Day Laborers

Since Jim and I bought our house in August 2006, we have slowly been redecorating every room. This house had every wall covered in either wallpaper or wood paneling. It's been a slow process, but enjoyable for the most part. We've had our surprises and they always lead to learning something new.

With a new member of our family on the way, it is finally time to tackle the last room - previously known as the guest room or junk room. The photo below gives the general idea of what the room looked like before the deconstruction started. This photo already has the room moved from "junk room" status back to "guest room" status (sorta).


We were able give some items to our church's rummage sale and purged a lot of stuff we just didn't need*.

*Anyone wanna buy some luau stuff?

Those few items that still remain started huddling together in fear of being "next".


The cats have never been allowed in this room - it's been our fuzz-free zone. But we're letting them explore (with a chaperon) while we work on the room.

They're a little shocked...

...and a little cautious.

My mom came over to help tear down the last of the wood paneling. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be rid of this stuff. It's like putting bandaids over owies and leaving them there to rot. Ick! Ack! Just say "no" to wood paneling. There were at least two coats of paint on this stuff.
There's mom. She's a trooper.

It's so messy to pull down that we had to cover the room in plastic. The plaster falls of the walls and the ceiling rains its popcorn.

And if you look on the wall just to the left of the window, you'll see kind of a white patchiness. This is faded evidence of a wall hanging from BEFORE the paneling was put up. Owie + Bandaid = ICK!!

Not to mention, nailing in wood paneling takes - obviously - nails. Lots and lots of nails. What do nails do? They make holes. Lots and lots of holes.

Holes that have to be spackled. Jim and I have become pros at this process and have the system down. Our new recruit (above) is being trained in the art of spackling an overabundance of wood-paneling-nail-holes. It will look good on her resume.

Windows are also fun. The trim on all our windows needs to be redone, but we haven't cared enough to do anything about it. I don't know how it started this time, but Jim really started inspecting the window in the new baby's room. Inspecting led to removing pieces. Removing pieces led to discovery. Discovery led to "new project."

Evidently the window is smaller than the window hole and the way it was jimmied by previous owners was - not surprisingly - wacky. So Jim is going to make it better. Not put a bandaid on it, but surgically repair the problem - cure the disease. It will make it possible to hang the blinds back up the way they are supposed to be hung.

Unfortunately, this means the room will take longer. I don't think there's much more I can do until the window is done, then he has to finish the walls. Then I get to paint. Luckily by then we should know the gender of Pudge so we can have a more specific plan.

Here's my crew. My day laborers.

They work for food...

And love...

Ode to the Bathroom

Ode to the bathroom
You are my friend
On you I know
I can depend

No matter how still
I want to be
One thing's for sure
I gotta pee

12 Week Pictures

FAQs - Prenatal Version

As is expected, there is quite a list of questions presented to a new mom-to-be. So why not cover them here, too?

When are you due?
October 25

How are you feeling?
Pretty good. Mostly tired ALL THE TIME!!! I think I've had most of the expected symptoms, just not as severe as I would have expected. The only exception is that I haven't really had any food cravings or aversions.

Any morning sickness?
Well, not in the morning. It tends to hit between 2-3pm and last off and on until I go to bed. I've never thrown up, but have felt pretty bad some nights. It might already be going away as I haven't had it since last Saturday. But of course, now that I've said that, maybe I'm feeling a little icky right now. Great.

Any food cravings?
Just "see food". I see food and I want it. I'm not kidding. Foods I haven't even thought about in ages will be mentioned by someone or pass my eye-line and now I have to have it. The other day I had lunch at a little restaurant and a picture of a milk shake was staring at me the whole time I was eating. I had to have it. So I did.

Are you going to find out if it's a boy or a girl?
Yes - much to my dad's chagrin

How soon can you find out if it's a boy or girl?
I don't know. No one has told me lately and I haven't bothered finding out on my own. I've heard 20 weeks. I've heard four months. I've heard five months. Can someone please enlighten me and save me from researching it? I've got enough to read. Thank you so much!!

Are you thinking about names yet? (or alternatively: What names are you thinking about?)
Names are already decided. They've been decided for a couple years. Both boy/girl options bring in family names for the middle names. While we are openly sharing our names when asked, I don't think I will post them here. Gotta keep some suspense in cyberworld, right?

That's all I can think of for now. Do you have other typical questions I missed? Let me know and maybe I'll do another installment.

Pudge's Debut

Jim and I are proud and happy to finally officially announce that we are expecting a little surprise to join our family in October. I am currently at the end of my eleventh week and we had our second ultrasound yesterday. Our little Pudge (as we are currently lovingly calling the little one) is about 2 inches big and we could see the arms moving. The doctor even gave a little poke which resulted in a somersault.

There will be much to share and experience and I am looking forward to all of it. I think I have been reluctant to do much posting here lately because our news was what I wanted to talk about, but we had to wait an appropriate amount of time...so I just didn't want to talk about anything else. Can you blame me?