Welcome to Chaos Central

We moved home yesterday. My in-law's house is mostly clean although I need to clean the basement yet. On the home front it's another story. Dust is best used for writing love notes to your parents.
Our bedroom spent the last two months like this.

It hasn't improved much. I did manage to find the bed yesterday.
My in-laws graciously opened their house to us. Without alternative housing this project would not have been completed...at least, not with our marriage intact. :P Kenton's mom sent me an e-mail right before we moved in which said, "don't worry about the house. It withstood our five kids, I'm sure it will be fine." Ahhh, blind faith. I hope she doesn't pay for that remark.
Five things, however, that we will not miss from their house: The frying pan, potato peeler, and Larry, Moe, and Curly. If I had been Davis this trio would have given me nightmares. Frankly, the idea of sharing pillow drool with Curly would have been too much for me.
I'd love to show you some pictures of the finished project but I could only find one counter that was easy to clear off.
Give me a month and I'll probably have all those boxes of detritus put away. It may be weeks before I find everything.

Birthday Boy

Davis had a birthday. It's hard to believe that he's six already. Daddy is launching him into the working world with his first toolbox...not that he could actually lift it if it was full.
Grandpa and Grandma B. gave him the long desired Steelers hat.
He had Josh, Caleb, and Rachel over for pizza and to play the other night.
In other news:

• Jamison won a mile race run by our (mostly) K-5th grade church kids. He even beat Billy Bob (his dad) who ran in Groucho Marx glasses and steel-toed boots and carried Kaitlyn for 1/8 mile. Don't ask... :P

• Kaitlyn ran almost 3/4 of a mile.
  

• Soccer season starts in a week meaning that gymnastics will probably be over for awhile. Megan started gymnastics in the fall. Her dance teacher moved away so that was no longer an option. Her constant flipping and tumbling made gymnastics a good way to teach her to do it safely. We didn't realize all that it involved or I don't think we would have headed that direction. WARNING: gymnastics moves rapidly toward competition and $$$. She finished one 8 week session and got bumped to the next level. Finished the next session and got bumped to pre-team. Pre-team means two trips a week and moving toward competition. We didn't anticipate this. However, Megan has three characteristics that make it a pretty good sport for her: she's fearless, persistent, and STRONG. (I'm always surprised to see my seven-year-old with biceps.)
  

• Kaitlyn LOVES gymnastics and is dying to participate herself.
  

• In the stupid-things-I-have-done-lately category I won the grand prize yesterday. It started out as a gray, morose day but by afternoon was cloudless and sunny. It NEVER occurred to me that this is spring in Appalachia. The van was smelling a little funky so I left the windows down. About an hour later the sky darkened, the driving rain was accompanied by marble sized hail and I watched and never once in fifteen minutes thought about those open windows. That funky smell is more intense than ever. I guess I deserve it.

• Our countertop came early. Kenton installed it, the sink, the stove, and moved in the old fridge and dishwasher yesterday.
  

• Our project is getting close to completion. We are still married. We do not anticipate needing marriage therapy.

Kenton's dad often prays, "For that which we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful." We have been blessed abundantly. We are truly thankful.

More pictures later...

Flooring

I suppose at some point, probably many, I'll be subjected to someone's opinion of tacky wood-look linoleum. Actually, real wood would have been our choice and (Gulp!) it would have been cheaper. However, with four kids, a dairy farmer, salesmen, etc. it seemed wiser to go this route. Can you picture me chasing after those seed salesmen with a mop? (Yes, yes, I know most of you are thinking, "What happened to her broom?") I really don't want to be overly concerned with standing water on wood or laminate. Let's face it, if (when) my kids spill a bowl of cereal and it sits there for awhile(you know, like 'til Saturday) I don't want my floor ruined over my casual housekeeping style.

I've really missed my piano while the living room was being done. It was shrouded in plastic and I wasn't able to get at it. After dropping mom off at the airport, I came home, sweet-talked my husband into putting the pedals(you know, sustain, damper, and that other one whose purpose I never figured out - not to be confused with those old pump organs) back on and played (butchered - I haven't practiced in a month) Christmas music for an hour. Don't you wish you'd been here? It was more like Blue Christmas than Holly Jolly. :P
I have a bunch of errands for tomorrow but the rest of the week will probably be dedicated to the preservation of wood trim...otherwise known as staining and painting. :)

An update

We're cleaning(okay, mom's cleaning, I'm a late add-on.) The cabinets are all in. Now we're just waiting for countertops. It looks like it will be another two weeks.
The bathroom got a new coat of paint while waiting.
The living room looks bare without furniture. It worked out better to redo the floor with the room empty and made a convenient place to stain and varnish trim.
The project is winding down. Now we're playing the waiting game with some trim, wainscoting, and linoleum.
Wanna take any bets how long it will be until EVERYTHING is actually completed?

Are You Wondering?

Okay, here's the freshly plastered eating area.In the middle of remodeling, we started Kaitlyn in preschool. She loved it. I think she would LOVE to go everyday instead of one morning a week. Too bad. :P
Naptime has been a little...haphazard. Sometimes our little one doesn't make it until bedtime. Sometimes she just makes us pay.
Don't you love our fashion queen? She does make a statement. What that statement says I don't think I want to know.
Part of the house has new siding. It will probably be awhile until it all matches. At least the color is similar.
Dad left Sunday. Mom decided to stay an extra week to help and fly home. Dad wanted the painting mostly done so he could install lights and outlets before he left.
Ken came to help again...or maybe just to keep cracking the whip and keep us moving.
Are you wondering about the paint roulette?




I think I won. I think once everything is installed it will be perfect. The kitchen is a medium yellow. I know, I know, I just got rid of horrid mustard yellow, but I like this....I think. I think the cabinets will be pretty nice, too.
Yep, I should have turned on the lights before I snapped this one.
The dining room is full of cabinet boxes and painted a really boring shade of cream. It's nice.
If you want the full paint confession, I will admit that the path to perfect living room paint eluded me. It's been redone. BUT it doesn't really count, does it? After all, it's not remodeled...just freshened. :D

Primer's on

The drywall was finished this morning. Mom and I started priming after lunch. Everything is a nice, basic, antiseptic shade of white. Tomorrow we start painting...which means I had to commit to a definite shade.

I'm really horrendously bad at choosing the correct shade of paint.

Put it this way, I'm on a first name basis with the paint mixer at the local hardware store.

I'm really more of a three paint can person. Traditionally, I go in armed with a sample of what I envision as the perfect color. One wall later I'm back at the hardware store. Choosing a shade lighter.

On a good day, that's my last trip.

I have a lot of bad days.

That particular store makes so much money off my mistakes they should, at best, name the next bay of their lumber department after me or name me customer of the month. At the least, they should quit mocking me for my lame attempts at achieving the perfect color. It's bad, really bad.

So tomorrow is the day of paint judgement. Do I continue my abominable color record....or do I "roll" into perfect paint choosing heaven?

Good thing the hardware store is open until 4:30 on Saturdays. That's what I call a grace period.

The work continues

• The drywall first coat of mud or whatever is done.
• The wainscoting is on back order.
• The trim is ordered.
• Mom's sanding the basement door.
• The radiant floor heat is finally on.

My parents are planning to leave on Sunday morning. Dad has an electrical code class he needs to be home for on Tuesday. It's kind of a bummer that after all their hard work they won't see much of the finished product until later.

Our milker is out with fluid on the elbow. Six weeks ago when he had the same thing he was out for a week. That's going to take a huge bite out of Kenton's availability.

I didn't want to be one of those people who demanded her own way about everything. Consequently I'm worried that this is going to end up looking like a huge hack job. The only thing I take sole personal responsibility for is the stove.

The sky is blue and so am I.