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Psych!

The wood floors look AWESOME. Our new PURPLE wall looks AWESOME. I am in love with our house (all over again). I am so excited to have it done. Pictures are coming soon, honest. But I had my hands more than full all weekend, as did Matt, making things happen.

The kids came home Saturday and have slept two nights in their own beds. They are so so glad to be home. I can't say I blame them one bit. I am too. Tabby even passed up on an opportunity to spend the day with some of her best buddies in favor of staying home. She commented when we moved one of the cabinets back in the living room that it “Finally looks like home.” It was so cute.

Slowly things are going back to normal. I actually made dinner in my own kitchen last night (first time in two or three weeks!). This morning I had an honest-to-goodness workout. I really like normal (MY normal) quite a bit.

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My Own Private Purgatory

We’re home… ish. I’m actually happy to be here despite the fact that my bedroom has two couches in it

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and our kitchen is still minus a stove and refrigerator

 

We thought we’d be a bit better off by now. But fate had other plans for us. The paint on our walls had faded and our attic stock no longer matches. So now we don’t just have to touch up. We have to paint all rooms except the kitchen on our main floor.
That’s a living room, family room and dining room … plus corridors. The living room and family room are both an off-white which is fine by me and they are staying that way. But let me tell you, friends … there is NOTHING more tedious than painting a faded wall the same color it was previously. You cannot tell whatsoever if you have missed a spot or not until it dries like 30 minutes later.

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The dining room was always a different color. A nice beige. We have decided that we will keep it mostly beige but do a plum accent wall. We really like the paint testers. I hope we like the final product!!

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The powder room (not a victim of paint fade) has to be stripped of its wallpaper, drywall textured and painted (we’re in step 2 of 3 right now) … the floor is a different height than the carpet and there was a wall-paper void behind the sink that we couldn’t fix. Of all the wallpaper in the house, this was the stuff I liked the best, so it’s kind of a bummer it had to go … and even more of a bummer that we have to do something about it. And believe me when I say Matt gets the shorter end of that stick.

 

On the bright side, the floors look great!

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And it will be so worth it when it’s done!!

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With New Resolve

I'm a total sucker for a blank slate. So of course, I like a new year … new possibilities, and all that jazz … and the “resolutions” that go with them. I know, logically, it's just a pretty arbitrary mark in time, but there it is. Why not take advantage?

Last year I had three main goals:
1. give less of a damn about my to-do list and spend more time with my kids – I definitely did better with this, but I can still see room for improvement. It is something I will continue to work on.
2. get back into a good routine of cooking at home I did VERY well with this – we are definitely back in the cooking groove
3. lose my baby weight – I give my self a solid B on this … 84%. I still have a few pounds I'd like to drop, but I was quite successful.

So what am I planning for 2011?
• work on our grocery budget, specifically by using what we ALREADY HAVE
• the running – want to keep going and in my wildest dreams, I'd like: a 5K under 28, a 10K under an hour and a half marathon under 2:15 … dare to dream? I think training for a tri would be fun as well.
• sort of in the same vein, I'd like to work on my general strength and specifically core strength – having kids does fun things to your “abs”
• I read loads of books last year and I don't plan to stop … this year I'd like to add a bit more non fiction into the mix … feel free to leave suggestions!

Do you resolve?

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Back in Limbo

We had a very very very nice vacation. We did what we always do in Vail whether it's summer or winter: spent lots of time outside (skiing in this case) and spent lots of time together. The weather treated us very nicely and we had the glorious sort of blue-sky ski days you dream about. Tabby tore it up on the slopes and Ben loved his time with all his people. They both had more sugar and less sleep than they're accustomed to. That's what vacation's about, right?

Now we are back, but instead of going back to our own home, we're hanging with my parents at their house for a few more days while our wood floors are finished up. I love being with my parents, but it will be awesome to be back in our own home again.

Our floors are installed and the contractors are finishing up the poly today and drywall repairs tomorrow and Wednesday. The plastic guys come back on Thursday to take all the plastic down and then we're in!

But of course it's not that simple. First of all, about HALF of what we moved is large and heavy and requires our 6'7″ friend to help us with (bless him). There will be also undoubtedly LOADS of dust to clean up … I will probably be pulling my hair out over it for the next several weeks. In addition to that, we have to re-sit the tub and sink in the bathroom, but only AFTER we strip off the old wallpaper (which I actually liked) and paint it.

So now I must know … what color should I paint my powder room? It probably can't be green … because we already have too many green rooms. It also shouldn't be too dark because it's a small room. What do you think?

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She’ll Be Coming Down the Mountain

 

Today marks a red-letter day in my Tabby’s history … the first day she got to ride a ski-lift. She’s been tooling around on the conveyor belt known as the magic carpet for over a year now and as of today she has graduated to the ski lift. Matt took her up for the last run of her short day and almost exploded with pride.

 

She has gotten amazingly good at stopping and turning and seems to have such good control of herself. It has been amazing to see her develop these skills right before our very eyes.

I am on vacation at the moment and will probably be posting sporadically for the next few days. Then I’m likely to have quite a lot to say.

Happy New Year to you all. Hope it’s starting off wonderfully. Cheers!