Sunshine and Sweat

It's Day 5 of my vacation and I'm beat. And bruised. With a little bit of a sunburn and raging allergies.

But my sense of accomplishment keeps growing.

So far during this break I've gotten the most rotten part of my fence fixed (I bought the panels a year ago. Repeat that--one year ago and just now got them up.) I even ponied up for new gate hardware since the vacuum cleaner belt that was holding the old gate shut broke last week when the wind kicked up.

I also got my dad to install the new light fixture in the kitchen. It looks fantastic, but something I didn't take into account is the fact that halogen lights put off a LOT more heat than flourescent lights could ever think of doing. Oh well, I don't spend that much time in the kitchen anyway!

I've planted a rose bush, planted the lemon tree that I've been dragging in and out of the house since last fall, and transplanted a few bulbs. This morning I sprayed the insidious weeds that have taken over the back yard. Take a look. They look pretty with their little blue flowers:

And, they make a great spot for a cute little kitty to pose for pictures...

But, they grow in mounds, and sneak up under the siding on the house, and clog my mower until it dies:

So I hit them with some weed killer this morning. The instructions sounded pretty dire, no pets or people in the yard until it had dried. So we were inside until that stuff evaporated. But wouldn't you know it, for the first hour, the boys acted as if they were being wrongly incarcerated and raced around the house, begged at the doors, and generally made nuisances of themselves. Aren't these brats supposed to be sleeping 23 hours of the day?

It's safe to go outside now and not one of them have made a move for the door. The most they've done is change nap spots.

The rest of my week is scheduled with more projects: two more rose bushes to plant, some more flowers to put out, clean up of the flower beds, and cleaning and moving things about in the house. Not to mention all the shows filling up my DVR and the second season of "Alias" that has to be watched before it's due back at the library.

Before I go, here's a couple of shots of the boys enjoying springtime:

Izzy in a tree, possibly stalking birds. He was a little upset with me that I was hanging around taking pictures of him.

And Jake, making his own entertainment in the backyard. I'm really not sure what he was doing, but it was cute.

Sorry there're no shots of Sam, but he's mister cranky pants and won't let me get a good shot. The most I get are blurry pics of his rear end as he's leaving.

Brief Vacation Update

Finally finished getting the laminate flooring down. Hallelujah!

Just need to get the threshold strips and a bit of quarter round put down in order to finish up completely, but I've already rearranged the furniture, dragged the bookcases back in and unpacked the 25 boxes of books and DVDs.

I also uncovered 16 fake furry mice when I moved the sofa and chair. That answered what happened to most of them. Now I just need to find the rest. I also found one buried in the backyard under some grass clippings. I knew Izzy'd been taking those things outside. No telling how far down the street he's carried them.

Now it's on to the next project. Or maybe a nap. I'm voting nap. Especially since it's what the furrballs are doing.

Beware Flying Hammers

Let me preface this story by stating I've caught a wicked sinus infection thanks to all my allergies, with the added bonus of PMS thrown into the mix. So I'm feeling just peachy!

Last night, despite feeling miserable, nose running faster than Man O' War ever could, and cramps that would have felled Mr. Universe, I decided to work on my living room floor. Remember how I bought all that laminate flooring back in February? Yeah, it's still sitting there, pretty much untouched.

I had, at some point in early March, taken the contents of one box out and laid the boards out on the floor after tearing up a strip of carpet. However, I did realize that the laying of laminate flooring was not a one-woman job. So what was I thinking last night??

To tell the truth, the PMS hormones were running amok and my thinking was askew, possibly due to the added affects of all the Benadryl. I've been unable to get a family member to volunteer to help, so last night became an "I don't need them! I don't need anybody!" kind of insanity. (Did I mention that today's my birthday? That's another added dose of craziness.)

Anyway, I pulled up what I had already put down, started over, and made my first cut to finish out a row. I second-guessed myself and ended up sawing the board incorrectly, but whatever. I finished the row and started the next one with the piece I had miscut. Finished out the second row with help from Izzy and Jake. (And of course I mean that in the loosest form.)

The third row is where I went over the edge. Now, for those of you who have laid your own flooring, you see where this is going. You know I've been wrestling with those stupid little plastic tabs you place between the edge of the flooring and the wall so you keep your 3/4" spacing correct as well as getting the edges of each piece to line up. The first piece went down okay, the second piece took some hammering to get it in place, and the third, well, somehow as I was hammering it into place, it threw off the entire first and second row. All the joints were messed up and the only way to fix it is to take everything apart and start all over again.

This is the point at which my rubber mallet went flying across the room. Did you know those things bounce? I avoided the boomerang effect and burst into tears. Once again, I had to admit I needed one other person in the room just to, at the very least, stand on the boards and weight them down as I work on the next row. I stomped out of the room muttering about how every man I've ever known in my life has been a major letdown. (Hot shower and cup of tea time, perhaps?)

Moral of the story--don't try to lay flooring while sick and PMSing.