a good start...

Can you say MESS!? I mentioned to Denise that I was getting rid of my china cabinet and she wanted it.  My mom bought it when we furnished our first home in Miama in 1969, so it was time.  Besides, I had more dishes than it could manage.  ZJ insisted that I should save it until she gets married.  So, Denise is going to "babysit" it until then.  (ZJ will realize that she doesn't want it by then.)

So, Denise and her sons came over last night to pick it up.  She walked in and said, "Oh, I'm so excited!  I get to see your house in a mess!  This may be the only time I ever get to see a mess!  Yaaaay!"  Oh, and did she get to see a mess!  The kitchen table and countertops were covered with china and glasses and dishes and cookbooks and you name it!  We need more boxes!  I do own a few dishes!  WOW.  I even gave Denise a set. YIKES.  What a mess!  BUT.  Before bedtime, we had organized things a bit more.  I couldn't go to bed until it was.  We didn't complete the task list yesterday, but we made a good dent in it!

By breaking the tasks down into several days.  I figure, if we can get more than half way through each day's list, we can/should be close to ready by bedtime Saturday night.  Sunday, we will definitely rest and then next Monday, the floors fun stuff begins.  Yesterday's list:

• Buy paint and primer.
• Choose new sink faucet and get Doug's approval.
• Choose new kitchen lighting or ceiling fan and agree on what we want to buy.  (We're still deciding which way to go.)
• Empty China Cabinet.
• Deliver cabinet to Denise.
• Empty Hall Closet.
• Prepare garage for furniture.
• Take kitchen furniture to garage.  All but the dining room table.
• Clean and dejunk the kitchen drawers in prep for stain.  (The girls and I were too busy having fun to finish it over the weekend.)
• Finish staining the kitchen drawers.
• Dejunk Cookbook cabinet.
• Remove the Wall Vinyl
• Hang rod in garage for clothes and coat from coat closet.
• New shelf in upper pantry.
• Cup hooks hung for china cups.

Now, Tuesday's list grows, adding to what was not done on Monday:

• Paint the kitchen with Primer
• Paint the kitchen/dining room and hall ceiling.
• Remove the Swamp Cooler Vent
• Clean the levelors 
• Buy the faucet
• Decide on the light or ceiling fan.   Buy it, if we do.

Poor Doug will be wasted by Thursday.  To work at 4AM, only to be home and straight to work here.  The kids were super helpful yesterday.  I do love having teens!  So far, I'm remaining calm.  At one point last night, when we were deciding pizza or Subway, I did have to say to the kids, when they were all getting silly and a bit wild, "Okay.  I've been calm and cheerful all day long.  But, now I'm getting a bit tired and stressed. I.  Need.  Peace."   It worked.  Calm night.  Short family home evening message while we ate our subs.  Hoping to remain calm today while we plunge forward.  Of all the virtues I would love to have, patience is at the top of my want list!  Deep breath.

I received an email last night telling me that someone was selling one of my original papercraft projects as their own on their Facebook page called Scrapp-ers.  The nerve!  They didn't even remake one in their own paper.  Remember this?  I sold a plethora of them several years ago.  Some people's kids!

 And a few other ramblings:

• In the midst of my To-Do's today, I'll be cleaning up and meeting Quayd and his counselors to get his HIGH SCHOOL schedule planned for next year.  WHODATHUNKIT!  He's very excited!
• The kids were great help yesterday preparing the kitchen.  This morning, they were up and moving.  There's not much cooking happening this next two weeks, so they sat on the floor eating cold cereal this morning.  Quayd proudly announced, "I'm not Mud!" as he finished.  Our family joke is that anyone who spills milk, according to Doug, "Your name is Mud."  This began when they were very young and he told them a story about spilling milk in the family car when he was a teenager.  They took it literally and didn't like the name "Mud."  So, we still joke about it.  I did inform Quayd that as of tonight, this kitchen floor will be in the trailer on it's way to the dump, so today. the "Mud" rule didn't even apply.
• I think that my brother has left town.  His motor home and truck are gone.  Mom and Boyd were away, so I couldn't even ask them.  But, I think he left and didn't say goodbye.  Hmmm.
• Doug's mom dropped by yesterday and mentioned that she wants a dog.  I mentioned it on Facebook and by this morning, we had three dog offers.  I think Mom will have a new dog very soon.  Facebook really is amazing!
• Oh!  Denise just called and we both had a good laugh.  Last night, her sons borrowed Doug's tape measurer before loading the china cabinet.  I never gave it another thought.  This morning,  I noticed this orange "spot" on the driveway and a blue "spot" near it.  I went outside to see what it was... a blue hat and Doug's tape measurer.  Smashed to smitherines.   I asked Doug and he didn't remember running over anything in the drive when he left for work.  When Denise called, it hit me that the hat was Jeremy's.  When Michael, her other son, woke up, she asked, "Hey, Michael, where's Doug's tape measurer?"  Silence.  "Um, probably in the street somewhere."  Oops.  Mystery solved.
• This is my happy day! I've wanted to remove this floor covering since DAY ONE even though it was brand new when we bought the home and teal was the popular color.  However, I didn't care for it even then.  Teal is not my favorite color.  And carpet in a dining room... oh dear.  Having three kids, a husband, a pool and dogs that collect snowballs on their fur everytime they go outside and shakes them off just inside the door everytime them come back in all winter long in this six-month long winter has not been easy on this floor. The pool has taken it's toll this past two summers. It's stretched beyond rediculous!  It's more than time! Tomorrow, we'll know whether we are in need of a new sub-floor too.  I'm just thankful that the furniture covered this ugly mess for the past few years as it worsened. If I don't need new sub-flooring, Doug says it's also time to replace the dishwasher.  I'd rather have an i-Pad!!!  ;)

Well, I'm totally rambling today.  I need to be off to buy a new kitchen faucet.  Holy Moen, Batman!  They are pricey!  Especially the fun ones.  Yagottahaveafunone!  Life is hectic, crazy, busy, chaotic, and soooooo soooooo good!  

Perseverance is the hard work you do
after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

Comments

[Jen]

I'm a stalker from another blog who I think stalks you..I know that stalking word sounds scary but I am really normal as normal goes. Anyway the whole point of my email is I wanted to get your take on self reliance. I have to give a talk on Sunday in Sacrament meeting and I'm the 1st councilor in RS and I feel like a broken record about the subject. The sisters just are either tired of it or think it doesn't apply to them.

I know your super duper busy right now, but if you have a quick second to share a thought or two it would be much appreciated..oh I'm in Long Beach California and I did a enrichment night where we turned off all the lights during dinner and said a huge earthquake just happened and the roads were messed up and trees had fallen on some of the cars, were their families prepared since they weren't home and probably couldn't get home for a while....didn't really go over well they just stared at me. My email is jen1017@aol.com

I hope the makeover of the house goes well, not fun to do or go through especially with snow, but totally worth it when its all over with.

Thanks again

Jen