Day 23...

1. Sub-floor installed in bathroom
2. Floor installed in new doorway/hall
3. Ugly blue bathroom now mostly coated in bright white Kilz
4. Old brown paneled room (with large holes in the walls) now drywalled and partially coated in Kilz! You had to see this room to appreciate its {cough} charm. :-)

New walls almost ready to paint.

Day 24...

My "day off" yesterday was wonderful!  I dropped the kids at school, and ran into Lima to pick up a gift and do some grocery shopping at GFS (my freezer had not one pound of meat in it - not good for meal prep!).  By the time I was finished, it was time to pick Allison up from preschool, and we went home, lit a candle, did laundry, swept floors, picked up clutter, and made a pot of soup.  The rainy weather has a bit of a chill to it, and the soup hit the spot.  I only had a couple of hours before heading back to the school to give piano lessons, but it was so nice to have a little bit of time to catch up!

Day 24's progress made me feel a little better.  Greg had to cut a new door opening in one of the bedrooms, and he was able to get the door in and all trimmed out!  I repainted the hall (didn't like the other color I had originally painted).  So again, not mega progress, but we're getting there!  Check out the dining room ceiling:

Looks like it needs some drywall...and a new light.  Can't believe this will actually all be done in the next 20 days.

Day 25...

Due to a few unexpected delays, we didn't get our 4 hours in at the house.  The weather here has been unusually damp, and the drywall in the playroom wasn't dry enough to paint, so I finished painting the trim in the girls' room and worked on the trim in the stairwell and upstairs doorways.  I didn't feel too productive, but Greg was able to accomplish a lot, and that's a good thing.  :-)

Here is a pic of the "beautiful" bath, which hopefully will be a little more beautiful by the weekend...lol.  The other bath was in much better shape, and just needs a good scrubbin'.  :-)

 

Day 26...

I'm going to try to post daily house progress to keep myself motivated and to give my sister an idea of what's happening. If you're not interested, just skip any posts that begin with the word "Day." :-)

Last night I painted the girls' room, except for the trim. I had to quit at 9 in order to get everybody back home and in bed at a decent hour.

This is the color scheme:

I was a little disappointed that the "ice pink" ended up looking brighter and a bit too peachy, but I think it will all come together if we tone it down in other ways.

Tonight I plan to finish the trim and Kilz the playroom. And I just found out that I was granted the next three Wednesdays off (except for giving piano lessons) which will significantly help save my sanity during this crazy season!

posted from Bloggeroid

One Bite At A Time...

As of today, there are 26 days left before we turn the keys for our home over to the new owner.  Lots of people have been asking if we're all packed, etc., and I just laugh...if most people knew the extent of the work that must happen over the next 26 days, they would put our family pretty close to the top of their prayer list.  :-)

I don't know how it is for you, but my greatest temptation for worry comes at night, when the lights are out, the kids are asleep, and everything is quiet.  Last night was no exception.  I'm thinking...26 days, but....

• three are Sundays
• one is ACE Convention (7 a.m.-9 p.m.) for me
• one concert - could skip
• one WOW mtg - could skip if I have to
• 2-day WOW retreat (would back out, but have to attend a mtg. or two at the retreat)
• mandatory Saturday mtg. at work for Greg
• one fundraiser banquet (hosting a table, so can't skip)
• 3 Wed church services
• the last day of possession we are headed out of town to see family
• need a couple of days before possession to thoroughly clean the house and touch up paint so that the buyers (who are 79 years of age) can just move right in
• no days off work for either of us during this 26 day period

Then I have to consider that the carpet installers will need two days at the house, the hardwood floors will take several days between staining, sealing, etc., and a couple of the remaining projects are large.

But instead of freaking out, I'm going back to the words of one of my college professors who always told us, "Eat your elephant one bite at a time."  Although the phrase wasn't original with her, she used it to calm the nerves of most every student when they received the syllabus for one of her classes.  So, I've printed a calendar, numbered the remaining days, and set daily goals for myself.  If I stay on track, things should be completed on time. 

I'm looking forward to today's goal: painting the girls room.  All the patching is done, and I already applied a coat of Kilz, so now the colors go down!  For a couple of reasons, I had to keep this room fairly neutral in color.  Balancing that with the wishes of a "colorful" eight-year-old wasn't easy, but we settled on a muted pink for the top half, white on all trim, and a neutral tan for the bottom half.  I think this will give me enough flexibility for decorating, and go nicely with the girls' white furniture.

Hopefully, I'll have a pic of that progress to share with you tomorrow!

Goin' Nowhere Fast...

image

Ever have one of those days? You know, the kind that could easily be be turned into poetry and become the next great country music hit?  I had one (at least one) this week...allow me to share.

One of my greatest faults is my seeming inability to get my brood anywhere in a timely fashion.  I'll be sharing about that later.  Anyway, as we were at the end of the 3rd week of the school year and my mornings had been wonderfully crisis-free, I didn't see this day coming until it hit me square in the face. 

It all began with a walk through appraisal of our home at 8:15 a.m.  No sweat. We are pros at getting our house into showcase shape in little more than an hour or two, and I savored the moment when just a little after 8:15, the appraiser appeared at my door.  The moment = me - composed and smiling, ready for the day; my kids - sharply dressed in their crisp uniforms and seated at the table eating their breakfast (not fighting), lunches all packed and sitting by the door; my home - smelling of pumpkin/vanilla {thanks to a new fall candle}, hardwood floors shining, all beds made, lamps gently lighting up each room, and clutter nowhere to be found.  It was like a scene in which I should have been an observer rather than a participant.  I won't take the time, even for the sake of contrast, to give you our typical morning scenario.  Let's just say it doesn't really include any of the above.  :-)

After the appraiser left, I took a minute to breath deeply and enjoy the beauty of the whole morning.  And for a brief moment, I felt like life was perfect.  My house was perfect, my kids were perfect, I was perfect...you get my drift.

I left the house, and realized that I needed to stop at Rite Aid for some necessities, but didn't have quite enough time to do all of that before school started, so I dropped the kids off and went back to the store.  I moved through quickly, grabbing a stash of chocolate for the incentive box in my classroom, as well as a large stash of feminine products.  As I neared the checkout, a lady came into the store from the parking lot, and asked me if I had a silver van.  I answered that I did, and she said, "The doors are open."  I looked out the window, and sure enough, one side door was open and the other was at least partially open.  In recent months, it seems my aging van has a mind of its own, and although I locked it up before I went into the store, it decided it needed a breeze and sort of opened things up on its very own.  Embarrassed, I proceeded forward, assured the checkout lady that there wasn't a correlation between all of the feminine products and the chocolate (lol), and headed out to my van.  By the way, it's really easy to load shopping bags when the doors are already open.  :-)

I slid into the van, ready to buzz back over to the school just in time to begin the day, when I realized that in the 10 minutes that the doors had been open, the battery had drained.  I wasn't going anywhere.  Well aware of the fact that I had parked in the first spot and it faced the busiest intersection around, I humbly lifted the hood and waited on my relief who was bringing cables. 

The little mishap set me back about 45 minutes plus some pride, but it also reminded me of the fact that I am not in control.  In the serenity of the perfect morning, I felt like I had it all together, but that was only an illusion quickly erased with one simple dose of reality. 

I don't know why I felt compelled to post this snapshot of a day.  Some of you are experiencing circumstances that are much more frustrating or consequential than a dead battery on a perfect morning.  You're dealing with addictions, family situations, illness, job loss, emotionally traumatic flashbacks, or maybe just the grind of life.  I've listened to you, I've prayed with you, and I've meshed my tears with yours.  Just when you feel like you've got it together and everything seems near perfect, the weight of the world crashes in and "normal" is back.  Let me encourage you today to keep on...keep persevering in truth...keep pushing toward righteousness...keep praying for miracles...keep believing God's rich promises. 

Real life isn't perfect, but real life teaches us that we are to be constantly dependent on our Heavenly Father who has promised to give us wisdom that is unmatched by anything of this world. 

 

I Peter 5:6-7

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,

that He may exalt you in due time,

casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you."