Grief

It's been an emotional week for me.  The loss of my Grandma Hoisington wasn't a surprise since we knew she wasn't well, but that energy I've spent thinking back to all of the amazing memories I have of her has been draining.  

 Being at my grandparent's house was always a safe place to be a kid for me.  Things were so different there.  My grandma was so amazing, a crafty and domestic role model.  And she was stronger than most of the other women I knew.  

The good thing that comes from a funeral is the time with family.

Catching up with cousins, and second cousins, and aunts and uncles..... just made it a joyful trip.  

And this girl made it extra enjoyable.  She's the sweetest baby I know.  

As I returned to South Dakota and to normal life I'm still reflecting on things and looking forward to my appointment with my shrink!

Our School

Friday was our 100th day of school.  All year we have been keeping count on our little caterpillar.  

Now that we are more than half way through, I have lots of thoughts. Nate's thriving.  We have days that are a struggle, and in general Nate just doesn't like doing his math work.  I've had to learn how to adapt our curriculum to get him past this.  He knows the stuff, he just doesn't have fun doing the repetition... So I try to spice it up, and I'm getting better. 

While we were taking down our caterpillar Nate said, "We should turn our caterpillar into a butterfly now!"   I think we should definitely have a countdown to summer, I'll have to figure something out!  

One Last Peek

Here is one little peek at the bathroom before we finish it all up and I'll take proper after photos... 

a peek

I wish I had the patience to wait for a huge reveal, but I wanted to share a little peek at our progress so far in the shower.  

We put up the tile last weekend, then waited the recommended 48 hours to grout.  I have to say I've never heard Dave complain about a task until the grouting began.  The only word that fits would be whiny.   It was odd.  But the grout is done now.  

I just want to mention that this DIY was done without a wet saw.  We had the guys at Lowe's cut 3/8" off ten of the tiles for the back wall.  Otherwise we got by with a file and a little saw file thinger.  I will share more on our experience at Lowe's soon.  

We are headed there again this evening to get a tile and grout sealer, and a can of paint for the walls.   

Next paycheck we are going to buy some peel and stick flooring tiles.  This is a glimpse of the flooring issue we have currently in our master bathroom. 

The floor vent cover can't even set in the hole because the flooring is all rippled and raised. 

Yep, it's horrendous.  

So Dave has some caulking to do after or before the sealer(I'm not sure).  The shower fixtures need to go up.  We are going to reuse the mixing fixture because new seem to be super expensive.... I would like to find a new knob at least, but it can wait.  The shower rod should arrive by Monday.  I cannot wait to take a damn shower in my bathroom!

Wish us luck!  This DIY crap is a real challenge. 

A Huge Undertaking

There is a major reason for the fact you probably have never seen our master bathroom.  Even if you've been over, you were probably rushed by it on the tour.  The only photos I have of the bathroom are from our walk through before we bought it.  

The reason being... it was a sore spot for us.  Beyond the wall paper and the way shrunken vinyl flooring and the outdated fixtures we had a major issue.  

 While it is spacious... we hated it.  Mainly I hated it, and me reminding Dave of my hatred for it made him also hate it.... Misery loves company and all that.  The major problem is that there was no shower.  And for someone who takes a bath twice a year that is a real bummer. The only reason it wasn't a deal breaker was that  thankfully it is plumbed for a shower.  The walls just weren't waterproofed.  

And while that sounds easy to do, for non experienced house poor folks like us it was not so easy.  Stuck between deciding to pay out the butt to have it tiled, or biting the bullet and trying our hand at DIY tiling, our budget insisted that we DIY.  Shoot we painted our HOUSE.  We can learn tile right?  God, lets hope so.

Friday night we tore down the drywall.  Saturday night we put up cement board and mud-ed the seams and screw holes.  Today after church we spent a good part of the afternoon at Lowe's picking out tile and the grout and the tools we need.  

Tonight, we will mix the tile mastic and begin this terrifying job. 

Thankfully our neighbor Gary is a well of knowledge and advice and support.  When he was checking in on our progress this afternoon he asked what was written on the mirror in the bathroom.  "In every situation I am to be CONTENT" I told him.   I've been reminding myself of this when I'm in the upsetting bathroom for the past year and a half.  But I'm thankful this will be taken care of and I will truly be content with the bathroom soon. **fingers crossed**

Her New Year's Slim Down

Bonnie was beginning to look kinda chubby.

 Before....

After

Don't you wish you could slim down this much in 4 hours.

Looking Back

Last year when 2013 began I was so happy to leave 2012 far behind.  

However, 2013 was a good one, and I don't mind looking back. 

We have been together the whole year.

We gardened the shit out of our veggie garden.

We made the most of April.....

...and October snow storms.

Preschool ended.

Kindergarten began.

Nate got an extra birthday party.

We painted this mother f-ing house.

We healed.

Nate tried golf....

.....t-ball....

..tennis...

....and ice skating.

We enjoyed a Tigers game...

....A Lions game...

....a Rush game (or two)...

....and a NASCAR race.

Dave reenlisted

We had lots of fun.

And we found a great church.  

Other high points were (in no particular order)- Me finishing 24 quilts, Dave finishing his associates, Nate learning to stand on his head, buying a Canned Heat album, Nate learning to read, Anna's eyelid tumor shrinking away, Pioneer Woman salsa in our fridge all the time, Bon and Dave getting out into the field a bunch, Nate and Dave going ice fishing, switching to bunny ears tv, Nate completing four levels of ice skating/hockey, redoing nearly every room in our house, putting in an awesome backyard pathway, getting our grass green and nice, me finally getting a grip on my anxiety, gaining a hamster named Oreo/Shadow, and a nice visit from my mom.

Low points- a pet bird croaked, we lost a tree in the Atlas blizzard, and Bonnie got skunked.

Best wishes for 2014!