Baking and the Usual Busyness

I got up yesterday and scrolled through pinterest and a recipe for Raspberry White Chocolate Scones. I had all the ingredients and thought why not. I hadn’t made scones in ages. I went out and picked the raspberries and ate a few because how can you not? The scones weren’t as pretty as the picture and the kids were hesitant but by the end of the day they were all gone. Success.

Laundry was my big chore of the day. Well, that and dishes. The kids had taken so many dishes downstairs and left them that when gathered up and including the dishes upstairs I washed load after load all day long and still had some leftover to wash. Maybe I’ll use disposable the rest of the summer. Just kidding, I hate buying things just to throw away. I did spend the entire day doing dishes and laundry. The rest of the house was in shambles as well. It was so overwhelming that I kind of just sat between loads and tried to get up the gumption to do anything.

Last weekend I was working like a fiend nonstop and it was great to see progress. For some reason I was having trouble figuring out how to get the momentum back. So I decided to put housework on the back burner, besides the laundry and dishes that were in the washers and I pulled the paint out. The trim from the remodel still needed to be painted. I’d always put it off and now was the day to get it done. I painted two door frames and looked back and it was flat. The sheen had dried matte and not shiny like it was supposed to be. Dang it. I had not labeled my paint container and I’d primed the door frames. At least I noticed before I did the remaining 9 of them. I found the right paint and did all 11 of them. It was tricky because it was so hot in the house (78°) that the paint was drying fast. But I got them all done and it looks so much better. I have the baseboards to do but those are easy enough. I was going to save the painting for when school was in but realized that if I did that then Evangeline would have no one but me to keep her occupied. I’m doing it now so she can play with the other kids and away from all the wet paint.

After dinner Benjamin was complaining that he was hungry because he hadn’t eaten all day. There was food but he chose not to partake because he didn’t like the food. His own fault. So after dinner was done he made root beer cookies. He has been asking for them all summer. I finally got the root beer extract a couple weeks ago and he made cookies last night. And he did an amazing job. He learned his lesson from the last time he tried to make them and they didn’t turn out at all. This time he did it and was a happy camper the rest of the night.

We finally got rain last night. I’m glad because now I don’t have to water the yard or garden until the weekend. I’m glad we didn’t get torrential rain and flooding like some places have been getting. Alex and I talked about what was in our basement and what would we do if it flooded. I need to move a bunch of stuff upstairs. Well, just the irreplaceable stuff. The way our basement windows are it would have to rain a lot and the water would have to get six inches on the ground level. We are also uphill so I think we’d be okay. But thinking scenarios and actual experience is a whole different ballgame.

I better get going. I still have more laundry and dishes and such to clean up. Also the toilet in the basement made a huge mess last night that I have to clean up better. Wish me luck because there are tons more things planned for today as well. I’m thinking school being in will slow things down a bit, at least during the day. I could be very wrong though.

Worth the Wait

The kitchen is mostly finished. It looks beautiful. It is functional.

I was disappointed.

What?

Why was I disappointed? I didn’t have buyers remorse but it was something else. It wasn’t perfect. There were some things that were bugging me. A thing or two I would do differently but what was done was done. I kept thinking about it and decided that it works, it is beautiful and I will just overlook any quirks and such because I couldn’t do anything about it.

I found that quote the day after I decided to just live it and it is very applicable. My mom and I were talking and she said that the problem is that we know what perfect looks like. We know what it should be. But we live in an imperfect world and perfection is hard to come by. So we do the best we can and enjoy it.

So, here is the kitchen. I have a bit of patching and decorating to do but we are cooking in and using the kitchen.

But, in spite of the imperfections, I love cooking in this kitchen. It is all updated and should last a really long time. We had a family party at my house the other day and the neighbor came over. He lived in this house years and years ago. He said it looks like a completely different building. We’ve changed so much of the house that it isn’t the same house.

My sister said she was jealous. My sister in law wanted it. I told her not to be jealous because it does look nice but she didn’t see all the hard work, time, blood, sweat, and tears that went into this project. We worked so hard on this area of the house. Eight months. But, I think it was worth it.

So many layers of flooring.

A look at the old drop ceiling.

So much insulation.

The boys putting the bags of insulation into the attic until we are done with the ceiling.

Looking into the laundry room.

When we took out the half bath to make way for the larger laundry room. So underneath we needed to cap off and move some plumbing. More things to fix in the basement.

Got most of the ceiling up.

We took the rest of the flooring up.

The old flooring from the dining room. Made the ever sleeping teenager wake up and help his poor mother.

Scorch marks from the old electrical wires.

Some of the new lights.

Sheetrock is up.

New floor!

Water logged sheetrock from the leaking roof.

The big kids spreading the insulation around the attic now that the ceiling is done.

Working on priming.

More painting.

Painting the trim.

Before trim

After trim. We added that window for more light and it was definitely worth it.

We apparently didn’t fix the leak the first time. So hopefully it is fixed now.

Cabinets have arrived!

All installed

Flashback to what it looked like when we moved in.

We painted it a few years later to brighten it up.

Drumroll please…..

There’s still some touch up to do but we’re waiting to make sure the leak is fixed before painting the left corner by the window.

Before (not pictured but to the left of the counter by the fridge was a broom closet.)

The missing drawer front was blocked by the oven door and is being trimmed. And yes, we plan on getting a more size appropriate microwave eventually.

Doesn’t it all look so nice! Thinking back, it was so much work. We put a dang lot of sweat equity into this house but now being able to live in it and enjoy it, I can honestly say it was worth it.

Now to finish the little bit left and then it is onward to the next project.

Excited and Disheartened

I just want this project done. Can you blame me? Its been months and months. I walked from my room to the basement and every step was a mess. Clutter, tools, wood, sawdust, toys, socks, stray nails, snowpants, coats, boots, mittens, backpacks, boxed appliances, more tools, paint buckets. Then downstairs it was dishes, clothes, toys, laundry and some garbage. I was paralyzed by the mess. Where should I even begin?

I clean for hours every day and it just seems to be pointless. I know its not but it seems that way.

I had to study it all out. I eventually worked out a plan. I had to get the project finished and fast or it would never be done and cleaned up. I took everything I could out to the garage. Wood, folding tables and tools. I ripped up the protective paper we’d used while painting. I swept and vacuumed everything I could in that room. Then I sanded the laundry room. I really dislike sanding. The texture, the feel, the sound, the mess- it makes me shudder. But it’s done. I was so proud of myself. We’ll finish the ceiling this weekend then paint and next weekend we will build all the shelves and such.

Getting there.

Later the cabinet place called and asked if we were still on for the 8th for install. I said yes, we are ready anytime they want to put them in. He said okay and asked if next week works. Um, yes please. We are now scheduled for four days sooner than originally planned. It might not be much but I’m still excited nonetheless.

After dinner I had to drive Michael to pep band but we stopped to look at the kitchen first. He said the trim looked awesome and it was looking so good. It didn’t even look like the same house. Then he pointed to a spot on the wall. “Except for that, that doesn’t look good.” I went to investigate. “Dang it!”

See the paint sagging and bubbling? Not supposed to do that.

I yelled for Alex to come and look and that it was an emergency. We’ve had warm weather for the past day or so and the leak we thought we’d fixed enough to get us to summer was not fixed enough. Hang it all. I’m upset. Now we’ve got to pull the sheetrock off and replace the insulation and patch the leak as well as the stuff we just finished. Incredibly frustrating. Like I don’t have enough to do. At least it happened before the cabinets were installed so I don’t have to dodge them. Still frustrating though.

I left Alex to deal with it for a few minutes and I went to take Michael to pep band. There was a boys basketball game that night. When I got to the school something was odd. It dawned on me that the parking lot was full. Like make-up-your-own-parking-spot full. What?! It was a foreign feeling. All the store parking lots are always full when I go to the store but this is the first time I’ve been to the school in a year and seen their lot full. It got me excited and happy. A sense of normalcy- finally!

Our county has been in the green for quite a while and just the day or so before the state dropped the crowd limits mandate thing and so people can finally get together and cheer on the kids playing. Our team won, by the way. I really hope this keeps up and all our community festivals and parades and get togethers can continue. Even I, who doesn’t really care for socializing, even I was starting to get discouraged.

So I got through the maze of people and cars, dropped Michael off, and got home. I was walking up the path and I heard a snowball thwump near me. I looked around and didn’t see anyone! Then I looked up. Alex was on the roof clearing the snow and ice to mitigate the flow of water into the house. Such a pain.

The damage so far. It will get worse before it gets better.

So as much as I wanted the weekend to be about quickly finishing stuff, we have to redo the ceiling, again! We still have to finish cleaning all the messes up, prepare the plumbing for the sink, tile the fireplace, trim the fireplace, do the laundry room ceiling, paint everything not done yet, build lots of shelving and countertops for the laundry room and then we should be good for a while and we can take a break. Wish me luck.

Painting Day

I jumped right into the work this morning. I painted for hours. Do I like painting? Um, that would be a no. But I like the outcome. And the kitchen needs it. Obviously.

I have painted the interior of my house many times and exterior of my house once. Now when I was really low on money but needed to paint I used the cheap stuff. I works fine. As long as you don’t plan on washing your walls. Wiping walls painted with cheap paint will wipe off the paint and the paint peels off the walls easy. It was okay for then. I didn’t want that in this new kitchen. I want the paint to stay on when I wash them. So I used Benjamin Moore’s Wickham Grey. And since it isn’t cheap, I am not going to paint areas that no one will ever see. There is no point.

I painted the corners after I took this picture.

Now, whether it was a good idea or not, I painted the ceiling with the same paint and color as the walls. One reason was laziness. For real. I just want this project done. Reason number two is that if you paint the walls and ceiling the same color it makes the room look bigger. This is not a large room so any optical illusion I can use to make it look bigger I will use it.

I finished the walls and ceiling with time to do more- I told you I am desperate to get this done. I laid out and painted as much trim as I had room for. Two coats. The third coat I’ll do after it is installed. I have probably about fifteen more boards to paint and then it is out of my hands for awhile. I am sure Alex is ecstatic because he gets to start trimming tonight. I’ll keep him company.

Most of the trim waiting to be used.

By the way, I was incredibly sore when I started this project due to starting to workout again and after hours and hours of painting, I was exhausted. I really hope that this is the biggest project I ever do though I seriously doubt it seeing as the basement bedrooms and bathroom need an overhaul. And the exterior of the house needs siding. It never ends. What we would love to do is tear down the garage (it wasn’t built right – surprise surprise) and build it right and add a second story to it for a sun room, extra room, whatever. We probably better just buy a new house.

Nah.

Quilting, Christmas, and Cabinets

This was not my choice, but my kids have been watching Christmas movies non stop. I think its comical. And not even the Hallmark ones. The Santa Clause, Home Alone, etc. All of the trilogies. It’s fine. I don’t mind. It’s been fun watching with them. A few of the kids are sick so what else besides sleep are they to do?

While the movies have been playing I have been tying quilts.

I figured that using an embroidery hoop is way easier than setting up a ginormous quilting frame that takes up the whole room. And I get to sit in the comfortable chair. I got the tying done and just have to sew the end up real quick and I’m done with it. One more quilt to go.

Quilting was a good activity for the day for me because my back was killing me. Well, my kidney were the culprit. It usually just lasts a day and just feels like very sore muscles so I wasn’t too worried. Just upped my water intake and went on with life.

Back to the movies, as we finished one my oldest son and I were reminded of Its a Wonderful Life. He got really excited, “Can we watch that tomorrow?” I love that he loves that movie. I never appreciated it until last year. I told him it would be a good movie to watch on Sunday. So that is our plan.

We still haven’t put away the fall stuff and taken out the Christmas stuff yet. I did that early last year and was just so tired of it by the time Christmas came. I love Christmas but kids messing with the tree just aggrivates me. They pull off decorations and they get put back on skeewampus and it bugs me. So I will wait until the traditional Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Speaking of tradition, pie week is next week. For those who aren’t aware of this, it is something my husband started early in our marriage. He loves pie but on Thanksgiving we are too stuffed to eat much of it. So he made up pie week. Thanksgiving week we have a different pie every single night. That way we get a variety and aren’t stuff so we can enjoy it. We’ve got them all planned out. I wish I had my new kitchen to bake them all in but we’ll make do.

Speaking of kitchens, we got the plans all done to our specifications and contract signed and down payment paid. The cabinet guy even held our place while we made up our mind and changed things around. So we should be done with this whole deal hopefully by the end of February.

I was looking at what needs to be done and I think we can squeeze all the drywall and mudding and painting in between when the electric gets done and the flooring goes in. I’m hoping to do that so we can rent a paint sprayer and get the paint done fast without worry of getting any on the new floors.

That’s about all that’s going on in that part of my world. Just a lot of huffy up and wait. Id seems to be that easy gir a lot of life. Oh well. I’ve got plenty to do in the meantime.

Plans on Hold

Yesterday morning I was prepping to go camping for the weekend. Yesterday afternoon I got a call that the house appraiser was coming Monday morning.

Plot twist.

Okay, it was all good. Just a slight panic because I was excited to just get away from everything and have fun with my kids. I thought we’d have another week at least to prepare for the appraisal. Nope. Just a long weekend. I changed gears and got to work. I cleaned the boys bathroom (it was so gross and I don’t know why they think it is acceptable) and then I cleaned the little boys bedroom. I moved furniture around because that’s what I do.

The big boys said they cleaned their room. They clearly don’t know the meaning of the word clean. I took everything out of their closet. Random piles of paper and art supplies and just stuff. I took some of it and told them to put away the rest. What do you bet they just shoved it back into the closet willy-nilly?

I moved tables and wardrobes and exercise equipment, beds and piles and piles of laundry. Actually I made the piles and had everyone help. I vacuumed and vacuumed and dusted and then I was pooped. Only to have to get up and start in again.

I planned on painting the stairs this morning but instead I am writing. I don’t want to paint them. They need it but I just would rather fix them right but don’t have the time or materials for it yet.

And the camping trip? We are still having it. In the backyard. Because why not.

Quick funny story. Last night I was tucking the little boys in. They are in the basement and out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow move in the window. I calmed myself thinking it was just our cat, but realized it was huge! A ginormous black head was in the window looking at me. My neighbor’s great dane had gotten out and was looking at me. I was startled but figured out what was going on. I went to put her back in her yard because I knew the neighbors had gone camping. I don’t know how she got out. The fence gates were all zip tied and blocked. It is a mystery. But having a huge black animal blend into the night staring at you through the window is a little disconcerting.

Okay, fine, I’ll get to work. It is going to be a very long day.

Plan to Fail

You know that saying, “If you fail to plan then you plan to fail”? It felt like my motto lately and I was tired of it.

Yesterday I was tired and a bit ornery. I did not want to get up and walk. I did not want to get up and exercise. I’ve been down this road before and I knew where it went. Skip one day and it turns into two and then you stop all together. I got up. It’s why I walk on Sunday- it is just something I do no matter what. I’ve been at it for a month now and I don’t want to quit. I even exercised and it was hard but it didn’t hurt. Until this morning. Then I thought about it and realized that I did at least 60 push ups. They weren’t all the way down and I was on my knees but I did them and I have never done close to that amount before.

I am starting to grow up. Is it fun? No. Is it hard? Yes. Can I do hard things? Yes.

Yesterday Benjamin was assigned a video to watch for geography class. He didn’t want to watch it. What else is new? These kids fight me every step of the way. As hard as this homeschool thing is, I am starting to figure it and the kids out; when to push and how hard. Now that it is almost over.

This speech is so good. I made him watch it. I had seen a bit of it floating around Facebook weeks ago but the whole thing is worth the watch. It was motivating for me and applicable since I’d been thinking along those lines lately. I needed to change up how I was operating.

I bought a planner yesterday. I gathered my stuff together and started listing what needed to be done. On an old schedule I had made I had a deep cleaning task assigned to each day of the month with the idea that if everything is deep cleaned once a month then it only takes a little chunk of time rather than hours. I looked and the days task was living room baseboards. Hmmm. They weren’t painted yet. Wiping primed baseboards is a pain. It wouldn’t look clean if I did it. So I got the sand paper out, sanded down the nail holes Alex had filled when he installed the baseboards and then found the paint. What?! You read right. I not only painted the baseboards (the half that had been prepped- I have the other half of the room to do still) but I washed all the trim around the door, entry, and windows and put a fresh coat on them. It looks so nice! It had been looking worn down and dingy. No more. I was so proud of myself. I felt so accomplished. I made a plan to finish the rest of the room this week.

I used to do projects all the time. All the time. There isn’t a corner of this house I haven’t done something to (for better or for worse) and I had lost my steam, my motivation, my desire to do anything really. I just did the bare minimum and was just getting by and passing time. It is a bad rut to be stuck in. But I think I am finally clawing my way out.

I realized as I was thinking over all the little things that are slowly changing and shifting, that my prayers are being answered. They aren’t all lighting and thunder bolts, heavenly visions or anything. Just an idea here and there, a shift in perspective, little changes, course corrections that make a big difference in the long run.

Noah is a funny kid and lately he has been saying this phrase in a funny voice akin to Roz in the Monsters Inc. movie. He uses the voice and says “God is always watching you. Always watching.” It is so random and so funny. And so true. God is invested in us, in our lives, the little things. All we have to do is pay attention and we’ll see it.

Fairly Productive Weekend

Friday night we stayed up late so I didn’t write. Sorry. It was a busy day, too.

I woke up at the usual time and got the kids off to school. Michael stayed home because he wasn’t feeling well. It is totally possible because Noah was sick. It is a mild thing that is now making the rounds. Where is this stuff coming from? I read that some of my friends were airing their houses out today. I am going to do that next weekend when it is above freezing.

Anyways, I got the house picked up, cleaned up my sewing mess since Lauren accidentally broke the needle on the sewing machine and I had no replacements. I figured I will pull that whole mess out in another month or so. I eventually would like to have a sewing/craft room because sewing takes up quite a bit of room- at least the way I do it. So I cleaned it up and then as I was cleaning up the rest of the basement I went into the miscellaneous room. It was a bit cluttered. There are three bedrooms in the basement and that one was used for our treadmill and weight bench and some storage. It also has a washer and dryer in it. Well, I cleaned it up and told Alex we should probably fix it up and get the little boys down there. I figure we can have all the boys in the same area and they can share the basement bathroom and the girls can have the upstairs. I am glad that the boy bathroom mess can now hopefully be contained to one area.

Alex and I went to Walmart and got some paint and supplies and then a movie for our “date night”. After Alex and the kids got home from soccer at 9 we put the kids in front of a movie of their own and Alex and I watched Ford vs. Ferrari. Michael and Lauren ended up watching it with us, which was fine, but it went until 12:30! It was such a good movie (minus the swearing- I don’t care for that, at all). I love car stuff. I know hardly anything about fixing them, but I love it anyways. I would love to go on a racetrack and just floor it. The movie was right up my alley. The ending was not what I would have liked, but based on a true story what can you do? My favorite is the kid on the movie. He is in a couple other movies I love and what I love about him is that he looks like my Samuel. So cute!

Saturday morning, we got up and got to work. I gave Alex and Michael both haircuts. I really don’t like giving haircuts. I am going to work it into my budget to have someone else do them. With 6 men/boys needing haircuts, it gets expensive. If I space them out I can probably get it to be so we can have them alternating months so the cost is spread out. That should work. If I was better at giving haircuts I wouldn’t mind doing them so much. This morning though my clippers accidentally fell and broke a corner of the guard off. I used it anyways and then as I was cutting the back of Michael’s hair the guard flipped off and I cut Michael’s hair with the bare clippers! Ahhhhh! It wasn’t too bad and I managed to fix it so that if you didn’t know it was there you wouldn’t really see it. At least that is what we are all telling ourselves. That is the first time I have messed up that bad. And it doesn’t help that two of my sisters are cosmetologists and if I don’t cut the hair right they give me a hard time.

After that averted fiasco Alex and I started painting the basement bedroom. We picked a light grey color and it looks much better than the bright colors and sunset/ocean mural we had in there for years. The kids were sad. They loved the mural. Alex had to promise them that he would paint some sunset pictures for their rooms. The kids kept coming in and begging to paint. I wasn’t going to have that mess to clean up so I told them to go get their watercolor paints and paint some sunset pictures of their own. They loved that idea and off they went. They did some pretty ones and it kept them out of the paint where I was.

While we were painting I put on the podcasts I listen to. I always tell Alex he should listen to the podcast All In on Spotify but he wouldn’t. I put it on today and he loved it. I think he might be persuaded to listen to it on the way to and from work now. He said nope.

Sunday morning I wasn’t sure who was going to go to church. Benjamin was the only one not feeling well this morning so he stayed home. I left early with Michael and then Alex followed later in the van. Michael had supposedly started the van so it would be warm when everyone else left. He didn’t start it all the way and it was dead when Alex got out there. Luckily we have three cars at the moment so he used one to start the other.

When I it was my turn to take care of Evangeline at church she needed my attention. I was a little upset because the mother’s room at the chapel was locked- for the second week in a row. There was no where convenient to change the baby’s diaper or feed her. I looked to see if I could find someone with a key but no luck. If it were summer I would have just gone out to the car but it is still too cold outside. So I went to the empty stage and changed her there. I knew no one would bother me there. But seriously. Next week if that happens I will not give up until that door is opened.

We had potluck today after church. I made some rolls and mac and cheese. I was going to make dessert but I am glad I didn’t because most of the people had the same idea. So much dessert. They were good though. I made a cake last night because I had seen a website that had some really pretty cakes and I wanted to try making one.

Oh, my goodness. The cake was huge! It was a peanut butter chocolate buttercream cake. It was good but if you make it make sure you have a crowd to eat it. I should have brought it to potluck. I probably will freeze it and bring it next month. (And in case you didn’t catch it, I went off my eating plan this weekend. Was it worth it? Definitely not. It made me feel sick. Back to the better for me food tomorrow.)

For scripture study this week we gave each kid a chapter and told them to read the chapter and then this weekend tell us what they read. They were Isaiah chapters so it was a bit of a tough assignment but they did it, for the most part. Gideon asked Alex after church to help him read his and he did a pretty good job of telling us what they read. We also went over our goals, set some and the steps needed to reach them. Hopefully I remember to follow up and help remind them to keep working on it.