If we could see inside other peoples hearts

I recently read a quote from Regina Brett that said, "If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab our back." (You can find the entire quote list here: www.reginabrett.com/life_lessons.php)

Isn't that the truth? 

Just yesterday I learned that a woman in my building at work lost her husband suddenly to a heart attack just over two weeks ago. I pass her in the hallway all of the time. I had no idea what she was going through. It shocked me to the core. Sometimes we all get so caught up in what is going on with us or those we are close with that we forget about everything and everyone else around us.

We cannot do that. We simply cannot.

This video created by the Cleveland Clinic is such a beautiful portrayal of how much we all have going on and just how easy it is not to notice other people's struggles.



I heard the quote first, then heard about my co-worker's husband, and finally I saw this video. I get it now. Clearly I'd been a little wrapped up in my own worries which is why I felt particularly convicted by these truths. I hope that if you've struggled with the same thing that the quote list and the video will help to remind you of just how important it is to pay attention and support those around us. You just never know what it is that someone is going through.

WORK!

If I had to describe the month of July in one word it would be: WORK! From the time we took possession of the house back on June 30th until today has been nothing but work. Our last tenants did not take good care of the place at all and trying to get the house back into shape after 5 years of hosting renters has been quite the challenge.

Honestly. Who would want a drink from that fountain? CLEAN, people, CLEAN!

We ripped out the carpet ourselves and had the place painted on a Monday, cleaned it on Tuesday evening and had new carpet installed on a Wednesday.

Susie just loves manual labor

Reminding Susie that her freedom isn't free ;)

We were continually amazed that a mother with two small children would let her family live in such filth.

I wonder if her kids had allergy issues? 

Don't worry about a trashcan...just throw it under the washer and dryer

We hired professional movers to get our stuff from the storage unit to the "new" place, but still had to move our everyday items from Susie's. As you can see, my convertible is quite the hauler. ;)

Hop in!

We did things a little backwards and moved everything before going through it to see if there were items with which we could part. Rookie mistake by seasoned movers. :(

"Eddie Teddy" was Jackson's childhood pal and somehow made the move with us?!

Above-the-range microwave! 

We not only painted, re-carpeted and cleaned the place, we also did some improving. There wasn't a microwave here so we got an above-the-range microwave to save counter space. We actually got the microwave for free because Home Depot made the carpet ordering such a nightmare. Jackson is the king of getting stores to "make things right."

Note the shoe racks :)

Jackson also built me TWO new shoe racks. I asked for THREE. He called this an "inventory control measure" and claimed to be out of space for a third rack. *cough, BS, cough*

I firmly believe another rack could have been installed....somewhere...

We were also amazed that the tenants NEVER CHANGED LIGHTBULBS! There were 6 lights in the kitchen and only ONE worked. Who does that?!!? Lazy. Lazy. LAZY.

Handyman Jackson

Since we'd never loved the light fixtures anyway, we bought new ones and Jackson installed them himself.

We even stocked them with bulbs! Amazing! 

 We also replaced the hardware in the bathrooms because the water here is mineral packed and stains the fixtures when someone doesn't CLEAN occasionally.

This project stumped Jackson a bit...

after a few trips to Menard's he was in business!

The new faucets looks great! 

The garage was a mess when we moved in. The tenants left us their trash scattered around (we just love them- can you tell?) and had a HUGE oil stain from their car on the floor. Jackson thought we'd just have to live with the stain. It bothered me so I took on its removal as a project.

Jenna-1,  Oil Stain- 0

We finally accomplished our goal of getting the garage in good enough order to park both of our cars inside. HOORAY! A small victory!

Success! 

We also installed a new garage keypad to allow us to lock the place up when going for walks without carrying our keys. We love it! We have washed down the entire house with a soapy sponge (or 5) to get the siding to return to its original color instead of "dirt." We have cleaned the windows, replace the shutters as the old ones had faded, trimmed bushes, put in new mulch, edged the yard, pulled weeds from the sidewalks and driveway, torn out dead plants and put in new flowers, pulled 789 thistles from the flowerbeds, cleaned the exterior lights, replaced the mailbox, put in a new walkway between our house and the neighbor's place, cut back our grass plants (nightmare!), picked up at least 89 pounds of litter, and repaired a broken screen. That is honestly a condensed list. We're still in the process of order new countertops for the kitchen and replacing the toilets. We did cheat a little and had the tiles professionally cleaned. All of this while working full-time. It has been SO FUN! ;) 
One good thing we discovered was a Facebook group where you can list household items for sale and local people bid on them. It is like Craigslist, but on Facebook. We made well over $1,000 selling things we either couldn't fit in this place since it is so much smaller than our other home or things we just didn't love anymore. I spent hours getting the washer and dryer that our renters used into good enough shape to sell and made a pretty penny on them. It almost made my time spent cleaning them worth it. Almost. 

MacKenzie returned to her original "magic door"

We think we are getting close to having the place in good shape again. We've ordered the countertops and toilets so as soon as they're in and a few things find their new place on the walls, we'll be set. By then I am sure something new will pop up and need our attention. The fun seemingly does not end when it comes to homeownership.

5 Things Parents Need to Stop Saying to Non-Parents

I stumbled across this article somehow and loved it too much not to share... :)

http://www.askyourdadblog.com/2013/06/5-things-parents-need-to-stop-saying-to.html

Schnauzer love

When I met Jackson I was amazed that his family was also full of schnauzer fans. I'd grown up with one, Alexandra or "Alex" as we called her. (Yes, yes my sister did name her son after our childhood pet. No, I cannot offer an explanation for that other than she must really like the name!) When my parents divorced Alex stayed with my Dad and we went with Mom. I found an old scrapbook I made for a middle school homework assignment the other day as we were unpacking boxes. One of the scrapbook pages had about 8 photos of me playing with Alex and detailed how heartbroken I was when she had to be given to a new home because Dad couldn't care for her like she deserved to be cared for anymore because he was working so much. (While reading the scrapbook entry I actually shed tears remembering just how sad this made me back then. The love a girl has for her dog never ends! Don't worry, Dad, grown-up Jenna understands that you had Alex's best interests at heart and thinks that giving her to a new family must have been harder for you than I ever knew then.)

When my Mom married Guy he had a giant schnauzer, Dexter. Dexter and I got off to a rocky start- he pooped in the garage and I stepped in it while wearing new, white shoes- but once "Dexter" called to apologize to my voicemail we were able to patch things up. He was such a good, big boy. He was trained to hate teenage boys and I'll never forget all of my guy friends bringing him different treats so that they could get into our house without harm. :) I think the hardest thing about Dexter passing away was being in the kitchen (in Mom & Guy's old house) and not seeing him looking at you through the window. (Oh my goodness. I just made myself cry. Again. Dog love never ends- did I mention that?) He was always right there waiting to come hangout. (Note: Dexter was only allowed on the tile flooring and never left it. Addie- Mom and Guy's giant schnauzer now- is allowed anywhere and even has her own bed in the bedroom. Don't worry, Dexter, it makes me mad, too! Addie isn't even half of awesome as you were.)

In late 2001, we got a new miniature schnauzer puppy, Madison. She's still around today and is the absolute symbol of all things HOME for me. I love that dog more than imaginable. Macy joined Madison after a few years and while she's a good little girl (and SCREAMS when I come "home" to Upland) she's not as tied to my heart as Madison always will be. Of course time marches on and in 2006 Jackson and I were gifted with the most wonderful little white schnauzer to have ever lived, MacKenzie.

This photo is actually titled, "Cutest.Puppy.EVER." on my computer- HA! :)

Jackson and I went through old photo books the other day at Susie's and I was again struck with how similar Jackson is to his dad in his love of his little schnauzer. Charlie's dog, Petefish's Silver Prospector, or "Spector" for short (and with a name like that one a dog needs a nickname!) eventually had to share his dad with Kathi and then Jackson (poor thing), but I think know he always had a special, reserved place in Charlie's heart. Ms. MacKenzie will always be our #1 girl and I imagine her life is a lot like Spector's was in the early years before those pesky children entered the picture. I always get a good chuckle when MacKenzie goes out and "runs errands with dad" because Jackson just couldn't bear to leave her at home.

We used to visit Grandma Mary (she was technically Jackson's Grandma, but I loved her so much that I just call her "Grandma Mary")  in the nursing home and she'd welcome "Charlie and Spector" into the room. It was really Jackson and MacKenzie, of course. Looking at this photo (and remembering that Mary was in her 90s and nearly blind by this point in her life) I don't fault her for being confused. In fact, it made my heart happy thinking that seeing Jack and MacK took her back to the good old days of her own son and his canine companion. Susie always got mad when MacKenzie jumped on the bed with Mary (with Susie being a nurse and all she just couldn't deal with a dog on a hospital bed), but Mary loved to pet her and say hello. I'm so glad that I got to meet Mary and enjoy those times with her.  She raised a great son in Charlie and he in turn raised my "favorite husband" (inside joke).

Charlie and his first "baby" Spector

Recently, I was reminded again of how much schnauzers mean to the folks in all of my families. Guy's dad, Milan, sadly passed away on June 25th. He had a miniature schnauzer, Heidi, and she was his favorite thing. She actually got a line in his obituary reading, " His loyal dog, Heidi, from which he derived much joy, will miss him." (Yes, that line did make my cry my eyes out when I read it originally. Pets mentioned in obituaries get me every single time.) Heidi was featured in quite a few of the photos in the program from his memorial service which made my heart smile. The photo of me with Milan was, fittingly, taken when I walked Heidi for him after his heart surgery a couple of years ago and was still using a walker to get around. Heidi had bunked at our place while waiting for her best friend to recover and was pretty excited to be reunited with him! Miss Heidi will again be bunking at our place soon as Aunt Jan, her current home-provider, is vacationing. (I've heard rumblings that Heidi is hoping to get something other than a baby carrot or two while at our place. ;) HA! Milan loved Heidi a little too much and fed her anything she wanted. She'd gotten a little chunky to put it nicely so when Milan moved to the nursing home, Heidi went to Aunt Jan's "boot camp" and shed quite a few pounds! Milan was fond of saying, "say what you will, but my Heidi is a pretty girl!" whenever anyone mentioned her weight. No wonder that dog loved him. What lady doesn't want love no matter her weight?!) We'll see to it that Miss Heidi has a great rest of her life here on earth before joining her best friend in Heaven. 

I've decided that the movie "Must Love Dogs" could be changed to "Must Love Schnauzers" for me. I enjoyed going down memory lane and thinking of all the special four-legged members of my heart. I, of course, like dogs besides schnauzers....just not as much. HA! :)

We'll be back...I promise

I haven't stopped blogging. I swear. I have a ton of stuff to catch up on. Life just has been a wild ride recently. I did just post our Memphis trip so that's fun reading. I promise to get back to writing as this is more for us (sorry, dear readers) than it is for anyone else and I don't want to forget even the most mundane parts of our adventures together. I couldn't have picked a better partner with whom to ride the wave called life, though. I love that Jackson Petefish kid with every piece of my heart.