From Carpet to Foam Tiles

Life has been moving really quickly for us in the Cirlot household in the past month.  We've been to Birmingham to visit Audrie and meet her gracious host family.  We've met with church planters to learn how to do what we are doing now most wisely.  We have built several websites and logos for companies local and beyond.  We are quickly nearing the end of Phase 1 of the Acts29 assessment.  Bryan has taught a Dnow,  has had a guys retreat with old friends, and I have taught a VBS class.  Abby has had another positive doctor's appointment from her allergy doctor who just affirmed that our carpet and upholstered furniture has to go soon, and that the changes we are making are making a big difference with her dust mite allergy.  Here's where we are.  

I have been praying that God would provide us with the flooring we need to get rid of our carpet.  This weekend, I found a lot of foam play mat tiles on Craigslist for $30.  We had already bought several packs before to keep over the center of her playroom floor.  The extra tiles I picked up yesterday were EXACTLY the same type we had already bought and EXACTLY the number we needed to rip up the carpet and completely cover the floors.  Isn't God good?

The old gross carpet we had to start with minus the baseboards.

No wonder Abby is sick all of the time.  It is gross when you pull up carpet!  It smelled funky too.

10 hours later... Flooring is complete! Abby saw it for the first time this morning and said, "WOW!"

Dyson is a Beast!

If you've been keeping up with my blog posts lately, you know that Abby has been diagnosed with a dust mite allergy.  Needless to say, I've been deep cleaning like crazy and really on top of keeping the dust away... or so I thought. 

I knew our vacuum, an old Eureka, was on its last leg, but I had no idea how bad it was until tonight.  I borrowed my mom's new multi-surface Dyson vacuum and vacuumed our "clean" floors to see what I would get.  I'm horrified and impressed by the results.  The photos speak for themselves.

I filled up the canister.  Yuck!

In case you didn't get how much dirt that was, I dumped it out on a full-sized paper plate.  It's a small mountain.

So... I guess we need a new vacuum, huh?

Maybe Dyson should hook me up for showing off their machine in this blog. *Hint, Hint*

Another Life Change

Since last night when we came home, I have been on a deep cleaning blitz.  I am not nearly finished but am already pooped.  Here's the deal. 

Our cute toddler tot has had recurrent sinus infections since infancy, so we finally had her tested by a pediatric allergist yesterday morning.  After sticking our sweetpea 16 times with various potential allergens, we received a diagnosis.  Abby is allergic to dust mites!  Aaah!  In the past few years, I have become a fairly decent housekeeper, but dust always seems to get the best of me.  Of course, that would seem to be the one thing that matters most for my kid's health.  Great, huh?

The good news is she is not allergic to any of our pets (Bryan says that is bad news), but the frustrating part is that it is not easy to get rid of dust mites!  Here's what we have to do.

-Abby will now have to take allergy meds twice a day along with a nasal spray.
-She is on antibiotics for the next 20 days to clear up the current sinus infection that has been lingering for a while (I'm just relieved that she has been whiny lately for a reason.  I'm not a failure as a mom!).
-No more carpet- it needs to be replaced with laminate, wood, vinyl, or tile.
-No more upholstered furniture- it needs to be replaced with leather, vinyl, or wood.
-Frequent air filter changes
-Frequent sheet changes
-Plastic covered pillows and mattresses for Abby's room
-Limit the number of stuffed animals (only as many as you can wash every week in hot water)
-No more clutter or fabric decorations
-No more running the fan at night in Abby's room
-We have to get a dehumidifier to run all of the time where Abby sleeps since dust mites thrive in high humidity (explains why the humidifier was making her symptoms worse!)
-We need to keep our air below 70 (our summer electric bill won't be fun)
-I will have to vacuum frequently with a vacuum with a HEPA filter (guess it's good that we have a used vacuum salesman in our neighborhood).

Fun, Fun, Fun.  I must say... all of these changes (some of which we will have to make slowly as we get the funds for them) are worth it if Abby gets well and stays well. 

On a bright note, I can already see how God is providing for some of these needs.  A few weeks ago, a friend's dad who owns a flooring business contacted us and wanted to barter flooring labor for a website package.  One of the families that are church planting with us found boxes of laminate flooring that they had left over from doing their own house about 5 years ago.  What they gave us will get us started in changing out our flooring (starting with Abby's room). 

God's sovereignty and provision are pretty humbling.

Maybe I can find a furniture store that needs a website now. ;)