It's amazing how fast the year is already going by. The school year is almost over...which means my oldest child will be out of high school. That's so crazy! Graduation is being postponed until later on in the year. But we picked up Aubry's senior yard sign yesterday. It looks great! After the lawn is mowed again, we'll put it out there. :)
Things have been pretty busy lately. Yesterday Aubry dropped her dog off to be neutered and is picking him up today. They also pulled four of his baby teeth that never fell out while he was already under anesthesia. So no more janky teeth for Linken. :P Aubry was sad not having him sleeping in her bed like he has since she brought him home and she was worried that he'd be mad at her...but we assured her that Linken will be excited to see her and happy to be home. :) Now we need to make the appointment for Neko to get fixed as well!
Aubry had a doctor appointment yesterday and Johnny had a dentist appointment today. And yesterday we also picked up some of the stuff we'll need to install the flooring after it gets here on Thursday. I'm so excited to get started! I've been working on the basement...trying to get it all organized so we can move a majority of the furniture and stuff from upstairs to the basement so it'll be out of the way. We still have to tear out all the carpet and tile then clean and treat the subfloor. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.
This past weekend I helped Johnny with some yard work. We cut down a lot of the small trees growing along the fence and in the flowerbeds in front of the house. He also pulled a lot of the weeds from one of the front flowerbeds. We still have quite a bit of work to do, but it was nice to get started. It killed my allergies though! So I only helped bag everything up in between working on the basement.
Last night I made cornbread ranch chicken tenders for dinner. Instead of frying it like I did in this recipe, I cut chicken breasts into smaller strips and then placed them on a greased baking sheet and baked them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 25 minutes on one side, flipped them, then baked for 25 minutes on the other side. They turned out really good! I think that's my new preferred way to make cornbread ranch chicken now. :)
Now...I gotta get back to work!
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Indoor Kitty, Dammit!
Ashlyn and I have been watching a lot of My Cat from Hell lately. Jackson Galaxy is a cat behaviorist who helps people with their naughty cats. It definitely makes me realize how much we lucked out with our three cats. They don't have aggression or territorial issues. They're very friendly and lovey with us...although they're not really fans of other people. But even then, they just hide under the bed or downstairs. If my mom and grandma come over, they'll come out after awhile and observe from the hallway...then they might come out into the living room with us. Our cats have also never gone to the bathroom outside the litterbox at all. When they were tiny babies, they were too tiny to climb into the litterbox. We put a little box in front of it as a step and they have used the litterbox without fail ever since. They were seriously the easiest things I have ever potty-trained. ;) Jackson actually recommends one litterbox for each cat plus an extra one...we only have one covered litterbox that gets scooped nearly everyday and haven't had any problems.
These three kitties have definitely made me a cat person. They're my little furbabies and I try to keep them happy and healthy. They've been indoor cats their whole life...since strictly indoor cats live a lot longer than indoor/outdoor cats. Well...over the last year, they've been obsessed with going outside. At first it was just Milo. He would dart out the door anytime we opened it. We started letting him go out on the porch every once in awhile. Then he started venturing to the sidewalk and climbing the trunk of the tree in front of our porch. Then he started running through the yard and around the side of the house when we'd try to pick him up and bring him back in the house. So we started letting him go out in the backyard a little bit. Then Leo started wanting to go out a few months ago and now Angel does as well. So when we let the puppies out and have time to sit out there with them, we'll let the kitties wander around the backyard. Angel has her spot under a chair where she likes to lay down for the most part and watch everything. Leo loves climbing and lounging on the roof of the old doghouse. Just in the last couple weeks he started going out into the grass and will chase bugs and butterflies with Milo...who still continues to push boundaries. There is a tree in the corner of the yard that he likes to climb and twice in the past week he jumped to the top ledge of the fence (the 2"x4" where the boards are attached). And a couple weeks ago, he got out the gate where a board was missing and I found him sitting on the neighbor's sidewalk. The gate has since been fixed. :P
But yesterday shortly after I got him down from the top of the fence...Milo escaped the fenced-in backyard. UGH. Johnny and I had taken Linken outside (while Aubry was at work) and let all three cats out. When we were ready to go in, Milo was nowhere to be found. This was about 3:30pm. We looked all over the yard, under the neighbor's deck and shed, walked around the block, and Johnny drove around quite awhile looking for him. I emptied their litter and put some on the front porch and some on the back porch. I put a can of food in the front and the back. I also put the blanket that he sleeps on in our bed outside on the front porch. I kept going from the backdoor to the front hoping he'd be out there. Nope...nothing.
After Johnny got back the last time he went driving around, we went back outside. He stood on a large planter by the fence and shined his light around the neighbor's yards. We can see about five backyards from there. Johnny was shining the light from his phone and calling Milo's name. Then he saw two glowing eyes walking from around a neighbor's shed a few yards over. Johnny hollered for me to go around the fence and grab Milo.
I picked Milo up and his belly was completely muddy. I assume he was hiding under the shed. With all the people and animals and everyone mowing their lawn while it was such a nice day...I assume he was trying to hide. So I took him inside and got everything ready to give him a bath. The cats have NEVER liked baths. When we first brought them home, they were covered in fleas and dirt. We gave them several baths in order to get them cleaned up and rid them of the fleas. Still...they never got used to being bathed. I just used a washcloth with soap to wash the mud off of his belly, legs, and feet since the rest of him was clean. I held him by the scruff and he tolerated me scrubbing off the mud...but he freaked out when I tried rinsing him. I didn't have enough water in a bowl to get all the soap out and running the water in the tub was too loud. So I pulled everything off the counter and rinsed him off in the bathroom sink. I was able to get all the soap out and then toweled him dry. I was going to use the hairdryer but he didn't like that at all, either. I turned up the thermostat so the air conditioner wouldn't come on while he was still damp and he dried completely before we went to bed.
I'm so glad to have Milo home. I haven't let him go outside since. When we get done with our current home improvement projects, I'd like to build a "catio" so that the cats can go out in an enclosed area to explore without worrying about them getting out of the yard. Jackson Galaxy suggests putting a netting or wire on top of the fence at a 45 degree angle so the cats can't jump the fence...but we have a really big yard and that's a lot of fence. So...we'll have to see what we can do. Until then...they'll just have to stay inside.
These three kitties have definitely made me a cat person. They're my little furbabies and I try to keep them happy and healthy. They've been indoor cats their whole life...since strictly indoor cats live a lot longer than indoor/outdoor cats. Well...over the last year, they've been obsessed with going outside. At first it was just Milo. He would dart out the door anytime we opened it. We started letting him go out on the porch every once in awhile. Then he started venturing to the sidewalk and climbing the trunk of the tree in front of our porch. Then he started running through the yard and around the side of the house when we'd try to pick him up and bring him back in the house. So we started letting him go out in the backyard a little bit. Then Leo started wanting to go out a few months ago and now Angel does as well. So when we let the puppies out and have time to sit out there with them, we'll let the kitties wander around the backyard. Angel has her spot under a chair where she likes to lay down for the most part and watch everything. Leo loves climbing and lounging on the roof of the old doghouse. Just in the last couple weeks he started going out into the grass and will chase bugs and butterflies with Milo...who still continues to push boundaries. There is a tree in the corner of the yard that he likes to climb and twice in the past week he jumped to the top ledge of the fence (the 2"x4" where the boards are attached). And a couple weeks ago, he got out the gate where a board was missing and I found him sitting on the neighbor's sidewalk. The gate has since been fixed. :P
But yesterday shortly after I got him down from the top of the fence...Milo escaped the fenced-in backyard. UGH. Johnny and I had taken Linken outside (while Aubry was at work) and let all three cats out. When we were ready to go in, Milo was nowhere to be found. This was about 3:30pm. We looked all over the yard, under the neighbor's deck and shed, walked around the block, and Johnny drove around quite awhile looking for him. I emptied their litter and put some on the front porch and some on the back porch. I put a can of food in the front and the back. I also put the blanket that he sleeps on in our bed outside on the front porch. I kept going from the backdoor to the front hoping he'd be out there. Nope...nothing.
After Johnny got back the last time he went driving around, we went back outside. He stood on a large planter by the fence and shined his light around the neighbor's yards. We can see about five backyards from there. Johnny was shining the light from his phone and calling Milo's name. Then he saw two glowing eyes walking from around a neighbor's shed a few yards over. Johnny hollered for me to go around the fence and grab Milo.
I picked Milo up and his belly was completely muddy. I assume he was hiding under the shed. With all the people and animals and everyone mowing their lawn while it was such a nice day...I assume he was trying to hide. So I took him inside and got everything ready to give him a bath. The cats have NEVER liked baths. When we first brought them home, they were covered in fleas and dirt. We gave them several baths in order to get them cleaned up and rid them of the fleas. Still...they never got used to being bathed. I just used a washcloth with soap to wash the mud off of his belly, legs, and feet since the rest of him was clean. I held him by the scruff and he tolerated me scrubbing off the mud...but he freaked out when I tried rinsing him. I didn't have enough water in a bowl to get all the soap out and running the water in the tub was too loud. So I pulled everything off the counter and rinsed him off in the bathroom sink. I was able to get all the soap out and then toweled him dry. I was going to use the hairdryer but he didn't like that at all, either. I turned up the thermostat so the air conditioner wouldn't come on while he was still damp and he dried completely before we went to bed.
I'm so glad to have Milo home. I haven't let him go outside since. When we get done with our current home improvement projects, I'd like to build a "catio" so that the cats can go out in an enclosed area to explore without worrying about them getting out of the yard. Jackson Galaxy suggests putting a netting or wire on top of the fence at a 45 degree angle so the cats can't jump the fence...but we have a really big yard and that's a lot of fence. So...we'll have to see what we can do. Until then...they'll just have to stay inside.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Busy-ness
Things are pretty busy around here. Johnny is working from home 10 hours a day. I love his customer service voice. :) He is seriously the friendliest customer service person and always wants to be helpful. The girls are still doing online schoolwork. Aubry is also working 4-5 days a week now. And I'm busy with a lot of random things around the house.
I'm trying to finish uploading all my photos to Flickr while I actually have the time to do it now since there's still no work files. I like having a copy of my photos online just in case something happens to my digital hard copies. There are a lot of different sites, but I prefer the paid option with Flickr. Well...I really liked it when they had free unlimited space, but realistically I understand why that isn't necessarily a profitable business model. I really like Flickr's "Camera Roll" organization to see all my photos by date. They used to have a calendar archive that I liked better, but this is a decent compromise. I really hope their service continues.
I also have to get the living room and dining room ready to put our new flooring down! I was able to order the amount we needed and it is in transit from California as I'm typing this! It should be here next week. I'll have to schedule the freight delivery and then I can get started laying the floor! We have some entry tiles that are basically cemented to the subfloor...except that it stuck to the floor more than the tiles. So removing the majority of the stone tiles should be easy, but I'll have to remove all that cement adhesive...and do it as quietly as possible while Johnny is answering customer service calls about 20 feet away in the bedroom. :P Then I'll have to pull up all the old carpet and tack boards. I also have a board or two that I have to nail back down or something...we have a spot that is squeaky. I'm going to try to seal the subfloor as well. I think the most challenging part of all of that is going to be figuring out where to put all the furniture while I'm putting the floor down. :P Then I have about 380 square feet of vinyl planks to install! I'm super excited!
We also need to find a few rugs to put down for the living room and the dining room. I found some on Overstock that I like. We are thinking about getting a different dining table as well. We have a really large octagon shaped, heavy wooden table and chairs. The upholstery has needed replaced on the chairs for awhile and it is just too big for the space. So we're thinking about getting a corner bench and table or a smaller rectangle table and chairs. Then we will get a few stools for the bar...we haven't had the space for them with the large table.
I'm excited about continuing to get the house the way we want it to be. :)
I'm trying to finish uploading all my photos to Flickr while I actually have the time to do it now since there's still no work files. I like having a copy of my photos online just in case something happens to my digital hard copies. There are a lot of different sites, but I prefer the paid option with Flickr. Well...I really liked it when they had free unlimited space, but realistically I understand why that isn't necessarily a profitable business model. I really like Flickr's "Camera Roll" organization to see all my photos by date. They used to have a calendar archive that I liked better, but this is a decent compromise. I really hope their service continues.
I also have to get the living room and dining room ready to put our new flooring down! I was able to order the amount we needed and it is in transit from California as I'm typing this! It should be here next week. I'll have to schedule the freight delivery and then I can get started laying the floor! We have some entry tiles that are basically cemented to the subfloor...except that it stuck to the floor more than the tiles. So removing the majority of the stone tiles should be easy, but I'll have to remove all that cement adhesive...and do it as quietly as possible while Johnny is answering customer service calls about 20 feet away in the bedroom. :P Then I'll have to pull up all the old carpet and tack boards. I also have a board or two that I have to nail back down or something...we have a spot that is squeaky. I'm going to try to seal the subfloor as well. I think the most challenging part of all of that is going to be figuring out where to put all the furniture while I'm putting the floor down. :P Then I have about 380 square feet of vinyl planks to install! I'm super excited!
We also need to find a few rugs to put down for the living room and the dining room. I found some on Overstock that I like. We are thinking about getting a different dining table as well. We have a really large octagon shaped, heavy wooden table and chairs. The upholstery has needed replaced on the chairs for awhile and it is just too big for the space. So we're thinking about getting a corner bench and table or a smaller rectangle table and chairs. Then we will get a few stools for the bar...we haven't had the space for them with the large table.
I'm excited about continuing to get the house the way we want it to be. :)
Monday, April 20, 2020
And I thought last week was a mess...
So...last Sunday, we ordered the new water inlet valve from Parts Dr. for our Samsung dishwasher. We paid for 2-day shipping and it was supposed to arrive by 8pm on Tuesday. However...the FedEx tracking never updated after "label created." I sent a message to Parts Dr. Tuesday afternoon to ask what was going on, but they said that they wouldn't be able to do anything about it until after it was beyond the 8pm delivery time.
So the following morning, I emailed Parts Dr. to find out what the problem was, and they tried to tell me that FedEx had lost the package...even though it never showed that FedEx even got the package. I was told that they would ship a new part overnight and I'd get an email with the tracking information...but I never got an email. So I contacted them again Wednesday evening and that's when I was told that the part was in their Dallas warehouse which was locked down. Seriously?! I understand that things are crazy around the country with all the Covid-19 stuff going on. However, they could have been straightforward from the beginning about not being able to ship the part instead of blaming FedEx for losing the package they never got. So I just asked for a full refund so we could order it somewhere else.
Luckily Appliance Parts Pros had the part for a similar price and we could get two-day shipping. I was VERY glad when the part showed up Friday as scheduled. So while Johnny was working, I replaced the water inlet valve, got it all put back together, and put it back in the cabinet. I was SO excited to finally be able to do a load of dishes in the dishwasher instead of washing them by hand. :P I've done two more loads of dishes since that day and it's still working. :) YAY!
And this weekend we worked on some other things outside. Ashlyn cut down some of the small trees in the window well and that were growing around the bushes. Then Sunday Johnny got the lawnmower fixed and mowed part of the backyard and Ashlyn mowed the front yard. I have to find a new air filter and cover for the lawnmower though...so that's what I'm doing today. Johnny fixed a missing board on our gate but we couldn't find the latch...so we still have to do that. There are also some boards in the fence that still need to be fixed. Always something!
I made fajitas the night I got the dishwasher fixed. Johnny had been craving them. They take awhile cutting up all the chicken and vegetables but man...they taste yummy! We just use the McCormick fajita mix with chicken, onion, and bell peppers. We have a big electric skillet that I like to make them in because I use at least 10 pounds of chicken so we have plenty of leftovers. :) Of course, after I make them the house smells like fajitas for several days. That's another reason for the leftovers...smelling them in the house makes me want some more! ;)
I tried to order the flooring today. We finally decided on what we wanted and found it on sale. But then when I went to actually make the purchase...they didn't have enough in stock. :( I emailed them to see when they would have more and if they would still be on sale...we'll see what they say. Hopefully we can get it figured out and start redoing the floors soon! :)
So the following morning, I emailed Parts Dr. to find out what the problem was, and they tried to tell me that FedEx had lost the package...even though it never showed that FedEx even got the package. I was told that they would ship a new part overnight and I'd get an email with the tracking information...but I never got an email. So I contacted them again Wednesday evening and that's when I was told that the part was in their Dallas warehouse which was locked down. Seriously?! I understand that things are crazy around the country with all the Covid-19 stuff going on. However, they could have been straightforward from the beginning about not being able to ship the part instead of blaming FedEx for losing the package they never got. So I just asked for a full refund so we could order it somewhere else.
Luckily Appliance Parts Pros had the part for a similar price and we could get two-day shipping. I was VERY glad when the part showed up Friday as scheduled. So while Johnny was working, I replaced the water inlet valve, got it all put back together, and put it back in the cabinet. I was SO excited to finally be able to do a load of dishes in the dishwasher instead of washing them by hand. :P I've done two more loads of dishes since that day and it's still working. :) YAY!
And this weekend we worked on some other things outside. Ashlyn cut down some of the small trees in the window well and that were growing around the bushes. Then Sunday Johnny got the lawnmower fixed and mowed part of the backyard and Ashlyn mowed the front yard. I have to find a new air filter and cover for the lawnmower though...so that's what I'm doing today. Johnny fixed a missing board on our gate but we couldn't find the latch...so we still have to do that. There are also some boards in the fence that still need to be fixed. Always something!
I made fajitas the night I got the dishwasher fixed. Johnny had been craving them. They take awhile cutting up all the chicken and vegetables but man...they taste yummy! We just use the McCormick fajita mix with chicken, onion, and bell peppers. We have a big electric skillet that I like to make them in because I use at least 10 pounds of chicken so we have plenty of leftovers. :) Of course, after I make them the house smells like fajitas for several days. That's another reason for the leftovers...smelling them in the house makes me want some more! ;)
I tried to order the flooring today. We finally decided on what we wanted and found it on sale. But then when I went to actually make the purchase...they didn't have enough in stock. :( I emailed them to see when they would have more and if they would still be on sale...we'll see what they say. Hopefully we can get it figured out and start redoing the floors soon! :)
Monday, April 13, 2020
What a week...
So...last Sunday our dishwasher started acting up. I love Samsung phones...but I'm really starting to hate their appliances. :( On Sunday, the dishwasher stopped mid-cycle then started draining and flashing a leak sensor code. We couldn't even turn the stupid thing off. It would just turn itself right back on and start draining and flashing the code again. We ended up having to turn it off at the breaker just to get it to stop. We pulled it out of the cabinet and tipped it on its side so we could see the leak sensor. There was only a tiny bit of water in the bottom...so we weren't sure why it started doing that. We dried it all out and put it all back together...and then it worked fine. I was able to run two loads before it started doing it again. So this weekend I unhooked everything and pulled it out of the cabinet again. Johnny helped me lift it up so we could take the bottom off enough to find where it was leaking at.
And...now we have a new water inlet valve that is supposed to arrive tomorrow by 8pm. Hopefully it arrives early in the day. I'm going to figure out how to replace it even if Johnny is still working because I HATE doing dishes by hand and I don't wanna wait for him to get off work. :P
I'd tried talking to Samsung customer service about the dishwasher and the fact that the ice maker in our refrigerator stopped working. There's a problem with the water line being frozen/blocked...and their service bulletin suggested replacing the entire freezer door. That is just ridiculous...and so far I've found no parts places that sell an entire freaking door. So...yeah. We won't ever buy more Samsung appliances in the future. We were originally hoping to finish our kitchen with a Samsung stove/oven...but I'd rather go with a different brand now. The quality of Samsung appliances leaves a lot to be desired and their customer service is useless.
We also got our stimulus check today. We've decided to use it to replace the living room and dining room carpet with waterproof vinyl planks. The carpet is almost 20 years old and has seen a lot of heavy traffic and lots of pets. And the front door stone tiles haven't been adhered down right pretty much since they were installed when Johnny bought the house in 2006...so we're taking those out too. And then we're also going to get some large area rugs to put down in the living room and dining room once the flooring is finished. I found some nice ones we like on Overstock. I'm planning to do the flooring myself...but we'll see how it goes. :P I try to do as much as I can myself since Johnny is still working and I don't have any work available at the moment.
We also have to get some fill dirt to put around the house. It's been needing it for years now and we just never got around to it. We also need a new sump pump before storm season really gets going again. And I want to rent a dumpster so we can clean out the garage and backyard too.
Things are going alright here in "quarantine" other than the dishwasher. My back is killing me from standing so long washing the dishes by hand. And my legs were sore for days lifting the dishwasher racks full of dishes in and out of the dishwasher. I didn't think about it until the next day when it hurt to move. :P I cannot wait to get that stupid thing fixed and out of the way back in the cabinet. If we didn't have other things planned with our stimulus check, I'd just get a new dishwasher and refrigerator and be done with it all. :P
I did get around to making two loaves of banana cake bread though. Mmm! It turned out very yummy! :)
I'd tried talking to Samsung customer service about the dishwasher and the fact that the ice maker in our refrigerator stopped working. There's a problem with the water line being frozen/blocked...and their service bulletin suggested replacing the entire freezer door. That is just ridiculous...and so far I've found no parts places that sell an entire freaking door. So...yeah. We won't ever buy more Samsung appliances in the future. We were originally hoping to finish our kitchen with a Samsung stove/oven...but I'd rather go with a different brand now. The quality of Samsung appliances leaves a lot to be desired and their customer service is useless.
We also got our stimulus check today. We've decided to use it to replace the living room and dining room carpet with waterproof vinyl planks. The carpet is almost 20 years old and has seen a lot of heavy traffic and lots of pets. And the front door stone tiles haven't been adhered down right pretty much since they were installed when Johnny bought the house in 2006...so we're taking those out too. And then we're also going to get some large area rugs to put down in the living room and dining room once the flooring is finished. I found some nice ones we like on Overstock. I'm planning to do the flooring myself...but we'll see how it goes. :P I try to do as much as I can myself since Johnny is still working and I don't have any work available at the moment.
We also have to get some fill dirt to put around the house. It's been needing it for years now and we just never got around to it. We also need a new sump pump before storm season really gets going again. And I want to rent a dumpster so we can clean out the garage and backyard too.
Things are going alright here in "quarantine" other than the dishwasher. My back is killing me from standing so long washing the dishes by hand. And my legs were sore for days lifting the dishwasher racks full of dishes in and out of the dishwasher. I didn't think about it until the next day when it hurt to move. :P I cannot wait to get that stupid thing fixed and out of the way back in the cabinet. If we didn't have other things planned with our stimulus check, I'd just get a new dishwasher and refrigerator and be done with it all. :P
I did get around to making two loaves of banana cake bread though. Mmm! It turned out very yummy! :)
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