Tomorrow Tomorrow, La La La

Tomorrow is going to be great. I do like birthdays - and tomorrow is my birthday - but that is not the main reason I'm excited for tomorrow. I also like sunny days and 70 degree weather in September. But I have an even better reason to be excited for tomorrow. NATE IS COMING HOME! He's been gone for 9 days, and while I don't feel like we've been drowning without him, I do feel completely exhausted. And it could be in my imagination, but I think the last time I had bags under my eyes like this was when I brought a newborn home from the hospital.

I cannot imagine how a single mom does this child raising thing. To be on call 24/7 is just too hard. And even though Nate's been away, I have not been on-call 24/7, maybe just 24/5. I've had so much help, thanks to Marcia, Helen, Anna, Sarah, Ariyl, Bethany and Melissa. Thank you ladies, you're the best!

I also can't imagine how a single mom does it when kids don't sleep well. My kids sleep well, thank you, God. How ridiculous of me to be annoyed when Louisa woke up at 6 this morning, saying Mom. Mom. Mommmmmm. I can't go back to sleep. It could be so much worse, is what I would tell myself if I'd have been in the mood to rationalize. Normally Helen comes at 7:30 am, but on the days I had to work while Nate was gone, I asked her to come at 7 instead. She happily obliged. I really don't know what I would do without you, Helen.

The biggest challenge the past few mornings was peeling Cora off me so I could get Louisa to school in time. Cora has never been too sad to see me go, but recently it's been much harder for her, thanks to pre-school, being three years old, and dropping her nap. Normally Nate takes Lou to school, so hopefully it will get easier for Cora once we're back to that routine. A co-worker who doesn't have kids asked me a really insightful question yesterday. She asked if Cora was having more trouble since my work schedule switched to 3 days in a row on, then the next 4 days off. Absolutely. I'm still baffled by her insight.

The only good thing about Nate being gone is that I go to bed earlier. Actually maybe there are three good things. We can eat lots of fish for dinner and we don't go through ice cream as quickly. But I'm willing to sacrifice sleep, fish and ice cream in exchange for you, Nate! Traveling mercies. We'll see you tomorrow.

Finishing The Finishing Touches

We're getting closer and closer to our home sweet home. The siding guys finished weeks ago...sorry for the post delay! Nate worked last weekend to get the columns secured and caulked before setting his mind to the back porch. We still need a ceiling on the front porch, which will likely be bead board. Traditionally, the ceiling of a front porch is painted sky blue. This is what Nate tells me at least, and typically, he's done his research.

We need to order house numbers, which will likely go above, under the porch soffit

We just ordered a vintage French mailbox to be wall mounted to the right of the door

If the mosquitos weren't so bad, we'd be lemonade sipping on this here front porch

Choosing outdoor lights was another fun decision because we both liked these the best

Then there's the back deck, which has been purposefully left out of tours and photoshoots, because it just wasn't much to look at, nor could you walk out on it. But leave it to Nate to find someone selling 16 year old ipe (a tropical hardwood great for decks) for CHEAP. He drove to Slinger 2 weeks ago to buy enough for our smallish deck and now we can safely step out the back door and walk down the steps. We love you Nate. You're a wood rockstar.

To buy new ipe, we would have paid more than $5 per lineal foot. This was $0.50 per LF

I wasn't sure I'd like the weathered grey look, but I do!

A weaving project for another weekend

After a fair amount of debate, we decided to go with cedar posts and cable railings

These steps are as steep as code allows

For a human (canine) touch to end this post, here's Ries:

Peppercorn and Pearly White

Three or four weeks ago, a 4-man crew started our siding. They thought it would take 3 weeks, but fell a bit behind when the foreman lost his father to an illness he's battled for many years. We're totally happy with the quality of work and his work ethic and he only needs a couple more days to finish up! After that, my lawn and garden will be a blank canvas and I'm excited to pretty it up by growing new grass, planting perennials and building rock walls.

You'll notice the decorative pieces on the columns are not quite right. That's because after securing them with screws and caulk, the city inspector came by and told Nate he needed to use hurricane straps to secure them the porch floor and roof. The good news is that they are now secure and the inspector is satisfied. The bad news? Just that we have to scrape off old caulk and re-caulk. Could be worse, I guess!

All in all, the house is great! I found our real camera in the attic today, gave it a new battery, and snapped a few pictures to share with you here.

We recently got a new driveway too

Sometimes it looks too blue to me, but I'll get over it

Eventually we'll put in the permanent steps: treads to match the porch floor with white risers

Our neighbors also got a new driveway

The back door will be used a whole lot more once we get the deck installed

For good measure, a indoor photo. Many meals shared already and many more to come

I love Him

I sat down on the couch with my laptop tonight to check out my options for a yoga class in the next day or two. Found one: tomorrow night at 7:45. My yoga goal for 2016 is to use up all my classes on my 20-class pack. Nate gave me the gift of yoga for Christmas last year: 20 classes to use before December 20, 2016 (I'm on # 7 or 8). This week before school starts, our calendar is surprisingly empty, so I want to fit in some classes while I can!

After looking at the yoga class schedule, I visited this blog. Noticing that I hadn't posted lately prompted me to check out my photo stream for ideas of what to post. Here is what I found, here is my inspiration:

Nate and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary last week. The actual day, Thursday August 18, brought a frisbee league final game. We had two or three honey passes: our speciality. That night we went out with a group of dear friends from past and present. The restaurants - Gib's Bar and Grandpa's Pizzeria (both places I've been wanting to try) were awesome, but the company was even better. On Friday afternoon I biked 4 or 5 miles to a bed and breakfast northeast of Madison and Nate met me on his way home from work. We came back downtown Madison and had a lovely dinner at Sardine.

Although it was tempting to come home on Saturday and work on the house, we lingered at the farm-to-table breakfast before heading back downtown to walk the farmers' market, in search of sweet corn and mint for dinner and drinks Sunday night. We came home with corn, mint and eggplant. Yum.

The party didn't want to end, because after a nice productive Saturday afternoon and evening at home with the kids, Oma took them back on Sunday so we could go for our bike ride that got rained out Saturday. Twenty-two miles with the wind at our backs took us all the way to Trek.

As I was drafting behind Nate during our ride, I was reflecting on how lucky I am to have him. He has worked so hard to get this house to this point and he's taken back a share of the breakfast, dinner and bedtime duties that used to be mostly mine in California. I love biking with him because he's always totally aware of where we are. And he wrote me a thoughtful card for our anniversary.

After a year of remodeling that had the potential to weaken our relationship, I feel like we're actually closer, stronger. I love him. I love you, Nate.

That What I Said

Yesterday at work I took a test. It was a 40 question, multiple choice exam designed to assess my competency as clinical dietitian. Thankfully I passed, although I'm told that it really would have been okay had I not passed...i.e. I wouldn't have lost my job or been demoted. But anyway, I'm glad it's over and this morning at breakfast, a cute conversation occured:

Nate: Lou, did you hear that mom passed her test? She was really nervous about it, but she did it!
Lou: Oh.
Me: Don't worry, you don't need to know or worry about what a test is yet
Lou: I already know what a test is. It's when you try something out to see if it works
(I didn't follow for a few seconds, but Nate obviously did)
Nate: You're right, that is one kind of test, but soon you're going to take tests at school where they ask you a lot of questions to see if you learned everything you were supposed to learn.

And then there is another conversation I've been meaning to record, this one highlighting my recently developed caffeine dependence:

Cora: Mom, let's read books
Me: Okay, we can, but first can I make some coffee?
(10 minutes later) Cora: moooommmmm, let's read books now
Me: Sorry Bean, I'm still working on making [aero press] coffee [with steamed, frothed milk]. It's a little bit more complicated now because the coffee maker is broken.
Cora: Or maybe you don't need coffee?

And last, a second Cora coversation that made us laugh. We were all in the car driving to Menard's together and passed cemetary:

Cora: Hey, that where you die!
Nate: Yeah, that's where they take you after you die to bury your body.
Cora: That what I said.

We can't wait for Peter to join the chorus of "the funny things kids say." These days, it's a little bit of "doggie" "sit" and "ball" and a lot of "dah" and "tsat."

A Long Time Coming

We're all moved in! It feels amazing. Now when Nate is working in the basement, he sometimes forgets that we're all upstairs instead of on the next block. That must have been what happened last night when he used the oscillating saw at 9:45 pm.

The move went super smooth thanks to lots of wonderful people: my dad and Uncle David, who were here bright and early Sunday morning with a truck and trailer; my mom and Marcia, who took various grandchild combinations many days and many nights; sister-in-law Georgia and soon-to-be-brother-in-law Pat, who hauled our stuff, hung closet rods, installed window latches and trim; cousins Anna and Matt, who hauled stuff, filled nail holes in trim, made kambucha and roasted veggies and hung shower curtains and painter's tape; brother-in-law Toney, who cleaned loads of trim, mowed our lawn, hauled boxes to the attic and entertained our kids; high school friend Brigid, who volunteered to haul our stuff and unpack book boxes so we could take the boxes back to the rental house and use them again. Thank you all! We couldn't have done it without you!

Nate is staying true to his commitment of "happy wife, happy life" and interspersing my do-to list with the things that are actually a high priority. For example, today he hung the spice rack and the knife racks, and yesterday he hung a closet rod in his closet, which are all things that do not need to be done ASAP, I know. Oh and the best surprise was when the pantry shelves got boosted to the top of the priority list on July 4th. Who needs fireworks when you can organize your pantry?

The missing shelf will be a butcher block countertop

The real to-do is fairly daunting, but when we're too tired to carry on, we just have to remember 2 or 12 months ago when things were a lot different than they are now. The next big projects include bathroom vanities, upper kitchen cabinets, back deck flooring and stairs, kitchen island and peninsula  butcher block counters, painting the upstairs doors white, touching up the upstairs trim (needs nail holes filled and top coat painted) and...what else? There must be more. Oh, the garage, landscaping, siding and driveway. These last two items are added for moral boosting (kind of like adding something to your to-do list that you've already done), because we've actually hired someone to do them both. The driveway will hopefully be done in a week or so and the siding will likely not be done until the fall.

Open shelving, giving an industrial look, until Nate builds the upper cabinets

So far, we love our new range

Louisa learned what "alphabetize" means today when she put the spices in the rack

Love that we can use the gate Nate built when Lou was 6 months old

Where all the teeth get brushed until Nate builds vanities for the upstairs bathrooms

The kids already love their play room. The sink box is a definite plus

The kids are sleeping as well as can be expected. The girls are happy to have their bunk bed back and Peter has been amazing me at his ability to sleep without a door on his bedroom (it's being painted). The attic, which will eventually be a great play space, is off limits because it doesn't have a banister yet. I thought Peter would be shaking the baby gate all day long, but he actually doesn't seem very interested in going up there.

I thought I would want to quit my job once we move in so that I could just stay home and organize, but I'm quickly learning how little I can get done with the kids (ehhem, Peter) around. My goal for this coming week is to get out and do things with the kids instead of staying home and pretending like I'm going to accomplish anything house related. It's been a long time coming, and I still need to be patient with the finishing details.

We Love You So

This morning we celebrated my dad's parents' 65th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful brunch party with lots of laughs and good memories. The girls love parties, especially if they get "three desserts! Chocolates (on the tables), cake AND ice cream!"

I want to remember the little moments sprinkled throughout this house renovation, so I'm here tonight to jot down three sweet things our three kids said (or did, in Peter's case) today. As we were leaving the brunch with my dad, Cora said "that was a fun party." My dad said, "Yeah! I'm glad you could make it." Cora's response, very matter of factly, was: "I was invited."

After the party we went back to my parents' house to take naps and quiet times. Nate was lucky enough to borrow a car so he could get back to Madison to get back to work on the house. We were going to leave after naps, but at 4:30 pm the lake was too inviting to leave, so we stuck around and went tubing. Lou enjoyed performing the hand motions for faster, slower, ok and cut it and after a short ride with me on the tube, asked to go by herself. Cora enjoyed watching from the boat, but Peter wanted in on the action too, so took his first tubing ride at 17 months.

We left Oconomowoc around 7 pm and Cora, having only a quiet time instead of nap, was a bit out of sorts, so I rolled the window down for her, telling her that when we get on the highway we'll have to roll it up. That got Lou's brain going and she asked, "Mom, where does Oconomowoc end? When we get to the highway?" Essentially, yes, so I said "yes." Then she wanted to know if Madison starts when we get to the highway. She sits in the third row and understandably has a hard time hearing me, so when she didn't hear me say that there are actually lots of little towns in between Oconomowoc and Madison, I told her we'd have to talk about it later. "Okay," she said happily. Such an easy going child, LouBear.

Peter's funny moment was once we got home. We swung by the new house to pick up Nate so he could help me get the kids in bed. Peter was beyond tired (or so I thought)...too tired to even brush his teeth, which is normally something he finds quite fun. So I sang him song - Go to sleep my baby, sleep now little you, go to sleep my baby and dream of powder blue. Flowers in the sunshine and boats upon the lake, dream my little baby, I'll see you when you wake - and laid him in bed. I was giving Nate a haircut at least 30 minutes later when we heard him slapping his crib rail. No wining or talking even, but clearly awake. After Nate took a shower, he went in to get a shirt (Nate's dresser is in Peter's room because it doesn't fit in ours), and Peter sat up in bed, took out his pacifier and offered it to Nate. This is his routine every morning when he gets up. Nate said "No, it's time to sleep," so he put his pacifier back in his mouth and laid back down. It's so fun when babies really start to show that they understand most of what you say.

Kids, kids, you can be a handful, but we love you so.

Tile Progress

We hired the best tile guy. His name is Matt and he runs his own business called Stone Concepts. He's the best because he's happy and does really nice work. He also responds incredibly quick to text and email and uses lots of thumbs up emoji in his texts. His emoji usage prompted Nate to tell me today that "they're" (who?) coming out with a face palm emoji. Nate will likely make good use of it.

Here's a sneak preview of Matt's handy work!

Kids' bath tub surround

Loving penny tile

Master bath

Kids' Bath

Powder room

Mudroom, which Matt will grout with a light grey to accentuate the herringbone pattern

Trim it out

Nate was very committed to saving the old trim, which meant hours of pulling nails, bundling batches, washing, labeling, priming, painting and hauling. Thankfully, the end is in sight. I never thought to take a picture of the pile of trim bundles in the garage and now it's too late. All the 2nd floor trim (which we're painting white) has been washed and 70% has also been sanded, primed and painted with one (of two) top coats. The color is Pearly White, which was determined by the interior of our white windows.

Because we need to move out of our rental house by July 4, we started hauling the semi-finished trim over to the new house from the rental garage. Now it's been sorted and placed back in the original rooms, unfortunately taking up a lot of floor space. 

In the end, I'm sure we'll say it was worth the effort, but trim refinishing is very far down on my "favorite aspects of a renovation" list"

June 20 Update: Marcia must have been feeling overwhelmed for us back on February 23, because she snapped a few photos of the trim piles, back when only the de-nailing, bundling and hauling had happened. Oh how far we've come!

Just looking at it makes me want to take a shower and rid myself of the dust and grime

Sometime in March or April, we tried wiping each piece with a damp cloth and quickly learned that a full on bath would be better, so moved the cleaning operation outside

I took this tonight. See that very small stack on the floor (to the left of the card table)? That's all that's left to prime!

Finish Line Glimpses

Exciting finishes are popping up around the new house. Two nights ago I had a kitchen brainstorm and today we have a fresh, fun accent wall that I think will look really good with the kitchen cabinets. When we picked the colors for the first floor, we knew we would add color to the back wall of the kitchen. Since the refrigerator will soon be installed in the back corner, it's great to have this done. A HUGE thank you to my amazing Aunt Jeanne for encouraging my enthusiasm for such a bold color and painting the wall!

The mudroom floor is temporarily orange. This is just the structure for the wires that will heat the floor under the slate colored, chevron patterned tile that will be laid this week.

Refrigerator will go in the left corner and the spice rack may hang between the window and the light switches

Nate must like the color since he bought himself a new helmet in the same hue

And aqua stripes in the table cloth. It's everywhere!

I also saw the powder room tile for the first time today and LOVE it. Can't wait to see it installed.

A little pop in the attic too! The other dormers will be bright - maybe one yellow and one coral?