Of mice and... snakes????

Yesterday we encountered our 2nd injury on the job site. This time it was me :(  And it wasn't even construction related.... it was my BOB Revolution stroller kicking my ass. I was trying to pop it open so the kids could take the baby on a walk while we worked and I caught the bottom of it with the top of my foot (while wearing sandals). Now there is a gross goose egg on the top of my foot and I feel extra whiney about it. It hurt when I did it and then I kind of forgot about it until late afternoon when I was crawling around on the floor and kneeled back on top of it and thought I was going to faint. I would post a picture, but you all don't need to see how desperately I need a pedicure.

In related news, we got SOOOOOO much done at the house! Now the master bedroom is painted, the boys' room is painted, we got lots of holes patched and other various things. The contractor got carpet in the girls' room, took down the storm windows (and the wasp nests), fixed the broken stair and did new banisters that now meet code, and discussed the bathroom layout with us again. Good day at the house!

Today was Joe's b-day and so our very sweet friend, Jen, and her boys came over while we were painting and brought a cold 6 pack with them :) The kids ran and played while Joe and I painted and she pulled weeds. That was awesome! Something not so awesome happened when we were chatting in the kitchen... a mouse went running across the counter and then went into our stove/oven. Ugh. It was a big fella, too. Guess we need some traps. I am not afraid of mice, but afraid of what mice attract (snakes). So, you can imagine how THRILLED I was when the children came running up to report that they had found a snake in the back yard. Yeah, pretty sure I am not actually going to move into this house. I am that irrationally afraid of them. I am so sad this snake was chilling in my compost pile because I love composting stuff, but now I am going to be too afraid to even go back there. Maybe I need some hypnosis or therapy or something. I would jump infront of a moving car to save one of my kids, but if a snake were to slither our way it would be every man for himself and I would likely feed the snake one of the children to ensure that I had enough time to run away.

Here is our bedroom. The picture doesn't really do the color justice. It is a very pretty soft green. (see that super white ceiling? My man did that)

Owen's room is super-duper blue. He wanted it that way. 2.5 coats of primer and 3-4 coats of paint and it was finally done.

Girls' room with the new carpet. Pretend you can't see the paint splatters on the heater.

Our one disappointment was finding that the people who came in to paint over the lead paint didn't really prime well or use good paint that would adhere and so as the contractor was fixing the broken stairs, all of the freshly painted stuff was just falling off in huge sheets. Joe and I will have to remove it all, scuff it all up, and then repaint it all.

Another example of the paint issue.

But hey! Look at that brand new, not even broken stair :)

 Another shot of the girls' room.

We also have new light fixtures to install upstairs and a new ceiling fan to install in our bedroom. That will look so nice. We are really getting there. Now to finish off the upstairs, we have a few places that we need to touch up, do the lights, install all new light switches and power outlets and covers, and paint the hallway and the upstairs will be done and we will begin working our way downstairs.