Okay, story time.

So we bought this beautiful house that was in our price range because it's never been updated. Like, 1990s oak cabinets and pink and purple tile on the kitchen wall and the floors are Saltillo-looking tile that is cracked and needs to be stripped and sealed.

But, really, that's all cosmetic. Plus, I don't want to pay for somebody's home improvement projects. I'd rather wait and pick good quality stuff myself and then have exactly what we like. At any rate, all of the remodeling we saw around here didn't go with the style of the houses so it looked weird and crappy.

At any rate, we bought a solid house that needs a little work. So that's what we were expecting.

Then we closed and got in here. Wowzers.

Nothing major, still, but, holy crap, the mice had a party. Like, a Taco Bell and beer party and everyone missed the toilet. 

I know. Gross. But there was SO MUCH POOP.

We were off for a week to clean, but before that I came down for a couple of afternoons to just get started, and I'm really glad I did. When they stopped renting the house and decided to sell, no one was in here for a good long time. And they had some places where the mice could get in, so they just came on in and made themselves at home for what appeared to be a while.

A long while. So much poop. So. Much.

Have I mentioned poop?

And the pee. I think the pee is worse because at least you can see all of the poop and get rid of it, but the pee is in places you can't see or get to, and the smell doesn't go away once it dries out. 

So, anyway, once they were ready to start showing, they had a pest company come in and seal up the house, so no more mice were coming in, but they didn't clean up the mess. Not at all. So that's what I was contending with.

I know, we live in the country, sort of, dirt road and all. There will be mice. That's fine, as long as they stay off my roof and out of my house. Because they pee on the roof, too, and that also stinks.

Seriously. I cleaned up mouse pee for a solid week. So much P.U. and there were always new areas popping up that I didn't find before. And if you know me, you know that I can't handle smells. If the world smelled like bleach, my job would be done.

I feel like we've finally gotten the pee situation under control, but I still go through the house on alert, just in case I missed something. It was EVERYWHERE. The kitchen alone took a solid three days of heavy scrubbing, and I felt like my arms would fall off before I was done.

Still worth it, though. I love this house so much. Look at this view! AAAAHHHH!!! Feels like we've finally found our way home.

I'm back.

Yep, try to stay calm. I will, too.

Basically, my old iPad died and I forgot how to log in and I didn't want to reset my password because I knew it was a really good one (obviously, as I couldn't remember it for like six weeks). So then I all of a sudden just remembered and decided to go for it.

Everything has changed since the last time I logged on, but whoa. It's all pretty darn good.

Not to say it was easy.

The month from the middle of June to the middle of July was probably the hottest, sweatiest, grossest month of my life. To start with, it was like a billion degrees. A billion. And after we moved out of our beautiful little house into my parents' house, the lovely air conditioned paradise we had created was just gone.

My parents, who are awesome and let us stay with them a few weeks while we closed on our houses and got the new one cleaned (that is a whole post in itself....for reals....barftastic), do not like the arctic atmosphere that we prefer. Plus, we were doing a lot of hauling, lifting, moving, cleaning, you know, all that delightful stuff to do during a massively hot summer.

This is all to say that there was a lot of sweat and bad hair. I also got pimples, which is weird, and gained a few more pounds because I just gave up on working out and eating vegetables. Lovely plan, me.

Nevertheless, we kept going and after a couple of weeks of cleaning, scrubbing, unpacking, and dealing with contractors (who were fantastic, which is a miracle in itself), we are now living in our dream house and pretty excited to be here.

Really. No sarcasm. It's unbelievable that we get to be here.

Next time, though, stories. Gross, gross stories.