*Don't be Jealous*

In a supreme effort to avoid taking the trash out today, I restarted a 1/2 done project - my house. Many people hired, volunteered & forced have had a hand in renovating my Grandmom's house. Some things are beyond the normal DIY. For example - removing & replacing the entire electrical, plumbing & heating systems throughout the house. There is a huge list of things that I had no hand in. Lots of ShopVacing (I LOVE making up words!) & encouraging, but otherwise...I'm no good.

Well this past tame winter & super dry early summer, along with the help of my furry friends introduced a lovely case of fleas into our house. It has been an emotional experience for me. Initially I was super embarrassed, but Chloe's groomer quickly put me at ease. My parents both shared stories of a similar issue at their home when I was young. This was a GREAT comfort considering my momma is so good at a clean house that I swear the house cleans itself.

I, on the other hand spent many consecutive days, including my 32nd birthday, in tears. I am the most self-consciously horrible house-cleaner this side of the Mississippi. And if you have fleas - all you have to do is vacuum, launder & spray. Not good, but...the fleas are under control & I got my ass moving on some DIY.

Namely, the first floor. So - ultimately these floors will be refinished by John. He did a spectacular job on the 2nd & 3rd floors. If you have hardwood floors or if you want them - please hit up Weirman & Sons - I will forgive you for the delay. He does amazing work & is one of the best cousins EVA! Back to my revelation...I started to find the catharsis in cleaning through fleas. The 100 years of dirt & surely asbestos filled adhesive responds well to warm water & Dawn. I have hand-planed, used a razor scraper & a gazillion other things to try to scrape up the goo & water & Dawn. Sheesh. (By the way Dawn kills fleas too!).

I worked my way into the depths of the unused room today & also found the heat registers without their covers. I am proud to say that I grabbed some tool that looked like it would cut them, hacked them up & hung them all by myself!! Don't they look pretty?!

I'm super proud of myself as DIY for me is generally CYD/B/J (call your dad/brother/John). One of them is sure to squash my efforts with a "you should have...", but I don't care! (I do care, but I won't let them see it). My hands are filthy, but smell like Dawn (bonus!) & I have a few boo-boos from the metal hacking. I'm heading back inside to see how much more goo I can remove.

AND I TOOK THE TRASH OUT! Well, most of it.