Somehow, perhaps through one of the two large holes above the windows in the family room, another mouse got into our house yesterday. One has been hanging out on the deck (quite wee – 2″ max), but there’s nothing we can do about that. Last night, as we got ready to fix the holes, was quite interested in the storage/cave/tools area. We could hear a squeaking, but weren’t sure where it was coming from until hit the outside of a glue trap with his paw (something that has, on previous occasions, ended up hilariously*), and the squeaking verified the mouse’s location. Strangely, didn’t feel the need to do anything more with that information, but collected the glue trap (without looking inside) and took it out to the trash in the garage. The squeaking stopped, and seemed disappointed, so presumably we fixed that problem.

As I’ve mentioned before, there was a large hole above each of the ground-level windows in the family room. When I say large, I mean passed his hand through to the outside and waved at me through the window. Last night we set about fixing that problem. And by fixing, I mean “doing more than shoving a rug into the gap and calling it good,” which is what one of the previous owners did. No joke. So, rug and random debris removed, we measured and cut some hardboard to fit in the spot, which was then nailed in (thank you, nail gun, for making that so easy!). Back inside the house, the spot above the board was filled with spray foam. The room was much warmer this morning, probably because we no longer have two large holes letting all the cold air in.

Tonight, we’re going to start framing. Exciting, isn’t it? has a fitness class and I need to make food for a work party, so we might not get that much done (especially since grocery shopping needs to happen too), but starting is good.

It is so fun not having homework, have I mentioned that yet? Well, I haven’t said it yet today. Last night I sewed the waistband onto the sweat pants and pinned up the hem, so now all that’s left is hemming, which shouldn’t take long (fingers crossed). I should really take a picture of all this amazing progress, but we’re seriously lacking in sunlight these days.

At my dentist appointment this morning, I was informed that there is a chip missing out of one of my front teeth. I didn’t even know. Of course, now that I’ve looked in the mirror, I can see it (it’s on the back side of the tooth, but right in the dead center of my mouth – how could I miss that). I don’t remember injuring myself in the face (and I think that would be memorable), so apparently now my teeth are just falling apart on their own without the aid of cavities (only one very small one this time, on a tooth that has been filled more times than I care to count). Also, I was told to get an electric toothbrush, because I’m injuring my guns and not brushing well (though I had very little plaque build up). And more lessons on how to floss, because apparently I’m still not doing it right, or well, or enough.

I have a little cold right now, and it’s only annoying in the regard that it’s so minor that it’s not worth complaining about. I mean, I haven’t even had to take any medication for it. I ran out of Kleenex at work back in October (and keep forgetting to bring another box in), and my cold isn’t even bad enough for that to be a problem. Clearly, it’s quite wimpy, and my immune system is kicking some butt.

Last night I got about four minutes of sleep, or so it seemed. (Not due to the nearly non-existent cold, mind you.) If I wanted sleepless nights in my life, I’d have kids. I’ll stick with sleeping through the night, thankyouverymuch.

*A while back, was exploring the storage/cave/tool area and accidentally stepped onto a glue trap that had opened itself up (they’re just cardstock with a thin layer of sticky on one side, folded into a triangle). It scared him so much and he tried to run away, but it came with him, which freaked him out even more. Apparently it took a lot of work for to calm him down enough to be able to remove the trap from his paw. No cats were injured in this story, but it was a bit funny. Funnier still? He continues to snoop around in there and be generally clueless about where he puts himself in relation to sticky things. Learning isn’t one of his skills.

Wow, you guys were really good with the Christmas carols! There will be more this Friday.

Friday’s visit to the No Coast Craft-o-Rama with and was wonderful, though not as successful as in previous years. Cayenne Peppy was not there, so I did not buy a new purse. I did get a scarf, an expensive pair of earrings, ornaments for the boys, and a little trinket for for his upcoming birthday. And then I slipped and slid all the way home (in the rear-wheel drive car, not the Rav) – that’s an adventure I won’t be repeating anytime soon.

Now, here’s where you get to use your imagination. If you’ll remember, this is the progress we had made on the family room. So Saturday morning, we loaded up the Rav (and when I say loaded, I really mean it – we pushed the limits of physics) with that whole stack of wood, all of the ceiling tiles, and some miscellaneous construction junk. After we took care of that (thankfully, there should be no more trips to Brooklyn Park until the end of the project, or at least until drywall is hung), sheared off all the nails that were sticking out while I patched the concrete. So, imagine the room with slightly more grey spots on the walls. Sunday morning, we washed the walls (not a pleasant task), and then donned our gas masks so we could apply 2 gallons of oil-based Kilz primer to the walls. So, now you can imagine the same walls … white.

See, wasn’t that fun?

Of course, I did take pictures, but they’re boring, and I left the memory card at home. You’re not missing much.

Because there was no homework this weekend (yay!), I also managed to start knitting a hat, finish a long-sleeved knit shirt, and cut out and stitch up a pair of brown sweatpants (made it about 60% of the way through the pants). When those are done, I’m hoping to work on the faux wrap dress that had me stumped ( helped me figure it out), and then I can switch out the ball point needle on my machine for a regular one and do up some quick Christmas sewing. We’ll see.

We are in possession of a pocket door frame, a door, and 40 2x4s, and now that the walls are all prepped, we can begin framing up the room. Oh, except first we need to fix the large holes that are above the windows (just like in ‘s office, there are holes large enough to fit his whole hand through, probably for air flow for the fireplace, but in reality, a prime access point for bugs and rodents). Framing should be exciting though, right?

has been scouring Craigslist for the tools we need (I can’t bore you with specifics because I don’t know them – joiner, router… do these words mean anything to you?) and has gotten some good deals on tools we’ll only use for this project (and can re-sell on Craigslist). We may have settled on a cabinet door design, or are close to it. I’d like to incorporate the arch of the door, but perhaps we are not skilled enough to be that fancy (Rockler seems to think it’s not that hard, but I think they are talking to people with more experience than we have). Time will tell.

FYI, the salesperson at the Caribou by my house… not right about many things. Aside from getting my drink wrong on Friday (though an honest mistake – mocha instead of hot chocolate), she seemed to think that I should try the dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate next time, because I’d love it. So, feeling adventurous (and craving some hot chocolate), I tried some today. Um, it tastes like I’m drinking a melted chocolate chip, and not in a good way. I mean, it’s drinkable, but… I think I’ll stick to milk chocolate from now on.