A Tour

Well, now that we are getting close to moving again, it is probably time to take an official tour of the cat pee house. It has not been the best experience living here, but certainly not the worst either. We have met some lovely people and learned quite a bit about ourselves and renting in general.

You'll have to excuse these pictures a bit. We just got back from camping, only to start getting ready for trek in the near future, and I have just started pulling boxes out again to begin the arduous process of packing. (Really not excited for the move, but the end result should make it all worth it.) As the over achiever I am, I was hoping to catch the house on a spotless day, but that could mean NEVER taking pictures, so you get what you get, and I won't throw a fit. (Special thanks for my husband who drove up to Idaho to retrieve my camera. I wanted it for trek.)

Let's start in the front. Cute little house. I adore the sky in this picture. Truth be told, I am happy we were able to rent a house instead of an apartment somewhere.

The backyard is fabulous for space. Not too much shade though.

There is one tree that gives a nice amount of shade by about 4:30. And the kids have really dug the rocks around the yard. They kind of have a rock fetish.

This last picture is for my mom (who inspired this post). I will be answering some questions she asked me in regards to a story. They will probably make no sense to you, but when does my blog ever follow an organized pattern?? Mom- This little side yard is the only place the kids could go where I wouldn't really see them. 

The neighborhood is nice with a couple cul de sacs that the kids bike in. They have a special spot that they meet up at when one person falls behind or they want to stop and rest. It is called 'leaf lantern', aptly named because there is a lantern there with a leaf on it.

Let's go inside now. Here is the sitting room/front room. There is hardly room for anything in here, but the good news is that the people helping us move didn't have to take the piano far.

Here are the stairs splitting the house. Shall we go up or down??

Let's go down first. Downstairs there is a long family room. This is one of the offending rooms. It stinks!! It was quite unbearable for a while, but Tyler went out and bought the biggest computer chair mat he could find. It is amazing!! It traps almost all the smell. I still get a whiff now and then, but I can watch a movie without gagging. That is definite improvement.

On the other side we have our computer station. This is where the kids would live if I let them. This is the first summer we have had to put restrictions on computer time. I guess the kids are growing up.

June and Daisy sleep downstairs, but don't worry, their room smells just fine. We had to pack the beds in where we could and in this case, the closet doors needed to come off. Sadly, this isn't the only room that we had to do this in. Mom- no doors and not very deep. This closet would not be the best pick.

Here is Daisy's bed. She has done really well sleeping on a different floor, but she still comes and snuggles with Dad every morning.

Mom- Speaking of June and Daisy, they were my first picks to suggest for a child who puts two and two together quickly. I'm surprised how quickly Daisy connects things sometimes. But they all do. Depending on the situation, they are all pretty quick. Except maybe Pearl. But she will get there.

Also on the bottom floor is the unfinished laundry room. It is plumbed for a bathroom which would be nice since, at the moment, the girls have to travel up two sets of stairs to do their business. But, we won't be here long enough to make that a major complaint.

Off the laundry room is the 'Dungeon'. It is a crawl space but quite a large one. It goes back pretty far.

And has a whole other section that is large as well. Mom- As you will see, the closets are pretty small around here. If the girls needed to find a place to convene that is remote or hidden, the Dungeon would be as good a place as any. They certainly could all fit there and have a little space. However, it is off limits to play in. So take that as you want. :)

Let's go upstairs now, shall we? First we run into the bathroom, and as mentioned before, because of distance, I have heard June RUN in there.

Next we come to the other room that is practically uninhabitable. This is probably where the cat lived (without a litter box??). I shudder to think about it. Robyn has been remarkably patient with the smell. She knows it is there, but doesn't complain. And since we put down the tarp, it is so much better. But really, she lives with a tarp in her room. That isn't right.

Here is her closet. (Also a possible cat residence. Yuck.) We had to take the door off so her dresser would fit in the room.

Mom- This is the best closet there is. None are very remote or hidden? As for the smell, depending on the day, some were worse than others. Sometimes I would walk by Robyn's room and gag, and other days I couldn't smell it too much. It wasn't worse by just walking in the house after being away. And now that we have the tarp/mat, it is hardly noticeable. THANK GOODNESS!!

Also upstairs we have Pearl and Ivory's room. They have been good little roommates. I think it has helped them become closer.

With the two beds, it is pretty cozy. We had to put there dresser in the closet. Mom- clearly, we are struggling closet wise.

And then the master bedroom. It is good sized. And it tends to be the catch-all room. Mom- Some of Tyler's instruments are in here, except for his main guitar that he keeps in the front room. 

I actually like our closet quite a bit. But in the new place I will need to hide my shoes. Pearl finds them and drags them all over the house. Silly girl.

There is a small master bath, but there is no fan. I think that is cruel.

And so ends the tour of the cat pee house. (It will probably always be known as that.) I don't hate it. It is hard to hate place where I hang out with my family and joke around with my husband. But when it comes to the smell...well, let's just say that we will never own a cat. EVER.