Simple Home and Happiness

The Christmas rush has come and gone. I usually feel empty this time of year, all the hype and excitement leading up to Christmas gets me all high and after the fact I always feel left a little wanting. Not this year though. This year we spent nearly three straight days celebrating with family. It felt full and wonderful and a times a little wild. I am happy to bask in the quietness that is the day after. Ironically enough I feel quiet and calm even though I have been given big news on Lucky. My carpenters have given me a move in date! End of January. I am beyond words in the excitement area. I fall asleep at night planning furniture placement and color schemes. Do you ever do that? Please say you do. We are in the final weeks of the renovation and I feel as though a calm is descending. Quite the opposite I am sure, from what I am suppose to be feeling. But somehow, it feels as though I survived the toughest part. The major construction is done, the Christmas awe and rush is d...

Ding dong the tar is gone! At long last I have original oak wood floors in the kitchen. It all started innocently enough... when we bought the house, there were clay tiles in the kitchen. I didn't mind the style of the tile and since we were leaving the kitchen largely untouched I was going to leave it. Butttttt, there were two broken tiles and I thought well, heck, we know there is hard wood, so we'll just knock out the tile and expose the hardwood. All the tile came out. That wasn't so bad, right? Then came the first major dilemma, there was half inch thick plywood underneath the tiles that had been installed to adhere the clay tiles to. Well, the carpenters jumped in and helped me unscrew approximately a few hundred (no exaggeration) screws. We didn't know what damage the screws had done to the hardwood below, but we wanted the plywood out regardless since it made the floor uneven from the rest of the house. So out came the plywood. Aaannnddd then o...

Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was wonderful. I ate as much as I possibly could and enjoyed time with my family. The Hubs and I rounded out the evening with a leftover bottle of wine and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation! Perfect end to the day if you ask me! So this is the end of my month of thanks. I have been trying to figure out how to sum it up and have been struggling to find a way to express my sincere thanks without sounding fake. I am so truly thankful to be living a life that is simple and honest with a family that I love more than anything in the world. I could give up everything but my family and would still be so blessed. I'm sure December will be hectic no matter how hard I try to reign it in. I'll post as often as I can while still trying to keep a bit of my sanity. Today I finished knocking out the tile and laminate on the kitchen floor. The only thing standing between me and wood floors is one stubborn layer of tar backing. If you know any ...

Today I am thankful for every single step of the process. It has been emotionally exhausting at times, but I am so happy that it has landed me here. I am acting in a local play this year, and when they asked me to do it, I hesitated because of the house stuff. I really love acting and hadn't done it for years. I figured it wouldn't really overlap with the house stuff, because that happens during the day and practice for the play was in the evenings. Fast forward two months... I have four play performances this week, (three night performances and one Sunday afternoon), plumber, electrician, excavators, and concrete all decided this week worked best for them to get some serious work done. It has been a wonderful, hectic, crazy mess. I can't complain because we are making huge progress on Lucky, but holy buckets, I am spinning. The day when the electrician showed up, I kind of thought we were just doing a walk through. So I go along saying, "Well yeah a light h...

Today I am infinitely thankful for the elusive hardwood flooring underneath the layers of tile and laminate. It is painstakingly slow, but little by little I am making progress. Someday; weeks, months, years, from now, I will stand in my finished kitchen and be so happy I spent endless hours on my hands and knees peeling back time and uncovering a hidden gem. Right now I mostly ache from head to toe, but I am still thankful for the opportunity to work on something I love so much! What are you thankful for? See the rest of my November days here ! Thanks for stopping by! Posted with Blogsy

Today I am thankful for wine. It has helped me more than I care to admit :)   Posted with Blogsy

Today I am thankful for this girl . She is braver than I will ever be and has an incredible way with words. She always leaves me feeling inspired.   Posted with Blogsy