The wind today was incredible! I heard it trying to tear the roof off while we were in the attic, and later it howled down the chimney and startled the cats. It was too windy to go outside and work on the yard (I think the wind would have sliced my face off) so Theseus and I stayed inside and puttered around the house.

We lowered the platform on the baby's crib and I washed all his bedding in both of his beds. Then we sorted all his toys and packed up the ones he won't be able to use for awhile - up in the attic they went. We also put all the boxes of clothes he's outgrown up there, too (don't look at me like that!).

Once we got rolling, made a good dent in the storage area that used to be our spare bedroom. You can see the bed again! Apologies to anyone who has had the misfortune of sleeping in there. It's almost habitable again. Sorry! I want to eventually get some stuff up on the walls and some curtains on the windows. You know. Make it look like it's a part of the house.

So now we have a mountain of stuff to take to Goodwill. It makes me happy to clear out all the junk we don't need anymore... I just have a hard time getting started sometimes; I get overwhelmed easily. And if Theseus isn't also in the mood to clean - forget it. There is nothing as demotivating as a husband with his butt parked on the couch.

Oh! While you're here: check out today's photo! Don't forget, you can click the photo to see a larger size.

That's it. Good night!

- Antiope

 
1. A friend shared two very cool links today on Facebook, so I thought I would pass them along: Academic Earth offers free online college courses - entire classes! - in the form of video presentations. You won't get credit for watching the courses obviously, but you can use them to supplement classes you are already taking or to increase your understanding of topics you are having trouble with. The other site, Khan Academy, also offers free online courses but is geared toward K-12.
     

 
I don't know what got into us today - we got a ton of fun stuff up on the walls! Two years after we bought the house and we're just getting around to decorating, haha.

Our new mirror went up in the living room, to the left of the window. On the other side, we put up two multi-photo frames that I'd filled over the summer; one frame for Theseus, one for me, each a collection of new and old photos. I'm really proud of them. :)
     

 
So here we are, settled back in at home. Our Florida vacation was much too short. :(

I spent the morning unpacking all our clothes and doing laundry while Theseus gathered up his military gear. He has an equipment inspection this weekend at drill, so our car will be filled with musty duffle bags and stacks of mostly-unused clothing. Army gear has a distinctive smell to it - a mix of wet dogs, rust and sour milk. Fellow Soldiers: you know what I'm talking about, right?
    

 
but then it started pouring.

...Who am I kidding, I wasn't going to rake today.

Looking out at the sea of fallen leaves covering my yard is horribly depressing. And worse - our neighbors raked their yard earlier this week, so now we're jerks if we don't rake ours pretty soon: a good windy day and our leaves will be in their yard. Maybe this is the year I figure out how to use our leaf blower...

- Antiope

 
What the heck?!

So we spent the day inside, snuggling the baby and making delicious things in the oven. Theseus made a huge batch of his super-yummy granola (way better than any store-bought kind) and I finally roasted all the spaghetti squash seeds that had been waiting patiently in the fridge. The entire house smelled wonderful. So cozy.

Theseus also got some homework done and I did a couple loads of laundry. This evening, now that the baby has had a bath and is tucked in (until his 10 p.m. feeding), we're hanging out on the couch in front of the television. I don't feel like I accomplished very much, but that's ok. I've got big plans for tomorrow:

- making these cookies
- finishing my study sheet for Bio Lab
- begin study sheet for Chem
- vacuuming?
- begin Christmas shopping (online)

What an exciting life I lead! This post just about put me to sleep. I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow.

- Antiope

Mice!

10/14/2011

1 Comment

 
Really?! Not again...

Thankfully we have very vigilant cats. Two mice have already fallen to Sweet Thing's deadly claws - she has edged out Fi as best hunter in the house. She caught the first one in the basement last night and brought it upstairs before we realized what was happening. She was skulking around with it in her mouth, growling at the other (jealous) cats so we coaxed her back downstairs and eventually took it away from her. She wasn't pleased, but wasn't as angry as Fi was last year when I had to take away three of his treasures. She caught another tonight and gave it to us pretty easily. I followed up with some cat treats.

Gross. Hope that was the last one for this season.

- Antiope

 
I'm convinced of this. We lost power during Irene because of me. Theseus is a little bit responsible, too.

It started about a month ago, when I misplaced my wedding ring. (!)
     

 
So - Theseus is out right now, taking the civil service exam for fire fighters. I'm very anxious/excited! He's been looking forward to this for over a year, but because of the deployment, he is just now taking it. I hope he places well!
     

 
Last night I had a bad dream: I went into the basement to take care of the laundry I'd left there for several weeks and found a rat had made a nest in the clothes that were in the dryer.

There's a lesson in there somewhere, I think.

- Antiope