A Bathroom, a Fence, a Tractor, a Puppy, a Pregnant Cat and a Kid in a Tree House

Sounds like a redneck children's book, right?  It's been almost 7 months since my last blog entry, so there is a lot of ground to cover.  I will use as much brevity as I possibly can, because I have lots of pictures to tell the story for me.

My proudest accomplishment is finishing the bathroom downstairs.  Scott and I did the whole thing ourselves, from plumbing and electrical to tiling.  I became somewhat the pro at mosaic tile.  It only took me 18 hours across two weekends to get it done.  It was murder on the back and I think I still might have grout on my hands, but it turned out great.  As a quick reminder, here are the "before" pictures:

We gutted the bathroom and squared up the wall to give ourselves a nice rectangular canvas.  This is the result.  (Zach wanted me to give him credit for the "after" photos, because he was proud of his work.)

Zach "staged" the bathroom for pictures.  I'm not sure what happened to the black towels, but you get the idea!

One of my favorite things about the bathroom is the fun fixtures.  All of them light up and change color based on the temperature of the water.  I like them so well that I think we will put them in the master bath when we get around to that project.  Guess I am still a kid at heart!

For my birthday, I bought myself a fence - well, fencing materials anyway.  Thanks to a bout with pneumonia, Scott and his dad had to install the fence without my help or input.  (Come to think of it, that was probably best.)  The end result is a huge area for the dogs to run and play, which makes life much easier.  It was getting quite tiring having to take them out every couple of hours and then trying to keep them all corralled.

Scott's favorite bit of progress is the tractor.  God kept just the right one for us.  It had everything we wanted/needed at a price that we could afford.  The back hoe will give us the ability to do all kinds of projects that will help with water flow.  As soon as it gets dry in the low areas, we are going to dig a huge pond that we will stock for fishing.  Maybe that will eliminate the swamp/snake issue.  Though I must admit, I will miss shooting snakes from the balcony!

Today we picked up our new Keeshond puppy to add to our pack.  Mom says I need to set up a 501 (c)3 and rescue animals for a living since it has become a hobby around here.  We took in a kitty and she is about to have kitties of her own.  There have been 2 dogs dumped out here that we have found homes for too.  The kids are very excited about the kittens.  I am going to use it as an educational opportunity.  If anyone is looking for a kitten, let me know!

Zach's never ending project for us is what he now calls "Parkour City".  It will ultimately be a collection of playsets, monkey bars, ropes, bridges and other fun stuff for fitness and play.  So far Scott has built one platform and we have had two donated from people who wanted them out of their yards.  If anyone else out there needs a play set hauled off, give me a call.