Friday, November 29, 2013

A Week's Worth of Work



A week ago yesterday we closed on our new house.
And what a week it has been!

The Quick-Read Version:


  • Thursday we closed.
  • Friday we pulled out all the carpet.
  • Saturday we started on tack strip and staple removal.
  • Sunday I went down by myself (Blake had to work on a presentation for work) and I spent some time picking paint colors, visiting a friend, and pulling tack strips.
  • Monday we got all the upstairs tacks and staples completely out.
  • Tuesday we rented a drum stander and and edger to sand the floors and Blake started sanding.
  • Wednesday we  did the edging and pulled the remaining downstairs tack strips and ripped out some parquet ties.


The Long-Read Version: 

I told you about pulling the carpet.  
That was kind of invigorating.  I felt strong and capable of anything.  It feels so nice to get that nasty stuff out of the house, so good to see that hardwood floor.  

Then it's time to get out the small stuff.  
That's kind of deflating.  Its hard to get staples out of hardwood.  They come out of other wood pretty easily, but hardwood got its name for a reason.  And the staples are old so they break off a lot of the time and then you have to get out the vice gripes to grip onto this tiny smidgen of a staple left. It is time consuming and tedious.  
The tools of my week.  

But I did like getting out the stack strips.  I would take this tiny pry bar and hammer it underneath the nails or staples holding it down and the pry the tack strip up.  I don't know why I liked that, but it kind of put me in a trance and I got to feel accomplished during it.  Plus like I mentioned before, I was craving some alone time since having two kids, time to just let my mental stream of continuousness roam, and this was that time.  
That day we had a flooring guy come and give us an estimate on refinishing our hardwood floors.  (We had two more scheduled to come give us one on Monday.)  
He quoted us $1,600 to sand the floors.  And it would have been $2,400 in total if he sanded, stained and finished the floors.  
At this point we weren't sure if we would have someone do it for us.  We (mostly I) were nervous we could ruin our floors if we did it ourself.  

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Work has begun!


Day 1: 
We ripped out the carpets!  


We started out not really knowing what we were doing, and not knowing how long this would take.
So we started just pulling back all the carpet in the whole room at once, as well as the padding, then struggling to get it under control to roll up.  

Thursday, November 21, 2013

We bought it!!

Today was the day!

We bought it!
Its ours!



I'm totally excited.

I actually went through a small, going-into-denial/shock phase for a couple days there where I thought it wasn't happening, or something, so I started to not be excited for a minute.

But the moment we got in there, just us, via our own key...I was giddy.

I love that house!

It needs tons of work.
And it smells bad.
But I love it.
:)

Tomorrow we head down and start things...


Welllll...

actually.....

We had a final walk through at 11:00am.
And then our closing was at 3:00pm.

During our walk through I was dying to know what exactly was under the carpet in the living room.
I figured it was plywood subfloor, but I HAD to know.
I asked Blake to peak under there, and before we knew it, Blake had tore up the entire living room carpet!
lol
It was great.
Technically not supposed to happen, but well, basically awesome.
(It will make for funny "before" photos on here.)
Oh and it was just subflooring. But now I know! The mystery has died. And that is good.


Thus far we have bought cleaning stuff, ceiling pant, and work gloves, and utility knives and pry bars (for carpet/ tack strip removal).
Oh...and new toilet seats.
I have NEVER seen toilet seats like these -- seriously moldy. I took pictures, they were that scary.

But I am also excited about our new toilet seats because for the down stairs bathroom and our main upstairs bathroom we got special toilet seats with a kid sized seat that is attached and flips down and up so we don't have to worry about putting on and taking off potty seats any more! Super excited about that. 

Anyway.
Photos to come.

The day went really well.
I've never bought a house before. Blake had already bought a house before we got married, so this was my first closing.
I didn't know what to expect.
But the Bank lady was so nice that I wanted to keep her and have her hang out with me all the time. And everyone there was really nice. It was seriously an enjoyable event. Kinda felt like a party or something.


When we got back there were a couple things we found that I totally missed about the house before  (we always had been kind of rushed when looking around.) 

I was super excited to find that the main bathroom upstairs has a closet in it -- I had no idea! It gets hidden behind the door when it opens. So that's awesome.

AND there is a closet in the garage touching the laundry room wall that we had no idea about. I actually had never set foot in the garage. And we had been discussing adding something like that ourselves, for the purpose of bumping out the laundry room into it just enough to have some sorting space -- so it was kinda like the house read our mind and just made one for us. :) I know, not really, but it felt like it!

So yeah...

I'll stop rambling now, and get ready for bed and our big day of carpet ripping tomorrow.

(Oh yeah, we nixed the plans to paint first...I thought for Jasmine's allergies its more important to make sure the floors are done, and then I figured if some paint drips on the floor we can actually just wipe it right up, its no big deal. So carpets go first!)

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Almost there...

Yesterday I packed up all the stuff on our walls...art and mirrors, etc, and carefully tetris-ed them into the van.
Before/After

(I did this on my own -- with Blake at work and the girls at home with me.)
In the morning, as I started, I was optimistic and excited.
By the time Blake was on his way home I was crabbier than ever.
I am not good at moming AND doing tasks. I seriously cannot multitask those two -- which sucks, since its kinda part of the job. Sigh. I spend so much time feeling under qualified.

Then we drove from IA to IL and got to my mom's at 1:30am.

Today we are hanging out. And tomorrow we are closing on our house. (!!!!)


ALL that said....
I basically just wanted to write a post more about my blog and where it's going.

If you started following me whilst I was in the middle of "preggo mania" and therefore your interest in this blog is centered on pregnancy stuff -- I totally get that. And I wanted to tell you that, while I do plan to blog (a lot) about this house. I do have a bunch more stuff in my head about pregnancy and such that I mean to blog about....as time permits. So don't assume I'm just abandoning the trail I've been blazing.
One thing I plan to get to eventually is talking through a bit more of my emotional recovery from a c-section. So...if that appeals to you...just know it's in the works.
I'll just be pretty busy for a while.
So I'm not really sure how this blog will function for a while there.

I hope you stick around.
But if you don't...I understand.

See on the flip side!



Saturday, November 16, 2013

Pick a Color, Any Color

While on Pinterest I discovered (here) that Martha Stewart Living's paint colors at Home Depot are designed to help you create a cohesive color pallet for your ENTIRE house.

You had me at "Hello."

I am obsessed with color.
I can't get enough of them, and their nuances.

When I was pregnant with Jasmine and getting her room ready, I literally went to every paint place in town to get every single swatch of blue there was, because I had to fine the right one.

(The paint guy in one place was baffled that I'd pick blue for a girl. But It made sense to me. It was what I called Cinderella blue, and the room was decked in vintage flowers.)

That may have been slightly hormonally driven, but honestly that's basically just me and color on a normal basis.

So given that we are trying to get a lot of this new house done before we move in (well not done-done, but livable-done) I knew we'd be painting right away.

You see the carpets have all been utterly ruined by gross renter's dogs. So we have to pull all the carpets and start fresh. (Except the family room which was replaced after the dogs left.)

I figure we might as well use those carpets as a paint drop cloths before they go!

So because of the time crunch I was leaning towards just painting everything upstairs white. So it would be clean and fresh and I wouldn't have to think. (Because get me thinking and my brain goes wild and doesn't stop until I think its perfect. Which I wasn't sure I had time for.)

And while I still am leaning towards a lot of white up there, this concept of whole house color pallet is opening up new things to me on my time crunch.



Forgive the ipad for ruining these paint chips -- they look much better in person.


They have it figured out where there are 4 different symbols at the top. If you grab any color with a matching symbol, your house won't feel like it has fighting colors.


See that matching asterisk in the upper right hand corner? These all flow well together.



The home depot by us is 30 mins away -- everything seems to be. 
So I had to ask Blake to watch the girls and I ran down today.
I wasn't sure what I was gonna do, take one of everything?
But I got there and just started in the grays.
I (like everyone else) am really feeling the grays.
Call me a lemming. But I just really do think grays are a wonderful neutral. I'm soo done with cream. Our rental here is ALL cream. And I've never liked cream. I'd much rather do white.
So grey feels so decadent when my eyes rest on it.

Martha's stuff in the grays all seems to have either the star symbol or the asterisk symbol.
Since I've only been in our soon to be house like 10mins combined I don't know for sure what will work. So I grabbed one of each of the colors with those two symbols.
It was a fatty pile, but I was excited about it.


After I got home, I started holding up the swatches in front of photos I have of the house, while sitting by bright windows.

I started with the trickiest room. The family room with the red/brown brick fireplace.
For now we are gonna leave the fireplace as is.
I have no idea what I want to do with it long term, and the house has a painted white fireplace in the living room -- so I'm not going straight for the paint here. (Plus Blake is a guy and they always wanna try and keep brick and wood original....we'll see.) (But I WILL be fixing that brass fireplace cover. Brass is back, but not like that. And I'm still figuring out that mantel.)

So I'm looking for a color that makes me happy next to brick.

I went through both piles and found the ones that work for me.

Next I moved on to the entry way/ upstairs hallway. Because I feel like that is the most fundamental color of them all. I picked out the good ones for that spot out of both symbols.

After looking around for a few more rooms it became clear I was leaning towards the asterisks.
The stars have more of a blue dominance, and the asterisks have more of a green. Its hard to really explain because they both have each color -- and all colors. But the stars are more of a real blue, and the asterisks are more of a soft blue often with hints of green.
I wasn't sure I wanted to commit,
but eventually I basically did.

I did rescue out the grays from the stars, because a grey is a neutral. And I get that they have under tones, but I just had to save them just in case I need them.

I can't really share with you all the stuff I'm leaning towards, because its still vague.

But here's some I'm thinking of for the Family Room.



Once again, they look MUCH better in real life.
I'm just being lazy with the ipad tonight.
Sorry.



I have a bunch of best guesses written out. But tons of back ups for each space because you have to be in the spot to know what works.

I might be deviating big time and choosing a star for the entry/upstairs hall way.
GASP!
But I think I can do it.
(Heck, this is the first time I'm even attempting to have a whole house cohesiveness. I've not cared before.)

 
Crappy photo verbal massage: Its kinda a fleshy, ever so slightly purple, brown-gray called Cavern.

Strangely enough, it sorta looks like the wallpaper there already.
Hmm.
Now I'm second guessing it. I may have to rethink. lol.
Who knows.
I gotta see it all in person.




When I have a color palette figured out I'll show ya. (With nicer photos.)


We are set to close Thursday at 3pm!
I am so excited.

I plan to get in there and take photos of EVERYTHING, in case I need them for before photos.

And then we plan to paint, paint, paint.

Then rip up that carpet!

Can't wait!!


Monday, November 11, 2013

I said goodbye to my midwife today.

I said goodbye to my midwife today.

This is the day I've been the most hesitant about since learning we'd be moving. And really... all along, I knew this day would come --- I knew this wasn't our forever home, here in Iowa.

But the closer we got to our moving date the sicker to my stomach I'd get, or the more nervous-twitchy my hands would get,when thoughts of this day passed through my mind. I didn't want to leave her.

I was actually supposed to see Sheryl last week, but when it came time to leave the house I couldn't find my keys anywhere. I tore my purse apart, looked everywhere around the house, but just couldn't find them. We had just gotten back from Blake's parent's house so I thought maybe I left them there, or lost them on the way.
But a couple days later, I found the keys tucked away in a pocket I'm sure I looked through.
I kinda think God was giving me a better day to say goodbye.

I had to call and move our appointment back a week.
And something about that felt better.

(Oh I guess I should clarify, that my midwife has also been Ruby's pediatrician since she was born, so she's done all our baby wellness visit.)


I felt better seeing her later, and closer to when I'd actually be moving.
I just didn't want to rush it.

I've never felt this way about anyone before.
I can't fully wrap my mind around it, and so I can't fully even describe it.
But sometimes I feel so much love and respect for Sheryl I almost I idolize her. I don't think I really actually do. But she is my famous person. She is who I want to send paparazzi after. She is who I want to be like.
She is someone who knows her stuff -- she knows so much, she's taught me so much. And she's corrected so many things I had been told incorrectly by my past care providers -- like mom's don't die from becoming rh negative sensitized. (Why did they tell me that?!)
She is someone who rescued me from something. She is someone who gave me something no one else could. She is someone who respected me in a way no one else ever had. She is someone who literally flat out told me "I believe in you." when no one on earth did, not even me. (Well Blake did too. But he didn't have a medical background so it felt more like love, and less like a stamp of approval.) And she is someone who has explained vastly detailed concepts in easy to understand english in a way that never overwhelms me emotionally, any time I've asked, and I ask way too often way too many things.

I have a well a gratitude for Sheryl that starts over my head, and goes deeper than my feet.

And I am gonna miss her like crazy.

I'm even gonna miss her other patients.

Her office isn't like a normal office.
Its not fancy.
In fact its nearly dumpy.
But its magical in there.

Every time I've been in there I feel people's real-soul living in love and being who they are made to be.
And I think somehow Sheryl blesses that into them or gives them more room in the world for it to be.
If ever someone is in her waiting room, we interact. We don't try to stay in our own space and keep safe. Its like no walls ever were when you are in that room. And because of that I've always come away from an interaction there feeling more wise, or well, or encouraged, or hopeful.
Our kids interact with each other's kids and I always want to cry at the beauty that family is.

I'm literally not over talking this stuff. And I'm not trying to wax poetic.
This is exactly how I feel when I am there.

But to be honest.
I also always feel a little scared.
I think its because I am prone to fear.
And Sheryl is a firm lady, which can intimidate me a bit.
And of course before I gave birth I was swimming in fear.
But even now, when I am there, because the office is not normal or fancy, I always have to lay down some pride. I always have to step out in some faith. And I always have to see with my heart eyes instead of my real eyes.
And I guess that's why everything there is so beautiful.
I think I kinda see it more how God sees things.

I was really scared to say goodbye today.

But it all worked out so well.

I was running 15 mins late. (Ok even later, but speeding got me there only 15 mins behind.)
And I was scared that I wouldn't get to ask her my last little pile of questions I "needed" to know because I was so late.
But the timing was better than if I had gotten there on time, because no one was after us. The ones who should have been after us, went before us. (I'm guessing another God thing.)
Sheryl was her usual self, which is kinda of gruff but its always because she wants the best for you, but she needs it to be the truth real and gritty. I got time to ask my questions. And she gave me a firm hard admonishment, in regards to future providers (I was talking about how I go long with pregnancies, and her and I both know many providers don't let VBACers go long) she said, "You are the one who has to tell them no." Firmer now with something that almost hurt my feelings, "YOU are the one who has to tell them no." Voice stiffening eyes hard and determined to convey, "YOU are the one who has to tell them."
I weakened a bit, feeling like she was saying I was failing. (My baby was also crying quite loudly at the time as we had now passed nap time.) And as I gathered things together, my literally belongings, I started to gather my thoughts, and I realized... that is my Sheryl. She's not being mean, she's not saying I failed. She is telling me the flat truth, loud enough so I can hear it.

I love her.


It started snowing.
She has a HUGE window behind her outlandishly messy desk.
And these little tiny white snow flakes began to be pulled slowly across it, starting high and left and ending low and right.
I said, "Its snowing."
And no one heard me.
I said it two more times, and Sheryl turned looked and said,  "It really is....I always say our fist day of snow is right around Veterans Day. I was right."
And I just couldn't get over how smart she is. She pays attention to what she pays attention to. And she keeps it.

I said goodbye and it didn't hurt right then.

And I drove home in the snow, just fully and utterly grateful that it was snowing.
Something about the snow made it feel like I could leave.
Something about it gave me closure.
Something about it showed me a full circle.
We came here in the snow. And we are leaving in the snow. But everything is different. And everything is better than it was.

And so I got wistful in the van on the way home.
(The girls had fallen asleep.)
A heart FULL of gratitude.
A heart bursting with amazement of where God has brought us, and a peace about where we are going.

I still ache a bit for what I am leaving.
But I have to just be grateful that I was ever here to start with.
That God ever said, "Lydia meet Sheryl."


Sheryl has told me a number of times now that if we have more babies I can come back and see her.
The first time I kind thought she was joking. But she went on to explain she meant it.
She said she's had some moms come back and stay in a hotel the last three weeks.
And I smiled just happy that was an option, but didn't think I'd really do that.

But today when she said it, I definitely let it play out in my mind, many times on the drive home.
I still doubt I'd go that far. I do think I have some pretty good options where I am going. And I know I have a "proven pelvis" now. So I think I'd be ok with future births with someone else. I'm also cool with doctors and hospitals. (But truth be told, I am worried about how my emotions may get in the way in that environment. I'm hoping to feel safe in a hospital now that I know what I know. Only time and the ability to walk in those doors again can tell me.)
But anyway, I'm not gonna rule out any moments with Sheryl. I'm leaving it on the table.


And whenever I get really deeply moved by Sheryl's goodness to me, I always have to stop and see the way she portrayed God to me in her actions and treatment of me. And I am forced to think of God as good. Which may sound pathetic. But I gotta be honest, I struggle with that.
Sheryl won't ever fully get how well she is showing Christ to the world. But I sorta do. She tangibly saved me from something, and it forces me to remember that's what makes God good -- that he saved me from the worst things to give me the best things. That His saving me is his Goodness.

Thank you God, for a Sheryl --- who could show me in a way I could grasp. Bless her like crazy. Amen.

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