Happy day

I cleaned out all the construction crap from my kitchen last night and mopped the floor, so now Chloe can explore the kitchen again. As you can see, she got right to it, messing with the cord to the new shades. (and yes, I am aware that she shouldn't be playing with that). And my back's doing a little better since I don't have to climb over the baby gate all the time. Also, I gave Chloe a bath in the kitchen sink for the first time today. My old sink was too nasty to do that, and the bathroom sink is too small. Leaning over to wash her in the tub was really hard on my back, so I tried out the kitchen sink today, and it was wonderful. No back pain, and I could use the little side spray to get the soap out of her hair. I don't think it was as much fun for Chloe because she had to sit in one place the whole time, but that's just too bad for her.

I talked to my sweetie about an hour ago, and he had a rain day today, so he went to a friend's house and got to see my blog. He doesn't have internet at his apartment, so he can only visit my blog when he's at a house with internet and someone kind enough to let him use it. I'm glad he got to see it so he could see new pictures of Chloe and my super-cute seat covers. AND, his paycheck was a big enough that I'll be able to call the exterminator!!! It's been over 3 months since he first came to treat the roaches, so it's past time for him to come again, and it's obvious. The big roaches have been making their way back into my home. Yuck.

Speaking of the exterminator, I took the baseboards off the kitchen walls, and a bunch of what looked like dirt fell out from behind the wall. So I was going about my business wondering how dirt would get in the walls, and thought to myself, 'it's like there's some kind of a bug that lives in the wall and brings in dirt somehow...' then I realized I just described subterranean termites. We knew when we bought the house that it had termites, but because we had a government loan, the owners were required to have the house treated before we could move in. So supposedly we don't have termites anymore, and I didn't see any evidence of recent activity, but the damage is defiantly there. I took a picture of the damage to submit for my appraisal protest. This picture doesn't show the damage, it's just a bunch of nasty dirt and bug stuff. I like old houses because they have a history and charm and they've stood the test of time, so to say, but I don't like it when gross stuff falls out of the walls. Anyway, I noted the damage, and knew there wasn't much I could do about it besides use it to my advantage to try and lower my property taxes, so I just took a picture and covered it back up. I know it's been a year since the house was treated for termites, and the guarantee only lasts a year, so I'll see if I can get him to re-treat the house because I really don't want any more damage than we already have. I just pulled out my mortgage papers, and it looks like it's $95 a year to have the exterminator re-treat the house, so I just called and left a message for him. $95 is a lot, but it's a lot less than the original fee of $495, and A LOT less than rebuilding the house if it gets destroyed by stupid little bugs. I'm pretty sure my homeowner's insurance doesn't cover bugs.

Anyway, I've just got a few more things to do til I finish my kitchen. I think I'll get finished right in time. I don't want to finish tonight because then I'll be bored for a week, but I want to be done before I go back to school on July 2nd, or else it'll probably never get done. I think I have just enough left to keep me busy. Well, I don't have much more to say.