the day is finally here

We're done.

We finished late Wednesday night, in fact it was more early Thursday morning, Kevin and I waxing and buffing the wood floors that had taken a beating.

While the kids sat fireside at camp we treated ourselves Thursday night with a cold glass of Sauvingon Blanc (me) and a vodka tonic (him) and a bowl of poutine with two forks (both).

What we have accomplished:

-replaced all knob and tube wiring in our house

-patched and repaired all walls and ceiling damaged by above

-replaced floor and fixtures in our powder room

-knocked down wall in kitchen

-replaced floor in mudroom and kitchen

-new cupboard in kitchen where wall was 

-moved the light fixture that was in our mudroom to the powder room

-moved the chandelier that used to hang in the powder room to the dining room

-attempted to do all of this on a very limited budget

Here is a reminder of how the kitchen looked before...

And here it is today...

All the new furniture (kitchen table & chairs, pink couch, pink chair, round mirror) was generously gifted to us by Kevin's grandfather who is moving into some swanky new digs.  I love them and the fact that they were used and loved by family makes them extra special.  

Kevin and I are thinking modern for a coffee table and perhaps rug in the living area but that will have to wait. I also would have loved to have laid the new kitchen tiles brick like but simply couldn't justify the cost.

I'm off to enjoy a bit of my summer.  I'm finishing at my present office in one week and will immediately start at a new one.  There will be no room for a long summer holiday this year...but I promise not to whine...I have done enough of that.  I will simply enjoy all of the free time that I do have, and make the most of it...starting now. 

remembering reality bites

The sticky air and my freshly laundered sheets have me thinking of Italy in August.  It was hot and I was 22. The stairwell looked out onto a courtyard full of clotheslines.  I hopped into a true roman shower and then laid down on the bed still damp and fell asleep - it was the only way to do so.

There are moments that I have at times taken for granted that I am now so very grateful to have had.  The three weeks of summer that I spent Europe bound was one of them. My friend and I carried our clothes on our back and ate dried sausage and baguette on park benches.  We rented bicycles in France and rode a bus around Florence.  It was the first cool night of the trip and I remember laying in the dark on the top bunk in a hostel outside of Paris, grateful for the scratchy blanket folded at my feet.  In my hands was a Walkman and over my ears were the headphones.  Inside a mixed tape playing Stay by Lisa Loeb.

I've already made a Summer of 2011 playlist.  It will remind me later of the seemingly endless home renovations and also the hope that accompanied them. Change. A new job. Free Sunday Swims at the public pool. The heat. The perpetual feeling of being almost done.

Finding Kevin's Old Spice deodorant in the oddest places.

little peas and other things

This week has found me swimming in a sea of uncertainty.  There are big changes happening both at home and with work and I am drained.  I want to muster up the energy to finish the last of the painting so that I can reveal* my newish kitchen but I am still not quite there.  It is all I can do keep up with the kitchen mess and hang clothes on the line - and to wonder why oh why can't hanging the toilet paper holder become a priority.

I need a weekend free from almost everything so that I can power through these last bits.  I am hopeful that will happen in a few days.  I only need to look back at the last of my pictures to see where the extra time has been spent...

good fortune by Charlotte...

dinosaur habitat idea all Courtland...homemade play dough found through Pinterest here.

Fresh peas worth every bit of effort.  The fact that they were enjoyed by the entire family after I sauteed them in a little olive oil and finely chopped onion and tossed them in some quinoa was an added bonus and made the so far summer diet of ice cream and hamburgers a little more bearable.  

*word that makes me realize I am a blogger

Picked out

I'm sitting here listening to the Friday Night Lights TV Soundtrack Vol. 2 that I serendipitously found waiting for me at the library tonight and lamenting the ending of the series.  Never have I felt so strongly about a TV show unless you count my obsession with Little House as a child.  I watched the series finale last night and today I am mourning. I have pulled apart the inside of the CD case and find myself reading the words of Jason Katims, Executive Producer...If you are reading this it means you either have a lot of time on your hands or more likely you are a die hard fan of the show.  Yes, Jason, I am a die hard fan because I really, truly do not have ANY time on my hands.  Sniff, sniff.

On the weekend I found myself with an hour between a drop off and a pick up and I was hoping to do some picking myself.  Strawberries. But when Charlotte and I pulled up to the farm the sign said Picked Out.

Disappointing...yes.  Instead we continued on to the local orchard for a peanut butter cookie and a little hanging out.

It won't be long until the raspberries will be ready and we'll try again.

more summer please

There wasn't a school night in sight so we splurged on real cream cones once the sun went down.  We tasted the first sweet sign that summer was finally here and loved every lick.

The next day found us lake side with freezies and found friends. It was a perfect start to July.

  The perfect start to summer.  Only a couple more days and this room will finally be finished. 

Well, almost finished.  We'll still be waiting on a counter install but that will involve just waiting.  No more filling, sanding, painting...

just more summer.