When you throw TP in your purse...

you know you are serious and want to be prepared for the all day job ahead!  Rather than carry another bag...I load up my purse with all the things I can think of needing when we head to a rental house.  "Do you want coffee this morning?"  No...I think I'm good...I'm done!  "Do you want me to stop and we can grab something to eat?"  No, thanks.  "Oh...that's right...you lose your appetite when we go to this place?"  Yep!  I...can't even...the gag reflex is there just thinking about what I have to deal with today.  Ted laughed, "You got this!"

This trip...for me...deals with all things cleaning related!  Ted is on paint detail.  How do you spend a Saturday?  We cleaned and painted and cleaned and painted.  We are making progress but "it never goes how you think it will go...every time we come...I run into surprises!"

My job was to tackle and clean the kitchen and bathroom!  I only made it around 75% of the kitchen.  I was doing the appliances, floors, walls, and cabinets.

And it was gross!  I kept an eye out for live roaches and mice as I was kneeling on a piece of cardboard and scraping with a putty knife...then washing/scrubbing with bleach water.  It is in times like this that I am thankful for my distorted sense of smell and taste!  Uff dA!  Honestly...that was the only way I was able to do what needed to be done. 

Progress!  Stains will be scrubbed again before painting the walls and trim.

Bleach water did wonders!  Traps went down to catch the nasty little friends who seem to have ruled this house for a very long time...even when tenants were living here!

Roach dirt and mouse dirt...dirt and grease...and dirt.  Chicken bones and orange peels...UNDER the fridge.  Why?  By the time I got to this section...I started to have a melt down and had to walk away for a few minutes.  I was thinking too much about the children who lived in this house and the why of it all.  I got mad again and almost finished the kitchen...till I opened the drawers...OH MY WORD!  I will have to finish this next Saturday and then move to the bathroom.  I already checked it out...the gross factor...and believe it or not...it is not as bad as the kitchen!  PTL!

Alisa made sure all was well at home and then acted as our meal delivery person as we groaned and moaned our way through showers, watching TN win the football game, and the rest of the evening.  We feel the work in our joints and muscles!  I am glad I got to be Ted's helper extraordinaire and was able to power through to the end.  He took care of me...even though he laughs at my harsh disdain for all things gross!

Ted went back on Monday to get some windows that need broken glass replaced and checked on our traps!  Uh...these are not little mice!  Look at their tails...they look more like the rat variety that parts of the city are known to have.  We still have two traps out...we will see what we get on Saturday!  We have removed all food sources and nastiness from hidden places...but it has been cold outside here.

The rental adventures continue and we learn more each and every day!  I'm thankful for a grandmother and  mother (and mother-in-law who taught her son) who taught me the value of soap and importance of cleaning each day, week, and season.  I am sad...and often mad...that some do not have the opportunity for the same lessons in life!  And I forever will keep wet wipes, Kleenex, and hand sanitizer in my purse for those times...when you just never know what was there or not cleaned up! ICK!

 

All in a week!

Full moon...still holding on to the morning as I drove to school.  So this is how our Monday will start!

Put anything in a box and tell them they can't look...and the excitement builds!  Drawing out our letters for our fall letter trees!  I got smart and make one to keep in my binder each years as an example...only one student per letter makes the trees unique!

We enjoyed the beautiful days before the weather changes!  The weatherman kept saying it was going to be blustery and cold...

so I planned a Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day party.  Turned out to be a lot of fluff and nonsense on Wednesday...but Thursday was another story!  Oh bother!  We still had fun anyway...and now we are in the blustery days in a row with our Michigan weather!  

The colors of fall are fabulous!

I am so glad to be sharing this October with this guy!  He is my brew master each morning!  I am thankful for him...every day!

Planning for a fun-no-reason-for-something-special-day after getting a book recommendation for this book!  I learned a long time ago...when a most-trusted friend gives you a book idea...buy it on the spot.  So I did.  And my class is going to love it!  Chips and MILD salsa anyone?

The trouble with pre-school...is that they are pre-schoolers!  Yikes!  We have been running into messes in the bathroom...some ickier than others.  It is a good teaching opportunity for my class...and I am brave in front of my kiddos all the while cringing inside.  It happens.  It is part of the messy side of teaching.

And since we are being honest that all is not glamorous in pre-school...here are the remains of a very busy morning!  Some days...I throw and run on to the next thing...and when I stop at the end of the day...it takes me awhile to clean up!  Glad it isn't icky though!!!

 

Dating my love

 

Fall fun with my friends

 

Quiet days are good days!

I find myself doing a lot of reminiscing when I watch my little friends in the morning!  I try to have different things set out each day for them to use to practice and play.

I love to watch them get lost in play.  I like to hear their chatter as they imagine and work together.

My little friends are excited to hang out with me every day and they notice everything!  I had a teacher come ask me a question today while we were in the hallway.  I had to go get my phone with the message on and as I walked back down to the group, I heard, "Oh, there's Mrs. Tackeberry...she has her phone and of course, she had to get her glassed too!"  Uff da!  Yep...I use the half glasses a lot to be able to see the little print.  The other teacher laughed at the comment, "They know you well."
 

Three days...three words

Freedom!  We watched the part of the rally in Warren, MI the other night.  It is maddening to me that people think the President we have now is better than this man who can speak coherently for an hour and 45 minutes about facts and figures and people.  I am at a loss when I think how far our country has shifted in two years...but then again we are told in God's Word that the days will wax worse and worse as sin grabs hold of people's lives and thinking is distorted. 

Faith!  We pulled into church on Sunday morning and the view was just pretty.  How refreshing it is to be reminded of God's faithfulness on the mountaintops and even in the valleys.

Food!  Friends of our family experienced an accident that injured father and son to the point they needed surgery and are still in the hospital.  How do you help?  You pray...but then you do what God puts on your heart!  Being reminded this week to be the hands and feet of Jesus when He prompts me!

 

Happy fall days!

The late bloomers!  Only because I planted them later than I should have...but they are pretty!

We love learning...this day was the letter T for Detroit Tigers! And...we love fall!

Cold temps had me baking apple crisp with the left over apples from our special day.

Cuddling and waiting for Fancy's mom to come!

We had two days of no school for the teacher convention.  I did not go this year, which gave me time with my love and time to go exploring with Mari!  We went to Brighton to a new store, Buff City Soap.

The day was gorgeous and the flowers so pretty!  We went to a new to us coffee shop and enjoyed some of the shops!

Such a fun and eclectic place!  Mari had to ask about all the pink ribbons all over town...community activities and high school games supporting breast cancer awareness...getting ready for October.  Hits us different these days!

The last blooms of the season...

Headed to go work at the rental houses together...but had to take a call and then send info...so we had to back up back into our driveway a couple times.

My hard-working man!  You know he is serious when the cap goes on backwards!  Well that and it didn't fit front ways with the respirator on as he sprayed the paint in the bedrooms and hallway.  I washed walls and swept up piles of junk.

I scraped stickers off windows and helped Ted.  I watched roaches crawl around and tried to kill them.  Ick, ick, ick!  A little mouse ran down the stairs and through the hall as we chatted.  We both shivered and shook our heads.  "We're making progress!  I'm not seeing as many roaches as before..."

We came home happy with the progress of the day, enjoyed taco salad, and went to bed early!  Ted was sure I would not want to cook after hanging out at the roachy place.  "I went grocery shopping and have a plan!  It's fine!"

Today...Saturday...Ted went back to work at the rental and I stayed home to do our yard and laundry and paper grading.  I was again startled by the snake...so I ran it down with the mower!  Ugh...Ick...big shiver.  It hits different when I just taught through the story of Adam and Eve and the curse that sin brought!