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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Big Girl & Nasty Jobs

BIG GIRL

Well, Cookie now weighs 31 pounds and is 36 inches tall, so she is graduating today to a BIG GIRL booster-style car seat. We bought a nice new one for each car since the high-back booster seats are pretty reasonable. But we are also doting parents, so she got one with a reading light in the headrest. I probably could have found one with an outlet for an iPod, and she would have loved that, but...no.

NASTY JOBS

As for nasty jobs, well, the removal of old car seats, the washing of the pads underneath, and the cleaning of said cars if enough to cause me to run away from home. The under-seat pads are currently in the washing machine, and I'm shocked the washing machine just didn't die from disgust. OK, so I allow my kid to eat and drink in the car. But I eat and drink in my car, so I figure I can't give her a rule I can't live by as well. So her car seats get, um..."crusty" (to use Mia's favorite nasty descriptive term). Old french fries are "crusty", old bread is "crusty", nasty dirty clothes are "crusty". You get my point.

So today I am a cleaning woman. It is good that I have the first part of summer off from teaching. I fear it's not going to seem like I'm on vacation at all. With both of us working, so much gets neglected around here.

HOME IMPROVEMENT

On a pleasant note, today is the last day the electrician will be here finishing up the home improvements that require his expertise. When finished we will have replaced: the front lights on the garage and outside the front door, ceiling lights in the entryway, girls' room, and office, chandelier in the kitchen, replaced drop-lights in the kitchen with recessed lighting, installed dimmer switches for the lighting in the kitchen, a new wall sconce light on the stairwell, a new light fixture in Michael's bathroom, replaced and installed new ultra-capacity and ultra-quiet bathroom exhaust fans in both upstairs bathrooms, installed a brand new over-the-range microwave, and replaced and installed a brand new ceiling fan in the livingroom.

Weekend after this, the painter will begin on that arm of our home improvement quest. My dad has already painted our master bathroom and half-bath downstairs as well as the girls' room, but our entire downstairs and Michael's bathroom will be the next to be painted. It will not be cheap. We are undoubtedly "stimulating the economy".

Our home is only 8 years old this year, but all of the interior paint used was flat and off-beigey- yellow which always looked dirty, was unwashable, and showed every kid-fingerprint (as well as adult fingerprint). All the lighting was el-cheap-o yellow fake-brassy crap that made the very cute house look rather cheap inside. It is really starting to look (and feel) amazing.

Well, I'm off to attend to nasty laundry. Hope your tasks today are more pleasant. :)

6 comments:

Julie said...

Does not sound like too much fun cleaning the carseat- ugh- I need to do that- I take it out and dump it occassionally and when I had my car fixed they cleaned the inside- :) I do need to throw all the pads in the wash for sure- as I too let her eat in the car but generally I am handing her stuff so it is pretty contained. I guess it is harder with 2! :)

I just read your comment on my blog and was thinking the same thing- they are hilarious!! I hope that someday they will get to meet and play together! G will be 2 in July- and she is starting to be every bit of 2. :) However- when I take her with me to the chiropractor- they tell me how well behaved she is- really she is a very good girl except she doesnt much like to listen to mommy say no. :) Oh well.

House sounds great!

Overwhelmed! said...

Yikes, I can only imagine what's under our carseats. I haven't looked in a good long while. We try to keep eating in the car to a minimum but we're not always successful!

Good luck with the home improvements.

Ms. J said...

You are inspiring me to do some of my own sprucing up -- esp. ours cars (ugh!)

BTW, I love the updated photos on the side of your blog -- you all look so happy and beautiful :o)

Anonymous said...

Wow it will look so nice when it is done i bet! We are up to our eyeballs too with home improvements-we are growing out of our house with our own little family and then adding to it with our pending adoptions of our 2 little peanuts. So I know how you feel-we have -hamering, jackhammers, drywall and dust everywhere but at least it is a basement remodel so it is pretty contained. But can't wait to get done. It is nice to fix up where you live-family and home are my 2 top priorities. Oh--and we have the crusty car seat issues also! Your story is inspiring me to wash them today too.

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Anonymous said...

A booster seat with a light on the head rest? That sounds pretty cool! I bet it will work great if you ever go on a road trip, or when you're driving at night and want her to stay awake and entertain herself without falling asleep!