Columbus Day

So today being a holiday - Ryan and Claire had the day off. Technically, Ryan never gets a day off (everyone is his lab works all hours, all days), but he didn't work today. Instead we stayed very busy doing things around the house. I made more salsa with the tomatoes from our garden, cleaned the kitchen, swept, wiped, took out trash, organized toys, folded clothes, washed dishes, made beds, etc. Ryan worked hard in the yard planting some bushes that were a steal at Lowe's. Fall is the time to buy plants (perennials anyway); you can get some good deals. We also made two trips to the hardware store and a trip to the lumber yard. Our next major project is putting up a wood fence. We're going to get the planning and buying done this week and build it next week. Hopefully the weather holds for us. I made fried chicken and cornbread for dinner and then we were back outside, aerating and tilling the lawn for reseeding. It got dark, so we'll have to finish in the morning. I then replaced the toilet handle with broke this afternoon and re-caulked part of the kids' shower while Ryan attached a hook in Claire's ceiling for her bed-net thingy. Now Ryan is trying the re-caulk around the base of the bathtub.

Needless to say, there is a lot to do and we have been working hard. We have a huge list of things that need to be done to the house. It's more than I want to think about. Owning a home has opened our eyes and clarified what we want one day. We used to think it would be fun to fix up a historic home. Well, that ain't happenin'!!! We have now decided to buy a piece of wild, wooded land and then have a modern, modular home built. They are very "green", easy to maintain, very sleek and clean, and we would buy a small one. The bigger the home, the more to maintain and pay for. So that's our plan; now actually being able to do it is another thing. We can dream, can't we??

I want to write about or conference weekend and post some pictures, but I'll have to do that another day. I'm off to bed!