This old house

It feels like we just sort of tumbled into this whole remodel. At first we were only going to do the master suite so we could get moved in and figure out exactly what we wanted to do with the kitchen and main living areas (and save up a little money). My father-in-law had other things we was working on at the time, and we were hoping that we could put together a place where we could stay while work was being done in other parts of the house. Well the bonuses came through in spades, so it turned out that we had the money and my FIL had the time. We didn't have a completed master bedroom, but he started knocking down some walls in the living room and pulling out the ceiling anyway - the reasoning being that since fiberglass insulation gets everywhere it would be better to get the mess done before we start finishing off areas of the house. So we grabbed a few things and hightailed it back to Allen's folk's house where we are (again) inhabiting their spare bedroom. You see the master has it's own exterior door (and bathroom) so we could come and go in that part of the house even with work being done elsewhere. With a camp stove, a fridge, and few local restaurants we hoped to make out ok in our own place. But it's not done. Also, Allen and I did some tests on food allergens and both came up with a hefty list of things NOT TO EAT which means that life isn't as simple as eating as many gyro wraps as I want. In an ideal world we get retested and find out that we can add everything back into our diet - even if on an occasional, rotating basis- but that seems rather unlikely. And yes that's stressful. We're remodeling, staying with Allen's parents, dealing with a rather strict new diet, and trying to figure out what physical issues have kept us from having kids. Is that enough for one month? I firmly believe that nearly 90% of my health is emotional, and honestly I've felt pretty darn bad lately. This is just my life right now. I'm back at that "sleep through everything" stage I thought I'd left behind me. I suppose it's good to know that it's still there so maybe I can work on finding ways to avoid it. However I have to admit that I'm starting to get twinges of regret that we didn't buy one of our other top 3 houses with a working kitchen and very little need for remodeling. I'd probably be finished painting it by now :)

odd posting order

Hey there - so my blog decided to post out of order, and since I'm too lazy to (try and) fix it I'm just going to post the link up here where folks can see it :)

Linky linky!

Once a month blogging and a house update

Well despite all my good intentions I seem to be a once a month blogger. I have all these ideas swirling around in my head, but someone they never seem as important as sorting through over ten thousand light fixtures on Etsy (no, that's not an exaggeration) or researching ceiling insulation or just plain old crashing with some free entertainment from Hulu. Oh well.

As you can tell I've been somewhat obsessed with our current home remodel. Given that my energy levels have been approximately zilch lately I've been doing a lot more looking than doing, but the looking is paying off as well. Currently we've got all our stuff in our new house, but since we currently lack a kitchen ceiling we're back with Allen's folks :) Since the finances are looking good (thank you for quarterly bonuses!) we're going ahead with vaulting some of our ceilings and remodeling the kitchen. We're currently at the "measure everything for the 17th time and try to choose appliances and lighting" stage. It gets tedious. I fell in love with some soapstone countertops, and they're causing me to rethink how I spend money in/on the rest of our kitchen!

contemporary kitchen design by boston architect Frank Valdes

No those aren't my countertops (although I do have a red Kitchenaid). They're just the countertops I would like to have :) Unfortunately they aren't so cheap. That means trimming down on lighting and other finishes so that I don't feel like a complete chump for spending Allen's money on real stone. Scratch that. I will feel like a chump but only until the fabricators leave. Afterwards I'll be too excited to care. Seriously, that stuff is gorgeous. It's warmer and softer than a lot of stones, and it patinas wonderfully with time. I've even got Allen mostly convinced :)

So that's my life right now. While I'm sitting here I'm going to try and crank out some scheduled posts to fill in the gaps instead of falling off the face of the earth for a month at a time. It's just easy to get tunnel vision though when your wishes and your purse are slightly at odds. I've discovered the cheap hussies of the lighting world (six months later you wish you hadn't) and the classy grande dames (they wear well, but the initial investment is considerable). Now I'm looking for the thrifty housewife of chandeliers - unpretentious, wears well, undemanding. And for some reason I'm reminded of the phrase "her worth is far above rubies." Guess I might have to let the hussies and the grande dames fight it out after all cause I sure don't have any rubies!