Friday's Fabulous Five

1- Ella asked today, "Where is that rug we have that has roads on it?" I told her. This is one of those rugs that has a whole little town on it complete with a church, hospital, school, police station, etc. It's been put up for about a year since we started remodeling their rooms last August. Frankly I had quite forgotten about it. Ella got it out and, after doing chores, all three kids got all the cars we have, divvied them up and have been playing for a good long while now. I love hearing and observing them using their little imaginations and playing. It is my very very favorite part of being a mother and I wish I still thought playing like that myself was fun.

2- Dustin and I officially scrubbed the last wall yesterday in our duplex. There's still some things to do, but they don't involve cleaning anymore. Well, not really. We had a bit of water damage last winter in a closet from some ice dams on the roof so my dad (bless him a thousand times for his skills) is going to come patch the ceiling and then I have to paint some Kilz on the mold that grew here and there. Then, I will have to repaint the whole closet, which of course is a walk-in closet that is a putrid gray color. But... I don't have to clean anything else. No more gum, no more stuck-on food, no more grease, no more pee in bathrooms! It took seven days of cleaning, but we are done. YAY!

3- I had a really weird dream last night. I had to climb on this mountain to get into this cave and I had to hang on to these staple-ish things that were put into the mountain. The problem was I had to hang upside down and backwards and all sorts of awful contourtions and the staples kept sliding out. I was terrified. I was so glad to wake up in my bed. Beds are so nice to be in when you thought you were on a giant mountain with a 100+ foot drop below you and the staples you were holding keep falling out.

4- Frosted Mini Wheats. Yum.

5- I am looking forward to wearing clothes that are NOT my paint/work clothes. I've worn the same pair of pants since last Wednesday... my cleaning pants. They are not cute and I don't like them. But I don't care if they get dirty so that's why I keep wearing them. But, I'll be glad to wear something else.

Zippity Doo Dah

Good morning! I'm feeling much more cheerful today than I did yesterday. Perhaps that's because after we ate fast food (again) last night I went BACK over to the duplex and cleaned one of the very nastified bathrooms 'til it sparkled! I had been putting off the bathrooms and I dug in and did it last night! I cleaned one bathroom for three hours and it's DONE!!! I'm feeling a light at the end of the other-people's-dirt tunnel and it's made a more chipper girl out of me!

Many thanks to you all for your encouragement yesterday! And many, many, many thanks to Rachel for helping me clean in the kitchen last week and then bringing me cookies and visiting me yesterday! Rachel, my dear, you are such a bright spot in that dirty-but-getting-cleaner-by-the-hour apartment! THANK YOU for bringing sunshine, cookies and conversation! Love ya!!!

Soon I will get to have the arduous task of finding new renters! New, CLEAN renters!

Post-Edit...
I just noticed that there's only one sentence in this whole post that does not end in an exclamation point. Do you think I'm excited?

Lacking Cleverness

No clever post today. No well-thought-out stories. Just checking in to say hi. I've been very busy cleaning at my duplex since Wednesday. Not my favorite thing to do, but something that has to be done.

I've been farming my kids out to various friends and family. I've been completely exhausted each night when I come home. I should be over there right now, but instead I find myself sitting here, still in my pajamas, typing this lackluster post.

I am slightly discouraged, if you cannot tell. I used to be so angry at my ex-tenants, but now I'm more resigned and dutiful. Just do it, Clancy. Get off the computer, drag your kids over there and start scrubbing walls. Again.

See ya later, alligator.

Manic Monday: Over

For some reason, I am having a really hard time with this one. I've thought about a lot of things, but somehow none of them feel right. I am just going to have to get over it and start typing.

I am so over having tenants not pay their rent. I am not sure what the solution is. Sell the properties? I really like having multiple streams of income, and I don't like the idea of selling them, but I get so sick and tired of dealing with the deadbeats! To be fair, I have gotten some fabulous renters as well, two of which are living in my duplex right now. I am just venting here about my little house tenants. They are giving me fits with paying rent for the last couple months. They all want to call me and tell me all about their personal problems and, frankly, I just don't want to hear it! Pay me, and then I might listen without the anger. Whew! Sorry. The steam valve just released, apparently!

I wish they could all be like my 119 tenants... rent always paid early or on time, don't complain, always sweet and smiling. I hope they aren't just holding back and they secretly hate me, but I really like them and don't pick that vibe up from them. Anyway, I am sorry for venting, but I am SICK of it and I need to get OVER it.


I have been a little bit overzealous about reading Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host. It is AWESOME! I might even like it better than the Twilight series. I am not finished with it yet, but will be by the time I go to bed tonight. I am lovin' this book! Can't wait to finish it so I can discuss it with some of you. (Thanks to Bonnie for loaning it to me and to Maria for being willing to!)

Anyway, I think my brain is out of steam and this post is as done as it's going to get. Over and out.

How Do YOU Spell Relief?

I don't know about you, but to me, RELIEF is spelled S-I-G-N-E-D C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T!


Yes, that's right. We signed a contract with our latest new tenants today!! I am so glad! This apartment has been vacant since the beginning of December. During the major cold snap in January (you know the one where it was, like, 20 below zero!!) we had the faucet running so the pipes wouldn't freeze, but the trap in the drain froze in the kitchen sink!!! So, imagine running water (well, it turned into more of a dripping than a running of water) with a frozen drain. NOT GOOD! We didn't go check on it enough and when Dustin went over there he found ice flows that went over the edge of the sink, down onto the floor and down into the basement. There were icicles hanging from the ceiling downstairs! That was NOT one of our best days of 2008!

The water ended up ruining the sub-floor under the linoleum. (wow... I guess I've never written the word linoleum... I bet I spelled it wrong 10 times before I finally googled how to spell it! weird...!) So, we had to tear up the floor and tile it. That was thrilling. So, not only did we go through all of January, February and most of March without income on this place, but we were spending money to fix the floor, run the lights, and heat the place!

Needless to say, I am feeling very content right now because someone now gets the lucky privilege of paying me to live there!!!

Getting apartments rented is GOOD!!