July

Yesterday, I found myself thigh deep in a giant dumpster. A dumpster I ordered to have parked out front of my new house while we're working on tearing out old wallpaper, ripping out a few walls, clearing out an attic and a garage. But I digress. I was in it. IN it. Looking for refrigerator doors that were mistakenly thrown away. Doors I needed if I wanted Com Ed to recycle the nasty nasty refrigerator I dragged out of the pantry and parked in the back yard. Again. I digress. I was in the dumpster. I couldn't find the doors.

And I just had my 7 year old daughter poor me a glass of wine while we (the girls and I. Chris is on another business trip) sit in our  basement waiting for Gillian to cry it out and fall asleep. Bela. She poured me a glass of wine.

You know what this means.

I won't be writing in here for awhile. I have some things that need tending to. Like cat pee in the basement. 1,001 boxes to unpack. A sewing room to set up. Some shelves to paint.

See you in a couple of weeks. Maybe. Maybe I'll have some photos.

Hiatus

I disappeared because I'm  moving. And it's hot; so very, very hot.

I lay in bed awake one night, about 10 days ago. I was running down my mental list of things to do, which included drive Bela across the Midwest to summer camp, pack all our earthly belongings, deal with the movers, take care of all manner of tedium associated with moving from one address to another, and do it all with an infant, two little kids, and an absent, equally hardworking husband.

I called my mommy.

She came.

We drove Bela to the heart of the largest Amish community in the country to drop her off for her 5 glorious days living on a (non-amish) farm. This trip included a sleepless night at a hotel, a couple of mother daughter fights (between me and Bela, me and Mom), and a few screaming episodes from Gill in the car.

And then we drove home and we packed. And we met the movers the next morning. We were not ready.

There are two truths that become perfectly clear when I move:
     One: I accumulate too much "stuff"
     Two: My house is filthy.

Did I mention it's hot? And that I am mentally wasting away to nothing?

It's a licorice for breakfast, can of olives for lunch, hairy armpits, tragic hygiene sort of a week for me. I have one and a half more days to clear the crap out of my old apartment and no husband, no babysitter, no shower in my near future.

And then it's off to Arkansas for a week with family. Will someone please, PLEASE let me take a nap?

Presenting: Our living room! Looks great, eh? Hmmm. Freshly painted, though. Floors are papered because we had them refinished the day before.

Gillian finally gets a room. New floors peeking out there in the closet. Walls need painting. The photo and the sunlight would lead you to believe this room was a fresh white. It's actually dingy, and gross.

View through dining room into sun room. Papered floors. Although difficult to tell, there is grey wallpaper all over this room that I have started tearing off. 

Because I can't leave well enough alone: the kitchen. I ripped out the floors, had a friend pull out the cabinets and put up some drywall...awaiting freshly repainted cabinets.....Bright green?

Tired crew. Bare mattresses on floor, filled with kids and tired mommy. I think Mae took this at about 5:30 this morning. Need curtains to block out that darn sunshine.

This is Mae right now. She fell asleep an hour ago waiting for me to read that book to her. This is the basement, where we have an in-law apartment which we're camping out in while my friend updates the electrical system in the home. Plus, there's a kitchen down here, and I tore out the other one, so there's that. We are all exhausted.

This Moment

A moment from our week I'd like to share and remember. Have a great weekend, all. Moving day approaches.

This Moment

My weekly post - a moment from our week I'd like to share and remember. Have a great weekend.

lonely

We closed on our house on June 1 and Chris left the country on June 3. Mae said to me tonight "I miss Daddy 'around the world' (a lot). Except for when I was playing pbskidsgo.com games."  Ah, the fickle love of a 5 year old.

Oh, you didn't know? Mae turned 5 a couple days ago. We celebrated with a pool party last week, a school party a day later, and a really laid back family celebration (me and her) on the actual day. Five years old. My goodness.

I miss Chris. I miss his company, his conversation, his cheerfulness, his hands....they would be soooo useful at the new house. So useful.

In the meantime, my hands will have to do. Between the two older girls with their school parties and birthday parties and commitments, and a 6 month old who has been struggling at nap time and turning her nose up at my milk in a bottle, new house time has been very hard to come by.

My mom came for a few days though and we tore up some stuff. She spent two days ripping that nasty carpet off the stairs. I stripped paint, worked on floors, and literally pummeled a nasty old refrigerator in an attempt to squeeze it out through a nasty little pantry door.

So, while we wait for Chris to come back from Documenta and the work he's doing in Germany with Theaster Gates I'll share here the few pictures of the little work I've done and reminisce about the fact that I was supposed to accompany him on his trip. Instead I'm spending my afternoons crouched on the floor of a kitchen pantry between piles of dust and mouse droppings.

 On the agenda this week? Tackling the two feet of grass in the back yard, stripping a few layers of paint off the fireplace mantel prior to repainting the brick, changing locks on doors, removing kitchen cabinets so I can sand and paint, removing light fixtures and ceiling fans, painting ceilings.

although quite green, this is just over 2 feet of grass. Back yard.

Even though I shaved off a few inches at a time over the course of a week, it still looks pretty brown. But at least we can walk through it. Now it's time to nurture it back to green.

Many layers.

Relieved to find pretty wood underneath, after all that work.

Looking better.

Almost finished. Just need to sand, refinish, and then repaint shelves and brick a nice crisp white. And one day remove that silly air conditioner spoiling the view up there.

home sweet home

After our very long closing last Friday, I wanted to go back over to the house and walk through it for the first time as owner. All of us, as a family. I wanted Chris to carry me through the front door, I imagined myself walking down the hallway as I cried silent tears of happiness. My own home!

Well, I did cry a little. But I think it was because of the smell. And no one shared my desire to visit the house for the first time as owners. They actually dropped me off in front and then drove over to Target to look for a movie to buy as a "thank you" to the kids for waiting almost three hours at the law offices of so and so.

I wasn't upset or even really all that disappointed. I didn't blame them. The thing is, the house is kind of stinky. The grass in the back yard is two feet tall. The carpet on the stairs is stained with only lord knows what. The lady smoked in there and until quite recently the home's only living occupant was a pair of giant macaws. (Who destroyed the window frames, by the way).

The downspouts are missing, the radiators are in shambles, the nasty fridge is shoved in the back of the pantry (the only place it will fit in the teeny kitchen built in 1910), and I'm pretty sure three layers of linoleum tile under the top ugly layer of linoleum tile lurks asbestos - the silent killer.

Of course, this is precisely how Chris and I could afford a 4 bedroom single family home in the city of Chicago. And really, really, I'm not upset. It's funny. It's a challenge. But more importantly, it's at least 10 blog posts. Seriously. Get ready for some fun before and afters. Here are a few befores to whet your appetite.

Que aprovechen...

Someone was definitely murdered on these stairs

My new project. Ridding the kitchen of three layers of linoleum tile, the bottom one most likely contains asbestos.

I don't mean to poke fun at your taste if this is your sort of thing. There is a whole lot of over the top brass going on at the new place. And this light? I almost hit MY head on it when I walk through the dining room. Note the brass sconce on the wall. Multiply these guys by about 10, add some 80's track lighting (big and clunky), and you've got the lighting mood of the place.

This is the least obscene ceiling fan in the whole house. I'm not sure what to say about the wallpaper. This is the kitchen.

My mom is coming to town tomorrow to see the house for the first time. I tried to cut the grass to make it more presentable for her but my trimmer/edger broke down. She doesn't know it but she's here to help me remove some wallpaper and figure out what to do with the kitchen floor. All the floors will be refinished next Monday, and I'm hoping that the sanding and the excessive fumes of the polyurethane will improve the overall odor of the place.

Stay tuned!

This Moment

My weekly post. A moment from our week we'd like to share and remember. Have a great weekend!