Home Improvements

In the last two weeks, we've done something to all the main rooms of our house.

In the bathroom, we installed this:

It is awesome. There is a magnet that holds the little seat in the lid. We still have the little potty for now, but Nathan is quickly outgrowing it. I'm thinking next time it gets bleached it's going to disappear. Getting this has greatly increased his interest in using the big potty. However, he's more interested in going standing up so that he can look at the new seat. But since that's the end result we're going for, I guess that's okay. And somehow, he's already got the lift the seat, put it back down thing figured out. Thrilled about that. (And I will put this in here, since I had such a hard time finding anything about it donline after I first saw one at someone else's house: It is a Bemis "Next Step". We got it at Home Depot for about $30.)

In the kitchen, we installed a new ceiling fan. I haven't had an overhead light in there since.... Forever. I think it's been a year since the light worked. We had Dad look at it, and he thought it was an electrical (house wiring) problem. We had an electrician look at it, and he thought it was a problem inside the actual fan unit. It was. Dad came and installed it two weekends ago. He almost electrocuted himself in the process (BIG spark!) because of the way the room is wired. And we found out that at some point there was a fire in the ceiling due to the wires. Lovely. For some reason, about 10 years ago, when they replaced all the walls and ceilings in the house, the did not re-do the wiring. (Totally stupid, in my opinion.)

While he was here, Dad also installed an outlet in an empty electrical box in our front room. Which resulted in another big spark. Apparently we had the wrong breaker turned off....

We have also done some re-arranging. Paul's grandfather made him a beautiful desk with a china hutch above it. When we moved in, we put it in the dining room. That's where the previous owners had their hutch, so we thought it a natural spot. However, we had to put it over a floor vent, but that didn't really bother me. What has bothered me is the fact that the cat likes to climb the stairs and jump over onto the top of the hutch to get away from pestering children. The reason this bothered me is the fact that I twice had caught Nathan trying to climb across to get on top of the hutch to get the cat. The hutch part is separate from the desk, so it could easily tip off if he did manage to get on top of it. I asked Paul about moving it into the front room, and he was against it. The only spot to move it is under the leak, and he didn't want water to leak on it and damage it. Understandable.

So being the good wife I am, I covertly arranged to have it moved down to our front room while he was at work. However, the movers (my brother and sister) showed up on a weekend Paul was home. Paul and I had words about it (as much as we do), and he finally consented, "Whatever." And sulked the whole time and refused to help. Even though he hasn't admitted it, I don't think he minds it down in the fireplace room. I am going to put plastic and towels on the top of it so that it won't be damaged when the roof leaks. Moving it made our dining room seem huge. (And really accentuated the empty wall. I need to get a picture or a mirror up there.)

We also re-arranged the living room. I desperately needed to steam-clean the carpets in there, so Paul helped me move all the furniture out (minus the TV cabinet and the book shelf) so I could get it all. The carpet was gross. I did three rounds with the cleaner, getting mud in the dirty water compartment every time. Sick. I needed to do it about three more times, but didn't have the time. When we moved the furniture in, I decided to do it differently. Being as Jacob will be pulling up and climbing before we know it, we decided to put the couch in front of the bay window so that he can't climb up there as easily to play. (Previously we had a coffee table in front of the window, which was basically like a stairway. Even Nathan fell occasionally.) It actually made the room more open.

And now because the living room and dining room are more open, there's pretty much a freeway from the kitchen all the way to the front room, with just a slight jog in the living room. Nathan is already loving the openness with his trike. He's getting pretty good at doing donuts.

Okay. Mr. Munchkin needs me. Will stop yabbering.