The BEFORE pictures, master bath

Master bath demo started a few days after the kitchen. The plan here is to make it all one big room rather than a small bathroom with a closet/dressing area. There will be a door that closes between the bedroom and bathroom area, and we are adding a tub and a 2nd sink. We will also get a fairly sizeable linen cabinet plus enclosed closet and drawer space. We are covering up the existing window, but we never used it anyway.

Bathroom:

Lynette's old closet:

Dan's old closet:

Looking from the dressing area into the bathroom:

The BEFORE pictures, kitchen

Demo on the kitchen started June 23rd. Here are the plans and "before" pictures (but after we took all the stuff out of the rooms, so they look way neater than they ever did in real life.)

The plan for the kitchen involves taking down the walls between the kitchen and breakfast nook, widening the entryways from both sides, and adding an island.

Breakfast nook:

Kitchen:

Only the dishwasher is staying; all other appliances will be replaced. Floor will be oak to match what exists in most of the rest of the house. Countertops will be quartz. Beige tile backsplash with pops of accent tiles. Cabinets going all the way to the ceiling, in natural maple, Shaker style.

Halloween

Yesterday, while at work, I realized we didn't have any pumpkins, which means we hadn't carved anything. Husband couldn't pick one up because he was going to the Cavs' game, and I was working later than normal. I called home, asked the 8 year old if he wanted to carve one, and he said "Yes" (of course). Note: The only reason I asked was because I was envisioning the day of Halloween and him realizing we didn't have one. Parenting is all about choosing the lesser of two evils.

So, I ran into a grocery store on my way home (at 7:00), picked out a pumpkin in about 45 seconds, paid, walked as quickly as I could to my car carrying a 20 lb item, got home at 7:30, called the boy in to put out newspapers, and we carved. He was in bed only a little late. It all worked, and no one cared that it was the night before. I'm sure it was expensive as pumpkins go. We didn't traipse out to a farm and choose the one that spoke to us. And I kept my sanity. Good enough parenting.

Simplifying life

I realized something recently. I've spent the past almost 20 years accumulating things to make a comfortable and interesting home for my family. In particular, the quantity of child-related items increased probably exponentially every year since Greyson was born. However, in the last two or so years, I've been getting rid of things. Apparently, around 2009 was the apex of number of material possessions in my life. And I'm being brutal. Like those warehouse clearance ads on TV, "Everything must go!"

I bring this up because recent events have spurred this cleansing process on substantially. I keep track of our budget and finances with an online service (mint.com in case anyone is interested), and I see where we could cut costs. We have some specific improvements we want to do to the house, so any extra money saved gets us closer to those, of course. In fact, every time I go into the basement and feel the 20 degree change in temperature, I start looking for money in the sofa to get us closer to the gas fireplace insert down there! Anyway, one thing we want to cut is the newspaper delivery. Dan mentioned to Greyson that we are switching to just weekend delivery, and Greyson said, "But Dad, I read the comics every day. And I'm following the Dimora trial!" Now, I'M not even following that trial (short, short version - corruption and racketeering within the city government, or something). And I certainly don't want him to! So, we'll be saving $22 every month or so AND we get the bonus of not having to debrief our 11 year old.

The other recent even that occurred was a nasty sewer smell in the unfinished side of our basement. Really, it was nauseating and hit you straight on when you opened that door. I poured water down the drain, as I learned I was supposed to, and then poured some more down when that didn't seem to help, and after about 2 weeks the smell diminished. However, there was still a smell down there, and I called a plumber to come and take a look. When he said he could come on Wednesday morning, the day I "work from home", I stopped what I was doing and cleared out a pathway so he could get to the drain and other pertinent areas easily. WELL, I found the source of the rest of the smell. Not one but TWO dead mice. Right by all our stuff that was piled up in and next to bins. GAHHHH! So, I got a trash bag and some bleach and went to town while trying not to gag and/or go into convulsions from the disgustingness. And the first thing on my list to do when the semester ends is, once again, go through the basement and attic and really clear out everything we don't absolutely need. My mom may have to make sure she is nowhere near here, because it pains her to watch me throw out things that maybe will be used at some point. Granted, I do give a lot of things away, but let me tell you, if I think a mouse has even breathed on an item, it is going straight to the trash. Honestly, it's very freeing.

Finally, a third way that I am simplifying things for myself (in the long run - it actually makes more work for me right now) is by encouraging Greyson's interest in cooking. Yesterday he (with my help) made Asian lettuce wraps. And they were GOOD. Unfortunately, I was so thrilled (and hungry) that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. If I can get him to start dinner before I get home, things could seriously calm down around here. And maybe I won't have to hit the wine and chocolate quite so hard while keeping an eye out for nasty rodents. I can dream...

Facebook killed my blog

I knew it had been a while since I posted, but I didn't realize my last post was BEFORE THANKSGIVING! And, I have composed probably 30 posts in my head between then and now. But, thanks to Facebook, I've been able to put my mini-thoughts (and some pictures) into a public venue that 1) reaches many more people than my blog ever will, and 2) only takes about 30 seconds to accomplish. I fear this whole sitting down and spending time on something that isn't directly family or work related is no longer an option for me. So, I'm going to try to just post once a month and see how that goes.

And, since I am actually on a deadline for something else but decided to take a short break and eat lunch at my desk while perusing the web and then decided I had to finally post, I'm going to summarize what has been going on since the Mohawk of 2011 in mostly pictures.

There's been a lot of this:

And this:

 International Women's Air & Space Museum - in CLEVELAND!

At the dentist's office. He asked me to take this.

And a bit of this:

As much of this as we could get:

We're very proud of this:

All-school geography bee finalist! 

He did forget to wear his official t-shirt, but luckily that wasn't necessary.

And most recently, this happened*:

*Who said my baby could turn seven?? By the way, it was a weekend birthday extravaganza, consisting of taking cookies to school on Friday, going to The Melting Pot for dinner that evening, a birthday party at Young Chef's Academy where he and eight friends & relatives got to learn how to make frosting and decorate their own cakes, and then brunch on Sunday at Fire, Food and Drink (seriously - check out their weekend brunch menu - it is amazing). I don't think we can afford for him to turn eight.

So, that's two months in a picture-nutshell. Hope you feel satisfied. Or something. Whatever, I have to go check into what's happening on Facebook now.

He finally earned his mohawk

In case you don't use Facebook and haven't already seen this notice, and especially if you'll be seeing my older child soon and want to be prepared, here are warning pictures:

This stood up to gale-force winds on Sunday, but we haven't been able to replicate the height or stamina since then. Still working on technique and especially on not needing Mom's help! Today was the first day his classmates saw it, so I have to wait to hear what happened. He can actually thank his teacher in particular for us finally giving the go-ahead, because she also thought it was a good idea. Personally, I'm just loving that his hair is out of his face and it doesn't take him 15 minutes to wash and rinse anymore!

Fall doings

This is the first year I had to miss Halloween. I teach a class on Monday evenings, and it takes practically an act of God (or your chosen deity) to cancel a class, so I figured claiming all my kids' Reese's cups wasn't sufficient. Apparently, the usual fun was had and I still got some chocolate when I got home, so all was well. Dan very kindly emailed me the following pics to keep me me in the loop:

In case you can't tell, this is Wolverine and an IRS audit agent. We're still not sure which is scarier. Responses on Facebook were mixed, although I think the tax man had a small lead.

The one on the left is Reece's design with my elbow grease. The one on the right was Dan's and Greyson's creation, which I think turned out really well, especially considering neither one had ever tackled that intricate a design.

In other news, the kids had Tuesday off for election day (their schools are voting places, so this makes things easier all around), so I took the day to work from home and it was BEAUTIFUL. At least 68 degrees and sunny, so we biked to the library and then played at a playground near us that happens to have a tree that Reece can now climb. The boys even sat outside and read after we got back (and Reece ate his lunch). I think we were all refreshed after our mini-break.