More Projects

It's been an eventful few weeks. I finished my second draft of my book! That was pretty awesome, but then I suddenly found I had more free time while some friends of mine are reading it to give me some feedback.

So, we've been working on other projects. Aside from working on massive amounts of cherries, we've found other things to keep us busy.

Kevin's room has a fun mural on it. A while ago, I went through his room and patched all the holes up. We were intending to paint the rest of the walls, but I've been meaning to restore the mural for a while. I didn't remember to take the before picture until I was halfway done, but you can still see quite a few white patches all over.

I wasn't sure how well I'd do, since I haven't done a restoration-type project before, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to match the colors on nearly everything except the sky, but I like the way that turned out too. You can't even tell I did anything in the other areas, which is the best kind of restoration. 

We also have raspberries coming in! We don't get many from our few bushes, but we're getting a few. They don't last very long. They're pretty popular in the house. I haven't really been able to do anything with them yet, because they disappear too fast.

It's nice to have free fresh fruit though.

The next project that we started and finished on Monday occurred in the front yard. When the appraiser came to our house, he suggested that we put shallow window wells outside of the front basement windows. We've been thinking about it for a while, but it wasn't until this week that I figured out how I wanted to do it. We made our own wells (because we can't afford the metal kind yet).

I think they turned out quite nice. Now we just need to plant flowers and our front flower garden should be on its way! Also, if there is a random flood, the water shouldn't be able to come in our windows.

The most recent project involved our puppy, Siff. She's a Norwegian Elkhound, so she's been awfully hot lately, with almost no signs of shedding her large coat.

It's no wonder she's been loving the water!

Look at that beautiful coat!

So, today I decided she needed a haircut. She's pretty excited about it, even though she now resembles a sheep.

 My clipper blades are dull, so I cut her entire coat with scissors. I think it turned out pretty nice. I got it mostly even, and she's so soft now. It's like touching a cloud. She's been panting a lot less, and she seems much more comfortable.

It is going to take us a little while to get used to her new looks. Arkhon groomed her for a while after I finished. I'm not quite sure what that meant, except that he loves his little sister.

Today was also Arkhon's birthday!

He turned two, and so for the only time during the entire year, he got to sit at the table (just while I took a picture).

Allopex suggested I give Arkhon a party hat. So I did.

I made him a rabbit cake out of a dog biscuit I have. Then we bought some canned dog food and spread it across like frosting. I also stuck two dog bones in for candles. He and Siff sure enjoyed their cake.

Weirdly, we didn't want any.

Arkhon got a couple of presents, but I think the cake was his favorite part. 

It's been nice to get so many things done. It's weird that our boy dog is two now. It seems like it's been forever since he looked like this:

Now, he looks like this:

He's such a good boy. He listens really well, most of the time. Occasionally, he gets too excited and his ears switch off, but when he hears us, he always listens. He and Kevin are best friends, and he is so tolerant and patient. It's crazy how time has flown.

Broken Glasses and Root Canals

Yesterday, we had an exciting day. In the morning we had pest control come to spray for cockroaches (we haven't seen many lately, but they were doing our whole building, so that was great!) I was frantically trying to finish cleaning before they got here, and finished just in time.

Then, we had cousins come over to play with Kevin. He loves his cousins so much, but after a busy morning with a picnic and playing on the playground, he was worn out, so he fell asleep while they were still here. We had a lot of fun though.

Then, Grig had to go straight from work to the dentist. Poor guy. That was a long day for him. He started work at 4:00 a.m., went straight to the dentist at 3:40 p.m., got home about 5:15, and then had another couple of meetings at 6:00 p.m.. At the dentist, they performed a root canal and numbed up his tongue and jaw.

I felt pretty bad for him, but I was grateful to have him home.

Tonight, he has an eye doctor appointment, and I'm going to take my glasses in to get them repaired as well. On Saturday, we were tired, and so Grig and I took a nap on the floor of Kevin's room while he played. I still had my glasses on from the morning (I usually wear contacts), and I foolishly played them somewhere where he could reach them. When I woke up, I couldn't find them, and being blind I had to ask Grig to locate them.

When he found them, it wasn't good. A screw was missing and they were horribly bent out of shape. He couldn't find one of the lenses. Well, I went and put my contacts back in, and cleaned Kevin's room and located the missing lens, but not the screw.

The after-effects of the carnage

I wasn't mad at him, I just wished that I hadn't left my glasses where he could reach them.

Live and learn, I guess.


This last week, I also shaved the dog. Previously, I've clipped her, but this time I went to an 1/8 of an inch. This is what Dakota looks like with no hair:

She's much happier and much cooler. She doesn't pant hardly at all now, and she is far more relaxed. She doesn't look too bad either, if I do say so myself.

Summer is almost here, and our apartment is growing warmer by the day.

I love summer, but with no air-conditioning, the house can get pretty warm. I'm probably going to cut Kevin's hair again before we leave too.