Snoop!

Ok, not really, cause I'm posting the pictures.
I've had several folks come to check out the house and they ooh and ahh appropriately. But few bravely open, or ask to open, the cupboards and frankly that's my favorite part! Art got a few more things installed the last few weeks and I am officially completely unpacked. (except for the missing 9x13 pan, where is that thing??)

 Fancy sliding roll-outs for the food pantry...

 Dedicated baking roll-outs, I still need a couple of organizational boxes, but haven't found the perfect - affordable- ones yet.

 Pan storage and can pantry - cans and pans - it just makes sense. I feel as though I need more baking pans, it looks so sparse. Others (Art) might disagree.

 Down below are pull out garbage, recycling and dog food. Can I just say that I love having all my dog food (an entire Costco bag fits) in one rolling location, it makes life so much easier!

 Big pan storage in the pan garage...

 Office station; still needs some organizational features. Notice the perfect fitting step stool in the bottom cupboard, it's essential - hidden - and necessary in a full height kitchen.

 That is so much storage! One day I calculated the cubic footage and we determined we have more storage on one wall that in my whole old kitchen!

 Drawers - soft close - it's awesome. Even Grandpa-Great was impressed by soft close. Art is building me the peg system to hold the plate and bowl stacks so they don't slide, but it's pretty amazing already.

 The few 'uppers' we have...

 Our very fancy pull out pot and spice rack.

 Yep, the bottom two rows are all sprinkles. It's an obsession. I blame my mother.

 Susans

 One for 'metals' - like pans, metal bowls, colander, etc. The other for plastic and glass. yes, this is a very odd way to organize, and I'm not sure it's the best. But when I'm sorting bowls I like to choose the type by material so it just seemed like they should be organized by material. I'm weird.

 Sink cabinet! This was the last to get doors and trim, it was tricky. Not sure why I didn't take an open picture - maybe because it's where I keep all my top secret stuff - maybe because I'm pregnant and after taking 15 pictures with the doors open, I forgot.

And that's my kitchen!! HOORAY! Did you look carefully and notice there is still a top cupboard full of tools? I would worry, but I don't know what I'm going to put in there. I really want a food processor, and I think it's because I now have a place for it. We actually have three cupboards that are nearly empty. We're debating shelves but haven't decided so they sit empty, or keep tools - cause everyone needs a chisel set in the kitchen.

Get the hint??

Mother's Day

Every mothers day for the last few years a dear friend has stopped by our house with a treat, a silly little gift and a beautiful note. While the treats were always much appreciated, it was her notes that always meant the most. 

She had tried for many years to get pregnant. They had been through all the treatments, drugs, stress and pain of never being able to conceive. For all those years the one day that was always the hardest was Mothers Day, especially at church. The lessons were packed with stories of motherhood and joys of being a mother. Around every corner you were being reminded of what you didn't, and couldn't have. She felt that for many years, and after we lost our little one she knew what I was going through. Her notes always talked of faith and joy in Christs love for us. She reminded me that the Lord had a plan, and whatever it may be, he knew what was best for us. And she always made a great joke about how it was ok to sit home in your jammies, eat ice cream and cry if that's what you felt like doing.

Last week I thought of her and the fact that I wouldn't be seeing her this Mothers Day. Not only because of distance, but because I wouldn't need her pick me up this year.

I sit here in awe of the blessing that has been brought to us this year. For so long I have hungered to truly celebrate this day, to celebrate more than just my mother and all the mother's around me, but myself as a mother. It always felt selfish to be sad on a day of such joy, but the emptiness was overwhelming. This year, I am overwhelmed with joy. No, I didnt wake up to breakfast in bed, and a fresh bouquet of roses, but I did wake up to a rounding belly fluttering with life. There is no better gift than that, and for today I can celebrate my first real Mothers Day.

The Cure for Pregnancy

I've figured out the cure for pregnancy. It's taken me 17 weeks, but I've got it.

Tag-team Baby Carrying

It's that simple. We merely need to be able to move the fetus from one parent to another as needed. I do believe some parameters need to be set. Such as, baby can only be moved from parent to parent, no substitutions in other relatives, friends, or hired strangers. (For DNA/genetic reasons of course) Also, for the sake of creating a stable home, fetus can only be moved once a month (unless emergency situations arise, like one parent gets the opportunity to fly to Nepal and climb Mt. Everest (not that I have that opportunity, but if I did, I would so be tagging in Art))
Don't you think it would be much easier this way?

You see, Art is exhausted. He's been working on this house every day since December. He's done - -ready for a break. But he can't take one because he's the only one working. But me, I've been sitting on my butt (or crouching over the toilet) for months and I am SO ready to tag in and take my turn.

Tonight he had to mow the lawn. I am the lawn-mower in our house, primarily because he is seriously allergic to grass, but also because I don't mind doing it - it's like vacuuming outside, it just looks so nice when you're done. But he says mowing in my condition is not acceptable so he mowed, and I watched Lawn Crashers on HGTV. I would have traded him places in a milli-second, the allergic repercussions alone would be so worth it.

Our basement is also ready to be painted, which is wonderful, except Art isn't much of a painter. I LOVE to get up in the early hours of a Saturday morning, put on a great podcast and go paint in the quiet. I'd have the whole basement done in a weekend. Except, he says it will hurt my already aching back and the fumes won't be good for me, so I can't paint.

Can't we just trade???

He would love to sit and rest all day. He would be so happy to sleep in, then wake for breakfast, but crawl back in bed for 30 minutes to digest so you don't throw up breakfast. He would love to be unable to walk anywhere because you have no breath. He would love eating every two hours, and having to eat things like entire bags of nuts because you're low in protein. I don't think he'd even mind peeing every 30 minutes, it's so much easier for him!

So, if we could just make the whole uterus switching thing possible pregnancy would be cured and life would be so much easier.

Moving Along

One of the less exciting parts of my job is being a proctor for end-of-level testing. That means I make sure every student is given the test equally and ethically, and also has the time they need to finish. Soooo, my afternoons are often spent sitting at my computer being quiet while slow processors finish. I've done about a million hours of work while I sit here, so today I thought I would blog instead. Sue me - this is boring.

So here's an update - After christening the toilet at the new house I have yet to throw up again (knocking on wood extensively). I still don't feel great and have to be very careful about my eating and resting, but keeping food and water down is nice. I have discovered that this baby is a vegetarian and fruitivore. It's all I crave and pretty much all I eat. I did have a piece of steak and a hamburger this weekend. The steak was good, the hamburger was too much. I guess I have to increase my protein intake a bit. But since I don't really feel up for a lot of cooking I'm mostly just eating avocados. (An avocado and tomato sandwich is my current favorite thing). The other major change on the baby front is the arrival of my belly. In the last two weeks my stomach popped out and there is now no hiding of my pregnancy. Every once in a while I look down and get a little surprised, I don't expect to see a round belly poking out - then I just remind myself I'm really pregnant and this is a very common symptom.

As for the house..we moved in!! I made it through the play (by the skin of my teeth and with a lot of miracles from above), and the following morning we moved in. My mom cleaned up the new house and was in charge of organizing. Kyle, Bud, Josh, my dad, and Art did all the loading and hauling. I sat on the  front porch holding Baby Will and directed traffic. It was really hard to sit and do nothing while everyone got more tired and sweaty by the minute. When we got unloaded my mom and I slowly organized a few things and got us semi-functional. We went back to Butch and Sharons for the night because we hadn't touched the kitchen, or brought any food - kind of an essential for me. The following morning we packed up our stuff at B & S's house and prepared to move out. Kassie & Heidi, and crew, showed up and finished packing us and loading the cars. We left Kassie and Andre to clean B&S's house and we headed to our house to unload. Erik, Shelby, and Roxy unloaded the clothes and then went to playing while Heidi and I got the rest of things organized. Everyone worked hard all day and by evening we were settled. Not completely unpacked and organized...just settled. We're still not completely unpacked and organized but we're getting closer every day. Art still has some projects to do in the kitchen (like drawers and shelves) so we can't put the kitchen away, we're living on semi-functional. We still have to finish base and crown molding. The basement is done except for paint and then we can move everything from the garage into the basement and finally get it settled. It's finals week though so Art has been pretty focused on studying, but the projects will get done and until then I'm finally living in my new house!!

Now that I've been really wordy, and you've probably skimmed. I'll post pictures, cause that's what I like about blogs.

 See, there was a play! We made it. It was really cute and the kids did well, they now ask me daily what next years play will be.

 The bedroom is much lighter now with a big white bed...we still haven't hung pictures, too indecisive.

 My mom tenderly cared for our green plants the last 6 months, now I have to keep them alive...oh dear.

 The kitchen is slowly getting settled, but I do love how it looks...and the counter space oh how I have missed counter space!

 All knick-knacks are currently in the living room, as we haven't hung our other shelves, so it feels a little too knick-knacky for me. My mother would think quite the opposite.

 Again, we need to hang more pictures, but we'll get there.

 The new half walls are all done, except for the wood top which will match the kitchen...one more thing to come...

Art did get my lower cabinet hardware installed. It's so lovely to have space to organize and access my stuff. As soon as I get my pantry up and running, I'm going to bake again!

And that is where we're at now.

2 weeks

It's hard to believe I am writing this, but in less than 2 weeks I will be living in my new house. My new house I bought 6 months ago - but whatever. I'm going to live there, in all it's new remodeled glory!
Art has worked his butt off to get things finished, and we still have much to accomplish in the final two weeks (like putting the entire basement back together - it looks a bit like a barren hole).
But the move in date has been set for April 21st (in case you want to come help lift heavy boxes). Yes, April 21st, the day after the play. Oh yeah, that, you know the most chaotic moment of the year when I feel like I'm going to explode from being pulled in so many directions. Well that and it's the first play at this school, and the kids aren't very well behaved, and my assistant director got a job in Alpine and left me a week ago, and I have yet to build one ounce of scenery, and I don't know how my mics are going to work, and rehearsals run until 4:45 which is the time of day when I feel like I'm going to die. Oh, I should add to the equation the fact that I'm pregnant (I know, I know, no clever, cute, or heartfelt blog entry announcing. But I'm tired, and sick. And my family knows, and the Hens know which means everyone knows - it's just public knowledge now), with morning sickness that lasts all day and climaxes from about 4:30 until I can finally get to sleep. I should be at the turning point where I start to feel better, but I'm pretty sure, just for the sake of being 'funny' I won't feel better for two more weeks.
So somehow, in the next two weeks we have to get the house finished (by 'we' I do not mean me, I haven't done a thing there for months), I have to pull together a play - somehow, and I have to figure out how I'm going to stay vertical for the two evening performances (I don't do vertical after 5, unless I'm running to the bathroom).
The point of this blog - hooray it's all coming to an end - and therefore, pray for me.

Sneak Peek

This only primer, and only a photo emailed from Art's phone, but it gives you a peek at what the final product will look like...so exciting