life and puppies

There were eleven top lights in our home that need/needed replacing before we moved in. Now there are just six! [Don’t tell AO; I fear he thinks we’re more than halfway there.]

Every one comes with its own set of horrible challenges. But AO meets every one. For realsies.

What IS that? The rim is wooden and the whole thing is super heavy.

And the medallion, as it turns out, had a piece that came down and hooked into that screw/nut piece. It was altogether odd. I should have taken better pictures of it, but our time was eaten up trying to get it off the ceiling. It took forever. Seriously. I ended up nearly hanging from parts of it in an effort to eliminate it from our lives.

I really wish I could more adequately describe what it took to get that thing off.

It involved AO’s genius idea of using drill bits to get at the screws attached to the ceiling.

Originally, I thought the medallion could stay, but no. She had to go. There is absolutely no place for her in our lives. Or yours. Plus, taking her off the ceiling revealed she is from circa 2004, so there is really no love lost.In her place, we put up this lovely.

And guess what else? We put one in the guest room, too. So come stay!

We had a productive weekend. Aaron painted the sewing room on Saturday and touched her up on Sunday! Originally, I had dreamed the room would be a sunny yellow, but we had so much leftover pink from the kitchen, I thought it would be more economical to use it up so I green-lighted it. And I’m so glad I did. I want to take more pics once we put in the new sparkly flush-mount chandy I bought, but here’s a sneak peak at what happened at our East Wash abode before the Packers’ convincing playoff win.

A few special things happened in Bear’s room, too. In fact, she almost didn’t let us leave for school today because she said her room wasn’t beautiful enough (there are still a few things that need tidying), but I convinced her there was time to fix it all later. For one, I painted this beauty of a dry sink that has moved with me all around town, as well as to Corpus and Richmond, and long before that, belonged to my elders. I know that some of you think it’s an abomination to paint stained wood, but I think that’s just silly. I painted the doors, too, but ultimately decided it looks better just to leave them off. At least for now.

Anyway, there’s more to come, but here’s your Monday morning preview. Go Pack!

What took you so long?  

 
Ok, sure. I had to wait for you to go on sale. But you’re here now, and that’s all that matters. Phew. 

And you didn’t think that was possible! I showed you!

Because my birthday falls in January, I often reflect on the last year of my life at the same time I reflect on the last year of my life. If you know what I mean. If you don’t, well, it doesn’t really matter. What has this 40th year brought me (I guess it’s really the 41st, but don’t make me punch you)? Well, a lot. A grand mal seizure, posterior vitreous detachment in my left eye, strep throat (times 2), a feisty three-year-old, a super fun trip to Tulum, some cool house projects, laughter, tears, work stress, life stress, and a whole lot of gratitude. I’m trying to tell myself to slow down and breathe more and not be in such a hurry. But it’s hard. I really kinda loathe this cliche, but I’m trying to take care of myself more because I’ve finally realized that no one else is going to. I can keep getting resentful and angry when people pressure and guilt me into doing things I don’t want to do, or I can just smile and say, “No thanks” and let that be the end of it. Other people seem to have no problem saying no to me all the time. I worry about being flaky or ending up with no friends, but I think if I do it in the way that everyone else I love seems to do it, it’ll be ok. I’m going to practice this one A LOT.

But I’m also saying yes to a few things. For example, I joined a new tennis team. An over-40 team where I was sure that when I showed up everyone would look right through me, asking where the new player was. Uh, nope. “Kate? You’re on Court One.” Harumph. Same with the mammogram I had yesterday. “Oh surely you can’t be old enough for this!” is not something anyone seemed to think of saying to me. I also rejoined my old gym and I’m already really happy I did so.

So, 2016. I’m happy you’re here.