Another Weekend, Another Sacrifice to the Money Pit

This weekend was once again tied up in home renovations.  (One day we really will be done, right?)  This weekend we did the kitchen floor, entry way floor, and painted the rest of the living room.  Here are the before and after pictures:

 Although you can see we had already started ripping up the floor, you can see how the old vinyl was coming off the sides and curled over.

 Here is the old vinyl in the kitchen, entry way and in the master bathroom (that we replaced last week).

 Can you see the nails?  The ding dongs that lived here before us nailed down the edges that had started to curl up rather than have fixed appropriately.  We also discovered that in some spots in the kitchen, they had also tried to put down more glue to try and get it to stick down.  It took us over two or three hours in each of those spots to get up all the mess.

Here is how the kitchen looked Friday morning.  Fridge, stove, and dishwasher all gone.  Plus all the vinyl flooring gone.

 And here is the after.  Doesn't it look better?  What is really cool is that the sheet was so big that the only seam in the kitchen is near the edge by the grage door and is barely visible.  No more seam in the middle of the kitchen!  YEAH!!!  Now the carpet REALLY looks old, dirty, and just plain bad.  Oh well.  It is going to have to wait for awhile.

While removing the vinyl ourselves took a couple of late nights both weeks and hard work, overall we are glad we did it since it took our bill from the original $1400 quoted down to $700.  In fact the flooring guys could not believe what a great job we did in removing it and how clean and in good shape the floors were when they came to lay down the new flooring.  However, if we were to ever do this again, I have to admit I think I would be tempted to just pay the extra cost to have them remove it.  This is especially if sleep is at such a premium as it is now with a newborn. 

Plus the rest of the wall is now painted. No more faux finish in any part of the house.

Now I am in the process of putting the kitchen back together, cleaned up, and starting staging in the sense of getting rid of excess and rarely used items.  It's going to take awhile, especially with a two year old and newborn but hopefully by Tuesday it will be done.  What's next?  Not sure.  Either finishing the laundry room or replacing the railing by the stairs.  Stay tuned . . . . . . .

One of the Lucky Ones?

The week I was having a baby was the National Infertility Awareness Week and when bloggers get together and write blogs on a specific topic or theme.  This year the theme was about "in my infertility I will not forget" and I had a really great blog post idea, but it never was posted.  Maybe when things die down a little and I have some time to really put thought to it I will be able to write it more eloquently.  However, I have thought about this a lot.  About how and why I have been so lucky to have two kids while I have friends who do not even have one, especially when I was told we could not have any more on our own. 

Honestly, I don't know why that is and may never.  I just know that my heart still hurts for them and I have tried to be sensitive to their longing and desire during my recent pregnancy and now raising a new little one.  This is why I did not make "a big announcement" on Facebook or even on this blog.  I remember all too well how much it would hurt when others would do so or even worse complain about their pregnancy, when I would have given anything for that complaint or announcement.  There were times I could not even look at any blog or Facebook posts because the emotions were too raw.

How I hope that some resolution can come for them and that their desire can be met.  I don't know why I was one of the lucky ones, I just know that for whatever reason I was.  I try to remind myself of this every day, especially when I am thinking I am so tired, in pain, or overwhelmed that I can't go on; Little Miss has been crying non-stop for a long period of time; Little Man is about to drive me up the wall.

I also know that while I was blessed to have a child without medical "help", it may never happen again.  Meaning my infertility is still very much there. I just know that for whatever reason, I am one of the lucky ones and I will not forget those who still struggle.  They are my "sisters" and we are bonded for life.

Birthday Time!

The 15th was my hubby's birthday and what a whirlwind day it was!  He had to work that day and ended up being almost an hour late which threw everything off since it was also Little Man's gymnastics day.  Little Man and I blew up balloons and had them floating throughout the house when hubby came home.  However, we hurried and rushed through dinner of grilled teriyaki steaks, grilled artichokes and hot crash potatoes.  The boys then went to gymnastics and we opened presents and had cake and ice cream when they got home.

Of course our little helper elf had to help Daddy unwrap the presents:

My hubby has been wanting to start exercising again but wanted something short and sweet.  I got a great deal on a Jillian Michaels 30 minute = 30 day DVD that is supposed to be tough but effective.  We will see how much it gets used.  I know that once I am cleared to start exercising again and get at it the challenge will be on!

 Little Man loves to have us read to him before his nap and bedtime.  Since we usually read to him with the lights off, hubby has been using his iPhone for reading ebooks which can be difficult due to the text size.  Plus things have been gloomy for hubby so I decided to splurge a little and get him something "fun" that would be gadgety and I know he would use, which ended up in a Kindle Fire.  He has used it every day since so I think it was a hit.

 For years my hubby has been wanting solar lights to put out in the yard.  One of our neighbors put them out when they had a wedding reception in their backyard and my husband has been wanting them ever since, so he got a set of 8 which have gone in two of the flower beds.  It's cute how he goes out at night to admire them.  We will see if they stay with the house or go with us when we move.

As usual, a request for a chocolate cake was made with the "no extras, just plain chocolate" order.  Sooooooo boring!  However, this year I was so okay with it since I am still having a tough time getting around.  Although I did put in a chocolate ganache filling in between layers of chocolate fudge cake with a milk chocolate outer frosting.  He kept saying over and over, "This is the perfect cake," as he was eating it so I guess I did okay.

Overall, I think it was a pretty good birthday.  It was a little somber without a call or card from my hubby's father and was something we missed.  However, I hope that overall Little Man and I did okay in making him feel special for the day.

I'm Going To Pay For This

What a weekend!!! We have been busy, busy, busy!  We ripped out both bathroom floors and had new flooring put in, started painting the living room, and planted flowers in the front.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but here are the details:

Floors

We decided to rip out the floors ourselves to help us save some money.  We thought that since the master bathroom had regular vinyl and the the hallway had vinyl tile, the master bathroom would be more difficult.  Consequently, we started on that one first so we had plenty of time since we had to have it ready in time for the flooring guys that were coming on Friday morning.  So here it is:

It turns out that floor was the easiest to do.  It only took us about 2 hours to rip off the trim, old vinyl and scrape the excess glue of the floor.

Then we started the hall bathroom. . . . . While the tiles came up fairly easy, especially with a heat gun, the sticky residue they leave behind was a NIGHTMARE!!!  It took us 6 hours to completely clean the floors.  However, when we were done, it was completely clean.  In fact the flooring guys were impressed with our work.  They would have just gone ahead and replaced the entire subfloor rather than deal with the sticky mess.

The floor after the tile was removed and the sticky mess taken off:

The new flooring:

(No we are not rednecks and have our toilet in the bathtub, normally.  We just had to rip out the toilet for the flooring and put it in the tub temporarily.  It's back in the correct place now.)  Can you believe how well it matches the tile surround?  We couldn't either.  It is so nice to have flooring that is not curled up on the edges, has gouges, or has nails showing where the previous owners had decided to nail it down.  In other words it looks like it is supposed to look when it is done right.

Living Room

We had to repair a large crack in the wall that we got after the high school next to us put in their sprinkler system and shook our house.  (It felt like an earthquake!)  Since we had a faux finish on the walls, we were not just able to patch the crack and re-paint just that section.  Plus the realtor that we had look at our home had suggested we paint the walls a solid color since she felt the faux finish dated the room.  We decided to go with a lighter color to help the room look brighter and larger and here is the before and after:

Before:

After:

We still have half of one wall and the a small section around the front door to do and then this project will be done.  There is another crack on the opposite wall, but it was painted white so we are only going to have to pain that one area.

Front Yard

It finally has gotten warm enough that we were able to plant the flowers for the front yard.  I was so excited because I finally got to the nursery early enough to be able to get the Black Velvet petunias that I have wanted for two years.  (They sell out by Memorial Day.)  They will look so pretty when they and the white ones fill out.  I also replaced two rose bushes that had died and border flowers for the center flower bed.  Overall, I planted about 75 flowers.

So besides that and the routine laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, chasing a two year old down the street - literally, etc., that is what we did this weekend.  I am now ready for a nap!

My Value Just Went Up

While I was at the hospital for four days after having Little Miss, my hubby had a "honey-do" list to complete as well as take care of Little Man. The list was not very long, but needed to be done so that we could move on to our next big projects. Plus they were things he could do with an active toddler.

When I got home, I quickly discovered only one of those things were done. Needless to say I was not happy. When I asked why, I got a detailed account of Little Man's daily activities and how that took all the focus. I explained that is how he was every day and yet I still accomplished other things throughout the day.

My husband replied with the best answer he could have when he said, "Honey, if there is anything I have learned the last couple of days it is that I truly don't know how you get done all that you do. You truly are super woman and I'm not just saying that or trying to kiss up." Well played, Hubby! He gets a "get out of jail free" card, and my value just went up.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OF US SUPERWOMEN!

Oi Vey!

I was so hoping that by this time I would have some great before/after pictures to show you of the finished countertops and the newly painted living room. Alas, I do not.  Instead I have dark under eye circles and a really sore incision site that I don't think anyone really wants to see. 

We have had quite the week this week.  Little Miss has been having health issues that the doctor thinks may be a food allergy to milk.  Consequently, we have had a very unhappy and uncomfortable little girl and a lot of sleepless nights.  She is now on a hypoallergenic formula so hopefully we have this under control.  Time will only tell. 

Hubby also went back to work this past week, or at least attempted to, since we are trying to save all the personal leave we can because we do not know what the future holds in regards to health issues, work stuff, moving, and such.  This meant that I attempted to take care of the kids by myself, which proved to be an interesting adventure since I am on restriction and cannot lift more than 10 pounds (Little Man weighs 30.) and Little Man's sleep schedule is less than ideal.  On Monday, the day started out okay.  By the afternoon we were on a roll, but Little Man fell and my mother's auto-response kicked in when I picked him up to comfort him.  BAAAAAAAD idea!  Needless to say, I had to have Hubby come home after working a half day the next day because I was hurting and Little Miss needed to go to the doctor immediately. 

Since I had felt pretty good the week before, I have been overdoing it a lot this past week and am paying for it this weekend.  It's just so frustrating when I have so much that needs to be done and have this sense of urgency because I know at any time things could change with Hubby's work and I want to be ready.  Now if I can just get my body, a two year old and a newborn to get on board with this as well so that I can get things done.  LOL!  Yeah, I know.  Good luck with that.

So no pictures, no progress, another week has come and gone.  We will try again next week.

I May Have Cried

What a whirlwind week this past week has been! On April 25th our little girl, Elizabeth Anne, was born at 10:20 am via c-section. Her delivery went so much better than her older brother's and the care I received at this hospital versus the hospital we had our son at was night and day difference. The nurses this time were so kind and great. I just couldn't believe the difference. We were released on Saturday and then the fun began.

Now that Little Miss was born we decided to hit the ground running to work on getting the house ready for market. While we did not get nearly as much done as we wanted due to lack of sleep, adjusting to another child, and having a very busy and bored toddler, we did make some progress. We had granite countertops and new sinks installed in both bathrooms. We did not initially plan on this, but because we had to replace the sinks anyway and they had to be custom ordered it was almost the same price as putting in custom sized sinks. (The "lovely" builders did not use a standard sized sinks or countertops.) We also hired movers to come in and move the bigger, heavier things to a storage unit so that we can not only paint and do flooring but also to start staging. This meant that the armoir, some exercise equipment, 2 chests from grandparents, a dresser, boxes, and the piano are now all gone.

I have to admit that I cried when I saw them remove the piano. I truly have a love/hate relationship with the piano. It has become a source of frustration with a two year old who has found every hole and crevice to stick things in, but I have loved to watch the same little one find such joy and pleasure playing it and discovering a love of music. I felt so guilty having it taken out of the house, especially when I don't know when we will see it again. It doesn't help that he asks at least daily where it is. I so hope that we are able to find it a permanent place in our "permanent" home soon!

We have bids on flooring and have picked out what we are going to do, we just are trying to figure out when we can do it and get the money together to pay for it. We also have the paint bought for the living room. Once the cracks in the walls are fixed, that will be completed as well. I still need to sort through a ton of stuff downstairs and the deck needs to be repainted. I also need to work on the flower beds in the front but that will need to wait until it is warmer at night.

I know we are getting closer to listing the house, but it still seems so far away, especially since the time we have to work on all of this is so limited. Not to mention we have the stress from my husband's work and what will happen when he goes back. Right now we are just hoping praying and asking for the prayers of others that his manager's heart will be softened so that he can stay in town. With the lack of sleep we are getting and me being on restriction while I am recovering, having him be so far away will be a safety issue and put a huge strain on us physically, emotionally, and financially. Needless to stay we are on pins and needles and very worried. I really miss the old contractor at this point.

That is our life in a nutshell at this point of time. Pictures will be coming soon.