Backburner Project

 

The Beginning

 

Our rental project is finally wrapping up.  I have waited many a month to get back to working on our house.

Let me tell ya.....

When you spend all your days and hours working on a home for someone else to live in. Yours gets neglected.  My poor windows, my poor floors.....

My poor NEIGHBORS who have had to look at the pile of leaves from last fall still occupying our yard.

My sincerest apologies.

There are shower doors to be replaced, garage doors to be repaired and a tiny little downstairs half bath that has been waiting for its turn to be overhauled since we moved in three years ago.  Nearly every other room in the house has been at least given a fresh coat of paint.

But not this little guy.

So now, I shall turn a bit of my attention to it.

It deserves it.

It has patiently awaited its turn.

 

 

So here's where we are starting.

The before shots.

 

 

 

Now let's be honest. I am not an interior designer by any means.

 

I am more like the girl who is not afraid to put something up on her wall and then take it all down a couple of weeks later when she finally admits to herself it was an absolute mistake.  Then head back to the drawing board again.

(I put 5 different colors of paint on my living room walls before I got it right.)

For a few months Michael was terrified every time he left for a few days. He never knew what things were going to look like when he returned.

No Joke.

I believe once he may have even sat me down and we had a little 'conversation' before he left.

 

So that's where we are starting from and here is where we are going:

 

And yes......

That is wallpaper.....

But......

Only on one wall.....

One teeny, tiny little wall.....

It will be fine....

I promise......

And if it's not......

I'll just take it down and start over again.

:)

 

Before I lose all of you on this.......

Here is a pic of one of the last things I finished up on the rental house.

I wish I had a before pic to further make my case but I don't.

So just visualize stoplight yellow hallway walls with acorn brown paneling and gray carpet that has been living with pets and smoke.

And now it's this....

 

 

Right??

Not too bad.

Have a little faith people.

 

See you in a few days.....

:)

 

The Little House That Could

YouTube DIY

 

Old Houses.

 

I. Love. Them.

 

It may actually be a bit of an issue.

Seeing an old house slowly deteriorate and fall to its knees just makes me sad.

 

Old homes carry with them so much heart, so much history, so many memories.  Letting them fall apart just seems like all those things will be forgotten.  In a generation or two somebody might not remember that the house was ever even there.

 

So.........

there is this house.

 

A lonely, little, forgotten, falling apart,

abandoned by it's last owners, in need of some serious love, house.

 

Michael has always wanted to try owning a rental property.

I have always been completely uninterested in this endeavor.  The whole prospect of it just seemed a little too daunting for me.

 

But then...

This little house came along.

 

 

In need of help.

Serious. Help.

 

It still had such good bones.

But in the hands of the wrong person,

it was about to crumble.

 

So I caved.

I agreed.

Let's fix it up and we can try this rental thing.

 

How in the world do you have time to fix up another house?
I have been asked this question a hundred times.

The Answer.

 

We Don't.

 

That is why it has taken us the better part of 6 months to fix it all up. 

 

Little by little.

Hour by hour.

Weekend by weekend.

We have tried to revive a little life back into

this little house.

 

And it is nearly done.

 

HALLELUJAH!!

 

I say we, but really Michael has done most of it.

I'm pretty handy with a paintbrush, but the major stuff is in no way my department.

 

With Michael's limited experience in DIY, it is fair to say that I was a bit skeptical of his ability to do some of the projects he had in mind.

 

ALL of the carpet in this house had to go.

Let's just say that the animals had had their way with the place and the owners were obviously smokers with little interest in taking the party outside.

Ewwwwww.

 

Underneath the carpets were the original pine wood floors, but they looked ROUGH. 

Rough. Rough.

 

I did not think he could pull it off.

But he did.

And they look pretty darn good now.

It would take me HOURS to list all the projects and setbacks that led into more projects and tiny little achievements that occurred in this house.

 

If Google and YouTube get paid for every hit that happens on their sites then we have sufficiently kept a large sub-division of those companies in business.

 

There is not a wall or a floor in this house that didn't need to be loved.

 

And so we did.

 

We started here.
(Note that if you look hard enough you can see the outline of where the old owners pictures use to hang due to the large amount of yuck and ewwww clinging to the walls. Those are not shadows people.)

 

 

 

And Googled and YouTubed our way to here.

:) 

 

And perhaps, just perhaps, one more generation

will remember that this house stood.

 

Happy Renovating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Happy Valentine's Day 

(a day early)

 

Today is Valentine's Eve. :)

(Yes I have absolutely fabricated this day)

 

Typically known at our house as

 

Make a mad dash to the store day  :)

 

This year however, I have managed to get a plan together before Valentine's Eve.

(still a made up day.)

 

Thank you blog for the added incentive.

 

This year we are going the semi-diy route.

semi-diy

 

Occasionally, I can be crafty.  But lucky for me, I found a couple

other places where others have already been crafty for me and all

I needed was a computer, printer, and paper. Oh yeah, and candy.

 

And  TA-DA!!!

 

Note the Minecraft Valentine's.....

 

If any of you have 8 year old boys

in your house, you will know why this pretty much automatically qualifies

me for mother-of-the-year.  At least solidly puts me in the running.  Or maybe

he'll forgive me for the times I wouldn't let him have dessert.  I'll take any of those options :)

 

If your still looking for Valentines day cards for your kiddos,

this is where I found mine:

 

Pretty hearts and dancing pig

 

Minecraft

 

My kids love putting together Valentine's.

I'm not exactly sure why, but they do.

But I love that they love making these for their classmates.

It makes me hopeful that they will grow up to be adults who do good things for others

and get joy out of other's joy without envy or greed.

 

Sometimes, they remind me they've got a-ways to go before that happens,

but I think they're on the right track.  :)

 

And because I think it is one of the best projects ever,

here is a quick pic of the Valentine's day cards we made to send

to the NICU babies.

This was all put together by two collaborating NICU moms

and the Valentine's were wrapped around a stuffed animal for each baby.

 

Thank you Mandy and Megan!!

 

 

And just a little bit more love for this post...

 

A ridiculously big thank you to everyone who read the post on Audrey.

 

We felt the LOVE!!

Happy Valentine's Day.

 

May you eat all your candy without a single budge on the scale.

 

:)

For Audrey

This week is National Feeding Tube Week.

And since my youngest daughter is a tubie (as they are known in our world)  I would be remiss if I did not make a post about this adventure.

For those of you who have endured this story before, my apologies.  Thank you for giving me your ears, or in this case, eyes, one more time.

There were many days when Audrey was in my womb that her life was an absolute uncertainty.  She may or may not be delivered alive, she may or may not survive IF she is born alive.  She may or may not be ‘normal.’

She is a twin and while I was pregnant with the girls Audrey was diagnosed with SIUGR (Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction) due to an extreme marginal velamentous cord insertion. (Basically that means her cord was on the very outer edge of the placenta and did not have a protective coating surrounding the veins and artery of her umbilical cord.)  Her sister’s cord was right where it was supposed to be and she was growing right on track.

So…..

 because Audrey wasn’t growing right they watched her very closely and when it became too dangerous to leave her in my womb they delivered the girls.  They were 28 weeks.  Audrey weighed 1lb 3oz at birth and her twin Maggie weighed 2lb 12oz

She spent 86 days on the rollercoaster ride that is the NICU before we were able to bring her home.  She came home on a very tiny amount of oxygen and an NG tube because she wasn’t finishing all her bottles in the NICU.  An NG tube is a small tube that is placed in her nose and down her esophagus and sits right in her stomach.

Eventually,

Audrey gained her strength and was able to come off of the NG tube and take her bottles without the assistance from the NG tube.  But then…. Audrey started having severe reflux.  She could eat a bottle and throw the ENTIRE thing up.  So she started wanting to eat less and feeding her became more and more difficult and took longer and longer.  Because who wants to eat when they know that they are just going to throw it all back up.

Then...

Audrey got pneumonia three times during the winter months and the last time did her in.  She was working so hard to breathe that she couldn’t muster the energy to breathe and eat.  Her instinct told her to keep breathing and quit eating.  We tried everything we could think of to keep her eating from her bottles but nothing worked.  Finally we all had to accept that Audrey needed to go back on the NG tube.

An NG tube is not a permanent solution to feeding issues.  They are very easy to pull out and left in long term can wear away the lining of the septum.  By Audrey’s response to feeding after the NG tube was replaced we knew Audrey was going to be in this for the long-haul and decided to go ahead and have the G-tube placed.  This goes directly into her stomach, completely by-passing her mouth and placing her nutrition directly into her stomach, so Audrey can continue to get the calories/hydration she needs to grow.

 

This tube helps keep her life a certainty (nutrition-wise).  Without it……….  She wouldn’t be here.

Yes people stare.  Yes people judge. Yes people ask a billion questions.  Yes there are days that I would love to hide it.  

But…….

If I hide it, if I don’t accept the judgment and in return try to educate, if I don’t look right back at them, if I don’t answer their questions, they will never know.  It will never become something that she is accepted for.  It will never be something that becomes ‘normal’ to everybody else too.  And I am PROUD of my daughter. She is AMAZING.  She is BEAUTIFUL.  There is no reason for her to hide, so why should I?  She has beaten more odds at her tender age of 21 months than I will ever surmount myself in this lifetime.

And I can guarantee you that EVERY tubie has an amazing story.  These kids are Super-Heros!

If you know someone who has a child with a G-tube, reach out to them and let them know you support them. Send them a happy tubie week message, high-five them, whatever you will. Familiarize yourself with the G-tube process. It’s really pretty amazing.

Someday Audrey may not need the G-tube any more. We see several specialist several times a month to help facilitate this goal.  If she ever decides she is ready to eat on her own again it will be FANTASTIC!!

But, even if it never ever happens....

 Even if, for the rest of her days she receives her nutrition through her g-tube and not through her mouth…

then I am completely OK with that.

For all that could have happened and didn’t, I’ll take it.

Thank you for your eyes, your ears, your willingness to read this excessively long, personal story.

And Audrey thanks you too.

A succession of pictures of Audrey playing her favorite game. (Patty-Cake)  :)

 

:) Thank you.

The Hangover

A Monday on a Thursday

The kids made it back to school for a FULL day today.

Yesterday was a 2-hour delay.  I pretty much spent those entire extra two hours reading and re-reading the bottom of the news channel waiting for it to change from 2 hour delay to GET THE KIDS TO SCHOOL NOW!!  NOW!!

The kids love the snow days, and I enjoy them too.  But the first day back to school is…….well……..difficult.

Getting them out of bed for the first day back is like trying to tell me to get out of bed to start the laundry.  Which at this point has reached Olympic size proportions. 

It ain’t gonna happen.

The first day back is like a Monday only it’s not Monday,it’s Thursday and so it’s confusing and everybody gets all disoriented and suddenly nobody knows where they left their backpacks, socks, AR book, hairbrush, or energy that they had the last two days.  The words ‘I don’t know where it is’ are said more times than you would think humanly possible. 

My response:

‘Look underneath the laundry.’ :)

Followed by: ‘I still can’t find it.’

To which I respond those words that let me know I am truly a mother:

'Look Harder...'

The first day back also turns into pick up the disaster that was left behind day.  This is also known to my four year old as

‘I-know-mom-is-super-busy-what-can-I-get-away-with’ day.

She starts early too.  I believe she has the uncanny ability to know today is the day for trouble before she even opens her eyes.  She can sniff it out -- like the ice cream sandwiches that come from the Schwann’s man -- that are wrapped up in a wrapper -- surrounded by a thick cardboard box -- inside a plastic sack -- with piles of chicken strips on top of them -- inside the freezer -- in the basement -- in the dark:  and still she knows when they are there.  But let’s be honest she shares this talent with her siblings…… and possibly her mother. J

We did have a great time (well at least most of the time) the last few days.  And as much as I am ready for winter to be on its merry way this year, the snow is beautiful.  Picturesque.  If you can brave the temps there is some awesome scenery to be viewed.  Did you see the pictures of the sunrise with the rainbow?? Or the shots that looked like three suns?? Amazing. Truly amazing.

So here’s to Friday….

The weekend is just hours away.  J

A little imagery from the last day or so.

 

 

 

A little headstand challenge to start the day….. How we roll

 

Nola told me she was playing ‘dress up’ with Maggie.

Can you tell what part of her is dressed up??

#beautyday

Whatever she ate…..it was red.

 

Mount Laundry….. In the spirit of the Olympics.

I’m probably not going to take first place in this event

But making the picture black and white certainly makes it look more charming and less disaster doesn’t it?

Almost……idyllic.

How We Snowpocalypse

Mostly.......by staying inside.

 

Wow!!  I had no idea so many of you would show up yesterday!

I would have worn something nicer.

Taken a shower maybe.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Schools out AGAIN!!

Day 2!!

 

And it is F-R-I-G-I-D!!

Brrrrrrrrr

 

The kids didn't even ask to go outside.

 

They asked for nine billion other things,

(eight billion of which were snacks)

but we all agreed it was a good day to just stay warm.

 

So here's how we handle a snowpocalypse.....
from the indoors. :)

 

 

 

 

There is only one way to reach to biggest floor vent in the house....

And this is how it's done.

 

A staple of snow days.

 



Stacking marshmallows.....Way harder than it looks!

 

 

 

How did you snow day?

S

Welcome to my Corner

An Introduction:

You know: For politeness and all.

 

Once upon a time in a land very close and accessible to all lived an on-the-verge-of-middle-age woman with her husband and five children.  In a lovely little house in the middle of the snowstorm of the year (according to Al Roker, whom I know personally after 8 years of early mornings) (Let's be clear he doesn't know me at all) ..... anyway, during nap/quiet time she decided to start a blog instead of attending to the laundry/dishes/snow-shoveling etc.. etc..  Seems reasonable. 

Welcome to my tiny corner.

I have no idea how this will go. Where to focus my energy anyway.  So let's be honest.

It will be perfect,  beautiful,  OK random at best.

Not a joke.

So welcome to the randomness.

This is my family.

 For those of you reading this who are not my dad, mother-in-law, direct relative or best friend. :)

As you can tell we have one child who is in the rebelling-against-the-picture phase and one who smiles with her tongue. :)

Right on track.

Thank you for stopping by.

I didn't make cookies or tea but I do have a substantial amount of

juice-boxes and mac-n-cheese available.

Anyone?

As we go along I shall try to post day to day activities or struggles,

please feel free to post your comments (politely-please) and advice.

Let's not pretend I don't need it. :)

For now, I'm going to go see if I can locate the source of the shattered something-or-other, make 3 hot chocolates for my older kiddos, followed by 2 more to make up for the hot chocolate that wound up on the floor and snuggle up with my ginormous St. Bernard, Cooper, who will inevitably sleep through all the snuggles.

Merry Tuesday.

I hope you'll stop back by often.