A few days ago I may have been freaking out over the fact that I feel like we’re procrastinating way too much on getting things done before the baby gets here, but I have to admit it’s just another pregnancy freak out to add to my list of memories. Hubby really stepped up this week and worked his butt off to get a lot accomplished. We still have a good bit of stuff to do, but after dropping $250 at Home Depot on supplies we knocked out a ton of the little stuff.
Most of the stuff that was done this weekend isn’t necessarily stuff that has to be done, but it’s stuff I wanted done before she gets here. For instance we really needed to replace all the dingy old blinds in the house. Most of them were broken in some way or another thanks to the cat climbing in and out of the windows. We replaced all the cheap crappy mini blinds with thicker heavy duty ones that Alley has already proven he can’t break. He’s not too happy about it either.
We really needed to replace the light in the kitchen because the actual fixture died on us over a year ago! Hubby replaced it with a crappy little shop light with a pull string as a temporary fix, but I decided I really needed it properly fixed before the baby gets here, so he finally replaced it with a nice track light. He also replaced the crappy fixture in the bathroom that was falling apart. Now I don’t have to worry about feeling like I’m touching a major hazard every time I have to chance that bulb!
He also weatherproofed almost all the windows. Since he’s using the plastic wrap type stuff that shrink wraps to the outside of the windows I asked him to leave the 2 kitchen windows alone for now so I can still open them over the next 2 weeks. He’s also still got to do the one in the nursery because we have to remove the ac unit from that window sometime this week. Let’s see. He also changed out the rest of the door knobs that were really in need of replacing. Now my bedroom door actually locks, the closet door in the nursery actually shuts all the way, and I had him replace the knob on the nursery door with one without a lock. He’ll understand in a few years when we don’t have to worry about her slamming and locking her door when she’s mad…and if she inherits either of our tempers or stubbornness that day is sure to come.
Now we only have a few more household things that we need to do before she gets here, and then we’ve got a list of stuff I’d like to do if we have the time and money to do so. We definitely have to figure out the heating situation next weekend when Hubby gets paid. We’re still wood heat only with floor heaters in the bathroom and bedroom when needed, so we have to do something about that. I don’t want to chance using the woodstove with a newborn baby, but we know we can’t afford to have gas heat or central heat installed right now. My Grandparents are our landlords, and they definitely can’t afford to do it right now either, so we’ve got to think about our options and figure it out now. We’ve talked about getting a couple of the electric Amish fireplaces for the bedrooms, and we've been looking at getting an electric insert like this one for the actual fireplace that we don't use.
We don't use it because the chimney would need to be repaired and it's located in a weird spot in the house. The wood stove sits in the middle of the house, and we've maintained it so it's been the practical heat source until now. We also have the option of electric baseboard heaters, but I really don't like those. Plus I have to make sure whatever we get is going to be cool to the touch and/or out of reach of the baby at all times. I like the idea of the fireplaces because I know a couple people who have had luck with those in apartments, and I like the fact that you can now get the ones that are on casters and portable instead of wall mount. It’d be more practical to roll it from room to room only heating the parts of the house that we’ll actually be using. Seriously we have to really look into our options and figure something out soon. If we can't figure out an affordable quick fix I may just have to talk to my Dad about taking out a loan to install gas heat, but I really don't want to have to do that.
Anywho we do have a lot to think about still and a lot to do, but I’m feeling better about the fact that we will get it done. I guess I just needed Hubby to put forth the effort this weekend to prove to me he’s not going to procrastinate until I say I’m in labor! I think it’s also bothered me because I can’t do the manual labor needed to accomplish a lot of the stuff, and I’m one of those I’ll do it myself kind of people. It sucks when you can’t do it yourself anymore.
