Loving Life

I write that title with a little hesitancy. I do not want to imply everything is sunshine and roses; there are still fights to referee, too much yelling on my part, not enough TV watching for me, and not enough time devoted to Brandon, BUT I am still very much loving my life.

We have been in our new house 1 week. Seems crazy that last Saturday we were waking up for the first time in this unexpected home. First time in beds, I should say, we had a few campouts a couple of times to try to get some projects done before moving in.  Compared to our last move, this one was amazing.  I joke that having movers saved our marriage, but it's not really a joke. And moving into a house with a kitchen and a fully functional bathroom was a luxury.  The worst thing we have to do is paint.  And unpack.  And do that with 3 kids and 2 dogs.

This week Finn did not have school, so I felt I was living a little bit of a dream life. I drove the two older boys to school, and then came home for the next 6 hours. No errands, no pick up times, no playdates. I did not see or talk to anyone, except Finn for two days, and I loved it.  Finn, myself, and the dogs went on a bike ride/walk each day. As we walked I watched the ferry come and go, sailboats doing whatever sailboats do, and even saw an eagle perched on top of a stag.  That makes me kind of laugh.  It was a time that Finn and I had that we both enjoyed, and I think the dogs liked it too. Each day I counted my blessings for this new home and the community in which we live. And, I shamelessly admitted, that I like suburbia.  Except for the composting issue, I currently have bags of food scraps in my freezer while I wait for the correct yard waste bin to be delivered. And yes, I realize that is disgusting, but I couldn't bear to throw all that food in the garbage! So, maybe, don't come over for a while. Just until I get the food waste all sorted out.

Other then that, and no doors on our bedrooms or bathrooms, which to an intensely private person like myself, is a horror of its own, life is good.

Moving Day

The view on our daily walk

My little walking buddy

Last picture of my boys on the front steps of our old house.  Some tears were shed. Mostly by me.

Impromptu Hiatus

I did not mean to disappear from this blog, but life sometimes has a way of, well, getting in the way.  About a week before Christmas we bought a house.  Yes, a house. When telling people we said it in such a nonchalant way, kind of like, we bought a toaster.  Then the next question would come, "Were you looking?" The answer is simple: we are always looking.

For the past three years we have talked of moving to a variety of different places.  Some close, some really far.  On this day, making jam with my mom, I whispered to her, "Brandon wants to move to (insert name of small island town here)". My mom's reply, "Do it!".  We looked that summer but just couldn't make the commitment to be so far from friends, family, and work.  But we loved the smaller town, close-knit community, and wood-like setting.  Then of course whenever we went out of town, specifically to a certain small mountain town, Brandon was determined to move there. We have looked for houses on-line, we have done numerous open houses, and talked non-stop about moving.  Especially on road trips. Major decisions are made when we are trapped in a car for 12+ hours.

But through it all, the conversation would always come back to the kids. Specifically our oldest. What would school look like for him? How would he find a niche in the community? Would the school be a good fit for him?  When you have one choice for school, it can be worrisome. Then our life changed again when we, unexpectedly changed schools this summer. Going from public school to private, was a huge decision and one I never thought we would do. Especially this early in their school career.  But there I was, crying in the Principal's office, describing my sons, and finally feeling like I had a place where they could both go that would meet their needs.  And it has been good. Doesn't mean that I haven't cried more, or that Jack's teacher now says, "you promised you wouldn't cry"; but it is a good place.

With the move to a new school, my world turned upside down. Now I drive the boys to school, twice a day, I feel that Finn spends an hour each morning just in the car. It's not bad, it is actually not nearly as far as many people go, but it was wearing. So was trying to make new friends and set up playdates, only to find their friend lives a good 30 minutes away.  What I missed most from our school last year, was the ease of playdates, meeting at the park, chatting after school, etc.  So, we kept our eyes on the housing market near the boys' school. And one day there it was. A house we could see ourselves in. Not the perfect house, I am not in love with the brass accents in the bathroom, but overall it is good. And it is not a project house. Aside from paint, there is no work to be done. Not like our current house. Remember this? Yeah, we moved in with no kitchen sink, the only bathroom upstairs, and lots left on our todo list.  Plus, this house is on a 1/3 of an acre.  Brandon gets the feeling of living on 5 acres, without me living in the woods. Because, to be honest, the woods scare me.

Long story short. We bought a house. We finally finished our current house and listed it this week. Brandon and I have done nothing but paint, clean, finish our current house, since Christmas ended. It has been a whirlwind, with some good moments and some low moments.  I am both happy and sad for this new chapter in our life.  What fills me with joy is seeing how happy all 4 of my boys are whenever we stop by the new house.

Those boys are the love of my life, if they are happy, then I am happy.  And there is a really good coffee shop in town. That helps, obviously.

Status Update

A quick update on how the dining room painting project is going.

Yep, I've got the walls primed. That is it. Oh, and some random swatches of color painted because I couldn't resist.  

What color is it exactly? It's a blue/gray, I think, it is the same color as the kitchen.  In my humble decorating opinion, I decided I had too much color going on in my house, and needed to simplify.  So, blue it is.  Except that immediately after buying a gallon of blue paint, I read somewhere that blue is not a good color for a dining room. Makes the food appear unappetizing. Excellent.

I have big plans to paint, bring in NEW furniture from around my house and turn the dining room into a  usable room. Not just a dumping ground for random stuff that we push to the side when it is dinner time.  Sometimes my ideas are pretty crazy, and I feel that this may be one of them.

Oh well. My mom is coming on Sunday to help me paint. She didn't believe I could do it myself.  Which is good, because instead of painting tonight when the kids are in bed, I can continue my obsession with Netflix.

Quick and Dirty

So, what did you do on your day alone? I have been asked that by several people. So here it is, what I spent nearly the entire day Sunday doing. Minus time I spent reading and of course taking a nap. 

We moved into this house almost 4 years ago today. At the time we did what was absolutely necessary for us to live in the house and left everything else alone. One of those things that we pretty much ignored was the fireplace. We painted the outside of it with one coat of paint, and called it done. For the past 4 years I had lived with this:

Not just the lovely brass and chain fire 'screen', but a fireplace filled with old ashes. I read in some magazine that ash was actually good for the garden. I envisioned myself carrying out a bucket of ash and spreading it in my garden. Being clean and earth friendly all at the same time!  When I mentioned this idea to Brandon he laughed and said, good luck. Then he said I would probably need a chisel to get the ash out. That made no sense because ash is soft and fluffy. What would I need a chisel for?

I am also a dedicated reader of this blog and have watched them paint an entire fireplace, including the inside. Before beginning this project I went to their website for some 'how to' advice. But there was too many words so instead I just looked at the pictures and called it good.  Clean, prime, paint, what more could there be to do?

Notice the lovely fingerprints, a left-over from my last painting project.

I ran into my first snag when I went to remove the screen. It wasn't just screwed in, it was bolted.  And it was really dirty. At this point, I wished Brandon was home so I could call for a strong man. But then I thought of my mom. Moving all her furniture by herself, check. Refinishing hardwood floors, check. Painting the outside of her house, twice, check.  What would my mom do in this situation? Well, not give up that is for sure. At one point, I wondered if I had any bolt cutters to use.

I decided to put aside the removing of the screen and just focus on cleaning out the inside.  What I thought was layers of ash, was actually dust and dog hair. It was at this point that I realized I would not be shoveling this into my garden. I actually went and got the shop vac instead. Not nearly as earth friendly, but much easier to clean up this mess. I also realized I would need to do some prep in the living room, as this was becoming a much messier project then I had first intended. I looked for a drop cloth, but couldn't find one, so I settled for a bed sheet instead.

After the initial excitement of vacuuming up the gunk, I realized I was going to need a chisel, or maybe a hammer. Once the dog hair and dust was gone, I was left with a hard mass of what, I'm not really sure. Back to the basement I went to find some appropriate tools. It was also at this point that I realized I would probably need a mask. I had my head stuck in this old fireplace breathing in old dust and who-knows what else.  Of course, I couldn't find the masks either. I went to my scrap bin and found an old undershirt of Brandon's. I tore it up, tied it around my face, and viola! A mask of sorts. Althought, later I couldn't decide what was worse, breathing in all the dust or breathing through the armpit of an old undershirt?

If nothing else, this post should prove how absolutely lazy I am when it comes to doing projects right.  It takes too much time to really prep and locate the right equipment, so I just fake it and hope for the best.  Here are the tools I scrounged up to clean out this fireplace.  That shovel, was the only one I could find because the garage key wasn't in its usual place.  Instead I just looked in the yard for a shovel that had been discarded by the boys.

Fast forward a few hours and this is what I had accomplished:

I finally got the screen off by using a socket wrench. Actually I don't know if that was what it was, but it worked and the screen came down and I was very proud of myself. Although, since then the old screen has found a new home on our picnic table. Not sure what to do with it now.

One of the ideas I had going into this was to clean and paint the inside of the fire box and make it a reading 'nook', again, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I blame this website, because they always have great pictures of cool things people did with their fireplaces. Early on in the cleaning process I realized that there was no way I was going to wash the sides of this, or the bottom for that matter. I never managed to get all of the gunk up, so the bottom is uneven and the sides are covered in soot. I did one test swipe and called it done. So much for a reading/toy nook for the boys.

Oh, but wait, what is that? BLACK?! Yep, I painted the old 50's style brick, black. A shiny black, at that. I wasn't sure how it would work, but since our trim is a creamy white, I wanted a color to make the brick stand out.  I loved the paint, but was not happy with the giant hole I now had. I once again searched for ways to make this more attractive. Pinterest, was not helpful, but I did find pictures of candles and mirrors inside a fireplace, more pictures of books stacked inside, and of course the obligatory wine storage. None of those worked for me.  I would love to put something in there, but I need a flat base to work with. I am hoping my somewhat handy-hubby could cut a piece of plywood to size. But that still left me with a hole to fill.

After some moving around of things I already had on hand, this is what I ended up with. I was hoping the plants would deter the boys from climbing inside. Instead they seem to think it is an invitation to play 'jungle'. Oh well, it used what I had on hand and did not require any trips to Target.

I picture my boys sitting in the little chair while reading their library books. Still waiting for that.

And yes, the green fingerprints are still there. Hey, I can only accomplish one thing at a time!

And that is the story of how I spent my kid-free, husband-free day off.

Day 17

That is how long it has been since I have had a shower in my house.  When I left for Seaside, I had a shower that looked like this:

I came home to this:

And this:

The plan was to demo the upstairs shower (the only working one) replace the old pipes and then tile in the downstairs bath. It seemed like an easier job then re-tiling the upstairs shower and would also give me the ability to bathe the kids again. With the countdown on for the new baby, a working bathtub was a priority! 

Unfortunately, we misjudged how long it would take to drywall, prep, tile, plumb, grout, seal, etc, and have been showerless for over two weeks.  When  I left on Friday for Seaside, I said, please don't make me come home to no shower. No problem, my husband replied.  When I was leaving Seaside on Monday and knew there was no hope for a shower, I said, by Saturday I will have a shower.  Oh sure, my husband replied.  On Sunday when I knew we were still a ways from a shower, I said, please don't make me go to work on Thursday with no shower. Of course not, my husband replied.

Now I say nothing. Tile is up, grout is in and now we are waiting for it to dry. Tuesday at the latest, my husband tells me.  It's okay, I've got several friends who have offered their shower. I don't even know what it will be like to wake up in the morning and shower in my own house.  Or to take a shower for two days in a row. 

"What IS That Smell?"

This is the question I ask myself every time I go into my kitchen.  It isn't a 'hit you in the face' smell but more of a subtle smell that seems to just linger. I have scrubbed my cabinets, countertop, sink, and now even disposal.  I can not seem to find the smell.  

My kitchen already has some issues so I at least try to keep it clean. That way I can ignore the door-less cupboards, drywall backsplash, gaping holes in the ceiling, and even the temporary countertop.  But with this odor I am constantly feeling my kitchen is dirty.

I thought it was due to our container for food scraps. Now that we can put food scraps in the yard waste bin, we have a nice stainless steel pail (with a lid!) to hold food scraps.  Not so bad, we used to just have a bowl, that was kind of gross. But I have emptied and cleaned that daily and I still have the smell.

I thought it was the garbage disposal so I cleaned that. I did have a very unpleasant surprise, which I was sure was the origin of the odor. Did you know that the little black plastic thing above the garbage disposal comes out? I did not. As I was scrubbing it, it moved and I thought, oh this is interesting. I pulled it out and nearly gagged. I've dealt with some seriously disturbing things in this house but the stuff clinging to the rim of the drain was disgusting. I cleaned it, I sprayed it with good smelling, environmentally friendly cleaner. Nope, that was not the smell.

I've scrubbed the sink, under the sink, around the faucet. Nothing.

I finally decided it must be the countertop. When we bought the house we did not plan on re-doing the kitchen. Yes, it was disgusting, but a little spic and span, a little paint, and good as new! Or so we thought until we started cleaning and found the entire countertop was rotted. So, out went the cabinets and countertop. In went Ikea cabinets and no countertop. We didn't want to put in a laminate countertop so we decided to go without until we could afford what we wanted.  Instead Brandon nailed down a big piece of plywood and called it good. I covered it with stainless steel contact paper (at the time we thought we might like stainless steel countertops) and we were set.  So, my last idea, Brandon came home from work to find me ready to take off the old contact paper, scrub around the sink and faucet and put down new contact paper.  That was a big project but we uncovered some nasty things under the rim of the sink, plus some mold where the wood had gotten wet. New contact paper, some serious scrubbing, and it was like a new kitchen. Yay! I was so happy.

Next morning I walk into the kitchen and pause. Oh, yes, the smell is back.  

What to do now? Stock up on candles. I have a vanilla one for this  month, pumpkin spice for next month, and a spruce tree smelling one for Christmas. My new plan is simple. Burn a candle at all times and embrace the smell. 

So, if you come over and think, you catch a whiff of something unidentifiable, chances are you are right. But don't worry the longer you are here the less you notice the smell, pretty soon you are thinking, "Do I smell something? Oh, yes, that nice vanilla candle that is burning. What a lovely smell!"

What my kitchen looked like the day we bought it:

What my kitchen looked like on moving day:

What my kitchen looks like today:

Now onto the next issue. Get the buckets and the hose honey, the sewer pipe is backed up again!

Going, Going, Gone!

Going....

Going...

GONE!

OMG!

I know this is the third post of the night but I am heading out for a week of camping and needed to get all my thoughts up and posted.  

A warning: some graphic information in the following story.

I have lived in this house since mid-February. I don't have the exact number of days but am thinking it is around 150, give or take. This is important because of what I discovered, much to my dismay, this afternoon.

We have one bathroom in our house that is working. It is upstairs and, unfortunately, the only window is right next to the toilet. This has always caused me some concern but the window is that frosted, privacy glass and we have a paper shade over it.  I know it isn't 100% private as I came home late one night and saw my husband's silhouette through the window. Since then I have tended to leave the light off when I am using the bathroom once it is dark outside. I have serious peeping tom issues.

Unfortunately, I found out today that it isn't at night that the bathroom is most on display. I had gone out to the Westy to get some things for our camping trip. I am walking back to the house and I happen to glance up at the bathroom window and what do I see?? I see my husband. I see his blue shirt, I see his khaki shorts, OMG, that is not his shorts I can see! Are you serious??  Every day I go into the bathroom when the shade is up you can see all of me. You can see my clothes, you can see my lack of clothes, you can see EVERYTHING I am doing. Just think on that for a second.  

This summer we have had the window open quite often because it is one of the few that opens upstairs and we need the breeze. I will go inside, close the window, do my business, open the window and leave. I figure the most that the neighbors have seen is the window opening and closing. Nope, they have been getting quite a show. The best part is the neighbor directly behind us is having construction work, so this last week the house that stares at my bathroom window has been full of men working on his new garage. 

That is just great.  I think I have to move.

I Love My Yard

There, I said it. I really do love my yard. I have been mourning the loss of my old yard ever since I first saw this new house at the beginning of November. I remember looking at the house, peering in the windows and seeing the potential for what it could be. But the yard, never inspired the same feelings in me. Even after we poured money into some serious pruning, a parking spot and gravel path, and the most beautiful sod you have ever seen. I liked it, it looked much better then I ever thought it would but I did not love it.

My other yard was long and deep and had a giant pine tree right in the middle. It always smelled like the woods to me and reminded me of my grandparents. It didn't matter that the yard was almost always in a state of "white-trash" and that my 80 year old neighbors had a yard 10 times nicer then mine, for a while the renters next door even had a better yard. Every time I walked out the back door I was in love. One of the reasons we bought the house was because it had a hydrangea. I wanted one and when I saw the 60 year old hydrangea in the back yard I was sold. I know I can plant one at my new house but it won't have the same character.

Today I went to my old house for the last time. I left all the keys and locked the doors. When I shut the door for the final time, I admit it, I cried. I stood on the deck one last time and looked at my backyard and was sad. Even though the yard overwhelmed me a good 90% of the time it was still my favorite.

Until this afternoon. When the boys woke up from their nap the sun was actually shining. I quickly put on shoes and hats and out we went. I had no agenda except to kill time but once I got outside and saw the plants I had just bought, I thought I would try to plant them. I went to the Olympic View plant sale for the first time and scored some good buys. The trick is to go at 3:45, in the rain, on Sunday afternoon when they are at the end. The selection isn't as good but they were selling plants for more then half off. I bought annuals, bedding plants, and some good perinnials to fill in my flower beds.I spent an hour outside today and got all my plants planted. I even did some weeding. The whole time I was outside my boys played. Jack ran in the grass while Micah sat on it. They walked in the bark and played on their climbing cube. They even got out their bikes and rode on the cement patio. I was able to move around the yard, planting and weeding with no problem. Well, except for Nemo making a run for it, but the neighbor was kind enough to tell me I had lost my dog again. I stepped back at the end of the hour and looked at my yard. I have established plants that are starting to bloom, 3 huge lilacs that I love, some sort of fruit tree, and now some fresh plants that are favorites of mine. I wasn't overwhelmed or left the yard with a list of things to still do. I have some more plants I would like and some more pots but overall, I have to say, my yard is beautiful.

And I love it, I really do.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall....

When we first moved into our house a month ago we had not finished every little thing in the house. That was not a problem until the first morning when I went to get ready and realized I did not have a mirror in the bathroom. That was one thing on our list that was deemed "unimportant".  I quickly realized I had a full length mirror in my bedroom and could do my hair and make-up there. No problem.  That lasted a few days and then I broke the mirror.  Knocked it over and it shattered. There goes my mirror. But wait there is a small piece that is still intact. Excellent, I still have someway to get ready.  Once again, that did not last long before that too, was broken.  This is what I was left with:

Not the best way to put on make-up, but it would have to do. I could see a fraction of my face at a time, so no big deal.  Then last Friday, my father-in-law, showed up with a medicine cabinet and shelf system that he built. I was giddy.  He installed the shelves, painted them to match the trim, and then, HALLELUJAH!, a mirror. A real, honest to goodness, regular sized mirror. I am still shocked when I go to wash my hands, brush my teeth, dry my hair, that I can see myself! It is the best present ever!

Does that make me a little vain?

The List

We finally moved. Actually, we moved 2 weeks ago but I didn't have Internet access until this week. As my friends and family know, the last few weeks before moving was rather intense. Once we set the moving date - for the 3rd time - we decided no matter what we were moving. We rented a UHaul, asked people for help, and made plans for our 3 year old. Nothing was going to stop us from moving.

When we decided we were moving for sure, we sat down and made a list of all the things that HAD to be done to be able to move in. This isn't the list of all the things to do to fix the house. This was just what would make it livable. We wrote this list and then sent our two boys on a 2-night sleep over so that we could get everything, or almost everything done. I knew my husband could not do it all on his own so at 8:30 on a Friday night we started hanging drywall, and did not stop working until 4:00 pm on Sunday when the boys came home. We crossed many things off of our list that weekend, the most exciting probably was the toilet. We had not had a working sink or toilet in the house since December. The saddest thing to NOT get crossed off the list was a sink downstairs. I was fine having a completely gutted downstairs bathroom, and even a kitchen without cabinets. But I had really wanted to have a sink downstairs somewhere. That did not happen. We moved in with only a small bathroom sink upstairs but only had to live that way for three days. Not too bad.

The list is still hanging on the wall where we taped it when we arrived Friday night. I know we can take it down and that even though it is not completely finished we are living here and doing alright. But still it hangs. It reminds me of what my husband and I set out to do and what we worked so hard for. We did it, we are in our new house, together once again.

Painting

I hate painting. If I ever see a paint brush again it will be too soon. The sad thing is I used to love painting. I loved looking at colors, choosing one I liked, getting the freshly mixed gallon of paint. I would rush home, open the lid, find a paint brush and walk around the room putting little samples of paint on the wall to give a hint as to how it will look. The first roll of paint on the wall was a much anticipated event. I would stand back and admire what a great color it was - well, the times I picked good colors at least - and how excited I was to see the finished product. I wouldn't even mind the detailed cutting in at the ceiling or around the trim. I just really liked the change you could make just with a little paint. I've painted beds, dressers, night stands, chairs, and bookshelves over the years and have always enjoyed it.

But not now. I am done. I don't want to paint ever again. I have just finished painting nearly every room in my house by myself. After, washing the walls, painting 2 coats of primer, then at least 2 coats but most times 3 of the actual color, I am completely done with painting. That also includes priming and painting the entire ceiling in the house - and that I do believe I did by myself. I have had help painting our bedroom and the boys bedroom and the kitchen but otherwise I have painted it alone. It does look wonderful, a far cry from the scary, dirty, house I walked through 3 months ago. I have a friend to thank for helping me pick out colors that go together so I won't have to re-paint the rooms. I think I painted the bedroom in the house we are in now 3 times before I got it right.

I am so happy to be moving in and to be done with all the rooms. Except the trim. How I hate the trim. As my husband said to me yesterday: "I really thought you would have the whole house painted by the time we moved in". I know, I did too, but that darn trim is killing me. It is so tedious and time consuming to paint and I just completely ran out of time. I have painted the trim in all the places I plan to put things or in rooms that I know I will never get back to paint but that is it.

I guess I am not quite done painting. I will probably be painting trim for quite some time, at nap time, in the evenings, maybe even on the weekends. I think I might cry.