A visit from the parents

Yesterday I took the day off work to spend with my mom because my parents are in town. My dad had to spend the day at a work conference so my mom and I drove up to Boulder and wandered around the Pearl Street Mall, browsing in the shops and enjoying the lovely weather. It was the first time I'd really been to Boulder, and it was lovely.

We also went to a couple of regular shopping malls and did some shopping, and um, can anyone explain to me why I haven't been to a New York and Company for years? Because they were having a summer clearance where a ton of adorable stuff was 70% off, and I came away with two fantastic cotton summer dresses for $13 each. Plus, they offer a 15% discount to AAA members (we aren't, but my parents are), so the dresses ended up being $11 each. In fact, I'm wearing one right now. How awesome is that?

And, my dad has been helping us around the house with some minor repairs and upgrades we've been meaning to do. The first thing he did was help us install a shower door in the master bath so we don't have to use a shower curtain anymore. Am I the only person who hates shower curtains? I always bump into them while I'm showering and then they stick to me, and also if you don't manage to hang them in a way that allows them to dry completely after your shower, they get all moldy and have to be replaced, which is a pain in the ass and also gross.

So, no more shower curtain issues for us! The new shower door looks AWESOME and also makes the bathroom look much more open and spacious, because now you can see that it ends where the tub ends, instead of where the tub starts. Plus, the previous owner of our house redid this whole bathroom and put really nice tile in the shower, and now you can see that tile from the bathroom. It was a relatively easy upgrade and SUCH an improvement in the room. It makes me want to do a lot more of this type of thing. Although, of course, without my dad around to help it's a lot harder.

The next project that he and Torsten are taking on is installing a dog door. I was a little concerned about this because raccoons (and small people) could theoretically come inside through a door. One solution to that would be to get a fancy electronic door that only opens when activated by a little box that the dog wears around its neck, but a) those doors cost $350, and b) I didn't really want the dog having to wear this special fancy collar with the box.

But, it turns out that now dog doors (or at least the one we bought) come with a locking metal cover that you can just slide in and lock at night when you go to bed, so you don't have to worry about nocturnal visits. And during the day animals could come in, but I doubt they would--and either way, it's better than our current system of just leaving the back door open during the day so Montana can come in and out as she pleases. Flies also come in and out as they please, which is no fun at all, and in theory squirrels could do the same, though so far they have not. Plus, once it gets cold we would have to stop propping the door anyway, at which point Montana would be SOL. So basically, this dog door is a WIN for everyone.

Everyone, at least, except the person who has to cut a giant whole in our back door to install it. This is why it's great to have my dad visiting! He does all the scary jobs, and he does them well. I don't not even want to think about how much money he and Torsten spent at Lowe's this weekend. Ugh.

Speaking of shopping, though, later this week I'm going to have to take pictures of my new dresses (and I got a third one at Target, also adorable and cheap) and of the shower door, and do a little show-and-tell post on the blog. But that will have to wait, because I have work to do. And a manicure to go get with my mom.