Saturday, April 24, 2010

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes...

So I meant to post this last week, but between moving into the CB last Saturday (I know, right?!?) and having a puppy on my hands (literally - she's teething right now and her favorite chew toys are my fingers) it didn't get done. Little Miss Penny Lane is now taking a nap (picture to follow) after a big morning playing with my mom and Lynn when they came to see her, so I'm finally free for 20 minutes or so.

The story on Penny is that my friend Kelly from work knew someone who had a litter they were trying to place in good homes. Penny is a border collie mix, and she's about seven weeks old now - she was just over five weeks when I brought her home. I've arbitrarily picked March 12th as her birthday, so free your calendars next March - we're having a birthday party.

The first couple nights I had her (Monday and Tuesday) she didn't sleep through the night at all, waking up every couple of hours crying to go out. While I appreciate that she wants to go potty outside, the lack of sleep was brutal. Since then, she's slept through the night pretty well. As long as I take her out around 11 she will sleep until 6:30 or so, which gives momma a blissful and much needed 7 hours. She was doing really well on the potty training until last Friday, when I had to leave her at home most of the day while I worked a double. She was not happy about that, and let me know by christening my house pretty liberally. Luckily her bladder is tiny, so it's only a teaspoon at a time, but I swear she was deliberately punishing me. Since then she's only messed in the house when she first wakes up from a nap if she's still too sleepy to remember what she's supposed to do.

In other news, I moved in to the CB last Saturday and have been living here for a week now. There are still a few things that need to be done, including painting and installing shoe molding and figuring out what the heck I'm going to do with all of my books, but the major work is done. It's really starting to feel like home. I'll take pictures of the finished floors and the furniture soon - it's rainy today, and the house really looks much nicer in the sunshine. After four months of backbreaking labor*, I'm finally in.

* Ok, truth in advertising: it wasn't really four solid months. More like a few hardcore long weekends. Parts of it were pretty backbreaking, though. At least the bruises on my knees have finally healed.

So anyway, on to the gratuitous puppy pictures:

Penny's current napping place:



Her other favorite napping spot in the pantry:



Learning to climb the stairs at the big house the first week:



Now she's a big shot and wants to climb everything. She made it onto my desk from my lap a couple days ago. Too bad it's harder getting down than getting up...



She "helps" me clean the house by chasing the broom and biting at it/ stepping on it/ standing in my dust piles. It's comical, if inefficient. She is undeniably cute, though.



Oops, somebody's stirring. More pictures to follow shortly!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

!!!

It's moving week!

Also, there will be a new addition to the family tonight! (Hint: I'm not pregnant - the new addition has four legs and black fur).

Pictures to follow shortly.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

No pictures yet, but....

MY FLOORS ARE DONE!

Paul and I finished staining the floors this weekend and sealed them on Sunday. I have to wait 7-10 days for them to cure, then it'll be moving day!

I'm going to give them the full 10 days, both because I'm busy this weekend and because I'm terrified of messing up our hard work, so I'm looking to move toward the end of next week.

Yet to be done:
* Finish making Roman shades for the front room windows
* Hang front room and bedroom curtains
* Make kitchen curtains and hang them, too
* Clean the stove that apparently hadn't been cleaned for 20 years, but is a nice little stove nonetheless
* Stain + install the oak threshold that will cover the linoleum edge into the front room from the kitchen
* Install the metal threshold pieces for the outside kitchen door and the pantry door
* Paint the bathroom floor (although this doesn't necessarily have to be done before I move in)
* Paint and install shoe molding

I'm totally encouraged. My to-do list is all simple stuff that will take a few afternoons of light work, and in fact not all of it absolutely has to be done before I move anyway. I also have a bunch of plants and bulbs that are raring to be planted, so there will be some serious yard-work to come, but things are definitely coming together.

I'll post pictures of my gorgeous, custom floors soon!