Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Fashion Guru
T is a little man who knows what he wants (at least some of the time). He's been picking his own outfits lately and he's very particular in his choices. He picked out a red and white plaid button down with a gray hood yesterday morning. I grabbed a white onsie with a superman logo on it to go underneith for warmth and he was really restless until I actually helped him into the button down. I also picked out some matching pants but he turned up his nose in disdain when I tried to help him into them. He walked over to a pile of pants on top of a storage bin in his closet, pulled them all onto the floor and started going through them. He picked up one pair and studied them for a while before discarding them and riffling through for another. Finally he held up the "right" pants and brought them over to me. I swear he was looking for a specific pair. I wanted to decline his offering, but decided to honor his decision. As it turned out the pants actually matched quite well (much to my surprise). They were light tan which I initially thought clashed with the shirt until I remembered that they have a gray cuff (when rolled) that perfectly matches the hood of the shirt. I hope he maintains his fashion sense so I don't have to cringe and bear it when he chooses some truly eye jarring combination.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Upside Down
My life feels upside down and backwards right now. I'd like to say it's just my house, but my mind tends to mimic the state of my environment and I'm desperately seeking mental organization.
The bright side is that all this chaos stems from fun and forward progress. We've been remodeling our house for several weeks and we just got back from a family reunion at Disneyland.
The remodel has been exceptionally taxing, but I'm so happy with the results. Our upstairs loft needed flooring (we were down to the subfloor) and we chose hardwood. The research on woods and contractors took longer and was more taxing than I anticipated. We thought we knew exactly what we wanted (bamboo), but we totally changed our minds. In the end we chose Hickory. It's hard and has beautiful color variation and patterning. We figured this would help hide scratches and dents more than something uniform. We also expanded our project to include the downstairs.
I have HATED the linoleum in the kitchen since we moved in, an I mean PURE HATE. Not only was it an ugly pale yellow, but the installer either cut the piece too short or bought it too short, so there was one big solid piece throughout the kitchen and one small 4-5" strip added on where the kitchen meets the living room. It wasn't added well so it was very obvious with peeling and cruddy deposits at the seem. It's been an eyesore that I've never been able to ignore. So, I figured why not just extend the wood from the stairs into the kitchen, it's not that much space after all. Then I got to thinking that we really should put wood in the dining room. The carpets have gotten so nasty since we started eating in their regularly (we don't have a kitchen dining space in our floor plan). But if we did the dining room we needed to do the hall or it just wouldn't look right ... and the entry way wood flooring needed to be replaced as well for continuity ... and then why not just do the family room and get it over with. The main floor is now complete and looks amazing. The upstairs is about 2/3 done and also looks amazing.
The tough part of all this is that we had to move everything into the living room (including the refrigerator). For 5 days my kitchen was pretty much unusable. The range/oven was outside (another story entirely) and wasn't plugged in. My sister took pity on us and let us eat dinner at her house every night that week. We did bring food from our freezer to cook so it wouldn't be so taxing on her. We left for Disneyland with the living room still full of furniture (and the refrigerator) and although I was glad to leave that round of chaos, I was dreading coming back to it. I really like to come home to a clean home when I've been on vacation.
About the oven ... it just stopped working one day a few weeks ago. I was trying to broil some casadillas and it just went off. The Scoot got it to produce and error code saying the circuit board was fried and he wasn't able to find a replacement. The range still worked, so at least we were able to cook until we had to move the mammoth appliance outside. The great beastie tipped over when The Scoot was bringing it back inside days later and the glass front shattered leaving the stove broken AND ugly. We are still using the range, but the beautiful Bosch replacement arrives tomorrow. Yay! I can't wait to make one pot meals again!
At this point there is still a stack of wood flooring in the family room. The couches are squeezed in too so we have a place to sit and we've moved the TV back and forth every day although I've only watched 1 hour of TV this week. I long for a mindless evening in front of the TV in an organized family room that isn't full of wood flooring. Tonight perhaps? I also really want to move all the furniture out of the living room, but have to wait until the flooring is done upstairs.
The last hurdle is getting railings designed and installed for the opening around the stairwell. Once that is done I may be able to relax again .... oh, after I finish the painting.
This blog has gotten way too long and I will have to write about Disneyland later.
The bright side is that all this chaos stems from fun and forward progress. We've been remodeling our house for several weeks and we just got back from a family reunion at Disneyland.
The remodel has been exceptionally taxing, but I'm so happy with the results. Our upstairs loft needed flooring (we were down to the subfloor) and we chose hardwood. The research on woods and contractors took longer and was more taxing than I anticipated. We thought we knew exactly what we wanted (bamboo), but we totally changed our minds. In the end we chose Hickory. It's hard and has beautiful color variation and patterning. We figured this would help hide scratches and dents more than something uniform. We also expanded our project to include the downstairs.
I have HATED the linoleum in the kitchen since we moved in, an I mean PURE HATE. Not only was it an ugly pale yellow, but the installer either cut the piece too short or bought it too short, so there was one big solid piece throughout the kitchen and one small 4-5" strip added on where the kitchen meets the living room. It wasn't added well so it was very obvious with peeling and cruddy deposits at the seem. It's been an eyesore that I've never been able to ignore. So, I figured why not just extend the wood from the stairs into the kitchen, it's not that much space after all. Then I got to thinking that we really should put wood in the dining room. The carpets have gotten so nasty since we started eating in their regularly (we don't have a kitchen dining space in our floor plan). But if we did the dining room we needed to do the hall or it just wouldn't look right ... and the entry way wood flooring needed to be replaced as well for continuity ... and then why not just do the family room and get it over with. The main floor is now complete and looks amazing. The upstairs is about 2/3 done and also looks amazing.
The tough part of all this is that we had to move everything into the living room (including the refrigerator). For 5 days my kitchen was pretty much unusable. The range/oven was outside (another story entirely) and wasn't plugged in. My sister took pity on us and let us eat dinner at her house every night that week. We did bring food from our freezer to cook so it wouldn't be so taxing on her. We left for Disneyland with the living room still full of furniture (and the refrigerator) and although I was glad to leave that round of chaos, I was dreading coming back to it. I really like to come home to a clean home when I've been on vacation.
About the oven ... it just stopped working one day a few weeks ago. I was trying to broil some casadillas and it just went off. The Scoot got it to produce and error code saying the circuit board was fried and he wasn't able to find a replacement. The range still worked, so at least we were able to cook until we had to move the mammoth appliance outside. The great beastie tipped over when The Scoot was bringing it back inside days later and the glass front shattered leaving the stove broken AND ugly. We are still using the range, but the beautiful Bosch replacement arrives tomorrow. Yay! I can't wait to make one pot meals again!
At this point there is still a stack of wood flooring in the family room. The couches are squeezed in too so we have a place to sit and we've moved the TV back and forth every day although I've only watched 1 hour of TV this week. I long for a mindless evening in front of the TV in an organized family room that isn't full of wood flooring. Tonight perhaps? I also really want to move all the furniture out of the living room, but have to wait until the flooring is done upstairs.
The last hurdle is getting railings designed and installed for the opening around the stairwell. Once that is done I may be able to relax again .... oh, after I finish the painting.
This blog has gotten way too long and I will have to write about Disneyland later.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Awareness
We had a breakthrough in potty awareness over the weekend. T has been using the potty for months, but he really affirmed his understanding on Saturday. He declined the potty first thing in the morning, but after a fresh diaper and a potty demonstration (by me) he walked to the training potty, sat down on the potty fully clothed, and peed! Yay! He gives cues when he goes so I know he peed on the potty, if not in it, lol. Now we just have to work on the taking off the pants part. Although I've felt confident that he understands the association between the urge to go and the potty, this really confirmed it for me.
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