Nick and Mandi News from the Newlyweds

WHEW!  So the state legislature has wrapped up their work for the year (as of about 9:30 PM last night), so my summer has really started!

First, I’m planning a trip home to Erie.  I’m not sure if Nick will be able to take off work again so soon because he’s been off this week to visit with his parents while they’re here.  If he is able to, we’ll both be driving.  I have a feeling it’s just going to be me, on my own, in which case I’ll fly.  I’m not a big fan of flying for the sake of flying, but I am a huge fan of a day’s worth of uninterrupted and guilt-free knitting time!

Second, I have this nagging urge to replace our kitchen floor.  I have a sort of mental list (which I ought to commit to paper or electronic-document at some point) of things I want to fix/update/change around our house.  None of them are particularly serious, but they’re just things that I would like to get to at some point when I have the time and money.

One of the worst things about our house –really the worst thing– is our flooring.  We have vinyl tile in the kitchen and two bathrooms, and carpet in the rest of the house.  The living room and master bedroom carpets are so-so, but the hallway and two other bedrooms’ carpets are horribly marked up.  The vinyl is in very good shape in both the bedrooms, but the kitchen is atrocious!  Needless to say, the floors have been irking me since day one, but haven’t been a huge priority because though they’re somewhat ugly, they don’t make the house unsafe or anything serious.

Our kitchen, with the old counter top (before we moved in).

I don’t want to spend the money on wall-to-wall carpeting right now.  (Not to mention, I still hold out for hardwood or wood-laminate someday.) But vinyl is inexpensive and something I’m pretty confident I can do myself.

Sure, it could be time consuming.  It could be irritating at times.  But it couldn’t be that difficult, could it?

So I need to talk to Nick to make sure he’s on board, but I’m thinking I’m going to replace the vinyl in the kitchen.  It’s really so bad. It’s cut in spots. It’s perforated where someone was stupid enough to put a chair mat on it.  It’s also one of those colors/textures that seems to collect and show dirt something awful.  (UGH.)

Once I have Nick on board, I’ll go explore the local hardware and flooring stores and get some samples.  I’m planning on doing the little adhesive vinyl tiles to keep it simple, and though the flooring underneath is ugly, I think it’s still good enough that I won’t have to rip it up and will be able to just lay the new vinyl on top.  (Going on my past experiences with watching my parents install vinyl tile, and some DIY-guides I found online.

… I’m so excited!

They landed Saturday afternoon at Sumner County Regional Airport.

… it gets windy and trees fall down, apparently.

Nick and I both woke up in the midst of a high-winds thunderstorm last night, around 2:30 AM.  Nick peeked out the window and could see a hole in our (new!) fence.

Within a half-hour, the storm had subsided and there were flashing lights outside.  A local cop had stopped to survey the damage.  Nick went outside to find that a tree in our yard had fallen and had taken out part of our fence and was blocking the street beside our house!

Nick got out his saws-all and by the light of the police car’s spotlight, he started cutting up the tree.  I got dressed and joined he and the policeman and helped move some of the smaller branches.  Surprisingly we got it cleared pretty quickly.

We got a better look at the damage this morning.

We were lucky!  It only took out about 4 fence boards, and the one cross-piece support.  It could have hurt someone, or fallen on the house or vehicles.  So really the fence was the best thing it could have fallen on.

Nick did a quick patch-job on the fence this morning, using the remainders of the boards that broke.  It looks a bit… um… redneck? But at least it will allow us to let the dogs out without them getting loose till it’s fixed properly.  (And really, he gets major points for ingenuity!)

I also have to say — this was my first real dealings with our local police, and the officer that helped us was so nice.  He said he’ll be filing a report in case we need it for insurance.  (Though I’m thinking the damage is really minor enough that we won’t need to even file a claim.)

I’m just glad to be past our first “major” incident in homeownership!

I’m missing my mom already.  Her visits are never long enough and always leave me feeling very, very homesick.

Her visit was actually really unexpected.  Her friend needed a ride to North Carolina, where her grandaughters were graduating (the oldest from high school, the youngest from kindergarten).  My mom volunteered to drive her there and then she came to visit us here in Tennessee.  She got to visit us for a little over a week.

We had a pretty quiet visit, without any major touristy/sight-seeing stuff, but it was fun.  We went and saw two movies (Angels and Demons and Star Trek).  We knitted (a lot).  We did some shopping.  Good times.

We’re expecting Nick’s parents next week.  So I’ll be spending this weekend tidying up from the mess Mom and I made while she was here.  The house is absolute chaos!  The living room has knitting and crafty stuff strewn all over (*cough* more than normal) and the kitchen is a disaster.

This week (and potentially next week) at work are going to be crazy.  It’s just that time of year.  I’m anticipating some seriously long hours.  But once that’s over, the rest of the summer should be great!

I was SO ready for a change. On a total whim, got a haircut (bangs and long layers) and highlights (2-color, all over).  I feel like a new woman!

Some of my friends at the knit shop didn’t recognize me at first when I walked in on Saturday morning.  Ha ha.  Others said I look like a teenager.  Being that I’m rapidly approaching 30, I’ll take that gladly!

In other news, it’s supposed to be 92-degrees in Nashville today.  HELLO SUMMER!