Things are...complicated.

I just finished spending a good half hour washing dishes. Now, things aren’t complicated because I’m washing dishes by hand. If your memory serves you, this house never had a dishwasher. Things are complicated because I’m washing them in the bathroom sink.

It’s official, we are living in a construction zone. We made the move back to our house on Saturday after multiple earlier failed attempts. Finally, Jeff and I confronted the fact that no matter when we chose to finally move back, it was going to involve a period of transition and a few late nights on our part getting things settled again. Little did we know that amidst our very first late night ‘let’s get settled’ party, the stomach flu would strike.

Saturday night, we finally had our belongings gathered and made a first trip over to the house with the girls at about 8:00pm. Mind you that Gloria’s bedtime is at 6pm and Rosemary follows shortly after…so as you can imagine, things weren’t exactly peachy keen. Once we finally got sheets on the beds and the girls settled in for the night, Jeff and I began the overwhelming task of hauling everything we had at his parents to our upper level. Trying to figure out where to put everything while still giving us space to move, coming up with solutions for where we could prep food, store food, do dishes, etc, was...complicated. Our heads finally hit the pillow at 1am and we were S-P-E-N-T! At 3:30am, we received an earlier-than-expected wake up call from Rosemary crying in her bed. SURPRISE! The stomach flu had struck. As if seeing your baby sick isn’t bad enough, let’s layer on top of that the fact that we A) went to bed 2 hours earlier, B) have NOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHERE to do laundry being that our washer and dryer are still buried beneath a pile of debris in our basement and C) are yet to come across the sheets in all this unpacking nonsense. I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but I actually said to Jeff before we fell asleep, “Now all we need is someone to get sick!” Ha ha ha we laughed in unison, shivers sent up our spine at the mere thought of it. Oh life…you can be so cruel sometimes.

But, it’s now 2:25pm on Monday and I sit writing this with my two little bugs all snugged in glorified rugs for bedding and listening to the harmonious sounds of hammers swinging against my exterior. As complicated as it is to be here, my involvement in the project is so much more seamless being that I’m right here to answer questions, make phone calls, etc. And, despite all the chaos and exhaustion, it’s never felt so good to be in our own home.

So, what better time to share with you our humble (and God willing temporary) living arrangements? The last of the hardwood flooring is being installed today and the tile will be finished by the end of the week. With those two pieces in place, our lower level will be a bit more family friendly and we can take a few laps when we need to stretch our legs.

We are LOVING sleeping in our very own big boy and girl bed!

Here's where we do dishes, in the bathroom. We bought two of the cheapest tubs Target sells - one for dirty dishes, one for clean. So far, so good.

Here's where things start looking chaotic. Here our kitchen, family room, office.

Our temporary kitchen. You can do a lot with a microwave and a toaster...right?

And, of course, the real reason you are here, some progress shots. The first of the siding went up today! Whoop, whoop! The roof has been put on hold while a routine April snowstorm blows through. Let’s hope they can still get started on it this week.



And here are the new pilasters on the side of the front entry door.

Finally, I was able to snag that dresser off Craigslist that I posted about last week. I love the added storage in our bedroom and the fact that it really creates some balance in the room with the settee opposite it.

It's finish right now is far too dark and looks more like a black hole on the side of the room. But once I find a few hours to take it outside and sand it and apply a new greyish brownish stain, I think it will be a perfect addition to the room...and for only 100 bucks!

Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow...all courtesy of the free wifi at Caribou. No internet access at home as they had to take the power lines down to side under them. Oh joy!