A typical weekday:
Wake up later than I should.
Frantically try to motivate kids to get out of bed, get moving and get ready quickly (hasn't happened yet but I keep trying) while getting myself dressed.
Drive boys to school, drinking tea & eating breakfast in car. Empty dirty dishes and/or garbage from boys' breakfast out of my purse. (such a prankster, that Cole)
Work 8-1/2 hours at day job.
Go to house & work with Kim for a few hours.
Go home & do a load or two of laundry - because it's easier to get the kids to go to school if they have clean socks & underwear.
Flake out on couch with a book or TV for a bit to 'unwind' before bed. (That unwinding thing doesn't seem to be working so well. My shoulders and neck are wound up so tight I've lost some fine motor control of my left arm. Jammed ring finger up my nose when I was washing my face because ring & baby now have minds of their own and wouldn't stay in line with the other fingers. Big, gushing, bloody mess. Fingernails on my right hand are getting ragged because my left hand can't work nail clippers properly. Doctor says my arm should start working properly soon.)
Stay up too late because too tired to move.
Finally drag butt off couch & stumble to bed.
Note what's missing? Things like cook a nice meal, go to yoga class, go for a walk or bike ride. In other words, any form of nutrition & exercise. This house is going to cost us a lot more than we planned because of that new wardrobe in a larger size that I'm going to need.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Reprieve
We got some great news the other day from our landlords. The people who have rented the house don't need to be in until June 15th so we can have it for another two weeks.
Phhhhhhewwwwww!
We still have to get our house finished, inspected & passed by June 1st but at least we don't have to be in two places at the same time: frantically scrambling to get all those last-minute things done at the new house (like lights purchased & installed, vanities in, doors stained, sinks installed...) while at the same time packing up and moving the rental.
Phhhhhhewwwwww!
We still have to get our house finished, inspected & passed by June 1st but at least we don't have to be in two places at the same time: frantically scrambling to get all those last-minute things done at the new house (like lights purchased & installed, vanities in, doors stained, sinks installed...) while at the same time packing up and moving the rental.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
tick, tick, tick....
I'm not losing sleep over our month-end deadline, mostly because I REFUSE to think about it and because we have a bigger one coming: the carpets are being installed next week and we have to get the upstairs finished before then. Kim put in the last piece of trim upstairs just last night.
We've also given in to our kids' suggestion (DON'T DO THAT YOURSELF, IT'LL TAKE FOREVER - HIRE SOMEONE, LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE DO!) and hired some professionals for a few jobs. Will help with the timing (and also, hopefully, our sanity)
I was thrilled when Kim told me yesterday that the painter we hired to caulk and paint the trim has also offered to fill and sand the nail holes. I am SO glad! Beause, well, Kim's new at putting up trim and, ummm..... he's very thorough. I didn't know how I was going to get them all done in time for the painter to finish painting by the weekend.
Now maybe I will be able to get all the upstairs doors stained and at least start on the the masterbath floor tiles.
Just when my hands and knees are feeling normal again - more tiling to do.
We've also given in to our kids' suggestion (DON'T DO THAT YOURSELF, IT'LL TAKE FOREVER - HIRE SOMEONE, LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE DO!) and hired some professionals for a few jobs. Will help with the timing (and also, hopefully, our sanity)
I was thrilled when Kim told me yesterday that the painter we hired to caulk and paint the trim has also offered to fill and sand the nail holes. I am SO glad! Beause, well, Kim's new at putting up trim and, ummm..... he's very thorough. I didn't know how I was going to get them all done in time for the painter to finish painting by the weekend.
Now maybe I will be able to get all the upstairs doors stained and at least start on the the masterbath floor tiles.
Just when my hands and knees are feeling normal again - more tiling to do.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Countdown...
30 Days and counting
It's official now. I just gave notice to our landlords that we'll be moving out the end of May.
I'm now officially in panic mode. Excited, but feeling just a tad overwhelmed.
Not only do we have an awful lot of work to do on the house to make it habitable, then must clean it so we're not wading through dust, but we have to clean the rental house we're in and return it to a state that will make someone else want to rent it.
I've been spending so much time on the new house that I've let things slide in our temporary home worse than usual. Even the laundry is piling up, which is unusual - that's one thing that I'm always on top of, (sometimes the only thing).
Tonight I'll be going straight to the house from work again to help Kim finish casing & trimming the windows. This weekend I have a bathroom floor to tile (the largest one) and doors to sand & stain.
I'll have to tell the boys to turn their underwear inside-out to get a second wearing.
It's official now. I just gave notice to our landlords that we'll be moving out the end of May.
I'm now officially in panic mode. Excited, but feeling just a tad overwhelmed.
Not only do we have an awful lot of work to do on the house to make it habitable, then must clean it so we're not wading through dust, but we have to clean the rental house we're in and return it to a state that will make someone else want to rent it.
I've been spending so much time on the new house that I've let things slide in our temporary home worse than usual. Even the laundry is piling up, which is unusual - that's one thing that I'm always on top of, (sometimes the only thing).
Tonight I'll be going straight to the house from work again to help Kim finish casing & trimming the windows. This weekend I have a bathroom floor to tile (the largest one) and doors to sand & stain.
I'll have to tell the boys to turn their underwear inside-out to get a second wearing.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Looming
Last Saturday was a full day of errands and shopping.
First stop was a lovely visit with our banker who gave us an ultimatum: be moved in by June 1st "whether the house is finished or not". I guess we've used up all our extensions and extra draws on our builder's loan. Panic is starting to set in, we're so close, yet so far.
That declaration and the news that the carpet we ordered is ready to be picked up (already! - that was fast) caused us to change our plans for 'house-work'. We need to get all the messy stuff finished upstairs RIGHT NOW before the carpet can be installed. So I got pulled off of bathroom tiling & painting duty to help case windows.
Kim has been casing and trimming the windows this week (after a great lesson from Brad, who spent last weekend hanging all of our fabulous fir doors) and has almost finished downstairs. What a difference it makes to the look of the house when you can't see bare studs anymore.
Following our new ramped-up schedule, Kim cut & built the window casings while I installed them and later Cole, now aka "bondo-man", joined us, following behind me filling nail holes. They both quickly overtook me as I learned that tiling isn't the only thing that I'm painfully slow at.
First stop was a lovely visit with our banker who gave us an ultimatum: be moved in by June 1st "whether the house is finished or not". I guess we've used up all our extensions and extra draws on our builder's loan. Panic is starting to set in, we're so close, yet so far.
That declaration and the news that the carpet we ordered is ready to be picked up (already! - that was fast) caused us to change our plans for 'house-work'. We need to get all the messy stuff finished upstairs RIGHT NOW before the carpet can be installed. So I got pulled off of bathroom tiling & painting duty to help case windows.
Kim has been casing and trimming the windows this week (after a great lesson from Brad, who spent last weekend hanging all of our fabulous fir doors) and has almost finished downstairs. What a difference it makes to the look of the house when you can't see bare studs anymore.
Following our new ramped-up schedule, Kim cut & built the window casings while I installed them and later Cole, now aka "bondo-man", joined us, following behind me filling nail holes. They both quickly overtook me as I learned that tiling isn't the only thing that I'm painfully slow at.
I realize I haven't posted pictures of any of my tiling projects - coming soon. I quite enjoy doing the tiling even though it's hard on the knees and I could probably sand the walls with my bare hands, they're so rough.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Delicate surgery
We have light!We had a houseful of electricians a couple of weeks ago. They installed the trim kits for all the recessed light cans, put in the xenon puck lights under the kitchen cabinets (they really make our granite counters sparkle) and hooked up our electrical outlets.
It is so nice to walk through the house at night without carrying a tippy construction light and tripping over long extension cords plugged into one of three outlets in the house. And Kim no longer has to choose between having good lighting in the room where he's sawing or in the room where he's hammering? (decisions, decisions - to cut fingers off or just smash them to a pulp?)
We still have to pick out the light fixtures we want for those areas without pot-lights. And then the electrician's crew will spend one more day installing everything else electrical. (he keeps telling us emphatically "only one more" does that mean he was getting a little tired of us calling him every time we thought up another thing we wanted?) At least in those rooms still waiting for lights we now have a choice of outlets to plug a lamp into. Even Shea commented on the fact that there is an outlet on every wall of his bedroom. "Is that a mistake? That's almost as many outlets as we have in the entire house where we're renting." Ahh, the joys of having up-to-code electrical. Can't wait.
Another thing we asked the electricians to do was to correct a boo-boo made when they did the rough-in lighting in the kitchen. The transformer & wires for the puck lights were right smack in the middle of the wall where the range hood goes, not where they should have been, hidden by the cabinets. (It may have been my error; I vaguely remember being asked if there was a valance that would hide the transformer. Yes, a malfunctioning memory error - it was the cabinet company we didn't go with who's design included a valance.)
When I told the electrician the transformer needed to be moved he asked if we were going to tile the backsplash all the way up behind the range hood.
And when I said "yes" what I really meant was "yes, it's one of the things that I plan to do but since it's not as crucial as having functioning bathrooms, floors, window coverings, etc, etc, and it's perfectly acceptable to have a painted backsplash, it's quite far down my list of things I would like to do eventually"
It is so nice to walk through the house at night without carrying a tippy construction light and tripping over long extension cords plugged into one of three outlets in the house. And Kim no longer has to choose between having good lighting in the room where he's sawing or in the room where he's hammering? (decisions, decisions - to cut fingers off or just smash them to a pulp?)
We still have to pick out the light fixtures we want for those areas without pot-lights. And then the electrician's crew will spend one more day installing everything else electrical. (he keeps telling us emphatically "only one more" does that mean he was getting a little tired of us calling him every time we thought up another thing we wanted?) At least in those rooms still waiting for lights we now have a choice of outlets to plug a lamp into. Even Shea commented on the fact that there is an outlet on every wall of his bedroom. "Is that a mistake? That's almost as many outlets as we have in the entire house where we're renting." Ahh, the joys of having up-to-code electrical. Can't wait.
Another thing we asked the electricians to do was to correct a boo-boo made when they did the rough-in lighting in the kitchen. The transformer & wires for the puck lights were right smack in the middle of the wall where the range hood goes, not where they should have been, hidden by the cabinets. (It may have been my error; I vaguely remember being asked if there was a valance that would hide the transformer. Yes, a malfunctioning memory error - it was the cabinet company we didn't go with who's design included a valance.)
When I told the electrician the transformer needed to be moved he asked if we were going to tile the backsplash all the way up behind the range hood.
And when I said "yes" what I really meant was "yes, it's one of the things that I plan to do but since it's not as crucial as having functioning bathrooms, floors, window coverings, etc, etc, and it's perfectly acceptable to have a painted backsplash, it's quite far down my list of things I would like to do eventually"
Yikes! Looks like "tile kitchen backslash" just got bumped way up the list.Do you think they could have done an uglier butcher job on my freshly painted wall if they'd tried very very hard? I don't.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Time to compromise
Kim told me recently that I've used up my quota of "getting my own way".
What?! How did that happen? I'm very cooperative & give in to him all the time.
What?! How did that happen? I'm very cooperative & give in to him all the time.
Hmmmm, could it be my choice of 'Misty Memories' (a soft lavender) and 'Sea Life' purple for our bedroom?
click on pic for the full impact
click on pic for the full impact
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