Beginnings

 

Okay... so I'm new to this blogging thing, but as I was scraping the "texture" off my textured ceiling the other day, I thought it might be nice to have some sort of chronicle of this entire home renovation thing, and just life in general. The kids don't get any younger, and it's nice to write down what they are doing and saying before it all goes out the window forever. I used to be a copious journal keeper, but with two kids and a new fucked up house, who has time? So, without further ado, and with no catching up to this point, here I go...

Matty has spent a lot of time lately wishing he had more time to work on the house. If only he had one full weekend, he could bust out the back bedroom and be done with it. One whole weekend and more money...and I'm sure we could wish for a few more things while we're at it. But our reality is that we need to get done what we can, and sometimes priorities change. Quickly.

A new development over the past few weeks, has been that O is on the move, and moving faster and faster. And the weather is getting colder... Although the methodical, OCD side of me wants to chose one room and finish it before we move on to the next, we have to move with what the needs of the moment may be, changing our main focus this weekend from covering the remaining textured ceiling (and closet) with joint compound, to digging through the basement for our winter clothes and making the home more inviting for O. E had the freedom to move where she wanted to when she was O's age, and I think it's important that O get that too. Like all second children, her needs get lost in the shuffle most of the time.

It wasn't all a wash. We changed our living are from this:

to this:


Shoes (which O loves to eat) are in a basket instead of all over the floor, and the shelves are actually put together after digging through EVERY box downstairs to find the shelf-pins we have been missing for so long. Now O can go through everything she wants to on the bottom shelves, and we actually have a ton of room for extra kitchen stuff (instead of the all purpose box we were getting sick of digging through every time we need a utensil). It's also nice to get O's toys off the floor and really have some organization again. Yes, we still use our couch as a dresser.  Yes, there is still a bed in our living room. Yes, the back room is still sitting--waiting for some attention. But our house feels better, we have more stuff ready for cooking (which has had a resurgence in our home after two months of grilled meat and vegetables from the CSA), and O is free to roam! Matty even put up a gate at the end of the hall so that O can't get down the stairs, which means we can leave the door open all day and get light from the window. So all said and done, it feels good.
And don't forget, we've gotta live! We went to the Garlic Festival today and had a great time.

It was at the Garlic Festival two years ago, next to an cider press, that I ran into an old aquaintence. Something about that encounter, and that day--the perfect crisp fall day in New England--made me want to abort our plans to move to Oregon and stay on here in the valley. Since then our community has only grown, and we have another child and a new home. I'm really glad I stayed for once, instead of remaining in constant motion. It's been awesome and keeps getting better. We saw a lot of friends today, and at the same cider press, in the same spot on the same field, I once again found myself standing next to that same aquaintence--who I now call a friend--and amazed over it.

Good times.
          
Next week's agenda: joint compound on the closet and ceiling in the bedroom, sanding and priming,  make applesauce, apple pie and apple stars with the apples we picked Thursday, and keep our heads above water.