Didn't "quite" get it finished

Well, my hope of finishing things up yesterday didn't quite happen...LOL. The kids and I got out there about 3 or so and got right to work opening windows and putting fans on. I let them go play and explore for a bit while I got things ready to start on the kitchen. I was able to get all of the drawers pulled out, vacuumed and wiped clean. Then I started on the cabinets. The upper ones weren't too bad, quite clean inside actually. But then I started on the lower ones and knew that I was going to be a while at them. It's not that they were "dirty" it was just obvious from the time I started them that the handles have never been taken off, and which cabinets were used the most. They had that gunky built up around the handles, you know, from the natural oils that come off your body when you touch/use something on a daily basis? Now it wouldn't have been too bad if I would have had something like a toothbrush to use, but all I had were basic cleaning rags made up from cut up T-shirts. So, I scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed until my fingers were getting numb. I have the vast majority of them done, and when I go out today I'm going to take my trusty toothbrush that i use here for stuff like this.

Ric came out after work with an extension ladder and pulled the storm windows off. The front bedroom has 3 nice windows, but all 3 still had the storms on them. The kitchen windows still had their storm windows on, along with a few other windows scattered through the house. All of the storms are off now!! Unfortunately, only 2 windows have screens. So, for now, we took the "redneck" route and simply bought a large roll of screen, and tacked it up around the window frames. You really can't tell when looking at the house, and hey, it keeps the bugs and critters OUT, and that's what matters!!! RIGHT? We'll work on making screen frames when we can, but for now, I am fine with this.

We did run into something "interesting" last night. My mom and sister came down to check out the house and give me their opinions and ideas, which I must say were surprisingly pleasant!! Anyway, we were in Keith's room and I was telling them that I hoped to pull up his carpet. It's VERY old and an ugly shade of green, with that waffle type padding under it. It's not tacked down or "laid" at all. So I bent down to show them the hardwood floor under his carpet. Now mind you, I've been in this room several times cleaning, vacuuming, etc, how I didn't notice what I am about to tell you, I have NO idea!! As I pulled the carpte and padding up to show them the hardwood floor the 3 of us were hit with the OVERWHELMING stench of cat urine!!!! I don't mean mildly, I mean to the point that we were all coughing and gagging from it!! Right there and then, the 3 of us pulled his carpet and padding up and out his window into the back yard it went!! Thankfully, I had several cans of Lysol, so I grabbed one and sprayed that for now. When I go out today, his floor will have to be swept and mopped. My sister says there is something I can buy that I can spray on the floor or something that either removes the smell or seals the floor? I'm not sure, can't really remember right now....LOL.

They both gave me some really neat ideas though! For the middle part of the top of the built in hutch in the dining room we're going to pick up some sort of antique looking table lamp. Just a short one, not more than 18 inches. We'll center that on this gorgeous lace doily thing that I have that Ric's mom made YEARS ago. That will be the focal point of the top of the hutch. What I'll do from there, I'm not quite sure yet, but that's a starting point! Then, in the foyer, on the large wall, I want to get some sort of long, narrow table. Maybe a sofa table type thing? I'll get a cute little lamp to put on that, but then that's where like we'll put a large basin type bowl to keep keys, etc.

All in all, I see alot of neat things that can be done with the house! It has TONS of potential!!!!! And I can't wait until I can start doing different things!

Anyway, I need to get off of here! In this post, I'll post the picture of the foyer. The pic is of the wall that goes into the living room, so you can't see the full wall that I'm talking about puting the sofa table on. But you can see the wonderul wood that the walls of the foyer are covered in. Not exactly sure what it's called, I just think it looks like a cottage or something....LOL. Thanks for listening to me ramble...LOL

LUVZ YAZ!!