More Like Labor Day

No, not that kind of labor. :)

This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend. Ben and I decided to try and make the most of 3 1/2 days off of work by getting some stuff done. Friday and Saturday we ran some errands. Saturday afternoon we went to a friend's 30 birthday party. Sunday we had a bunch of things we wanted to get done. But sometimes plans are just not meant to be. I think we were both discouraged about the lack of progress made. But then Monday rolled around.

Our one project was to build a retaining wall around the front "sand pit." This area has been on our list since we moved in. Monday we went to Menard's and found some great bricks that we both liked and also as important - allowed us to make 90 degree corners (most bricks for whatever reason aren't made that way). Poor Ben had to do all the lifting... all 2100 pounds. Twice (load and unload). But it worked out perfectly! We didn't have to cut any of the bricks. And it looks fantastic. And after all of that Ben mowed the lawn (that takes about 2 hours).

At the end, we were both happy about the progress that we made and the results. We are doing the lasagna method of gardening, so in a few weeks we should be able to plant some pretty flowers. So excited!

Showers

A few months back I didn't have hot water for my shower. I checked the fuses. I went to check the pilot light (where I discovered we didn't have one). Then, it started to work. Strange. But whatever. Last week, no hot water. So I tried my magic again. It worked, but to a lesser degree - the hot water didn't last. I called the manufacturer and we figured out what the problem was (LED light pattern helped with this). Parts are still under warranty, so they sent the parts over next day. We got them on Saturday. I thought it was just a wire, turns out it was the gas harness. So, we decided this was a job for a professional. I called a random place (they were on the manufacturers website as a service provider). The guy was kind of grumpy. But the guy that actually showed up was awesome! He was super friendly. He was great with Zoey too (found out on the way to the utility room that he has a dog). And he was out in less than an hour. And we have hot water now! Woo hoo!

Tuesday night my girlfriends threw us a shower. I had such a great time. The food was great. The games were fun. And Baby Roy got a lot of cool things. The one game was for people to decorate onesies. It was fun to see their creativity show up on them. My book club friends made book themed ones. The dog lovers made ones with "Zoey was here" and "Zoey's girl" on them. I am so blessed to have such an awesome group of friends that I have met along my life's journey so far. Life is so much fun with them.

Oh, deer! Oh, fawn!

Yesterday we finally kicked ourselves in the butt and went to our old place to evaluate what needs to be done in order to get it rent-able. We were both pleasantly surprised at what we found - everything is still in working order, no vandalism, no animals, and not a whole lot to do. Our plan is to take part of each weekend for the next month to work on stuff. We will be doing a lot ourselves, but we hope to get someone to help with some of the projects that are time consuming. Our goal is to have it ready to go by the end of September.

After working on that, I kicked Ben's butt and convinced him to go on a bike ride with me. We took one of the Regional Trail loops for the most part. It was so pretty! The trail goes through some awesome nature areas. The trail also has a nice mix for up and down hills. It was very fun. As we passed through one area we saw a doe and her fawn. They were so close to use. It was so cool.

Then Ben fixed our garage door. In the morning, I tried to leave to go let out Andrea's dog (she was running in the Ragnar Relay) and the door would only open about 1/3 of the way. So, I used Ben's car (parked in the third stall and a different door). We looked at the door a few times and couldn't figure out what was wrong. After the bike ride, we really wanted to grill and in order to do that we needed the garage door open. So, Ben took another look. Turns out one of the pieces to allow you to lock the door was installed wrong. The bolts had worked themselves loose and the piece had turned to block the last wheel from going up. Ben removed the piece and it works again!

We finished up the day with root beer floats with my parents. Today will be doing new house stuff... mainly laundry. I'm hoping to get a run in too. We'll see.

HOA

Last night Ben and I attended the first annual meeting of our home owners association. It was an interesting time... One guy wants a special assessment for dog owners because some of his grass is dying... One guy was over analyzing the financial statements... Since our development is still in progress at the moment the builders run the association. Everyone had a bunch of questions for the guy that came to represent the builders. I felt bad for him. But he seemed very nice and had a great sense of humor. After the meeting we talked to him about trees and our "lake" in our back yard. He's going to swing by and look at the lake. It will be nice to get that taken care of.

The Lake - The backyards on our street slope down towards the pond (good plan). The problem is we don't think the slope is right. There are two spots in our yard that water will pool in. Last summer it was always so wet there, we couldn't really mow.

Catch a Falling Star

At our old house we had nice, mature trees everywhere. I really liked the shade that they provided as well as the shelter from the wind on my morning walks. At our new house, the trees are young and short. As much as I miss the old trees, one great benefit of the young trees is that I have a full view of the sky. In the last few weeks I have seen 4 shooting stars on my morning walks (yes, it is dark enough at 5 am to see stars). I wake up hopeful that it is a clear morning and I can gaze at the stars as Zoey and I walk. I love it!

This Friday I leave for India. I am super excited to meet my team and get to experience the culture first hand. Neetha and Vaishali (Ben's teammates that were here this summer) have graciously offered to show me some sights. It is going to be a whirlwind of a trip! I hope I can keep up.

As I have been getting myself ready for the trip, I have also started to get Ben ready for my absence. Yesterday I taught him how to use the washing machine. Last night I made a batch of chili and am planning on freezing it for him. Today I threw some chicken in the crock pot before I left for work for shredded chicken for quesadillas. I probably won't do too much more since I'm sure he will be going out too.

I just realized that I should probably expand on the whole washing machine thing... our washer is a side loader and yesterday Ben saw me put the detergent in the little compartment thingy. He commented that he wouldn't have thought to put it in there.

Test Four and More

Today's test started off easy. It is divided into 5 parts. The first part I feel awesome about. But then the next two segments were tough. Word on the street is that the first part is a sort of pre-test to see what you know. If you do well "they" give you hard questions... Not sure if that's true but today it felt like it. The final two segments were ok. I think I did well on them. Hard to know for sure. Guess we will find out in September!

So, tonight I'm taking a break and then I will start studying again. Oh joy. To add to the fun of studying, I will be also filling my "spare" time with packing... Yep. Ben, Zoey and I are moving! (And our fish too). More on that another time. Need to fill up the garbage and recycle bins because tomorrow is garbage day!

V Day

I had a very sweet Valentine's day... It started off with some yummy dessert that Krista brought in to work. She said she would give me the recipe. :) My mom came into work to drop off some cookies and Ramona (front desk) gave me a kiss (Hershey's toffee). Then after lunch someone from my group brought in a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

Ben and I were about to start making dinner when we decided to go look at a few Parade of Homes. We were able to make it to three before they closed for the night. Two of the builders we liked a lot. One we got some information on, but the other one there wasn't anyone at the house, so we'll have to contact them for more information.

When we got home we made chicken tacos and margaritas. Very Tasty. Zoey got canned dog food. It smelled kind of like bacon. She gobbled it down very quickly. By the time we finished with dinner it was too late (for me at least) to start a movie. So we decided to skip that part.

A Bunch of Dresses and Houses

On Friday night Kelly and I went to see 27 Dresses. Although it was your typical chick flick, I really liked it. Probably due in part to Katherine Heigl being in it (one of my favorite actresses). And probably in part because it's about weddings. Anyway, I would recommend it.

Yesterday Ben and I looked at some houses on the Parade of Homes. We saw some pretty nice ones. Now we just need to figure out if we're really that serious. I think we are. Which means a lot of house projects in the near future.

Today's plans are laundry, grocery shopping, and studying. Ben is going with Grant to look at houses this afternoon.

Obsessed

(Warning - if you don't like mice and you come to our house at all, don't read this post).

Every fall as the weather turns cold, we get a few house guests from the great outdoors. Usually a few traps with some PB does the trick. This fall it was a different story... I think the whole mouse community moved in. We caught a bunch with traps and then didn't see them for a while so we thought we were done for the season. Around Christmas time we started seeing them again. So more traps were set. With no results! I seriously think these mice are PB resistant.

In the past, Zoey has been unaware of our guests. She'll be curious when we're emptying a trap, but that was about it. Again, this year it's a different story. She stalks her prey. And she does rounds all the time to see if she can find one. In the past, she always sleeps with Ben while I shower and get ready. This past week she leaves the bedroom with me and inspects the house. At night instead of pestering me to come to bed, she goes up and down the hallways, in the kitchen and dining room and sniffs around every couch. Then repeats. Crazy.

Anyway, we bought some poison for the garage and bought a bunch more traps. So far we have caught one.

If there are mouse lovers out there, let me assure you that we tried to deal with these cute mice in a humane way... but they didn't like the live traps either. So the death traps that we have are insta-death ones so at least they die quickly.