Updates

Today I had the entire day to run around town searching for items to make our house look more complete. Kamdyn was at the Mall and swimming with Georgia and Jacob. My Mom mentioned that she wished that she was here so she could shop with me. Since you couldn't be here, Mom, here are the results of my shopping day. I still need area rugs, a few more throw pillows for the sofas, playroom storage shelves/benches, and an entryway bench. We also need to have the back deck painted/stained. But, we are making some strides. Patience is not really my best virtue.

I LOVED this front door welcome mat that I found today as well as the polka dot flag. I couldn't resist them. I have seen the flags a few times in our old neighborhood and I found them today in a boutique here in Augusta. (You know, those boutiques/shops that you wouldn't dare take a toddler into for fear that she will touch and possibly break everything in the store.) Our front porch got the two new rocking chairs as well as the urns with ferns. Our house is slowing, but surely, starting to look like a home.







By the way, tonight Richard and I were sitting on the boat after Kamdyn went to bed. The sun was setting to our right and the HUGE full moon was rising to our left. It was beautiful! As we were coming up from the dock a fox was in our backyard headed in the same direction as us. We all froze. I was too startled to take a picture! Luckily, he turned around and went the other way. Richard assured me that the fox was more afraid of us than we were of him. I'm not too sure about that!!! This wildlife is causing my heart to skip more than a few beats much often than I would like.

Hardwood Floors

UGH! All of my friends who already have hardwood floors chose to keep it a secret from me as to how hard it is to keep them clean!!! They do look beautiful and I have always wanted them in my house, but I spend everyday looking at the mess on them. We had them in the house we rented in Columbia while I was getting my Masters, but that house was OLD and in much need of repair. Richard and I also had them in the apartment that we lived in while we were in NY. I never remember them being this difficult. Maybe I just didn't care about those places as much.

I think part of our problem is that we don't have area rugs yet. With this open floor plan and all of the light that comes in you see every mark, footprint, dirt, etc. What to do? I feel like I need to sweep and mop every single day, but it takes so long with the amount of hardwoods we have.

I have a special mop with removable dusting pads that you can throw in the wash and reuse. I use a special spray made for hardwood floors with this mop. (Thanks, Holly, for this mop and spray!) I already had a Swiffer mop, but bought the cleaning pads today to try on these floors. I feel like I am just pushing the dust/dirt around from one area to the next. Any other suggestions?

I realize that part of my problem, well MOST of my problem, is that I want everything to be perfect and neat and I want it to stay that way. I try to let it go, but it sometimes gets the best of me! HELP!!!

Front Porch

We are making some strides on our house. It is taking us a while, but eventually everything will be just as we want. On Friday night we picked up a new mattress and box springs for our guest bedroom. We also decided to buy stain and white paint for our front porch. I decided that we could stain the actual porch and the tops of the stairs, but I wanted the front of the steps that face the road to be painted white! Little did I know how much work that would be!!! I even volunteered to paint the fronts of the steps white. Richard worked on staining for part of the day. When Kamdyn went down for her nap, I began the laborious process of painting the fronts of the steps. Anyone who knows me well, knows how meticulous I am about most things. It was taking me forever to paint the steps white. I didn't want any brush marks to show. I wanted each milimeter covered with paint and heaven forbid I drop any on the already stained part. Needless to say, it took a LONG time for me to paint even one step! After Kamdyn's nap, Richard played with her inside while I worked away. Finally after about 4 hours of painting he came outside to see that I still had 3 steps in front to paint and I still had the ENTIRE right side to paint. He took over because he couldn't stand it any longer. Oh well! I can't help that I'm a neat freak!!! It is done now with a little bit of touch ups left to do on the sides.

Here are the before and after pictures. I definitely think that it looks much better!