homeowner part 2

Well, I needed an excuse to share pics of the fall decor I've set up in my house, as well as a pic of the buffet and hutch I bought, and a recent turn of events has called for a second part to my original post about the ups and downs of owning a house, so here it goes. Enjoy the photos, and enjoy reading more about that homeowner life!

Let's start with the positive lol. For one, I've been having so much fun decorating (if you can't tell from the pictures)! There's still work to be done, especially in my office (I'd love to get some prints to put up on the wall and make the room a little more festive), but you can definitely tell that a lot of love has been poured into Winterfell. ; ) And now there's a wreath hanging from our front door with a bow on it that has the letter B, the first letter of our last name, and it makes me happy every time I see it. =] Does anyone else think a wreath automatically makes a house seem more homey, or is it just me?? I DO still need to get my photos up, but getting the hutch and buffet set up was the harder of the two, so the photos and their frames should find themselves around the house instead of in a pile soon!

For another, I've discovered the secret of cleaning (at least for the time being)! A friend of mine recently mentioned the idea of reading a chapter in a book a day to get himself into the habit of doing a little reading on a daily basis, and I decided to apply that to my house chores. I told myself I'd commit to five minutes of cleaning every day. This week was the first week I started doing it, and let me tell you, it's been GREAT! I've started cleaning in ways I haven't done since I moved in...like dusting heh. It makes cleaning SO much more manageable, and I usually end up cleaning for more than five minutes as well. The one thing I'm not quite looking forward to cleaning is the inside of the stove...but I'll get it done! Another friend also introduced me to a site called Grove Collaborative, which sells all-natural products, including cleaning supplies, and they've partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation so that every shipment helps plant trees! They have a shower cleaner that doesn't require rinsing after use, which is awesome because I didn't realize until AFTER I bought new shower heads for our bathrooms that I'd have no way of rinsing the walls after using a cleaner because the shower heads don't move lol. I'm excited to get it, along with a few other things I ordered and a bunch of freebies that came along with them!

Now for the negative. Back in August, Peter and I started noticing how some mornings, the toilet and the faucet in our upstairs bathroom would sputter, as though the water was mixing with air, and sometimes the water pressure from the faucet was low. It only happened in the mornings, though, and it only happened once or twice a week, so we didn't think much of it. Until last week. Last week, we started losing even more pressure, from both the faucet and the shower and on BOTH the first and second floors, to the extent that the water actually STOPPED at one point (RIGHT before I was going to jump into the shower, mind you!). We tried to see if we could solve the problem ourselves, but we experienced low water pressure and water stoppage again on Tuesday (this time when Peter wanted to take a shower), so we had to call a well company. I don't know about you, but Peter and I have a well system for our water, and neither of us knew what that entailed. Thanks to the two wonderful gentlemen who stopped by to fix the problem today, I now know the things that I need to be on the lookout for! I feel like such an adult. =D Despite the inconvenience, I did realize how blessed I am to have running water, and I hope I don't keep taking that for granted. The next thing on the list is to hire someone to trim the tree branches that have been scraping against our house and inviting squirrels to crawl across them and drop acorns into our walls...but things really are becoming more manageable, I'd say. Yes, problems arise, and I'm sure they'll continue to occur in the future, but it's nice to think that someday, this house might be where we start raising a family, and it won't just be Nymeria enjoying the space. This is home sweet home for the time being, and I'll take it, challenges and all.