It's not hard to guess what's been on my mind lately. In fact, I am so consumed by this house project that my thoughts scatter to the wind as of late. Blogging has been a chore I will admit....a chore I'm not willing to stop just because we are busy. Especially since this is such an exciting time for us...I want to remember every minute! Thus me trying to type all of the events of this renovation and moving process. Here is my attempt to share my summarized version (as if that's possible with me writing.) ;)
First of all, I don't think we could have ever survived last week without Aunt Kylie. To put it bluntly, she was our slave. A paid slave....but still a slave. The girl busted her tail when she got home for Christmas break and helped us paint a good portion of the house and keep our girl entertained during the day while we were at work or painting or at Christmas parties. Thanks Aunt Ky! The other day her task was to paint Hallie's bathroom and I was so excited all day to go see the finished project. I walked in and was immediately in love with the color she had painted. I texted to tell her thank you but it ended up sounding a bit more awkward than I'd planned. It said: "Thanks!! I love it! Now everytime I go to the bathroom I'll think of you." But she knew what I meant...I appreciated every minute she spent helping us this past week. Papa Bill hopped on the painting wagon and painted a bedroom and the den, helped Riley put a cement coating on the garage floor and cleaned off the back porch. The boys worked fast together and painted three whole rooms on Saturday alone! I was on Hallie duty after Nanny went to work that afternoon. Speaking of Nanny, nothing would run smoothly without her help. She feeds us painters, keeps the baby and does anything and everything she can to help us. She has offered to clean the kitchen and bathrooms to get things ready to move our stuff over this week. What a huge relief considering I have a busy busy week of work that's growing busier by the second, moving the essentials to live to our new place, going to a party in Enid on Friday and finishing Christmas shopping. Sigh. I just keep having to stop and tell myself that it will all happen. And if it doesn't then that is okay too. ;)
So back to up above where I mentioned Riley and Bill working on the garage floor. It is still a mystery to me how the garage earned a ticket to the front of the priority line. We've been making a list together of "things that must get done" and I could've sworn that the garage didn't make the cut. All joking aside, it does look wonderful and it only took him about two hours to complete...cleaning and painting. He's pretty proud and so am I....mostly because now I have ammunition. He gets the garage. I get new light fixtures bumped up to the top of the list. Sounds fair, right? ;)
Riley's homemade "keep out" sign
So why are we so frantic about getting the house near complete before Christmas?? Like I've mentioned before, we are hosting our first family Christmas eve celebration. My dad, Aunt B and Uncle Spencer are going to spend the eve in Woodward with us. I'm so excited and want everything to be perfect. Of course that will be hard with almost no furniture and a house that reeks of paint. I have a feeling they will understand though. ;) I may have to have someone else do the cooking though because I think my hand is going to fall off sometime in the next week. I've heard of painter's shoulder but not painter's wrist and forearm. Holy shooting pains!!! I'm not the only one feeling beyond my years....Riley has been moaning and groaning all weekend about his back and shoulder aching. Break out the walker and cane....mama and dada are feeling old. But not to worry....we have this precious angel to keep us young.
"So you'd rather paint than hang with me, huh??"
Hallie has made several appearances at our new home but none like the other day. She usually spends her short visits running from room to room inside and usually leaves very shortly after because she's either trying to climb a ladder or pricking her finger on the carpet tack strips. Her dad is a nervous wreck when she's around because of the billion paint cans, brushes and small objects around for her to discover. Riley was working out in the garage on Friday when we showed up. We spotted two larger dogs in our driveway when we pulled in. Hallie immediately began squirming to get out and see what was going on. She waddled toward two rather timid dogs (one a Lab, the other a mixed breed) and held out her hands while squealing a nice warm welcome.
"So you gonna show me around the neighborhood or what?"
I'm not sure where our new friends came from but soon one of them found their way inside our house. Riley was showing us his progress when all of a sudden we saw Hallie standing behind us petting the sneaky intruder. We showed him the door after a few more friendly pats on the head and he was gone. Hal stood at the door with her nose smashed against it watching him wander away. When we headed back outside to
"But what if I never see him again!!!!!!!!"
After a quick search of the yard she had given up on finding her new friend.....
"What we need is some doggy treats, mama"
"Here doggy, doggy!!"
I think Riley was a little jealous of our carefree adventures as he lugged the giant rolls of carpet by himself into the trailer. Honestly I would've loved to lend a hand but little miss dog catcher is way too fast to take my eye off of her for a second.
"Don't worry, I've got it."
Who needs dogs when you have a play kitchen that was left behind in the garage???
"So it's true what they say...one baby's trash is another baby's treasure."
As you will see in the picture below, her friend returned after he could smell the yummy aroma of food coming from her kitchen. She was cooking bacon to lure him back and it worked....
"So tell me again why we are getting rid of this stuff.... because it looks kinda fun to me."
Something as simple as chasing her around in the driveway and watching her explore the front yard was such a special moment for me. I felt almost normal again. Like I did when we lived in Mustang. It's an overwhelming feeling to think that we will be in a home again...of our own....in a week. If you have been following Hallie Time for the past year then you understand just how important this is to us. It means so much more than having a larger space to live in. It's about having a place to call home. It's about clicking the "permanent" button instead of "'temporary" when changing our address. It's about feeling settled. I could go on and on but it's undeniably true how comforting the feeling of a home can be. I'm ready for that feeling again.
Yesterday Riley left early to begin painting while Hallie and I got ready for church. Today was the day Carmen, Luke and Katie lit the advent candles during church service. They did great and looked great too! After church we all met Riley for lunch which proved to be a little too much for our sleepy girl. Lunch reminded me of why we don't go out to eat anymore. After several screaming outbursts, one spilled drink and many mouthfuls of water from a straw purposefully spit into my lap, Nanny decided it would be a good idea for her and Hal to head home to get some lunch in her belly. I forgot to mention hungry too. Hungry and tired do not make a happy Hallie. She napped at Nanny's while Riley, Bill and I worked our tails off to get everything ready before tomorrow. We had rooms filled with paint cans, rollers, tape, tools, pans and ladders. All of this needed to be sorted and moved out along with finishing touch-ups and closets getting a fresh coat of white paint. I thought I'd share my method for keeping your clothes clean while painting......
Wear matching pants!!
Hallie and Nanny showed up after her nap and I couldn't help but give her a sympathetic look...Nanny claims that she was dressed in her dollar store outfit. Yellow tight pants, a blue shirt, purple socks and black polka dot shoes. Hallie had better watch out for Stacy and Clinton....What Not to Wear: Baby Edition. ;) It was a far cry from her fabulous zebra pants she wore to church that morning......
Miss Runs-a-lot made her laps around the house and then decided it was time to do some climbing. The girl climbed up the ladder all by herself with me holding onto her back. Dangerous?? Yes, very much so. Talented?? Oh my, she's a daredevil! Shockingly enough, Riley humored me and took a picture with my camera of her proudly clapping for herself at the top of the ladder. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why she doesn't hang out at the house a lot while we are working.
"Are ya kidding me!?!?"
She finds a way to get into mischief or scare the living poo out of us. And then of course there's always a little comic relief in the mix.....
"This goes here, right?"
"I won't let you fall"
My stripe guru (Riley) was busy yesterday measuring to tape off for the stripes on our bedroom wall. He still hadn't bought into my stripe plan to add a little pizazz to the room until after he had painted them and ripped the tape off. I'd say he's a fan now.....
I caught the Grinch stealing our gifts and Christmas tree today. Sneaky little Grinch....
All the whos down in Whoville will be awfully sad
Kylie and Nanny did a tree relocation today while I was working. Bless their extremely generous hearts! I almost started crying when I stopped by the house after work to check on the progress of the tile layers. I found the tree all set up and glowing when I walked in the door. We may be living in a controlled mess but one thing's for sure....
......we are ready for Christmas.
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