First Time Fixer, Weeks 19-21
December Recap
What a month! I got behind in blogging, so I’m just going to do a recap of this whole month’s events in one post. I worked a lot during the holiday break, but I did also manage to have some quality family moments as well. We celebrated Ransom’s 12th and Anna Joy’s 3rd birthdays. We had a little party planned, but all three kids got sick the day before and we had to cancel. Such a bummer fort them, and we tried to make up for it by having a family bowling night once everyone was well. Also, we had our first (hopefully annual) girls outing to the Nutcracker Ballet. We dressed up in fancy outfits, Anna Joy wore a green Nutcracker dress that she will probably never wear again, but I don’t care, it was worth it for me to see her in it. Gosh I love having a girl! I wore a red velvet dress (that I may never wear again either, lol) but she just loved seeing me in it, so again totally worth it.
We spent time this month doing our favorite things - making cookies, setting up decorations, and spending lots of time with family. Christmas Day was strangely warm this year, so we threw on our t-shirts and played in the backyard after opening gifts.
Despite the holiday season, the house work continues, as our deadline is quickly approaching. While we were aiming for the end of the year, that definitely won’t be happening. Too much to do. We are still hoping to have it complete by the end of January, which is tough but possible, if everything goes smoothly.
This month the drywall was finished, the floors were installed, we started getting the bathrooms and the trim work installed, and it felt like a hundred things were happening at once.
My grandpa, Popo, came for a week to help paint. (Being the oldest grandchild, I am technically responsible for the Momo and Popo names that stuck…you’re welcome Popo!)
He’s painted houses all his life and even now at 82 is still offering his expertise anytime someone in the family needs help. I sure do come from good genes! :)
We made a run over to the house during Christmas week to take some of kitchen the cabinets, and get a feel for how that space will be. It was a family outing, and the kids picnicked in the bedroom while we worked for a bit in the kitchen. I have pretty clear memories of these picnics as a child when we would do the same thing while dad was working on something. But we didn’t have laptops to bring a movie along, and had to entertain ourselves with books, board games, and coloring (gasp!) So when my kids complain about being bored I totally use the “when I was a kid” line and threaten to take away their movie, lol, works every time.
Yep, this right here. Circa 1996. That’s me in the glasses, my brother Joel, and sister Grace. I think Gabe was somewhere working with dad in the crawl space. This was our big farm house that dad completely restored, I have great memories living in that house, and those memories still tend to be the ones that inspire most of my landscape paintings.
Remember those rats we were finding during the clean out stage of this project? Well, I thought I’d have a little fun and I ordered some fake rats online to hide around the house and see who I could get. Popo thought they were real when he was holding them for this picture! Also, I hid one in the studs of the bathroom wall area, and got dad for a second there too. I’m not sure any of that will make it in the episode…the editors might think the rat thing is too nasty for comfort. But we all got a good laugh with them now and then! You gotta keep things fun, right?
GRATITUDE PAUSE
So very much to be thankful for. We had a lovely holiday season, I continue to be encouraged by how hard everyone is working to get this project done. My mom has been a ROCK through all of this. Not only has she helped me work at the house she’s also babysit my kids so much so I can work more. I’m tired, and I keep looking forward to when this will be over and I can take a breath. But all this goodness in my life, and all this change that is happening before my eyes, keeps me going, keeps me hoping, and I’m excited to see how it will all unfold…and wonder what will be next.
