Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

Several weeks ago we learned that my grandmother-in-law (heretofore known as Grandma) was once again waging war on the cancer that has plagued her for the last four years. As a result of this most recent diagnosis, she and Papa John have decided to put their house on the market and plan to move in with Matt’s aunt. As they prepare the house for sale they are clearing out some of the furniture and sifting through all of the layers of stuff that you accumulate throughout a lifetime.

Many of the furnishings and accessories in their home hold generations worth of family history and Grandma knows the story behind each and every piece. It has always amazed me the memory she has for such things; she is a wealth of oral history for both her side of the family and Papa John’s. At various times throughout our marriage Matt and I have been blessed by their generosity in sharing these items with us, and, thus, have several pieces in our home that have long family histories that we hope will one day be passed on to our children and grandchildren.

Last weekend Grandma called Matt and asked if we would be interested in having a few more pieces of their furniture. The only catch was that we needed to get it quickly in order for them to clear out and stage the house by the time it is scheduled to go on the market. So, this weekend we made a whirlwind trip (approximately 24 hours) to Nashville.

We came home with three new (to us) pieces – a beautiful cupboard/china cabinet that has been in the family for several generations, a lovely marble-top chest that dates to the early 1900s, and a comfy couch (it isn’t an antique, but it is a great addition to our living room!). We also were gifted a wonderful set of white dinnerware and various other bits and pieces that have value to us because we remember them from visits and associate them with Grandma and Papa John.

I am truly blessed to have such wonderful in-laws (Matt’s parents, his siblings, all of his grandparents, aunts, etc), and we, as a family, have been truly blessed by the love and generosity of Grandma and Papa John. I just hope we can remember all of the family stories to pass on to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren like Grandma has.

You know what it is like to have a newborn in the house?  You know what it is like to be without a/c on 80-something degree days?  You know what it is like to have workmen in your house?

Yeah, that was our day yesterday.

Our a/c decided to go on the fritz right before Boo was born, but with him coming soon and the temps dropping for a few days we put off calling anyone.  Now that we are home and the weather is heating back up it was time to call someone to get it repaired.

On Monday, Matt called a company that has serviced the unit in the past, and they sent someone out pretty quickly.  The repairman thought the problem was that the unit was overheating due to dirty coils.  He started cleaning the coils only to find out that the drain pan attached to the coils was basically disentegrating due to the heat in the unit when it was overheating.  That left us with the decision of whether to spend $1200-$1500 to repair a 20 year old unit or to go ahead and replace the whole thing.

We opted to replace the whole unit.  The guys arrived about 8:00 yesterday morning and set to work.  When they went into the attic to disconnect the lines, ducts, etc in order to remove the existing unit we discovered that the current ductwork was basically falling apart; the insulation was coming off to the point that the heated or cooled air was not staying at the right temperature and causing uneven temps in the house (which we had noticed, but attributed to the way the house is built, where the afternoon sun comes in, etc).

So, the long and short of it is that we ended up replacing our heat and air unit and all of the ductwork in the attic.  The workers were here for every bit of 12 hours.  Fortunately, they were curteous and pleasant to be around, but still, there were strange people in the house all.day.long.  Needless to say, we were relieved to have our house back to ourselves last night and very thankful for cold air blowing through our vents.

And that’s been the excitement around here this week.  Not exactly how we planned or wanted to spend our tax refund, but at least we’ll stay cool this summer.

This post is quite laden with pictures.  I apologize if it takes a while to load. 

Wow, we got quite a bit done this week (especially over the weekend)! I think I actually accomplished everything I intended to plus a few extras.

The big tackles for this week were Boo’s room, getting baby things from the attic, and finishing the burp cloth sewing project I started.

Let’s start with Boo’s room…

This is what the room looked like when we moved in two years ago:

During the two years we’ve lived here it has been used primarily for storage. When we found out we were expecting there were boxes piled everywhere, the closet was filled with miscellaneous stuff, and it was generally a pretty scary place (especially if you were looking for something specific). Over the last couple of months we’ve been hard at work cleaning out, decluttering (although we still have some to do), painting, and making it a bedroom again.

This weekend, Matt hung new closet doors, we moved the rest of the nursery furniture out of Little’s room and into Boo’s, and we put his shelf with his name letters on the wall. Over the last week I also got his clothes, the bedding, and all of the covers for carseat, swing, etc washed and dried.

Today it looks like this:

The burp cloth project…

Please do not look too closely at the pictures. I am a beginner teaching myself to sew, and this is my first start-to-finish completed project. I’m proud of the fact that I actually finished a project for once even though it is certainly far from perfect, and I’m pleased with the way the fabric/ribbon combinations turned out. When I got frustrated Matt kept reminding me that this was something that Boo was going to throw up on; he certainly won’t care if all the seams are perfect and the stitching straight.

I also finished my Spring cleaning and the cleaning I needed to do before company, wrote all of my Thank You’s (for birthday and baby gifts), and got my birth plan into my chart at the doctor’s office.

Up next – packing the hospital bag and installing the carseat. Nothing too strenuous this week, but definitely things that are important.

Good luck with your tackles!

We’ll start with the couple of other things…

I’ve been out of the bloggy loop for a few days due to a change in our web-hosting service. If you notice anything wonky with the site please let me know. (Don’t you just love it when you have reason to use made-up words like “wonky”?)

I’m having a bit of trouble with Wordpress and comment e-mails. If you are a first time commenter it may take a while before your comment is posted due to the fact that I’m not receiving e-mail telling me there is a comment in moderation. Also, if you leave a question in the comments I may or may not realize it is there and reply. I am trying to look at Wordpress regularly to check comments, so I will get to it eventually (probably). Please bear with me as my web-guru and I attempt to solve the problem.

In other, and less technical, news…

Spring cleaning/nesting has officially begun. Today I’ve cleaned the laundry room from top to bottom (de-cobwebbed, decluttered, wiped down walls & appliances) and cleaned the exterior of all the lower kitchen cabinets and the fronts of the appliances. This is one of those things I’ve been putting off for quite some time, so it feels good to have made a start. We’ll see whether my energy holds up the next few weeks to get the entire house done.

And finally, in regards to my Fifteen on Friday list…

Crib bedding was purchased and a paint colors were decided upon. The big painting project should begin this weekend.

Little has her new mattress and box springs and is sleeping in her “big girl” bed (more on that in another post). The crib has been moved to Boo’s room, but the other furniture is still in Little’s so that she isn’t in an empty room with a mattress on the floor. And so that there is less furniture to maneuver around in the nursery while painting.

So, we’re making progress. It seems slow, but it is coming along. We’re down to approximately 10 weeks, but as I always say…we seem to work best under pressure.

Wow, where has this week has gone!?  I’m a wee bit behind on my Giving Thanks days, so I will play a bit of catch up here and cover days 3 through 8.  Some of these may be a bit superficial, but they are, none the less, things that evoke gratefulness.

Day 3, Saturday: A fresh laundry room – My wonderful husband spent Saturday afternoon painting our laundry room the loveliest shade of green.  It is called “pea pod” although Matt refers to it as “grass”; that should give you an idea of the color since I was unable to get a good picture.  The best part is that he did all the work while allowing me to lie on the couch napping.  I’m telling you, he is a great catch!

Day 4, Sunday: A beautiful day –  The weekend and Monday were gorgeous days.  We had clear blue skies, temps in the 70s, and a nice little breeze blowing.  It was a great weekend to be out and about running errands and playing.  Although those won’t be the last days in the 70s here (it is supposed to be warm again this weekend), they were wonderful days before our days in the 50s on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Day 5, Monday: A healthy girl –  Little had her 15 month check-up on Monday and got a great report.  All of her milestones have been met or exceeded, she’s grown an inch and three-quarters since her 12 month check-up, and she is gaining weight (although she is still on the small side based on growth charts, oh well, she’s been consistent).  Right now she is fighting a yucky cough, but we have no long-term health or developmental concerns, and that is a great blessing.

Day 6, Tuesday: A stay-at-home Mom – I am so blessed to be able to stay home with Little – and baby Boo in days to come.  I try to step back from time to time and realize that I am only able to do this because God has blessed Matt with a good job and Matt and I have been committed from the start to me being at home.  I love being home, and even though the days get long and hard from time to time, I wouldn’t want someone else to enjoy all the fun that Little and I get to have together.   I am also grateful for my stay-at-home friends with whom we can hang out.

Day 7, Wednesday: Smoke without fire –  Yesterday afternoon I was very thankful that there doesn’t have to be fire for there to be smoke.  I was preparing to make a chicken pot pie for dinner and thought I could boil the chicken while Little and I went outside to play with the neighbor’s children.  Apparently I did not watch the time closely enough, because when we came home I opened the front door and was greeted by smoke and a nasty smell.  The pot had boiled dry and the chicken was quite burnt, but fortunately, it had not caught fire.  I immediately took the pot off the stove and put it outside, and we spent the next hour or so trying to air out the house with windows and doors open.  We are dealing with a lingering smell, but no serious effects.

Day 8, Thursday: Tiny little movements –  I’ve begun to feel the first tiny little movements that let me know Boo is kicking and doing okay.  This is so reassuring for me during the time between morning-sickness subsiding and the big ultrasound.  We go for the ultrasound a week from Monday, and I’m so excited to see this little one for the first time.

For all of these things and so many more I thank God.  He has truly been good to me.