB, food-organizing, laundry, dish-washing, shopping at Target, writing at Barnes & Noble. It’s why Monday’s post is usually so short. All that got done yesterday was the laundry and the dishes, which does make things easier today (even though I still have another load of laundry to do today). But I’m still in a bit of a rush today, because there’s a quick-bread I want to make, and I’d like to have it done before I go to pick up Geordie from work. And I still have shopping at Target to do. (So sorry, B&N, but it looks like I’ll have to save you for another day!)

Not that I’m complaining. I don’t mind doing all these things. I rather like being so productive and active. It just leaves little time left-over for writing anything of real substance. I’m squeezing this post in between grocery shopping and lunch. I still haven’t put all the groceries away.

I never thought I’d take very well to being a stay-at-home-person. It always seemed like a lot of work (which it is) that I wouldn’t like to do (which sometimes I don’t, re: dishes). But some of it is good. Like anything having to do with the kitchen (except for the afore-mentioned dishes). I enjoy grocery-shopping, which I do from about 8:30-10am. It’s a long process, grocery-shopping, but I’m happy to take my time because I can. And aside from the few things I get from Target later in the day, I don’t have to go back to the grocery store for an entire week. I realize this is probably normal procedure for most people, but not generally for me. At least, not until recently, like the past year or so. In Moriya, I lived right next to a grocery store, so unless it was raining, it was a simple matter to go whenever I wanted. It helped that Starbucks was right next to it.

I worried that I’d be bored as a SAHP, but it turns out that I can find ways to keep myself busy/entertained. Baking is one of them. Cleaning, not so much. I’m still working on that. I admit, I’m probably the worst cleaner there is. I don’t mind doing laundry, so that gets done. Everything else is a toss-up. Part of the problem is that I haven’t done up a cleaning schedule yet. That would help. I like schedules. I like having a neat, orderly time-table, because if I don’t, I’ll just forget about what needs to be done and play Sims all day. Time-tables and checklists give me a sense of accomplishment. It can’t be just a “to-do” list. I need deadlines.

Speaking of which, it is now 11am. Time for lunch. Then it’s off to Target so I can be back by 1pm to bake my bread. Maybe then I won’t feel so bad about blowing an hour on playing the Sims while the laundry runs.

Well, at least the rest of the week isn’t so regimented. It’s really just a Monday thing. Except this week, it’s a Tuesday thing.

Hmm. By not working, four-day weeks aren’t really all that exciting any more. Interesting.

taking back the yard

Before we moved in, nobody had really been taking care of the yard. From what we heard, the house had been empty about three months before we came along, so the yard looked pretty spectacularly overgrown. We discussed what to do about it, eventually deciding to wait until we were more settled in to spend money on either a mowing service or a lawn mower of our very own.

Well, about a week ago, we got a letter in the mail from the Homeowner’s Association politely suggesting that we should do something about the state of our yard. Not requesting, mind you. Strongly suggesting. This is quite within their rights, yes, because it’s written in the policy. Not that I’ve ever seen the policy or had even been living in the house a whole month, but that’s beside the point. Clearly, this wasn’t something we could put off much longer. And we both agreed that the yard looked like crap and needed a good mow.

So we went out and bought a weedwhacker, and Geordie waged war against the overgrowth. The front yard is done, which I deemed good enough to keep the Homeowner’s Association happy. The backyard is fenced in, and you can’t see it from the street, so I’ll be more than a little irritated if they complain about that. Geordie’s working little by little on the backyard.

I have such a nice husband. He’s so adorable when he does yard work. I totally dig those sexy glasses.

The back yard.

The front yard.