Simple Home and Happiness

I am just going to put this out there, I will never be perfect and neither will my home. In the world of home design and home bloggers, I often see people striving for perfection, or at least an air of perfection. A fear of showing their homes until they have reached perfection. And it's in the everyday world we live in as well. I suffer from it as much as anyone else. The "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" if you will; being embarrassed that your home somehow doesn't measure up to those of your peers, the peoples homes that seem perfectly organized, dusted and vacuumed. The homes without toys everywhere, and dirty dishes in the sink. But really, how often do you drop in on someone's home? Usually there is a phone call in advance. There is a warning sounded that encourages the one you are visiting to scramble and hide the clutter and messes. The things that would let people know we are not 'perfect'. A good friend of mine and I admitted that we ...

There are boxes everywhere. Boxes in the kitchen. Boxes in the bathroom. Boxes stacked on top of boxes. Boxes stacked on top of boxes, stacked on top of boxes. Do you know what that means?!  It means we moved!  We started on Saturday, and as much as I thought I had prepared, I wasn't nearly prepared enough. Things should have been more organized, and things should have been better packed, but that didn't stop us.  We made sure the beds were one of the first things that went over to Lucky, so that they could be put together and we could sleep there on Saturday night.  I wanted the kiddos to feel comfortable and have real beds made, not just mattresses thrown on the floor.  A million trips were made between Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully we were moving less than a quarter of a mile!  We have three nights sleeping here under our belts now and I am so content.  There is still plenty to do, in fact I should probably be d...

People.... I am so excited! Seriously, there was dancing. There was squealing. There was behavior that I am glad no one was around to see. But guess what?! I finished the hardwood floors last night! Two coats of stain and seven coats of polyurethane total throughout the house and I am officially done with the floors! Oh my, if I could even describe to you to the excitement and refief I feel... The floors have consumed my life for the past week or so, but now it's over. It was hard for several reasons but one that I forgot to mention was that the kiddos couldn't be with me because it is such a stinky, messy, dirty job, so there were many late hours and odd hours working with the Hubs' schedule so he could watch the girls. Now it is all over and I can relax a bit. I can bring the girls with me. They can run and play. I may be jinxing myself, but I am going to say it.... It is downhill from here. Now we can bring in the washer and dryer, and the fridge. They will join the di...

Large mug of coffee number two? Check. A foot of snow? Check. One set of floors done? Check. I have officially called it good enough on the old house floors! One coat of stain, three coats of polyurethane and a whole lot of tears later and I am done. Do not ask me why these floors brought me to tears so many times. I cannot tell you. At least not specifically. I believe it was a combination of not planning on doing them in the first place, and then the amount of hands on time it took and the mental exhaustion block that I have recently hit. It was all these things wrapped up in one that brought me to my knees. But now I have beautiful, shiny floors to set my knees on, so it all evens out I suppose. I don't have many pictures of the process, partly because I cannot find my camera and secondly it was such a hands on project I didn't have much time to take pictures. Here's how I refinished the floors. First I rented two sanders from the local hardware ...