This and that

Well, lots has been going on on the domestic front in our household. First, house painting has FINALLY begun. Woo hoo! With all of the rain we've had, it's been pushed back and pushed back for a few weeks, but he finally started yesterday! (Any guesses what the weather is like today? Hmmm?) There's only a portion of the front done so far, but I'm loving the new color, which is a relief, since it's really hard to visualize how an entire house is going to look in a 3x3 color swatch! Since it's grey today, I'll wait for sunnier weather to take a picture for an "in progress" shot.

Also, I read Green This, by Dierdre Imus, this weekend, and am becoming a convert to the concept of green house cleaning, both for impact on the environment and individual health. I hadn't ever really considered the ingredients in all purpose cleaner, laundry detergent, etc. Ick. But I've been having some fun trying out some new products (and rediscovering some old ones like vinegar and baking soda)... and when I find products I like, if I buy in bulk on amazon.com or some such source, the prices are comparable to "regular" cleaners. So far I've gotten some nice dishwashing liquid, dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent. I've liked each so far...

Reading the book reminded me of something that I've been wanting to do for awhile, too, which is phase out the wall to wall carpeting out of the house. The perfect place to begin is the master bath, because it has always skeeved me out that there is carpeting in there (but I managed to block it out most of the time!) So I have a call in for a quote to rip it out and put some tile in there. And since Big Guy has been having some coughing/congestion issues lately that I've begun to think are allergies, I did a mini spring cleaning in his room yesterday, which included moving his gerbils out to the porch for awhile to see if not breathing in a bouquet of gerbil food, bedding and waste all night long helps him to breathe a little easier.

What is it about springtime that makes one spring clean in spite of oneself? I'm also putting things in piles in various corners of the house in preparation for a yard sale soon... we'll see if I actually have the stamina to wait until the yard sale, or if I wimp out as I always do and haul it down to Goodwill because I can't stand to have it hanging around after having decided to get rid of it!!

Not a very visually interesting post so far, so I'll leave you with a couple of quick photos of the kiddos from our trip to the zoo late last week!

Bye!