I’m happy to report that since coming home from Utah I have continued to feel happy (or at least not depressed). This morning when it was so sunny at nine a.m. I thought to myself, “how could I be depressed with all this light hitting my eyeballs?” I’m not happy to report that Andrew still seems to be struggling with tantrums (though he hasn’t been hitting anyone lately – that’s a plus). The last few times he got out of control, I decided to just hold him next to me. In some ways I think it is good, because eventually he seems to calm down and be willing to talk about his emotions. When I just let him scream in his room, he gets calm but he also acts like nothing even happened. In other ways I think it will be too hard to maintain. He was really upset last night and my arms are so sore...
So – the faucets in the kids bathroom have been leaking for awhile. They are only about a year old, so I have to suspect our mastermind “what can I do to this before it breaks” kid of tampering with them. First it was the cold water, so we just turned the water off. Then it was the hot. When the kids were having to brush their teeth in the tub I figured it was time to fix the faucets. So, the water being off and all, I took one apart and headed to Home Depot. Did I mention that one of the shutoff values wasn’t working – wouldn’t turn the water all the way off? So I bought four “cartridges (two for each faucet) and a new shutoff valve. The repair of the one faucet went pretty smoothly, except it took me awhile to figure out how to make the faucets turn on and off with the handles in the...
So – it’s time to update the blog (my motivation for writing) Last weekend my parents, siblings, and all kids (with the exception of my youngest brother, Andrew, who was on business in Germany – lucky dog, but we missed him!) got together for our 1st “Joe and Pam Cottle Reunion” (there’s got to be a better name than that. Suggestions, anyone??). I’d give a run-down on all the happenings, but fortunately for me, my dad did an excellent job on that front already. See the family links on the right? Pick the one named “Mom & Dad” and enjoy the awesomeness! I will just state here that my favorite parts of the weekend were the museum (especially, since it seemed to be a hit with everyone) and Tom’s burgers (we’re thinking maybe we should open a hamburger stand as our...
If only my little kids weren’t still in school!!! The weather has been beautiful and the summer twilight lasts and lasts … too bad I have to put my kids to bed for school the next morning. Last night Andrew would not go to bed – or at least, he was in his room, but would not stop playing. At 9:30 I went in and scolded him. 5 minutes later I heard noises – he was up with the caulking gun in hand (silly me, leaving it in his room). He had emptied about half the tube into the crawl space under his window. Lovely. I put him out on the deck and told him to go ahead and play if he must. After I had calmed down and done some thinking, I brought him back in and put him to work. Got the dishwasher unloaded, a load of clothes folded, and the trash carried out to the curb. I finally sent him back to bed about...
Well, we continue to work on the house. We’ve got all the windows installed, thanks to some professional help, but we still had to drywall & finish the upstairs windows that were too small for the space. Thanks to Mom & Dad, the kids rooms have been finished and Andrew’s has even been painted. Wanted to show some pictures of the work that we did. Here are the upstairs windows after Tom had framed them and replaced the siding and trim - but not painted yet. Here's the finished project - you can't even tell that it's new - great job, babe! Next, I posted pictures earlier about the tiling project we did in the kitchen. Here is the finished product. Just changing this part of the kitchen makes me excited for the day when I can really work on the kitchen - painting/staining the cabinets, making new curtains,...