The Friday Unhappy List

Everything is supposed to be all fun and games on Friday, but I'm facing a serious problem right now. Squirrels are eating my pumpkins.

Remember how I shared my finished porch photo just a few days ago? The pumpkins were whole and happy. My porch was festive. I was proud.

Pride cometh before the fall. Squirrel: 1. Katie: 0.

So today's unhappy list is this:

Squirrels that eat pumpkins. I didn't even know this was a thing, but I'm not going to let them win. I will not settle for fake pumpkins. This is war now. I want real pumpkins, and I will fight to protect them. I'm armed with hairspray, vaseline, pepper flakes and other human things that squirrels supposedly detest. I'll sleep outside to protect my pumpkins if I must. I might even use deadly force (I live in Virginia now where we apparently love guns). It's me versus the rodent in a battle for the pumpkin's honor. Wish me luck.

The Front Porch

I promised some pictures so I'm starting with a low-hanging fruit (as we like to say in the development world). The porch isn't the most dramatic change in the house, but it's the most recent and maybe the most complete...probably because it didn't require buying more furniture or hanging pictures. 

Here is what it looked like before (spring):

And here is what it looks like now. It's not the biggest change, but it's certainly an improvement after sitting empty the last several weeks.

The chairs and table go with the patio set in the backyard. They were a
housewarming gift from my parents. We decided to use them on the front
porch until we decide to buy more outdoor furniture.

Looking out from the dining room window - I love all
the trees in our neighborhood/yard! 

Jon's favorite new house gadget is the power washer.
This is the porch before/after power washing. We had no
idea it was this dirty. Now I want to power wash everything
to see what else is really dirty.

The vintage wagon was our big antiquing find. I really love it!
The pumpkins are from a family farm in Virginia.
The smaller ones are future pies, and the 2 big ones will eventually be carved.
We inherited the plants, but they work for now. 

The Friday Happy List

Today I'm happy about all the things we're going to do tomorrow. I need a break from "work" house stuff to do "fun" house stuff so we're hitting the road for a little MD/VA adventure.

Antiques I'm not really sure "antique" is the right word here. I'm not looking for an $8,000 ornamental couch, but I am looking for some one-of-a-kind novelties for the house. Our first stop is a huge tag sale that spans multiple barns. I'm thrilled. Jon is cooperating.

Wine It will probably be raining by the time we hit Virginia wine country, but that's ok. I can sip wine indoors just as easily I sip it outdoors. We'll both probably need it after spending an entire day together in the car navigating unmarked country roads. 

Fall It's still a little early for it to look quite like this, but whoa, Virginia, you know how to bring it during fall. I guess I live here now. Weird.

Apples You can't drive near farms this time of year and not stop to pick some apples. I have a love/hate relationship with apples, but right now we're in love so I'm going to pick away. Just to be extra nerdy and domestic, I ordered some canning supplies so I can enjoy my apples all year long. 

And some bonus happiness that has nothing to do with what we are doing this weekend. As you may have heard, the National Zoo welcomed a new baby panda a few weeks ago. We love us some panda here in the DMV, and today they released this video. It makes me ridiculously happy.

Munchkin Cat

My friend Melissa is very astute: "It seems like you're updating the blog less so I figured things are busy!" She hit the nail on the head. Things are starting to settle down, but we're still trying to find our new routine. Considering I don't function well outside of one, you probably won't hear too much from me until that happens.

BUT, I just had to tell you about the munchkin cat. Jon made the mistake of showing me a photo of this cat breed the other day - as if I needed another reason to be tempted to trade in my husband for a cat. :) It's like the Daschund of cats, and I want one or five. 2015 is the year of the cat in our house. That's when the new cat vaccine will hopefully be approved by the FDA. I got cat-friendly carpet for the basement just in case.

I'm headed out for the rest of the week for our annual company retreat. Hopefully when I'm back I can get over my perfectionist tendencies and take some photos of the as-finished-as-it's-going-to-be-for-now house.

The Friday Happy List

Sometimes you're just happy it's Friday. Today is one of those days.