Ups and Downs of Homeownership

The past two days have been so awesome, yet so terribly awful.

Good news first.

My dad let us borrow his mower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We desperately needed to mow our lawn. We practically had a prairie growing in our backyard. And the weeds. Oh my goodness, the weeds. And the dead flowers. Clearly, we really suck at any sort of landscaping. I've been reading about how to get rid of the weeds and will need to put those tricks to work VERY SOON. And I've also gotten really good advice about the flowers - I just need the motivation to get rid of all the dead stuff to keep the healthy stuff thriving. Not quite sure how to do that but it'll happen. And the lawn just needed a good mowing. So, you can imagine my excitement that after a solid month of no lawn mower, we were obtaining a lawn mower. Thank you, dad, from relieving us from having to buy a new one for the time being. That's the goal but I'd rather get one on sale!

Here are some photos of my mowing adventure this afternoon. Good grief, it was difficult. Gary, fortunately or unfortnately, was there to capture it all.

Thanks, honey bear :)

And the bad news you ask?

We've got mice. Yep. Mouse turds gave it away. As Gary was on his way to Strawberry Village to pick up the mower, I discovered a number of little mice droppings on our counters. I didn't see them anywhere but there so I was pretty confident it was just one mouse. I broke the news at work today and much to my dismay, heard some really scary stories of rodent infestation. I was still convinced we had only one mouse to contend with until some further inspection of our kitchen. I'm not so convinced anymore. Poor Gary had to deal with my complete and utter disappointment and frustrations but I'm okay now. It certainly sucks, but we HAVE to get rid of these mice. I have no appetite knowing they're scurrying around in our kitchen and other rooms. They need to go so I can get a solid meal. Beer isn't going to cut it. Our goal is to seal any cracks in our foundation so no others can get in and trap the ones that have already gotten inside.