Sunday, September 30, 2012

And then you find the nice things to be happy about

Life has been pretty hectic lately.

No, really? I say that pretty much every post? Well, it's true! I swear.

I honestly feel like ever since the fire happened, I've done nothing but go go go. And even now, when we are SO close to completing this renovation (minus all the little, dumb, detail crap - let's be honest here - that's going to take another year) I feel like everything still just wants to fall apart.

September is normally my favorite month. At least, it had been until my 24th Birthday (two years ago). Now, it's the month where I fall apart. Three of my favorite people have passed away in September as well as my very favorite dog. I'm honestly not looking for sympathy here - I'm just trying to explain why September makes me so sad.

This year followed the same sadness scale.

I'm not quite ready to write all about it here so instead I'm going to talk about nice things that have happened this month.

1. I was published in the September edition of Scrapbook Trends for a page I made about my beautiful psuedo-niece - Avery.

screen shot of the online edition - I haven't actually seen it in paper form yet!
2. Our kitchen cabinets are fully installed (minus trim and handles for the doors.)

3. I made a huge decision not to return back to nursing school this year - not sad at all - in fact I'm quite happy with my decision and while that means working full time for the next year I'm still quite confident that I made the right decision.

4. This hasn't happened yet, but it was supposed to on the 26th and has been postphoned for  few weeks - my sister will find out if she's having a boy or a girl! I'm super excited to be an Aunt in February!

5. My cousin and his wife had their baby a month early, but she's absolutely beautiful and healthy and even named for one of my very favorite people - that fact alone makes my heart sing :)

6. I haven't created anything this entire month, but my office/scrapspace is slowly coming together and I'm trying to get that darn Project Life thing up to date (I'm far behind.... like FAR behind...)

7. I'm participating in a Stash Swap on the Studio Calico boards and my partner is the super sweet and super funny Toni from life, scrapbook, repeat. Honestly, her emails have been totally making my day, which for my discouraging month of September has been a totally nice thing to look forward to :)

8. I have a new camera lens for my Canon. Paul bought it for me for my birthday. Sadly, it hasn't left the box. And I haven't touched my camera in forever. But, I'm still really excited to get it out and start using it!

9. Totally scored this cart from Ikea. It was the last one. It was in the wrong spot. But I scouted it out and it now lives in my no-so-organized office and it's so pretty! Haha.

10. I can't really think of anything for number ten, so instead I'll show you something(s) that makes me smile every single day!

I'm sure I've posted this before - but aren't they SO cute?!
So there. That, honestly, made me feel a lot better about this past month! Thanks for listening and letting me find the positive in my dreary month!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

And then you realize that this takes way longer then you thought

(there is a bar going to be installed right where that panel is)
It has now been 14 weeks since the fire.

It was 31 days before we were given back our "things".

It took eight weeks to see a cheque for the initial rebuild.

It was five more weeks until the cupboards arrived.

And after they were installed the doors had to go back for the glass to be installed - another one to three weeks.

It will be another two to three weeks until the counter tops are installed. Not to mention it will be another two days until they come to measure for the counter tops.

And there's still the bar to be installed. Tonight - fingers crossed.



So for now, we live in a disaster - though it is slightly less disaster like now that we have floors and cupboards.

As for me, I'm just tired. Tired of fixing and painting and cleaning and puttying. Paul is even more tired - he's doing all the heavy work - he goes to school at 7 am and then comes home and works on the house until midnight or 1 am.

Last night we watched TV in bed for the first time since the fire. Before midnight. It was insane. Almost as cool as sleeping in - only like before you go to bed ;)

Yesterday was my birthday. Paul gave me a new lens for my camera which means one day you will see real pictures on here. And not iPhone pictures that make me cringe. Soon! However, I'll leave you with one last iPhone picture of this disaster of a kitchen.