That wine looks a little thick.

That’s it folks.  The holidays are upon us.  Blink, blink.

 

Six months ago, I thought things would be different.  I thought I would be preparing some kind of wonderful feast on my new stove, located in my new red island.  I thought I would be looking over a new sectional couch in the living room and a warm fire, turned on with a switch, crackling (or not, unless there is a sound track) in the fireplace.

Not so much.  First, while the island will be red, the stove is no longer going to be located there.  I was talked out of it.  Secondly, it seems a sectional may just be too big for the space and well, the fireplace sits in a pole barn at the lumber yard waiting for me to give the word to have it delivered…which I can’t do until the flooring is here.  Which, I learned recently hasn’t even been ordered yet because we had to focus on the siding and getting “buttoned up” for the winter on our project I hoped would be done in October.  As I said last week, I didn’t have my new mantel for Halloween, nor Thanksgiving and it’s looking sketchy for Christmas.  I told my buddy yesterday that I am going to decorate that mantel, by golly, even if it meant doing so on Christmas Eve. However, I actually own a cut out of Abe Lincoln so I'm good for his birthday and if that's the first holiday I decorate the mantel, so be it! 

 

All complaining aside, it’s coming together, really, and I am not upset by the pace.  It’s been an exciting project and I know we are going to love it when it’s complete.  The exterior is taking shape and looks awesome, after struggling over the color decision.  I have a fabulously wide front porch, a nifty little portico over the kitchen door, a screen porch to expand our living space.   My living room is going to be magazine worthy here in about two or three weeks and well, the kitchen will get done.  It will.

 

We have lived in this little house for all but a few months of our married life, 39 years.  Raised our family here and enjoyed the lake and small woods.  It’s been grand, seriously.  The kids had a great childhood here even though they may have missed sidewalks.  They had lots of family around them, all the time, many memories.  To see this house change so much in the last few months into something bigger, to accommodate more people, more memories, has been exhilarating at times.  I know once everything is substantially complete, I will miss the little living room just a bit.

 

NOT.  No, not one bit.  I have great memories and awesome pictures from the past parties and gatherings with people shoved in to that small living room, but not going to miss it. We did make that little mistake with the color for the living room and are now spending a couple days painting it a new, richer grey.   Our sweetie pie niece came back to do the high parts on the ladder for me while hubs worked outside on lighting and will return to do the second coat with me yet this week, then it will be behind us.

All while trying to maintain the rest of the house, which looks like storm aftermath.  I have right now at this very moment a bottle of wine next to Murphy’s Oil soap sitting on the 12” of counter still in the kitchen by the stove.  I hope to not get them mixed up! 

No silver bells...yet.

I am struggling a bit today.  A little burn-out on the remodeling, with things going so slow…and only because that is the way things go, not because it’s the fault of one thing or another.  It’s just slow, and it’s taking so much longer than I hoped.

No fireplace mantel for Thanksgiving, looking slightly better for Christmas ~ only by that time I won’t want to get any Christmas stuff out.  A lot of my holiday decorations are in my office/guest room closet so I can see the bins stacked up there and it hurts just a little. Sigh.  

I also have pillows stacked on the bed waiting for the living room and porch to be complete and I am talking no small amount of pillows.  But, there’s time I suppose…all things get resolved with time.

 

Two steps back this week as husband and I have decided we REALLY don’t like the grey we used on the living room walls and will be repainting this weekend, after coming home from stuffing ourselves with turkey.  I have heard from the sweet niece who helped a bunch that she is happy to come back and do it again.  Unlike me, she doesn’t mind tall ladders.   I have stopped at the paint store and picked up new grey samples and have taped them to the wall.  The new grey will be a bit more brown than the underlying blue that is in the current choice.  At certain times of the day, that room is blue, not grey and while a lovely color, we don’t do blue.

So, we did decide on an area rug that is not wool and is the polypropylene I was trying to steer clear of, but, it was a great price, the right colors and the big bold print I was thinking of.  It may not last long but it is soft.  I was a bit surprised hubs said to pull the trigger but I think he knows I need a fix.  A decorating and a fun expense fix, so it lays rolled up and encased in plastic along one wall.   I am also waiting on delivery of the overhead lantern for the front porch.  That excites me as we haven’t had an overhead lantern in the past.  We can’t agree on an overhead light for the screened porch as of now, but we’re closer.  Mostly it is how many we need…hubs thinks two, I am saying no more than one.  How big does he think this porch is? How bright does it need to be lit? The porch ceiling, however, is days, weeks or months down the road so I am not fretting that one.

 

My buddy is on another project for a few days, but, stopped by today to do a few little odds and ends as he waits for mud to dry on project 2.  Some little trim, setting a line for more siding and considering some electrical boxes.  It actually even snowed this past weekend when we  hoped to be completing siding on one side of  the  house.  Hubs also decided to really concentrate on leaves so we wouldn’t be faced with that in the spring.  I all but abandoned landscaping efforts late this summer as we moved to really getting in to destroying our surroundings and it shows.  It looks horrible on all four sides of the house. We moved big Harry to a new spot and he seems to have taken well to it, however, Harry Jr., which I planted in case Harry didn’t make it, suffered a big blow by someone trying to position a ladder just right and taking off a big limb.  We’ll see if he pulls through.

   

I personally am looking forward to a bit of snow covering as it does look rough around here. We’ve talked clean-up effort for the near future if the weather cooperates for just a few more weeks.  I don’t mind cold so much if things don’t get frozen to the ground! I would love to tell you it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas ~ but it ain’t, and that’s okay as we’re not ready! 

How do you get that job, anyway?

The new siding and shakes have been delivered and are stacked in the yard.  They are cocooned in plastic and I am giving up fighting the urge to go look.  I’ve looked.  Both colors are correct and while more green than grey, which is surprising even to me, they look to be fine colors.  One is called Bronzetone and I am not sure that is the best name to describe it.  I think I should have that paint naming job, quite frankly.  I’ll never forget seeing Bridal Bouquet Blue on a paint strip years ago and thinking “That’s the job I want!”

Next, the hanging lantern for the front porch has been ordered and should arrive any day.  We are using recessed cans in the soffit and in the kitchen porch roof, which is just a little deal over the door so not a lot of room for a mounted light anywhere.  It took a minute to sell me on just cans out there but the idea is growing on me.  They are not installed yet, stay tuned on that one.

I think hubs may be keeping a secret date on when the kitchen will go in and I’m pretty sure he is now well after Christmas and just doesn’t know how to break this news to me.  Like I mentioned last week, I don’t care as long as we make some movement towards the fireplace, which hasn’t happened this week….and Thanksgiving is next week so, there’s little chance that I will have it by then, either.  No kitchen, no fireplace.  He has told me he is 100% in to siding for the next few days at least.

 

But, I took a break and went to a college football pre-game tailgate, game, half-time tailgate and post-game tailgate.  Yep, that’s a lot.  A lot of eating, a lot of snacks and a lot of spiked cider.  I laid low the next day or two as had just way too much food and sugary drink for this old bird. I enjoyed it a bunch, however, make no mistake.  Supermoon started on Sunday and hubs and I sat down by the lake with a small bonfire and enjoyed the rise.  After having a foggy and cloudy Monday evening moon rise, the big ol’ man in the moon surprised us coming up huge and orange and in our face last night.  Gosh, it gives some restoration to the soul to see that big old moon, dependable and strong in the pitch black sky, and we needed that.

I also had a funtastic (yes, I said that) wine and cheese tasting get-together at our cousins with nieces and a nephew, which was intended to last two hours and lasted many longer.  We had a great time, learned much about some white and red wines, drank too many tastes so have forgotten what we learned.  We plan to do this again and maybe I will come away more informed and educated than I can remember being right now! Fortunately I had my iPhone with me and took pictures of wine labels I particularly enjoyed.  I know what to buy for Thanksgiving and that was one of my goals!  Eating great cheese was a second goal, so check that, too!

It is coming up to Thanksgiving and we really do have much to be grateful for.  I remember Oprah saying on more than one occasion that if you are a female living in the United States you are one of the luckiest people on the planet.  I’m holding on to that as I have to admit I feel that, I cherish that.  I am grateful for that.  

Put this on the list.

It’s Election Day and I have exercised my civic privilege and feel darn good about it.  I sincerely hope you have, or will, as well.  It’s a great day in America, and although there are those that feel otherwise, I believe that every day in America is great.

This house has undergone a tremendous change in the last few days and there are oh, so many more changes on the near, and far, horizon.  I have been asked many times if the kitchen cabinets are on order…uh, no.  How about the flooring? No, um, that’s still not quite yet.  What about siding? Is the siding up?  Well, no.  But here is what HAS happened.  The walls have been painted, the trim boards are up on the exterior and the siding is expected next week, as is the fireplace. The cedar boards that wrap the exterior posts are here, ready to be stained, which is on my agenda for tomorrow morning.  The truck from the lumber yard just dropped off the ceiling material for the porches which will also be stained.   I have about four area rugs to decide between, with a shopping trip planned for Friday and I have to pick up my fancy swivel rocking chairs soon.

 

I don’t have a “bucket” list or a life goals list, or even much of a to-do list considering the mess I am living with right now.   I mean, I have some daily stuff that I think about before I go to bed at night.  “Tomorrow I must” and I keep it pretty much to that.  I am a poor planner I guess.  The house project has certainly got me thinking beyond tomorrow on some days, and I have a vague idea of what needs to happen before something else can be completed, but, I find I am screwed up most of the time.  Hubs forgets that I need to know, or at least want to discuss, what’s coming up. He and I are keeping differing schedules as far as the construction timeline - which is why the flooring isn’t on order, and why I am the last to know that something is delayed.  In my mind that should be happening soon; in his, it is more about “buttoning up” for winter and something is pushed.  

One thing that I am good at planning, or at least spending a lot a time thinking about, is decorating the mantle for the holidays.  Really disappointed that I wasn’t able to do so for Halloween, I have become more insistent that the fireplace get finished for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Only thing is, I haven’t decided on a mantle.  My buddy is off on another project for a few days and will be coming back to concentrate on siding first, so I have a few days to think about hearths, and stone and mantles but that’s a big installation that comes shortly and I need to be a bit more ready.   

I have really enjoyed reading near daily Facebook posts on the election, love the especially thoughtful and smart posts from women and men I have known since they were children. I look forward to the results rolling in tonight.  I stopped after voting for a celebratory croissant-wich at the local royal fast food. I figure I deserve it! It is not, and I understand, the best thing for my diet, which is why I don’t eat one every day, but, gosh, I do love the good ol’ fast food breakfast and those little potato bombs.  Meanwhile, I have a sister-in-law on a cruise in France.  Would that I could! I would love a bottle or two of French wine, and a plate or fifty of French cheese, and a real croissant.  Now, I could get behind a bucket list with that! To do, baby!  

Holy Cow, that was fun!

Yep, ding dong the goat is dead.  Congratulations to our Cubs, your Cubs, every man’s Cubs.  It was great, wasn’t it?

Things return to normal after staying up late nights, enjoying gathering around the television with family and friends.  It’s been a huge amount of fun.  Our big, unfinished living room was the scene for more than one game and potluck the last few weeks and brought visions of what the future holds for our new living space.  Can’t wait for it to be finished!

  

My buddy is taking advantage of the last few warm, dry days to trim out the house and get ready for the gray/green siding that will be delivered in a few days.  My husband’s biggest fear is to be putting siding up in a snow storm but I hope he is wrong, wrong, wrong.  He told me yesterday he is giving up on one of two annual auctions he attends so he can install siding.  This was a big hurt for him, I know, but the siding comes first.  And these leaves, oh my, these leaves.  We may be seeing frozen leaves in the spring from the way it looks right now.

We haven’t painted the living room, yet - I believe that is coming this weekend.  My hope that my buddy would be doing the painting has been replaced by understanding my buddy needs to get the outside ready.  I first thought a rainy day or two might allow for the grey paint to be applied by an expert and done quickly, but, I think it’s going to be me and hubs and some pain reliever over a whole weekend.  It’s okay, really, I just know it will take a lot longer than if the pro was doing it.

Unbelievable to be sifting through Christmas catalogs and ordering things online for the holidays, but, that has taken a bit of my time.  I bought a few great things already and have a growing list of ideas.  My buddy has met the UPS driver outside several times this week and just chuckles as he places packages inside my front door.  I am not usually an early shopper, but, taking advantage of some early sales has driven me to the keyboard.  I don’t want the holidays to sneak up on me as the house starts to come together.   Resolved to not having a kitchen by Christmas I remain hopeful for flooring and the fireplace. 

Feeling happy this week and I hope the same goes for each of you! Next week, I believe the porch windows will arrive and that area, which has been serving as a workshop/staging area, can be “decluttered”.   We may even get to use it a few times before it gets too cold to do so!