Will She be Ready?

She will!
She will!
She hopes!
(I'm in Dr. Suess theme party planning brain at the moment)

In 28 hours and 20 minutes, this mess needs to be ready for a party:

 

 

And the best photo of all. (Doesn't every kitchen need a pile of couches smack in the middle of it?)

 

 

 

Will she go crazy before tomorrow?

She might!

She might! 



A Long Way to Go...and a Short Time to Get There

This is my to-do list for the weekend:

 

This is what my house looks like right this minute:

 

I am at the point now where I can't use my kitchen for anything other than feeding the dogs and making a sandwich because everything is scattered and stacked in nooks and crannies and shelves all over the place.

What the holy hell was I thinking when I scheduled a party here?? It's in a week. SEVEN DAYS! HERE! Eh, who needs sleep?

Tony says he will have the floor finished by Sunday night.

We shall see.

In the meantime, I have so very much to do. I am actually feeling a little bit stressed. Just a little bit.

Yeah right, who am I fooling!?

I’m only sitting to write because I just did a bunch of sanding and sweeping, and I am waiting for all the dust to settle down so I can clean and paint some more.

The other night, a passage in a book I’m reading jumped off the page into my head, and it perfectly describes the mood I am in and the way I am feeling these days:  “If my space is out of whack, then I’m out of whack. Admittedly, I was not in the best of whacks to begin with.”

Everything in my life feels/is out of whack…my house and my life. I’m not in the best of whacks, and I am tired of my “space” being out of whack, too.

*Work has been stressful. I know, what’s new there, right? I think I am just not handling it very well these days.

*I’ve had a couple of health issues/scares, and while everything turned out okay, I had a few days of a little bit of worry. More than a little bit, actually. Quite a lot is more accurate. Last week, I was on my way home from a doctor appointment, and I had to pull into a parking lot because I had a complete crying meltdown. I had only gotten good news, but I guess the stress of it all, and the stress of everything built up to the point where it all just spilled over. It took me a few minutes to pull myself together enough to drive, and thankfully, I have a very understanding boss who I texted and said, “I’m taking the rest of the day off!”

*My parents are mad at me. Again, what’s new there, right? And of course, it’s for a stupid, ridiculous reason that I can’t even wrap my brain around. I don’t even want to try to be honest, but they are mad at ME over a situation that has not one single thing to do with them.

*And then, for the cherry on top of the crap sundae, there is my house.  

A few weeks or so ago, I wrote how even though my house is in disarray, I am enjoying the process.

That was then, this is now.

I’m not much enjoying it any longer.

I have so many more things than that on my mind, but that is about all I can put into words right now.

I just want it to be DONE. NOW. And there is a long way to go before I am done.
I’m not dancing in the rain or the dust or anything else.
If I never have to see or touch another paint brush or piece of sand paper, I will be a very happy girl. My fingers will be happy too to have no more splinters and broken nails and paint splatters upon them. Unfortunately, there are still lots of paint brushes and paint and sandpaper in my future.

I now interrupt my whining to get back to work. Hopefully, I will make some good progress in the next few days and that will drag me out of this big ol’ pity party I am the guest of honor at.

 

 

Progress!

It has been a while since I updated, but there has been a lot happening on the home front. Two weeks ago, I traveled to Atlanta to visit my brother, and thankfully, Tony spent the time I was away putting down two rooms of flooring! Yay-hoo!

Saying I am in love is an understatement. Probably weird too, but the floor truly looks beautiful. When I laid eyes on it for the first time, I wanted to spread eagle myself on the floor and kiss it. I didn’t. I’m weird I know, but not quite that weird. Not yet anyway.

Tony also bought some new office furniture while I was away, and I love that, too. It’s not brand new…he bought it from someone he knows who is moving to Florida and is selling all of their furniture. But, it sure looks brand new, and he only paid $300 for all of it! There’s just something about a good bargain that makes me giddy and feeds my soul. J

Last week, I painted the new baseboards, and finally, Friday night, we put the office area together. One room is now complete, other than decorating the walls and filling the bookcases. Those will probably take a while since everything is packed away in tubs, and I have no idea where anything is at. But, this is now the room I am spending all my time in since it’s the only room in my house that isn’t gross and ugly.

 

 

I got the chair from my aunt a few months ago, before I knew our house would spend weeks and months in a state of dirty disarray. It looks perfect in the room, and it’s comfy, too. I’ve already spent a few nights cozied up in it to read since it’s been too beastly hot to hang out on the porch at night. Clearly, the cat loves it as well, and he gives me the stink eye whenever I remove him from it so I can sit there.

Tony also put new French doors in the kitchen. Or I should say “attempted” to put in new French doors. It didn’t go so well (that’s an understatement, too!!), and my husband did something he rarely does—he hired our contractor friend Bruce to come over on Saturday and finish the job.  Yes, my oh-so-very stubborn DIY husband is actually going to PAY someone to do something! Shocking, I know. It was either that or put up with a new door that doesn’t open or close right, and I am pretty sure he knows how I would feel about that. Surprisingly, I kept my mouth shut throughout the 3 days he spent working on it when I so desperately wanted to say, “Why don’t you call Bruce and pay him to put the damn door in properly?” One day, I had to leave the house for a few hours because I was already having a not-so-good day, and I was very, very afraid I was going to say something I would later regret. After I spent a few hours indulging in some retail therapy, my desire to scream had subsided, and the next day, he came to the decision to call Bruce all on his own. Halle-freaking-lujah! Maybe he was feeling the “I really and truly want to strangle my husband” voo-doo vibes that were not-so-nicely banging around in my brain.

 

The plastic covering the outside of the door to keep out the rain we had yesterday is proof that perhaps one-armed door hanging is not a talent of my dear husband. Even Bruce laughed at him and said, “Are you nuts? You can’t hang a door like that with only one person, much less one good arm!” I guess I gotta give my husband credit for his determination, though. I only hope that his bull-headedness persistence doesn’t end up costing us more money than if he had just hired Bruce from the start.

On another note…I did something crazy, and I planned a graduation party for Rachel on July 30. At our house.  Like I said…CRAZY. We won’t be completely finished with every little detail of putting the house back together by then, but it has given Tony a deadline to get the floors finished. And me a kick-in-the- pants deadline to finish my painting projects. Rachel really wants to have a party, and I hated to use our house as an excuse to not have one, so it will be what it will be. I will bust my a$$ to get the last room (family room) painted as well as finish the kitchen cabinets. Tony said he can have the rest of the floors installed by then, and as long as the mess is cleaned up and put away, we can pull it off.

I think.

 I hope.

Everyone knows we are in the midst of a mess, and I can honestly say that I don’t care what the house looks like, as long as it is clean.

Wow. I should mark that on a calendar somewhere! Maybe it’s the “I don’t give a flip” attitude that grows stronger the older I get, but I can honestly say that I do not care one tiny little bit that I have a party here in 2 ½ weeks, and my house will look terrible and will contain very little furniture.

It will look terrible, but it will have pretty new floors even if there is nowhere to sit.  Maybe we can spread some blankets and have an indoor picnic.