Home is Where the Work is...

Ah Home, sweet house. Un-homing my house has proved to be liberating and painful at the same time. Taking the place that has been your home for the last eight years and turning it into a house that someone else will like is a bit hard on the ego. Letting go of the idea that you know exactly what kind of house everyone else will love and objectively removing ones favorite things is like pulling a bandaid off. Even worse, our projects are taking so long that it is more like the ten minute tug and peel of the bandaid when I've always been fond of the quick tear.

I am, however, finding a lot of peace in the emptiness that all this removal has created. I'm not sure how much will be returning to live with us after this. The books will for sure - I miss them terribly - as well as our board games. I'm trying to look at the delays in marketing the house as a hidden blessing. Maybe the home we are meant to have isn't ready to be ours yet either....

Here are this week's projects:

The sidewalk is finished. Well, sort of. Sigh. After the project consuming six long hours BEFORE pouring (long story) it was finished just two hours before a HUGE pop up rain storm swept through the county. Lou threw a tarp over it. There wasn't much else we could do. The lines of the side walk are nearly perfect thanks to Lou's long diligence in starting the project, but the top is now scarred with rain drops in the center that makes the concrete hard on the feet. There is about 1/2 inch to work with from the top and we are researching whether we can resurface it a bit and stain the entire thing to match up better.

That's our pool in those boxes. It is eight inches deeper than our old one which is going to create some interesting problems as far as the decking goes, but after looking for a matching one for six weeks, it was time to just buy something darn it. It has 17 post (where 16 is the new standard) and should fit in the deck in general. This project is now at the mercy of the professional installers' schedule and ability to fit it in the existing deck. Pray it works out. If it costs too much at this point, we won't be able to afford to move.

This is the project the boys are most excited about. Meet Winter. She showed up at our house about a month ago looking all tiny and wanting nothing more than three boys to haul her around. After checking around the neighborhood for any lost kittens (we thought her to be about 10 weeks old) we decided that she was ours and I called the vet to make an appointment. Her timing was perfect as Whiskers (Austin's beloved 7 year old cat) disappeared around the middle of February. Before we made it in to the vet, I noticed that not only was her little tummy getting fatter, but she had nipples showing. Uh-oh. I called the vet back and said "Either she's pregnant or has the worst case of worms ever." During her exam the vet said, "Yeah, she has worms. BIG four legged ones." She is quite the faker. She is about 8-9 months old an due any day. Oh, well. At least she is healthy and vaccinated. She has started mousing and, even hugely pregnant, allows Griffin to hold her and smooch her head. That is one good cat. The boys can't WAIT for the kittens to be born and are already asking to keep one. We have a running family bet in when and how many kittens there will be. I'm betting on the week we show the house and that they will be born in front of the door. Just kidding, but you have to admit that is about how things have been working! LOL!