Playing House

My mom has been in Michigan for work for close to a month now, so Brent and I have been in charge of running the household.... it's been an interesting journey.


Here is what we've learned in our month of "playing house":

1. Maintaining a yard, mowing, pruning, watering, and the whole shebang, kind of sucks
2. Small wiener dogs, specifically cute dapples named Lizard, have very small bladders. We found pee on the floor at least twice a day for the first week.  I think partially she was upset that her momma was gone...
3. Little, fat, round dogs don't like the way wet or tall grass feels on their tummies, so they pee on the patio.  Mix that with the obtrusive summer heat and you get the smell of putrid pee every time you walk outside.  
4. Bleach and water mixtures are a true gift from God.
5. Big dogs drool, and big and little dogs track EVERYTHING inside.
6. We are not ready for a dog.
7. Having 5 cats is never going to happen. Cleaning this many litter boxes is something I don't mind never doing again. 
8. Don't carry litter boxes by the handle.  They are deceiving contraptions that cause litter boxes full of cat pee and poo to take long tumbles down the stairs. Ergh.
9. 7 animals shed. A LOT.
10. I love wood floors.  I hate carpet.
11. I want to subscribe to a newspaper like a grown up. Mom gets the Chronicle and I have enjoyed nabbing it every morning. I usually never get a chance to read it all, but the front few pages make me feel a little more knowledgeable and cultured-ish.
12. I love having free reign over decorating and cleanliness. Oh, how I enjoy having fresh flowers on the table. Oh, how I enjoy de-cluttering without having to ask permission. Brent hates clutter too, so he has taken to the garage, and done quite a bang up job, if you ask me.
13. Samantha is a slob, and, well, let's just say that cleaning up after her is good practice for when we have little rugrats of our own. Although, our rugrats probably won't leave Diet Dr. Pepper bottles everywhere - at least not at first.
14. We are not ready for kids... yet. I do have some serious baby-fever, but our lives are too unsettled right now for a little Schwanbeck.
15. The drive from Katy to Downtown and/or the Medical Center is way too far. 60 mile round trips to work leave little time for play in the evenings.  We will hopefully settle closer to town (whatever town that may be) when we actually settle someday.

In conclusion, we need our own place again.  I've had some good fun "playing house" but we are ready to get our own place again, with our own furniture and decorations, our own ability to keep it as messy or as clean as we please, and some privacy.


Come on, firefighting!  Lord, please bring us to the next stage in our life. We know you have great plans for us and we are so anxious to find out what they are!