How I'm getting things done these days

For the last few weeks, I've been checking more than usual off both my daily chores and my house project lists.  A big part of this, of course, is that Peter has a regular nap and bedtime routine that gives me some free evenings (and free hands during the day) and that we've gone almost two months without anyone needing antibiotics (!).  So there are certainly circumstantial reasons why the clean clothes are all currently folded and not in a heap on my bedroom floor.  

But even though it's easier to get things done, it still requires effort on my part.  I'm still prone to all my crazy reasons of procrastination (more here), but I've been repeating two mantras to myself, and those shifts in mindset have seemed to be a big help.

1) Don't wait until it can be completed perfectly to start.

This applies to both upkeep chores and renovation/crafty projects.  I was out in the backyard last week with the kids and felt annoyed that our back porch was still painted bright red, that the furniture was haphazardly placed there, and that it was so far from my mental (and Pinterest) image.  I knew there was a lot to be done, some of which probably won't be done this season.  But I finally decided to just trim the bush.  One tangible step towards the space being tamed and beautiful.  I immediately felt better about the whole area and more committed to making it more like my vision.

Within a few hours of my first clip, we were at Lowe's buying porch paint.  Credit for that trip to Anna, who caught wind of the project (and her mother's improvement enthusiasm) and asked to go to Lowe's "right now, mommy!"

Fast forward to the pretty pictures, and the porch is a much prettier, happier space.  I enjoy looking out my kitchen window.  We have had lovely mornings with our breakfast and library books out there.  Sure, there is more to be done.  But it was an important lesson in taking the first step towards a goal, and in recognizing that a space that is halfway towards what you want it is far more enjoyable than a space that is 0% of the way there.  

I'm trying to train myself to look at everything else this way.  We are planning to do a major kitchen renovation in a few years.  I used to resign myself to being dissatisfied with its form and function until then, but I've recently identified a few small things I can do to make it prettier and more operational.  I haven't even done these projects yet, but just knowing I can already makes me like my current kitchen more.

I've also tried to remember this rule in the typical day-to-day jobs, too.  I don't have to wait for a block of time sufficient to iron all the shirts to do one or two.  And, bite by bite, the elephant is eaten.

(reminiscent of the "use the moments" observation from this old post)

2) Obedience to the circumstances of my life.

We were listening to a Catholic radio broadcast in the car the other day, and the host was talking about obedience in daily life.  Many of us are familiar with the vows of priests and sisters, to poverty, chastity, and obedience.  This broadcast was talking about how these virtues are not exclusive to those in religious life, but rather are a calling for all Christians.  These virtues are, of course, manifest in different ways depending on ones state in life (celibacy for the religious and exclusivity for the married), but are not to be ignored by the laity.

I am not called to obedient to a bishop or superior in the same way that a priest or sister would be, but I am reminded of the story of St. Therese, who would drop her pencil mid-sentence (not even pausing to dot an i) when the bell chimed for prayer.  She was obedient to her obligations and responded promptly, even to the schedule.

The radio host was talking about the weather, and how we can be cheerfully obedient to whatever comes our way, accepting it without grumble.  I've extended this to my daily chores.  There is work to be done, and it is my responsibility to do it.  I'm working on silencing my inner grumble and doing whatever needs done promptly and cheerfully.  

As I was making my way through my copious ironing back-log today, I realized I would typically dig through the basket, looking for the things I enjoy doing to do first, leaving a pile of polo shirts at the end.  It became a bit of a game today, picking up what was on top and doing that immediately.  The whole process today was both quicker and happier.  This of course, is a simple and silly way of practicing obedience, but I'm hopeful that in emptying the training potty without interior complaint, I will learn to be obedient and accepting of actual challenge or suffering.

-

I think there's a Nike "Just Do It" hidden in both of these mindsets, and in both cases, it's requiring me to focus on the process and the progress over the end result.  I read last night that for effective goal setting, one should focus on the activity rather than the accomplishment (e.g., I will exercise everyday instead of I will lose 10 pounds).  I think that my most recent copy of my resume describes me as "results-oriented," but perhaps the new "progress oriented" version of myself will get me happily closer to those results than ever before.

5 Favorites: Anecdotes to SAHM burn-out

Hello and welcome to anyone joining me from Rosie's blog (and a big thanks to her for the sweet shout-out!)

I tend to reflect a lot on motherhood, homemaking, and the lessons we can learn to manage the inevitable stresses than come from a job description whose first and primary point is to selflessly love and serve tiny {irrational, exceedingly energetic, unable to control all body functions} {beautiful, wonderful, amazing} human beings (insert the appropriate adjectives depending on the day/last five minutes).

In trying to stay ahead of the frustrations and be the best mom I can be (for the new people, constant house/home/self improvement is the theme), I've been thinking about some of the anecdotes to the challenges of being  stay-at-home-mom, and trying to implement them.  Some of these are direct answers to the problems I've identified, and others just help with the overall atmosphere (I'm sure you've heard that saying "if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

And so, I bring you my 5 (current) Favorite Anecdotes to SAHM burn-out, in case anyone else out there has husbands with long hours and driveways with too much ice to get the minivan out:

1) Activities (kid variety).  I tend to find it tiring to generically "play" with Anna, but I love to do projects with her.  We can both funnel our energy into something creative (play-doh, paint, miscellaneous crafts, etc), and the mess is contained (usually) to the kitchen table rather than the typical toy tornado.

Paint is messy, but not THIS messy:

And, bonus, I tend to always* get a little awesome-mom self-esteem kick when we finish up a project together.

*Note: there are still times when you pat yourself on the back for doing something fun, only to have your toddler sprawl on the ice on the back patio while the dog eats the bird-seed covered bagel from her hand that you had just made together to hang on the Christmas tree that you finally decided to take down and move outside.  Ahem.

2) Craft projects (mommy variety).  One of the recurring themes of frustration is how fleeting our tasks seem and how quickly done things are undone.  I find it immensely refreshing to work on something (anything!) more permanent in the evening, whether it be crocheting, sewing, or even blogging.  It's always tempting to just passively read blogs, but I always feel a lot more renewed if I muster the energy to work on something.

I've got several projects in the works, so look out, Ana, I'm coming for your link-up ;)

3) Sunshine in pill form (aka, Vitamin D).  I'm solar-powered, or at least my husband claims that to be true.  I do notice I'm a lot more content on sunshine-y days, and I'm thankful that our current house has lots of beautiful windows to maximize the sunshine when we're not getting outside (after all, you heard what happened when Anna and I ventured 5 feet outside the backdoor for the first time this week).  My doctor in Ithaca recommended that us northerners take a Vitamin D supplement, and it might just be a placebo, but I call it my happy pill, and I think it really makes a difference.

(Sunshine in non-pill form makes me happy, too).

4) Pretty nails.  It turns out that my disappointment at not getting to dress up everyday is assuaged fairly readily by my recent discovery of Jamberry nails - just one little step to feel pulled together.  And believe everything you've heard about how long they last.  It's seriously impressive that they can still look perfect after 2 weeks of dish-washing/post-diaper-hand-washing/cleaning/scrubbing/etc.

Low quality photo, high quality manicure!
(Cute baby photo-bomb and crafty background ;) )

5) The Rosary.  Over the last year, I've been trying to be a lot better about saying a daily rosary, and I've begun to crave those quiet minutes of reflection, rather than feeling a nagging obligation to pull out my beads again.  Focusing on each mystery provides so much strength and reassurance - the hope that God will see us through our times of waiting as we wait with Jesus in the garden, the joy that the Holy Spirit is always with us as we stand in awe at Pentecost, and the faith in this wondrous and surprising love as we run to the empty tomb after the Resurrection.  (Note, see my old post on the Joyful Mysteries, "They could have been the 'Stressful Mysteries.'")

P.S. If you're one of my (16!) pregnant friends, I try to offer my rosary prayers for your intentions and for all moms :)


So...feeling blue?  A crafty manicure and a sunny rosary ought to cheer you up ;)

Linking up late to the 5 Favorites party with Jenna.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} volume 1

You probably know I read a lot of blogs.  Many of them, I do so for the feeling of "yeah, sister, it's not just you" from the comrades in the trenches of motherhood.  And then there's others where it's a depiction of the noble goal, proof and reminders that this is not just possible, but so very worth it (and beautiful along the way!)  There is no better in this second category than Like Mother Like Daughter {written by the author of this book I shared a few months ago}, and Auntie Leila has so much to recommend and demonstrate about having achieved the "former glory" of homemaking.

So you know their weekly link-up titled "{pretty, happy, funny, real}" is right up my alley, especially since the subtitle is about "capturing the contentment in everyday life."

I had a very {real} night last night - perhaps Julia's worst to date (whaddya think, correlated with it being her first night sans swaddle?) - and woke up (the time I had to stay up, that is) feeling really, really tired and really, really grumpy.

That probably wasn't the context that most people would chose to introduce tempera paint, but having been buoyed by my two cups of decaf coffee (yes, I'm sensitive enough to caffeine that decaf does it for me in the wake-up category) and needing something to distract myself from...well, myself and my grumpiness, we went for it.  And pretty/happy/funny/real contentment commenced, including a mini photo shoot of the kitchen while my little artist worked.

{pretty}

Makes me miss my old kitchen and how pretty it looked in the fall.  Makes me excited for having "my" home again sometime and all of my things can come out of storage.  Makes me realize that "home" can still be wherever we make it.  

(I'm probably the only one who thinks this much about the corner by the microwave).

{happy}

Buy your stock in Crayola now.

Also in Bounty.

{funny}

I should have predicted that was coming after this...

{real}

I guess I wasn't the only one tired from last night.

Awake at night, sleeping during craft time...

and content now only snuggled up next to Mama in the Ergo, which is why I'm blogging and not sleeping myself.  Or doing the very real pile of dishes (not my favorite task with the carrier on!)

Check out more {p,h,f,r} here.

One tiny turkey

So, as you probably guessed from Thursday's sorry excuse for a post, I sort of fell off the Week In My Life bandwagon...so today instead here's the tale of one tiny little turkey.

Yesterday, I made this turkey.

And I think he's pretty darn cute, so that makes me happy in and of itself.

But it also makes me happy because it shows that my wonderful husband realized that mama could use a little respite from being at the beck-and-call of a newborn 24-7.  And it makes me really happy because it means that we moved to a place where there is an existing community of Catholic moms who meet regularly for craft nights (seriously, how cool is that?!)

It also makes me happy because it reminds how much I've been enjoying this toddler stage (but who would have guessed from my last few posts gushing about just how adorable my Anna is?!)  

It's just that recently, with her vocabulary explosion, it's been this exponential increase in how much fun it is to be a mom.  Granted, it's always pretty amazing (slash super humbling) to realize that God has sent you a little person to hold and love and teach.  But I have to be honest, I didn't always love the baby stage.  I think I'm just realizing in retrospect how profoundly lonely I was - and kinda bored - with only the companionship of a nonverbal little one.

And then, all of a sudden, Anna started spouting hilarious and creative and intelligent sentences, and she became just so genuinely fun.  

The things that we can do and the conversations that we have freed me from the monotony, and from the frequent guilt at not having that much fun stacking blocks over and over again.

I've heard/read about so many women who said they wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom, but after trying it for a year they couldn't stand it and needed to go back to work for some intellectual stimulation, and that makes me sad.  Not sad if it's truly wanting to get back to work, but sad if it's a decision fueled by guilt and disappointment - because I know those feelings of thinking that maybe motherhood is not all you expected it to be, or that you're not all you expected you could be.  But now I've realized that I was looking at the problem through an unfair lens, and that the first year or so isn't an accurate representation of what being a stay-at-home mom is all about (spoken, of course, with the wisdom of all of my two years of experience ;) )

But now...now there are craft projects!  And story-telling!  And hilarious mis-pronunciations ("the computer dived again" after the laptop battery died (again) during a Skype session).  And "I'm so thirsty, mommy" or "I sooooo tired" instead of a frustrating guessing game with a crying baby.  And coloring pictures.  And "I love you so much!"  And seeing understanding and connections develop. And singing the ABCs.  And a stack of library books about Thanksgiving.

And an excited little girl when I showed her her new finger puppet :)

It probably sounds annoyingly chipper to read this post - so I apologize if there are too many rainbows/butterflies/felt turkey projects.  I just have to put it out there how excited I am by how much fun I'm unexpectedly having.  My rosey glasses have most certainly been tinted by the relief at having reached the end of an overwhelming stretch of preparing/house-selling/moving/adjusting since Justin accepted the job this time last year....not to mention the extreme relief at having a beautiful baby girl instead of a really painful pelvis.

Don't worry, there are plenty of times (like this morning's 2 hour stretch of defiance during which Anna's verbal capacity was tapped to narrate everything as "please not say 'Anna Rose.'''  "please not brush mine hair."  "Please not hold me tight."  "Please not say no."  "Please not put me in mine big dirl bed." when I wonder what business I have writing a post about loving toddler hood.  But then she wakes up and says "I wuv you, Mommy.  Snuggle me." and I realize that overwhelmingly, I do.

P.S. Can't forget to mention that that tiny turkey also represents how much I continue to love love love my new camera & lens.  I realized yesterday that our bedroom gets the perfect afternoon light for photo shoots, and voila:

And lest anyone be worried, I love that tiny little baby just as much as her big sister.  She's just not quite as funny (yet!)

Game changers

Apparently I'm on a blogging kick recently...but no promises once the baby comes!!  :)

A few random thoughts from this evening:

I FINALLY got my hair cut (by a professional, although Anna did offer "Anna cut it." as I was on my way out the door).  I realized that the last time I remembered to have it cut was November...partly because it was a busy year and I guess I just didn't think about it, and partly because I was on my Downton Abbey kick and imagined that I would grow it out and have all of these beautiful up-dos.  But really, I just grew it out and had lots of half-hearted messy buns.

But no longer!

(Yes, huge belly is still there, just not pictured.  If you need a visual on the bump or the messy "before" hair, check out the last post).

So it's amazing how much better I feel to have a legitimate hair-do (and one I'll actually keep up with since it can now be blown dry in under 5 minutes).  Somebody remind me in 2 months to just go get it cut!  Every time I've gone through a let's-try-long-hair phase, I end up hating all of the pictures of that period in retrospect.  

Now I just need to find someone to paint the toenails I can no longer reach, and I'll be all pampered and pretty and ready to welcome Miss Julia.

The house...is not pampered and pretty.  I didn't get nearly as much done this week as I hoped, BUT I'm cutting myself slack because I managed to catch a cold.  I joked/complained to my doctor at my appointment today that I was more of a wimp with an unmedicated cold than my unmedicated childbirth, and then she told me that I was actually allowed to take nasal decongestant spray.  !!!!  Between that and the haircut I feel like a totally new woman.  Maybe even one who's ready to conquer all the clean-up tomorrow.  Somehow, my love of folding laundry does not translate to a love of putting laundry away...we've got at least 4 basket of clean, folded laundry that needs to go into drawers.  And a whole bin of baby clothes, which have now at least made it from the basement to the first floor!  And every article of clothing Anna owns is strewn around her room because a) I haven't decided where I'm storing it yet and b) she has taken that as her cue to repeatedly change outfits all day long (with large stretches of toddler nudity for good measure).  Maybe by the end of the weekend I can give you some actual "after" photos of the space we're living, instead of just silly hair-cut afters :)

Let's see, other game changers...when I was looking through my photo files this evening, I realized what a difference it has made to have a good camera.  The pictures are so much better quality, and I end up having more because I feel that it's worth the time to take it out and take some shots since they turn out decently.  Here's a few recent favorites (enjoy, Mom!)  I also just ordered a "nifty fifty" lens, which has gotten rave reviews for taking newborn photos and pictures of kids in general.  Stay tuned.

Enough rambling for one day.  Goodnight!

Oh, except for those of you who aren't on Facebook didn't see this gem that I found while reviewing my August pictures:

Make it Do or Do Without

I've often thought about how one of the concepts we've really lost as a society is the old mantra

"Use it up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without"

It's pretty much the opposite of our consumerist culture, where we have disposable-everything at our fingertips.

But (like so many things from the past) there's plenty of wisdom in this.  Figuring out how to make something work is economical, and often the creativity and accomplishment makes it quite satisfying.  (Like last spring, when I challenged myself to make this quilt for Anna using only materials I already owned)

I have a recurring problem of items of clothing being too short.  (I'm beginning to think that even cold water shrinks things little by little).  I realized with the "color block" trend (for all I know the trend actually ended two years ago, but please don't tell me if that's true...), I could start fixing things, and not have to keep donating and replacing my favorite things.

The latest project was one of my favorite tunics from Target.  The average American female would have been fine with its original length, but since I'm 27-going-on-72, I require a bit more coverage in the upper-knee region.

So, I cut off the bottom hem, made a quick band of some coordinating navy fabric, and attached it.  Now I can wear it again (for another...2 weeks?...note it's hanging sort of weird in the picture because of early bumpage - that awkward stage where exactly 0% of my clothing fits comfortably or correctly).

Speaking of making do and doing without - this whole remove the Internet temptation thing has been really great.  I'm not going to list everything I got done yesterday (it's embarrassing, not to mention I'd go over today's allotted time for being online).  The biggest benefit is I find without the easy distraction of clicking around online, I'm either doing something I actually want to do, or doing something that is actually restful (who knew, staring at a bright screen at 10 pm does not have that effect).  So then I have more energy to do productive things with Anna or around the house, or tackle little sewing updates that have been sitting on my to-do pile for months (ahem, above tunic).

It fits with my whole discipline/schedule theme, and makes me realize that bringing your life in line with the virtues (here, self-control) makes your life much better.  All the "rules" of faith can be a turn-off to some people, but I think it's fairly obvious that God made them for a reason.  Certainly, there are challenges of doing the right thing (I'm thinking in bigger pictures than using or not using the Internet), and I don't want to minimize that, but the point is that God really has our own happiness in mind when He directs us in certain ways.

So, yeah, I don't think you're supposed to "enjoy" your Lenten sacrifice as much as I have - it's a good thing this was just part of my overall Lenten observations.  Perhaps it will get harder and more of a "sacrifice" later on when the novelty of "hey, look!  I just finished another random thing I've been meaning to do for months" has worn off, but we'll see.  I'm already finding myself less interested in things online, and - happily - less distracted even when I'm on the computer.  I know I have limited time, so I get in and out and do the things I really want to do (like writing this post) and not the things I don't really care about (like a 10th check of Facebook).

Down-side of a quickie-post, I have no clever way to wrap it up.  So...goodbye?  (until next time, of course)

Signs that our next renovation will have new challenges

The renovations in our current house were almost completely finished before I was expecting Anna.  Now it's obvious that renovations in our next house (yes, we're crazy enough to do this again) will have some new challenges!

Justin snapped this shot with his cell phone today while I (or, shall I say, Anna and I) were doing a little caulk touch-up between the trim and the wall in her room (yes, to get ready to sell).  I told myself all along that we wouldn't leave little projects like this until the last minute, and that we should do them early on because making it nice for ourselves is just as important as for others.  But, you know, we still have a laundry list of little projects before we list the house in March!  

Good thing we have a helper ;)

7 points for me!

I've realized that the blog has recently become a lot more "tell" than "show," even though it was originally created to be an update of our home renovations.  I'm enjoying my opportunities to be an armchair philosopher and dive into some of the other posts, but - you need pictures!

The visual updates have been lacking, in part, because the completed projects have been lacking.  With a limit to the number of hours per day that I can do something that requires both hands and more than 50% of my attention, blogging and crafting sometimes are at odds for my attention.  But, on Sunday, Justin took Anna to the park, and I had a lovely afternoon sewing (given that I don't do any housework on Sundays, I also got to devote her entire naptime to craftiness!  Woo!)

It turns out that when I am fully awake (as opposed to quite tired, after Anna's bedtime, when I usually sit down to sew), I'm much more willing to start projects that require thinking or deciding.  And so I finally made myself some letter templates and, voila:

Scrabble pillows for our bed:

Although we don't play much anymore, Scrabble was a big part of our early dating relationship, so I thought this was a cute nod to that memory.  I saw similar pillows (I think spelling HOME) online a long time ago, and that inspiration was literally the first thing I ever pinned.  I'm not even sure how many years ago that was, and I know I bought the fabric at least 6 months ago.

So, while it wouldn't be a high-scoring move on the board, FINALLY completing these feels like a huge crafting 7-point win!

Speaking of sewing, I've had several friends over the years tell me that they wanted me to teach them to sew, and so with the most recent request, I decided that I would write a few brief "so you want to sew" posts about gathering materials, getting started, choosing a beginner project, etc.  I'm hoping to get the first one up this week, so if you've been meaning to learn, now's your chance!

P.S. Apparently my mid-afternoon brain isn't as sharp as I thought - I just published the initial version of this post giving myself 6 points.  Basic math skills are always helpful...

Finally

Thanks for the kind messages in regards to yesterday's post!  I almost didn't hit "publish" on it - while the sentiment about finally living life for the first time is certainly true, it felt a little weird or braggy.  It also doesn't really fit into my whole "making a home" theme here on the blog.  I just couldn't look at that picture without feeling this profound sense of having arrived - of being in the life I'm meant to be (that's vocation for you, huh!?) - and I'm thankful for the gift not only of having arrived in this place in life, but also for the acute recognition of being here.

So anyway, speaking of having finally arrived somewhere, let's talk procrastination.  I've been hinting for weeks now that I'm finally going to show you some completed projects.  In fact, I had originally intended to show the first project on April 1st, with a list of the other projects I wanted to complete in April.  I'm only 20+ days behind schedule :)

When some good friends moved recently, it made me think about the inevitability of moving ourselves.  Given the weight I put in our home in my life, this definitely made me stop and think.  It also lit a fire under me, as I realized I didn't want to be in the position of finishing projects only so that the house would look good for potential buyers.

So, to quote Sherry from Young House Love (another favorite blog), I said to myself, "Dude, get on that already!"

I showed you a few of the other projects that I finally finished (painting the wreath on the back door, spray painting the laundry room chair)

I finally finished the curtains for the upstairs bathroom.  I had purchased a white sheer panel....oh, 18 months ago?....and needed to hem it to fit the window.  I hung the curtain rod way back then, and it's been looking sufficiently bland and awkward for 18 months.  With the panel, I also cut it in half so that there would be two panels that could open in the middle.  This sewing took me literally less than an hour (and that included figuring out how to do a new stitch type on my new serger).  Why I put this off an hour's worth (!) of work for 18 months (!) is not clear. 

It's also not clear why we have this situation going on:

About a month after Anna was born, we realized that having the light switch behind the door was a very annoying arrangement, so my talented husband moved it to the other side of the door.  The old junction box needs a plain face plate over it.  This "renovation" will take approximately 2 and a half minutes (I think we have one in the basement).  But I haven't done it for 6 months.

I was going to include a list of things I want to complete (compiled from the many handwritten lists scattered in various notebooks, backs of envelopes, and my Pinterest boards).  However, I'm going to stop here for the evening.  It's already later than the time by which I had hoped to be sewing.  And, given that this is a post about procrastination, I think I'd rather get started!  You can check back for completed projects - I'm sure that's more fun than a list, anyway!

Is pretty plywood an oxymoron?

Today's projects is one that definitely falls into the category of "little updates" - and also "things I've been meaning to do for a LONG TIME!"

Here's the back of the house when we bought it:

Here's an updated shot I took on Saturday (note in particular the new roof & new fence, neither of which I can claim any part of, save a tiny bit of "project management."):  I did, however, paint the plywood door (to the basement stairwell) a dark gray-blue.  I finished that last August, and my mom helped by spray painting all of the hardware (I stayed far away to help make sure Anna didn't come out with extra arms or legs!)

Saturday, I finally put the finishing touch on the door.  

I easily spent 100 times as long thinking about wanting to do this project than I actually did doing it!  I think it took...10 minutes?  Perhaps a little longer, if you count stirring the paint, making sure Anna wasn't eating grass, and going back to add some curliques (the stencil as-is was a bit smaller than I would have liked, so I filled it out by selecting small sections of it and stenciling those parts where the wreath needed to grow).

The stencil is by Martha Stewart and I got it at Michaels.  

This is one of those tiny little updates that makes me smile and makes the house look a little more loved.  I saw a quote on a mouse pad at Target recently that said "Some people look for a beautiful place, others make a place beautiful."  I would like to think I fall into the second category....that is, if pretty plywood isn't an oxymoron!

Dreams, realized

Thank you so much to everyone for your sweet comments about Anna's nursery!  I'm really excited about how everything turned out, and even more excited to meet my sweet little girl and bring her home to her new room!  She did not take my hints from the last week and decide to come early, so I'm pretty much sitting around waiting to go into labor.  I've been doing some small projects here and there, but primarily I'm enjoying the fact that I can indulge my exhaustion and lounge / nap for most of the day.  I don't think I'll be doing that in a few weeks!  Today, during my lounging, I read back through a lot of the blog archives, and realized (yet again) that I do enjoy keeping record in this way.  Even though it hasn't been terribly consistent, there is a decent amount of history that I have maintained - as much for myself as for my readers.  I had forgotten some of the posts I'd written, like this "Remember When" post that was a real tear-jerker for me in my current state :)  I've learned not to make any promises, so I certainly won't say what frequency I'll be keeping up with writing after Miss Anna's arrival, but I know I'd at least like to try.  Like I said, if nothing else, it's a great journal for me to look back and see all the dreams that have come true.

Speaking of (little) dreams that have come true, I mentioned last August that I've had a dream of having kitchen shelves stocked with glass containers of dry goods.  A year later, that project has been completed, too, and it's every bit as great as I imagined.  I anticipate that it will be even better once I have the energy back to do significant cooking and baking - but for now, the easy access to peanuts and chocolate chips for snacks is great!  (I'd say that fits with my doctor's recommendation for frequent protein-rich snacks, right??)

Thanks to our friend Greg, my Dad, and to Justin for the help with this project!  (It spanned several weekends of visitors as we tried to engineer sturdy shelves into only one stud!)  It's everything that I dreamed of (here).

I know, I know, I'm a sappy pregnant lady.  But what else is there to do but be grateful when you've got a dream house, the world's greatest husband, and a tiny little life kicking inside of you?

The final frontier

When I last left you hanging, I showed you all of the furniture pushed to the center of the living room.  With all that has been going on (more on that in a moment), I completely forgot that I should update my faithful blog followers about the progress!  A dear friend asked about the project this weekend, and then I had to chuckle when Facebook sent me an automated email today with tips on encouraging people to join my "Finding Former Glory" page.  The first tip was to post something.  Point taken, Facebook.

At any rate, the furniture was moved because we (more accurately, Justin) were putting the finishing touches on the tile ceiling project.  We started the project with our close friends - who apparently find it relaxing to spend their summer trip to Ithaca doing manual labor (remember when they took our kitchen apart & put it back together with us last summer?).  Justin finished the tiling and quarter rounds a few weeks ago (ironically, I think, the day I wrote the last post).

So we've been enjoying our finished ceiling since then.  It's significantly more charming than the paint chips we had going on before (see below).  And you know that the pregnant lady has been loving the ceiling fan!

Before - this fuzzy picture doesn't do justice to how large & obvious the paint chips were!

Before - the old light (not terrible, but it didn't cool me down!)

Ahh, AFTER!

With the completion of this project (the true final renovation frontier), we can officially say that we've redone every floor, wall, and ceiling in our home - all 7 rooms worth (8, if you count the stairwell).  Although we have plenty of little projects to keep us busy, we are very happy with our two years of accomplishments!

Aside from enjoying the ceiling fan, you may be wondering what I've been up to recently.  I have been completing many house projects (many of which I hope to show you soon, now that I discovered that my camera was in the case where it belongs for the entire last month I thought it was missing).  I also, after 9 days of my stay-at-home gig, went back to work.  Unfortunately, the replacement I had trained was unable to stay, and they asked me to come back until a second replacement could be hired & trained.  Thankfully I'm only back part-time, and the second new person started today for training, so I will only have a few days left.  Today I worked an entire day, though, and man - I don't remember how I ever got anything done at home!  Granted, I wasn't always an unwieldy 8-months pregnant, but I'm still amazed that I kept our household (mostly) running with normal tasks and renovations and my full-time job.  I'm already very spoiled (and incredibly thankful) that I can focus on our family & household full-time when Anna arrives.

Speaking of Anna, the other biggest (literally) things I've been doing recently is growing.  According to our most recent appointment, she's now over 7 pounds, and on track to be well over 9 pounds when she is born!  I take comfort in knowing that my tiny mom successfully delivered 3 big babies (one over 10 pounds) without complications!

Here's the most recent belly shot, taken with her "cousin Spalding."  I couldn't resist a photo opportunity when my brother lovingly/mockingly stuck his basketball under his t-shirt this weekend!  The size comparison is accurate!  Now...if only Anna's delivery will be as easy as Spalding's!

The tale of two shelves

Once upon a time, there was a shelf.  It hung over the kitchen sink when Emily & Justin bought their house - in fact, it was the only "upper cabinet" in the whole house.

During an early demolition, Justin took the shelf off the wall and planned to throw it in the growing pile for the dump.  Emily begged Justin to save the shelf.  He looked at her with the same crazy look he gave when she wanted to renovate the only "nice" room in the house.  (He's an equal opportunity skeptic when it comes to proposed renovations that intend to redo either really nice - or, in this case - really, really awful things).

Emily was determined that the sad little cabinet would have a future in their home, even though it spent several months in drywall dust exile, and then even longer in back-porch prison.  The dust and the outdoor weather made the sad little cabinet look even worse, and even Emily's mother (and her least likely skeptic) said "just throw that thing away!  Buy a new cabinet!"

But Emily prevailed.  And skeptics are no longer skeptical.

It still has the rough edges of a cabinet with a story, but that's because it IS a cabinet with a story.

And it has the dignified duty of hiding all of the cleaning products and laundry supplies - a job it does quite well!

This shelf isn't the only one in the laundry room rescued from a former life in the kitchen.  I'll tell this tale in the more-normal first person :)

Remember when our original kitchen didn't have any upper cabinets (other than the aforementioned ugly-white-shelf, which Justin promptly removed)?  And then my dad bought & installed a nice shelf that helped to free up a bit of the counter top?  (Notice in the background of this picture, the sloppy white paint outline of the other old shelf, which was apparently painted in place).

This shelf, too, was destined for a place in the laundry room.  The light wood, which had matched in the kitchen, was out of place in the decor of the laundry room.  So I turned to the glue gun and staple gun and made a trip to Jo-Anns.  Half of yard of fabric and 15 minutes of gluing and stapling, the shelf was ready for a new home!

My remaining plan for the laundry room is in regards to the light fixtures. You know I can't leave anything as-is :)  I have new glass shades for them (from the clearance rack at Lowes), as well as a bottle of spray paint waiting for a kind non-pregnant helper to cover up that shiny silver.  The fixtures themselves will be oil rubbed bronze (to match the brackets on the shelf), and the shades are a muted golden color with little brown specks.

Anybody else out there a revamp-a-holic?

Good lookin' nook

When people ask about the house these days, I usually tell them that it's "done."  (With quotation marks).  The living room is the only indoor surface that hasn't been redone (every other wall, floor, and ceiling has been sanded, refinished, repainted, spackled, drywalled, carpeted, or tiled).  So while Year 1: Construction has come to a close, Year 2: Decorating & Organizing is well underway.

Here was my weekend project:

In case you don't recognize the space, that's the inside of our bathroom closet.  It probably doesn't look all that exciting, because you didn't see the crazy mess that existed before.  Let me tell you, it was a consistently messy situation that resulted in us having 6 extra bottles of contact solution and no toothpaste.  Imagine everything you see on the shelves now jumbled in bags on the floor, tossed on random shelves, and falling off said shelves.  I didn't happen to take a picture of that "before," but believe me, it was bad.  This is one of only 2 (previously existing) closets in our house, so it definitely became a dumping ground as we slowly improved the "visible" spaces.  I'll admit, there were bags of miscellaneous toiletries that I had never unpacked from my move to New York last July (the one in 2010, not the one that just happened).  

At any rate, I'm so tickled that I can now find the washcloths that I'm sharing these pictures for the world to see.  You know those 1-hour projects that you put off for months, and then kick yourself for not doing it sooner once it's done?  Yep, that's this one!

Does anything about the above picture tell you that my hubby loves getting every last use out of things? ;)  On a similar note, does anyone know good techniques for forming soap scraps into usable bars?  Our little bucket is getting full!

While I applauding myself for this incredible before and after, I happened to look through our home inspection pictures.  Then I realized how far this space has really come!  I had forgotten how bad it looked before my run-in with super adhesive primer last winter.

Let me remind us both.  It wasn't somewhere I would have wanted to put my towels!

Here's another before & after (the closet door):

It's hard to believe that this time last year, the bathroom still looked like the befores!  Year 1: Construction was successful, for sure!  Stay tuned for updates on Year 2: Decorating & Organizing.