After the flood back in October of 2008 we realized that this was going to take a long time to get the house back into shape. Even if the insurance company was quick to respond with our check(s), the mortgage company made it less then a joyful experience to get things back to normal.
The latest update is that we do have the kitchen and dining area (pretty much the same area),living room, hallway, hallway closets and bathrooms all tiled. We had the room off of the living room tiled instead of carpeted for a few reasons. First reason....DOGS. It's much easier to wipe up a piddle or a poop from a dog that has had an "accident" (because it's owners weren't watching to let them outside to relieve themselves) then it is to clean up brand new carpeting. And we all know that no matter how hard you work to get a "spot" out of the carpeting, it always shows up again.
The second reason....The floor is nice and cool and that means a few things...the house will feel cooler in the summer when we don't really need to be running the air conditioning. So far I have not had it on but Brian did mention that he got up and turned it on the other night because his room felt stuffy. (I don't know why he didn't just open his bedroom window...but then again, he's afraid of intruders so I guess I do understand)
The night temperatures have been delicious! The kind of temperatures that we will long for come August or September! I throw my windows open and let the cool air in..........and most of the time I have a fan running to help bring those delightful breezes right into the house and down the hallway! Intruders be damned! (I know that there is a remote possibility for this to happen but I'm going to hedge a bet that I'll be safe for the next few years living here) Those redneck neighbors of mine know everyone who's supposed to be here and everyone who looks "foreign." After all....they did call the police on Brian and me the night before we got the keys to this house, as we sat in the backyard enjoying the moonlight and our new yard. So I'm going to leave security up to them! They seem to know what to do.

Anyway....back to the house. Brian and I pulled weeds (Brian used the shovel on most of them) and I raked until I got a blister (even with gloves) to get all of the dead weeds and new weeds out of the dirt. I had to stop because I didn't want to get an infection. Remember diabetics don't heal all that fast and I really didn't want to lose a thumb as well as my job as a cashier due to infection. So...Brian ended up doing most of the weeding. After all of that was done, we went to Star Nursery and bought the seed starter, grass seed and steer manure! Mmmmm.....have I mentioned how nice cow dung smells when you add water to it? The dogs had quite a look on their little faces when we introduced them to the back yard that afternoon. All morning they had been in their kennels so as not to disturb the process.

Water water water.....sunshine sunshine sunshine....more water....and today we have the hint of green little blades of grass beginning to poke their heads up through the dirt!!! Hooray!!! Of course there will be patches that we will have to reseed because Chuckie and Gordie had to help with the "sprinkling" and "fertilizing!" I'll send some pictures when there is more to show then just a faint hint of grass coming up!

So....yesterday Brian built what I am going to call our plant stand and grapevine arbor. It looks terrific and there is quite a sense of accomplishment and pride that he takes in doing jobs around the house. He also planted his garden of watermelon and cantalope. My cucumbers are coming up and there are about 8 little peppers on my bell pepper plants! So as you can read...everything is coming up nicely which makes me smile and be very happy inside.