Must be Spring

'Cuz we do a lot of work around here when it is. Winter is over...its time to get out and do stuff! What we've accomplished so far:

1. Finished the fence. Yep, its finally done. A work in progress that took a year. And it looks MARVELOUS! I have the before shots, and once I get the afters I'll post pix. I could cry, its so beautiful! And no more neighbour's dog shitting in our yard and ON our pool when it was frozen. Dumb dog. Don't get me wrong...I love dogs. But their dog is dumb. Is constantly breaking her chain and running around the neighbourhood like an idiot...why they don't get a stronger chain, I don't know. Anyway, all that to say I heart our fence.
   
2. New windows! Something else we've been desperately needing to do since we moved in. But since we already had windows (albeit old shitty ones), other things would come up that took priority. So we finally got them done last week. We have an awesome sliding door out to the backyard, so no more going out the front or side door before entering the back. Much easier to take Cael out to play in the back without him being distracted by the car (he loves to just sit and play in the car...). Awesome. Not to mention the living room windows actually OPEN now. Bonus! The only thing is...we're not done. There is some gyprocking to do...long story. The short version is there was some water damage, so we had to take some wall out. The nite after the windows went in, Jon was putting up the replacement drywall and installing another plug, which was much needed. He decided to put the satellite wire back thru to the outside and ended up drilling thru the power wire in the wall. *sigh* so we had no power in the living/dining room 'til the next nite when he could fix it. Groovy. Anyway, all is fine now...except the drywall finishing and paint touchups. Oh, Jon also built the step for the new door already. Looks great!
   
3. Gardening! Now that the fence is finally done, I can move some perennials to the back w/o them being crushed by the construction. The front flower beds are terribly crowded. Not to mention the previous owners were idiots. They put a peony smack dab in the middle of the front yard. Its annoying when we mow and its kinda sad looking, all by itself. SO. I've dug up a good portion of soil at the far corner of the back yard and will move the front lawn peony and will split one gigantico one. AND I'll move some mounds of something or other (they have woody stems and grow little clumps of shiny leaves. And they have teeny yellow flowers in July or so. And good lord do they spread. I looked them up once but I forget what they're called...) that they also put in a weerd spot...in the middle of the only useable space in the backyard. Along with a shitload of irises. I'd like someplace to put the kids' sandbox. And I'll eventually get a really nice perennial bed in the back! Might try to make it a butterfly and/or hummingbird garden.
4. CLEANING. After all the mess of the window installing, it was dusty. I've dusted three times and I still see some around. So we rented a carpet cleaner and did all of the rugs, upstairs and down. Ahhh....fresh! Now I just have to strip the couch covers and wash 'em up. Dunno what we were thinking, getting beige covers. Oh, I know why. All of the darker colours were made of material that was waaay too thin. Damn that Ikea...
   

I guess that's it. The four day weekend went by way too fast and we never really had any downtime. Because along with the cleaning and stuff, Jon's Mother arrived on Saturday to visit for Easter. Sore back and all...needless to say she sat and groaned about how sore she was the whole time. I mean, I felt bad that she was in pain, but for god's sake, stop milking it. Anyway, her visit apart from that was actually ok. Except on Sunday when Jon's sister and her boyfriend were coming for brunch, she kept puttering trying to clean up after Cael. And getting after him when he would take out more than one toy at once. "That's too many toys...put the car/bus/blocks away first..." Leave him the hell alone...he's a kid and will just mess it as soon as its clean anyway. I don't bother until he's in bed. And she insisted on putting out a tray of veggies and dip and kept telling him to stay away from it. I freaked...we're trying so hard to get him to eat like a normal person, and she goes behind us and tells him not to touch the veggies becasue "they're for the grown-ups". I just made him his own special little plate of veggies and he was tickled. Get this...he ate BROCCOLI! And apparently didn't hate it!! I could have cried...it was quite the moment.

Cael has also discovered "tlocolit". Chocolate to you and me. He had some on Sunday and spent eh rest of the day asking for "more tlocolit eggs please mommy". Very very cute. And yes, that was his first chocolate ever. He had chocolate cake a couple of weeks ago, which was a hit. But now pure chocolate...we're doomed.

Iain is almost crawling. He's been creeping for a month or so and gets up on his knees. SO close. He's been having separation issues lately too. Super hard to get him to nap. And he's waking for good at 4 again for the past week. So I'm tired again. But i've been going to bed at 9 every nite...makes for an exciting life!

And I got my period. Its super super super lite. I thot that the first post-partum period was supposed to be a gusher? I never got one with Cael, so this is the first actual period bleeding I've had in almost exactly three years. Anyway, I'll take it!

Quick cat update. I have to take Newton in very soon for a checkup and probably bloodwork. When I was in Nove Scotia, he started peeing inappropriately. We thot it was just behavioral...mad that mom was gone. But it continued...I was in denial, thinking maybe he was upset that Iain is more mobile and seems to really like the cats...lol! Then I watched him walk. It looks like he's in the starting stages of Feline Diabetic Neuropathy. Its VERY mild so far, but I figure its enough to cause some discomfort when taking stairs. So we moved a litter box upstairs fo rhim. All accidents have stopped and he is much happier. Poor guy...I felt terrible. So today after the little dude wakes up , we're going to the health food store to try and find some Methylcobalamin (a form of vit B12) for him and will call for a vet appt too. Curious to see what his sugar levels have been doing. I might talk to the vet about doing home glucose testing. It can be done with a human blood tester, even tho most vets will tell you it can't be done...just 'cuz then they lose $$ from people coming in to get their cat's blood tested.

Anyway, must get ready for our walk...its so beautiful out already! Gotta pull out the capris! :D