I Have a Dirty Secret......

Okay so my close friends know it isn't that dirty......I hate to clean. I detest cleaning. I can do it and I know how to keep a clean house, but there is so much I would rather be doing. I would rather do anything than clean my house. (Side note here: I have never cleaned a toilet in my house during my married life. I absolute refuse. I am not the one that gets its nasty.....so Dennis is in charge of toilets.)

We aren't dirty people but between the two of us and two/three dogs the house gets messy. Most weeknights I don't get home till six and I sure don't want to clean after that. Our weekends are so full between my volunteering and Dennis' golf who wants to clean.

So for spring cleaning this year I decided to bite the bullet and hire someone. Best investment I ever made..............

DD came highly recommended by two of my friends but she also cleans the house of one of Dennis' golfing buddies. So we felt pretty comfortable with her cleaning ours. Not like she is going to ruin three other relationships by messing with our house.

I packed Shea and Wolfie up for doggie daycare because they needed play time, baths, and their nails done. I also took Joe our foster dog, but he was expelled from doggie day care. Yep he a is 10lbs ball of TROUBLE.........

Since Joe only made it an hour at doggie day care before I had to take him home. DD had just started when I brought the doggie school drop out home. It was around 9:30. She was cleaning our laundry room garbage cans. (Poor dear that is the nasty one in the house for some reason.)

When Dennis came home at 5:30 she was out side cleaning our patio table....no small feat considering the pollen that was all over it. She also blew off all three of our patios. I am not sure if they had that since we moved in.

It gave me such a comfort to come home from a stressful day at work to a clean house that night. I got to enjoy my weekend. I went to see Lex's home track meet. I played in my backyard. I had dinner with Dennis family Friday night. I did paper work (not fun but it needed to be done.) I worked on a new craft project. I probably wouldn't have gotten those things done if I had had to clean all weekend, but I didn't:)

Of course I will have to do touchups here and there until her next visit, but I won't mind so much because it isn't overwhelming.

Yes maybe the money could go to something else, but it is going to my peace of mind. You know this is a risk I am willing to take to enjoy life a little more.

PS - This is a picture of me and the track star:) I look awful, but you get the idea

Lighting Risk!!

I decided to join up with The Nester to about taking risk!

My biggest risk by far for us has been purchasing our new house. We loved our old house but after being being broken into twice in three years, I had had enough.

Walking into our new house, Dennis had much more faith in my decorating skills than I did. He saw more potential than I could. (I mean the mirrors were bad, but the murals of Mother Earth and the Dragon were awful.)

My first room to complete was my dining room/foyer. I had to change the foyer light. It had a nice pendant light but it just not appropriate for the space. I love the look of the drum lamp shades. I scoured everywhere looking for one to DIY, but could not find one.

Then I remembered the awesome lamp shade that I purchased at Lowe's when I was staging our old house for sale. So I ran down there during one of my lunch breaks and found the perfect lamp shade. It was the right size and color.

When I brought it home though I of course got the look from Dennis.......you know the look. The look of "is this really going to work." After he insisted on doing it himself instead of me. (I did give the instructions on the attachment.) It was finished in five minutes flat. It took us more time to figure out which breaker to turn off than to hang the new fixture.

I love the look and the price tag under $22.00. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish all of my risk turned out that cheaply and that perfect. Maybe I would stop getting the look.

I'm Back!!!!

Okay well it has been a crazy last month. I was lucky enough to foster Joe and Pete our foster dogs. While it is very rewarding to be able to foster animals having two puppies in the house is an adjustment and does not lend it self to much craft time or painting time.

This past weekend Pete was adopted, but we still have Joe. Pete is going to be an amazing dog and I miss him greatly. I wish I could keep them all.

Also that last few weekends, when I get most of crafting done, has been gorgeous down in the deep South. It has been warm and sunny. It makes it very hard to stay inside. Believe me once summer comes I will not want to be outside.

We are enjoying our new yard. So far the daffodils have bloomed. They were a bit different than what I am use to. I am use to the yellow daffodils, these were white with pink lips. (I can't believe I didn't get pictures.)

Our azaleas are about to peak in the next couple of days. I think we have 8 varieties, there may be more. Our Gerber daisy is in bloom and the day lilies look like they are going to bloom like mad. The hydrangeas are leafing out (I can't wait for those to bloom)

Over all I am so happy with our back yard and I still love it. Will probably plant a few knockout roses though since I love them so much.

Hope you had a great weekend and stay tuned. Enjoy the pictures!