Did you get your Ash to Mass?

And Lent begins.

And there is so much to give penance for, so many sacrifices to be made.

My attempts at conscientious interior change has a lot to do with the way I parent my children, which of late has meant a louder voice, a slower step, and an angry spirit.  I don't like that, and I want to change it.

You've seen, I'm sure, the ads for anti-depression or anti-anxiety medications that ask the questions about who depression hurts, where depression hurts, etc, and the answers begin with "every."  "Everyone," "everywhere," etc.

It's true.  I wonder, where I am concerned, if I think myself into the pain I experience from time to time, inferring discomfort where none actually is.  I need to change my attitude about it, I think.  And I know that my disposition affects everyone around me.  Although I can reason about it, that doesn't mean my little ones can do the same.  All they know is, "Gee, Mama's in a rotten mood today.  Again."  I need to change that, too.

So, this Lent, I do not intend to "give up" things that really make no true difference to anyone but me, because that doesn't do any good for anyone else, and it doesn't really even make a big difference for me--because at the end of Lent, I would just go back to my old ways, and what kind of sacrifice is that?  I want a sacrifice that will have lasting meaning.  Giving up chocolate or soda or whatever doesn't have lasting meaning.

Instead, I propose a true change in spirit.  I need to make an intentional effort to change from within, and that means beginning by altering my interior prayer habits.

I am re-reading Holiness for Housewives and Other Working Women, and I am adding The Way.

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As always, things move along with the addition.  Though we moved out of our former bedroom in October, it remained as a sort of hallway between the old hallway and the new laundry room.  The lack of privacy made it impractical for use as a bedroom in the interim, and so it was a place for cousin sleep-overs, storage, and collection of stuff.

But it's one of the last rooms needing work, and so My Darling has (finally!) turned his attention to it.  I think he goes in seasons, like I do, with being in a funk.  I saw it coming, and I wanted to help him swing around it, rather than slog through it...so I said, "Hey, could we start work on That Room?"  And so he did.

There was a huge, beautiful, built-in dresser in that room.  It was one of the things we were most excited about when we looked at this house twelve years ago.  Fifteen drawers is a lot of storage!!  Well, fifteen drawers is also a lot of space to fill up with things we don't need.  So the first thing done in That Room was to remove the top of the dresser, cut down the supporting structure, and replace the top.  This will serve as storage (but only six drawers, thankyouverymuch) and also a seating area.  And since this is to become a bedroom for some girlies, we'll make a comfortable cushion to sit atop the lovely bench, and toss some squishy pillows on it, and let the girlies sprawl out and read or gab or sing or *whatever*.  He added boxes above the bench, where we'll put two sconces for light.  Dimmer switches will make them useful for nightlights if necessary, too.  Here, you can see My Darling measuring for the sconce placement.  See the finished bench?  The wooden side was part of the original dresser.  The man who built the thing was brilliant!



The next order of business was building the end of the bench.  Previously, there had been a wooden divider between dresser and closet--that whole wall had been devoted to clothing storage.  When we created the upstairs opening between the existing house and the addition, we did it through that closet, eliminating half of it.  For months, it was just a hole in the wall, and we could close it off by sliding the closet door shut.  Eventually, My Darling framed in the actual door, put up drywall to shape the passageway, and added a door.  Good thing, too, since the laundry room also houses the third flush toilet, thanks be to God! 


To go from a home with one bathroom to all of a sudden having options, well that's just about the biggest luxury I can think of.

Anyway, the end of the bench is now a little half-wall, and will be a nice place to lean against when sitting on the bench.  See where the sconces will be?



The new wall, the actual wall, which now divides the room from the old hallway, has been framed and drywalled now, too.  It's so exciting to see this transformation--once again, to have thought something up and see it take shape, to know that that bedroom served us well for eleven years and will now be the place where our daughters will sleep and play and study and dream and gab and *whatever*, is a great thing to be able to reflect on.

Looking into the laundry room, through what once was the closet in our bedroom, now looks like this:


And speaking of studying, the gap between the wall and the half-wall will be a desk area.  Ok, this was complete and total genius, if I do say so myself--and I do.  I do!!  When I found the smaller dresser (for SEVEN DOLLARS, for Pete's sake!) which was stripped, refinished, and transformed into the sink for the laundry room, part of that process was cutting off the top of the dresser.  I wasn't sure what was to become of that piece of walnut: should we put it on a piano hinge, attatch a swinging leg, and make a wall-mounted, fold-away table with it?  Should I add legs to it and make a little stand-alone table with it?  What would become of this beautiful piece of wood??  Well, of course it was meant to be a desk top.  Didn't you know?  I didn't know.  But now I know!  My Darling will fix this lovely piece of wood into the space between the two walls, build a bookshelf beneath it, install a floating shelf above it (which will house a couple of lights, of course!) and make a great place for studying.  See?  Genius!  So in the photo above, you can see where the desk will go (imagine away the 5-gallon bucket of debris, if you would please), and to the right is the laundry room.  If you were to turn further to the right, still, you would be looking down the old hallway.  The bedroom door is on an angle.

My hope is that we can somehow use the remaining nine drawers and their framework either in the sun room or the basement.  We do have things to store.  And these drawers, having been crafted bya cabinet-maker, are really well-made.  I do not intend to waste them!!  And if it works out the way I am hoping it will, I can make another set of cushions and pillows, and have another bench...so it won't be wasted storage space.  Woot!

I'm not sure about the timeline, but I'm guessing we'll be able to start painting That Room this weekend, and will hopefully be moving the bunkbeds into the room next week.  I don't want to think too far ahead about it, because I know all too well the disappointment that comes with projecting a timeline on something like this, only to be held up by something or another.  So I'm making up my mind ahead of time to remain flexible and as relaxed as possible.  Saint Joseph, pray for me!!

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Prayer Requests:

*Keep praying for C and V.  Baby is not yet born, which is good.  What the outcome will be, only our Father in Heaven knows.  I know what I'm praying for though.

*Still praying for Joshua P. and his family, and for Rebekah and her family, too.

*Pray for all those affected by emotional or mental disorders, for all those in chronic pain, for all those lonely and forgotten, and for their families.

*Pray for expectant mothers, their babies, and their families.

*Pray for those terminally ill and their families and caregivers, especially when their primary caregivers are their family.

*I always keep anyone who might be reading in my prayers, too.  If you want to leave a prayer intention, feel free to do so.

Blogger has changed things since my last venture this way.  I have, too.

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I've decided that I'm not going to finish writing about my birth experience with my little Gingersnap.  She is beloved, precious to me, and gives me cause to smile every day.  I've thought and prayed and processed over and over the things that happened after her birth, and though I may change my mind in the future, for now I'm going to just move past it.  It was traumatic and transformative, and that's enough for now.  I am well, my health is good, and it's been a long road...but God is endlessly good.  I thank you for your patience and your prayers, and always know that when someone asks me for prayer, I do remember and pray for them as well.

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Things are moving forward at a pace around here!!  We have a bank inspector coming this week to see the nearly-complete addition!  We've all been busy, and my projects are mounting.  I've been thrift shopping, recovering, refinishing, sewing, stuffing, and painting.

My Darling is hanging drywall today.  The Pantry Room is the last room which needs finishing, and it's getting the attention it's been needing at last.  Eventually, the floor will be tiled, there will be a row of cupboards (on a narrow wall, so we're using upper cabinets on a pedestal) with counter top against one wall, and a large closet-style pantry cupboard against the opposite wall.  The room will be our entry room, but will no longer be where we hang jackets and shuck boots.  That's what the Mud Room is for!!

The Master Bedroom has been completely painted; light fixtures have been installed, and subfloor has been laid.  We're waiting to make the final decision about flooring...the walls are a delicious suede-chocolate brown on the bottom, and a beautiful elegant blue on the top, with a white chair rail around to divide them.  The light fixtures have an oil-rubbed bronze finish, and I'm going to have to replace the door hardware.  The French doors we have for the bedroom were from the Habitat for Humanity Restore--they were a bargain for $200!  They are 15-light doors in a beautiful maple, with the gorgeous grain of the wood showing through the protective coat of polyurethane.  The hardware on the doors, though, is in a brushed nickle, and the door does not latch.  They were initially installed in an office, and I think they were not intended to close securely. So anyway, when we replace the hardware with the same finish as the lights, we'll get them to close, too.

My projects for the bedroom have included reupholstering a chair and a little bench, spray painting the frames of some mismatched mirrors for one wall, and refinishing the top that was taken out of the dresser which is now the vanity in the laundry room/bathroom.

Oh!!  The laundry room!!  Good heavens, it's pretty!  It's a truly pleasant place to do laundry, thanks be to God!  We did not go all-out with the size of it, but we have made it work beautifully for our needs.  Because it's upstairs, and just 'round the corner from the family closet, there is plenty of room to work getting things folded and put away.  And because My Darling is my builder, I've been able to customize every little bit about it all.

I need to shoot over to the photobucket site and upload my pictures this week.  I also have a bunch of sewing to do, and I need to finish the trim on the chair that I reupholstered.  I wanted to make an effort to get over here, though, and to say that I'll be back again very soon.  I know this has kind of been all over the place--I apologize.  There's been a lot going on, and I'll get it all sorted in a jiffy.

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Thanks again for dropping in to read, for your prayers, and for leaving comments.  :)

The autumn comes

Leaves are swirling in the autumn wind and falling onto the lawn, making a tapestry of beautiful colors. They are soft and damp, and the husky smell of them blows in through the open windows. Birds are calling to one another, signaling their end-of-summer plans to find sheltered places to build their winter nests.

Mama Cardinal keeps her eyes sharp against squirrels and bees.

The house is quiet today: Squash is at work with My Darling, and Reepicheep and Frog are both on an adventure with my sister-in-law. (While normally the Frog would be in school, when an Auntie purchases tickets in April for a big Broadway show staged in September...well, the Mama might just excuse a Frog from the afternoon school hours....) Pickle and Cuppie are puttering from outside on the swings, to inside, to the basement to play blocks.

I am content.

I began, about two weeks ago, to feel the small, quiet flutterings of a certain Someone. Though my sweet babe measures only about eight inches from head to toe, I am daily aware of the goings on within. Last night, for the first time, My Darling felt the soft thump of--what, a knee? an elbow? a little hand or foot?--and murmured something sweet.

This afternoon, I find myself daydreaming about frozen, deeply snowy winter afternoons, with a small, warm babe snuggled on my chest, breathing quietly, moving slightly, eyelids fluttering, sighing in satisfaction and thanks for the warm belly full of Mama's milk.

Perhaps it's that I slept better last night and then into the morning. I feel better today than I have in a long time. The Nausea Bug and Major Pukey, thanks be to God, have packed their meager belongings and ordered the retreat of their Miserable Minions. Late this morning, I started a shoulder roast in the crock pot, with onion soup mix, carrots and potatoes hedged around the sides. The smell is so tantalizing that I am eager for suppertime to roll around.

Perhaps it's that I am currently comfortably set up in the sunroom. That would be the main common living space which was included in the addition--the addition that began Four Long Years Ago, when we first broke ground. It's completely drywalled, wired and painted. The only things remaining are trim and flooring--but we do have a temporary carpet over the plywood subfloor. We moved the living room furniture out here about a month ago, and it's just as beautiful and spacious as I dreamed it would be when we were planning our scheme years ago. (The bedroom still isn't done.........but progress is being made here and there, and I know that it will be done eventually.............................)

Perhaps it's that I have been leaning back into the comforting arms of Our Lord more lately, allowing Him to fill my heart with His peace. I definitely have my days--we all have our days (as my last entry will attest)--but they are becoming less frequent. The bad days are intensely bad, but they are fewer. My Lord is pulling me ever closer to His Sacred Heart.

Whatever the reason, whatever the circumstance, I am infinitely grateful to be where I am in this moment--enjoying carrying this small child, this beautiful soul beneath my heart. I am learning to be without my Frog each day, and though I miss her terribly, I am able to see the fruits of her attending The Wonderful School. I am loving the time that I've been able to spend with each of my other children, watching them learn and grow. Reepicheep has been busily knitting things--booties, hats, small squares--for the baby. Pickle has been reading nearly non-stop about all things space and engineering. Squash has learned to write his name (!!) and is learning to read here and there. And Cuppie is talking so much that we can almost always understand what she wants and needs.

God is so very, very good.

Pardon me, may I sit here?

It's been a long few weeks. Long and eventful, for Pete's sake.

*Easter was awesome. Holy Week was absolutely jam-packed, but the Holiness aspect of it all was phenomenal--and then Easter iced the cake. I hope to collect my thoughts a bit more on that and do an entirely separate entry.

*We watched the crocuses come up and bloom beautifully purple, and then shrivel under a late freeze. The tulips are not far behind, and in the meantime, we have the white hyacinths to perfume the air between here and the mailbox. I'm still waiting on my plum tree.

*I have been torn between saying something and saying nothing about the persecution of our Holy Father and Holy Mother Church. I am sick to my very heart over the whole thing, and continue to read, until my eyes are dry, everything I can in order to understand the different aspects of it all. The bottom line is, the teachings of the Church are infallible, but the human beings who make up the Church are human beings...and if Christ became human and was like us in all ways but sin, then I guess we must understand that people err, even though they have the Word of God as their guide. No exceptions. The exceptions come when there is remorse, reform, repentance and forgiveness.

*I broke my toe. It's not even a good story. It happened on Tuesday afternoon while I was making the bed with clean sheets. I kicked a shoe, for Pete's sake, and it resulted in my left pinky toe being broken clean in half. The bruise is spectacular, at least, and I shall return and post pictures just as soon as I can find the USB cable.

*Things are moving at a pace on the addition. Drywall has gone up in the mudroom and is going up in the sun room--it is amazing what even sheet rock can do to make a shell look more like a room. Same deal as above with the pictures.

*Hopefully I'll be back more frequently, though the Frog just joined soccer--which makes for two days a week being gone in late afternoons. I can't believe how busy we are around here, but I love it...I love it!!

**Prayer intentions: AJ and Sarah (!!!), several friends who are carrying babies beneath their hearts, several single friends who are quietly pondering God's plan for them in their hearts, my sweet nephew who will receive the Body and Precious Blood of our Lord in First Communion one week from today, my dear sweet Frog who will be Confirmed in the Holy Spirit in scarcely a month, and of course continued prayers for the sanctification of all priests, for an increase in vocations to the ordained and consecrated lives, and for our Holy Father and Bishop. +JMJ+

Small Success Thursday

Well, well, well. Here we are again at another Thursday, and looking back at the week, I have some small things to celebrate. So, here we go, folks!



1. I have managed to assist My Darling in the priming and painting of the Family Closet portion of the Addition. Photos shall be forthcoming.

2. Last night at Messiah Rehearsal, I was able to correctly sing a few trouble spots without letting them get the best of me--a good thing, since we only have one more rehearsal before we meet up with the orchestra. It's fish or cut bait!

3. I spoke with my doctor and increased the dose of my medication, which I've been needing to do. She totally understood when I explained that I can talk to my other Mom friends 'til the cows come home about it, but when it came to actually picking up the phone, it seemed to become a poisonous cactus. At any rate, it's done, and I'm feeling much the better for it.

4. I managed to resist the siren call of the Dr. Pepper that's nice and cold and fizzy and delicious and a mere 30 or so steps away. Sleep is more important. And caffeine is bad for the singing voice, too. And Heaven knows I have some singing to do.

There are other folks celebrating their everyday triumphs here as well. What are you thankful for this week?

I'm growing each year to appreciate the fall more and more. Driving on the country road, I pass corn, soybeans, and winter wheat. The corn has begun to wither on the stalks, fading to a sandy brown. The soybeans meld from green to gold, the mottled colors running together like a watercolor painting. The winter wheat is the only thing which does not change.

We have a huge honey locust tree in the back yard. All summer long, its leaves give shade and cover to the east side of the yard. The leaves are tiny, grouped on stems together. They are smaller than the petals of my sunflowers. In the fall, the leaves turn a brilliant yellow, and flutter to the grass, flitting on their way down. The shadows cast through my kitchen windows and onto the bamboo wood floors each morning are enchanting.

As the air cools and dries, the windows stay open all day. In the summertime, they are open only in the mornings and evenings, and closed to the humid heat through the afternoon. But today, the fresh air wafted through the house all day long, bringing the bird song in with it.

I rearranged the kitchen this afternoon. Since the washer and dryer made their way upstairs into the new laundry room, and the walls of the old were torn apart to access the plumbing, the kitchen had become something of a catch-all (as though I needed another one of those, thankyouverymuch), and was starting to make me a little nuts. Not only that, but the old laundry room is now far larger, thanks to My Darling flooring over the old basement stairs (since we now have the new basement stairs) and taking out the walls which enclosed it. It's 81 square feet, for Pete's sake. Eventually the wall separating that room and the kitchen will come down...but that's not exactly on the top of the priority list. I've been trying to figure out a way to make it a little more welcoming, since it's the first room one enters when coming in through the back door. I moved a large shelving unit from the kitchen into the Room-Formerly-Known-As-The-Laundry-Room (and now I have no idea what to call it, for Pete's sake!). It holds a gigantic plant and all of my food storage containers, canning supplies, and stock pots. My kitchen now looks humongous. I mean, it really looks like we could have a much bigger table and have five or six more kids sitting around it.

Just sayin'.

Good thing we have five more seats in the van.

MishMash

It's been a week since I was here last. I think I see a few cobwebs in the corners of my little cyber home...so, housekeeping is on the docket.

Kathryn is home, praise God! I'll process that one in another entry. It'll be worth it.

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We found the camera. Seems that when the kiddos were playing in the addition, the camera was tucked safely out of the way, into a corner, behind the box which contains the tank for the laundry room/bathroom loo. Oops! It was a great hiding spot, obviously, as it maintained a high level of security until My Darling moved said box this afternoon in order to build the platform for the laundry appliances. At any rate--pictures of progress shall be forthcoming.

It's been an exceptionally busy week, not the least of which means I've gotten very little sleep. My mind has been racing at phenomenal speeds, and I have found myself more than once either reading or journaling into the wee hours. Tonight, My Darling and I were catching up on a web episode of one of our favorite shows, so the laptop is at hand. The hour is late, and yet here I am...I am bone weary, but until I empty my thoughts onto the screen, I know I won't sleep.

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Friday last was the final day of our satellite television service. We've had dozens of channels immediately available for about 5 years now, and recently we've watched less and less. I love this! We had locked out lots of networks--all of the music video channels, many of the "entertainment" special channels (like E!, Oxygen, Bravo--garbage, slop and bilge is more like it....), and most of our viewing was things like HGTV, TVLand (which has gone sordidly downhill since we first ordered satellite, for Pete's sake...what's happened to Mr. Ed? My Three Sons?? Gilligan's Island??? Gone, in favor of such rubbish as "The Cougar"--gag, puke!), TLC, and of course, EWTN.

About two months ago, the Pickle, good boy that he is, was using the yard stick to sweep things from under the TV cabinet. It's one of his chores--he gets things from beneath the living room furniture.


In the process of his sweep, the yardstick caught hold of the plug for the TV, rendering the poor thing impotent.

Ah! Blessed relief! The difference between quiet with a small bit of background noise which must be carefully monitored so that we don't miss hitting the mute button to block the ads, and Quiet--it's really quite astonishing.

I like Quiet. I think we'll save rather a lot of money, headache and squabbling without the Noisy Black Box going so often. I'd like to chuck it, really, but I don't mind the occasional video. Likely we'll assign it to a lovely corner, keep it mostly covered, and let it out on good behavior once a week or so. I think the curtains look nicer than a mute, blank screen.

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Things move along at a pace in the addition. As I mentioned above, My Darling is now in the process of building the platform for the laundry appliances to be moved to their new home. I am noticing two things. First, I am weary of laundry. Dare I give utterance to such a phrase?? Ah, but every housewife knows this fatigue! Matching little socks holds charm for only so long, for Pete's sake. Mind you, I do offer every task as a prayer. I do actually enjoy folding diapers, and I really don't mind doing things which sometimes seem menial. I love to serve my family. However, when the laundry piles up in the living room, it does, at times, take it's toll.

The appliances are to be moved from the main level, directly inside the back door (we so rarely use the front), to upstairs. Right round the corner from the laundry will be the Family Closet--and I cannot even begin to describe how this excites me. Ah, the steamy fantasies of a mother! Laundry on the same floor of the house where 95% of it is actually needed and used and stored?? Yes, Thank You!!! One central room for clothing storage within mere steps from the appliances?? Oh Certainly!!!

The second thing I notice is Just How Much Laundry We Have versus Just How Much We Really Need. As we transition from the current system--drawers, closets, each in his own room--typical of any American family, I think I shall also be paring down quite a bit. It will be far easier for me to manage the task of keeping track of who has what, who wears what, who needs what, and who can do without what. It's hard, I find, to keep myself from thinking that this, at last, will make me happy. But really, I think that it will go a long way toward keeping me at least a little happier--or at least more sane.

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Thursday, we gathered with many of our friends to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Dear Fr. E. was there, as was my lovely friend Teresa--so together, we had both of the Bug's Godparents. The love was palpable!

We had Our Lord there on the Altar for us to adore; we had two beautiful priests available for confessions, and we had a lovely Mass, followed by the Litany of Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim. It was so beautiful, and my Little Bug was such a good girl that I only missed about 3 or 4 minutes.

After Mass, we all gathered for a meal together, which was long overdue! What a blessing to be together with dear friends and priests for good food and good conversation (two of my personal favorites...). It really was refreshing to be out and about, and with such a relaxed pace. God is good.

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My head is feeling much better, if not a bit emptier. I shall leave you with this delicious morsel I happened upon, thanks to Mr. H. E. Manning. (More information about Mr. Manning here.)

If the trials of many years were gathered into one, they would overwhelm us; therefore, in pity to our little strength, He sends first one, and then another, then removes both, and lays on a third, heavier, perhaps, than either; but all is so wisely measured to our strength that the bruised reed is never broken. We do not enough look at our trials in this continuous and successive view. Each one is sent to teach us something, and altogether they have a lesson which is beyond the power of any to teach alone.

(Click on this for your further enjoyment.)

Pray for the sanctification of priests!

Spiritual Spinach

My dear friend T. and I were talking today about the way God allows us to grow through circumstance. There are times, it seems, when what's put before us is a bit unpleasant to swallow....much like spinach.

Like Popeye's muscles popped when he ate his cans of spinach, the strength of our faith is increased when we down our Spiritual Spinach.

I found myself calling T. this afternoon and asking her to pray for me. I am feeling a great lack of charity where I have no right to--and yet, there it is. Here's the rub: I know that I am called to charity, especially toward this person in particular....and I am having to convict my heart in it.

Spiritual Spinach.

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It's done. The Second Dresser, which if you recall, was a staggering seven dollars. I finished it the other day, and added the new hardware. My Darling was kind enough to place the vanity top on it, and I perched the faucet in place.

The results:



I am so pleased!

The Current Project

This is the dresser we found at the yard sale--the one for seven dollars. It was in pretty rough condition--the top drawers were pretty loose; one of them was literally falling apart. My Darling has already cut the top to fit the sink we've chosen, which is this, paired with this faucet.

Here you see the frame, empty and sanded, with the top removed, and the two top drawer faces nailed into place.


Doesn't look like much, does it? Hang on a bit. Remember all that goes into refinishing a piece!

Here's a glimpse at what's to come--the top drawer face has been brushed with one coat of polyurethane, and the bottom is the raw wood:



And now we see both drawers, side by side, sporting their first coats:



I did have to find new hardware for this dresser, as the original parts were pretty beaten up. Let's leave that as a bit of a surprise, though, and the pictures will be posted just as soon as I'm finished with it. I'm going out in just a bit to sand and apply the second coat of finish.....give me a few days, for Pete's sake, and the results will be astonishing!

The Old...and the New

I had to use My Darling's camera from work, but I was finally able to capture images of the Original Dresser Project--nearly finished. "Nearly," because the fixture I have placed atop the basin is, in fact, the bathtub spout, because as of last night (when I took these), the faucet for the sink had not yet arrived. It has now, and it is this. I now have it sitting here, waiting to be put in place.......

.......but I digress.

Here are the results of all my work:


The basin set atop the dresser.


The beautiful embellishment on the middle drawer, and the original hardware returned to the drawer faces.



The gorgeous molding along the side corners and the bottom apron, and the beautiful sculpted feet. These were a challenge to get just right, for Pete's sake!


A lovely shot which shows the play of the light on the grain. I love this! Notice that on the edge of the top surface, just above the top drawer, about two-thirds of the way along the drawer face, the molding is worn down quite a way. Since the original piece once held a mirror, I have imagined a gentleman--having dressed, including a belt around his waist--leaning over to peer into the mirror, perhaps washing his face from a basin, or combing his hair. Years of this repeated action would certainly create a pattern of wear like this. I decided while stripping the original finish that I liked this bit of character history, and decided to just treat it like every other part of the dresser.

And here is the entire piece, set into the place it will remain (though it will need to be moved while I tile the floor, and sadly, we will have to drywall behind it.....more on that in a bit...):



The wood seen behind the piece is the original wooden planking which, once upon a time, sided our home. When My Darling removed the aluminum siding, and then the wooden siding, this lovely old wood was beatifully preserved. Apparently the builder used newspaper--either as insulation, as was popular at one time, or as his mark of time. The date on the newspaper is December 7, 1892. It includes advertisements for the Chicago World's Fair, and woolen boys' stockings and suits of clothing--an entire suit, including overcoat, for about $7. We plan to frame it safely and hang it here in the bathroom--perhaps even above the vanity, next to the mirror.

Sadly, because of the way things fit together, we're going to have to apply drywall to the wall behind the dresser. I wish it weren't so, but alas....if wishes were horses......

My next entry--a glimpse at the current project!

The Celebratory Hundredth

...entry, that is.

I love that when I began this endeavor a little over a year ago, I had no idea that it would be so therapeutic, such a wonderful place for me to come to iron out my thoughts and find order in the things swirling about in my heart. Thanks for sticking with me.

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OK! Alright! Pictures it is! BUT FIRST!

Consider this: We found a vanity for the smaller bathroom, which will be "the kids' bathroom," but also the laundry room. Yes, the washer and dryer will be upstairs--where they belong, if you ask me--and I will be much happier for it! So vanity shopping went on, and I absolutely, positively settled. I settled because I liked the finish...I didn't particularly care much for the piece itself, but I figured I would just work around that. Hey, some things take time to grow on a person, and I thought perhaps this could be the case.

So, My Darling lugged the thing onto a cart and out to the van. I tried not to sigh too loudly. I probably failed miserably.

When we arrived at home, My Darling opened the package to inspect the parts, and lo! Behold! A crack in the top! Oh, woe is us--we'll have to take the blasted thing back! Uh, that is, rats. We'll have to take it back. What a shame. (Come on, I'm trying really hard to sound upset. Work with me.)

"Darling," says I, "I'd really like to go back to the second hand store and see if we can find another dresser. Something a bit smaller, perhaps less ornate. Similar style, I think."

"We can look," says he, "though that really was a lucky find."

I do not believe in luck. I believe in Providence.

As we headed into town, we discussed our options. I promised My Darling that if I didn't find something worthy at the second hand store, I would find something I liked at the home improvement store. As we turned from the county hiway onto the state road, I noticed that the farm on the corner was having a yard sale.

Now, I love a good yard sale. I absolutely long for garage sale season all winter long. It's truly pitiful, and no help for it. As we rounded the corner, I saw it.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? It's a dresser! Baby! STOP THE VAN, for Pete's sake!!"

It was smaller. Not quite as fancy. Similar style. Perfect. It was marked seven dollars. Seven dollars!

We loaded it up, giddy with our find, and took it home. It currently resides in the bedroom (the new yet-to-be-finished one, where I work on these things), and I've already applied the goop to remove the finish twice. This one has a long way to go.

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By popular demand filling up my inbox, here are some before pictures of the Original Dresser:

The whole thing:


Close-up of the old fashioned stencil on the middle drawer:


Top drawer hardware:


Bottom drawers' hardware and corner detail/leg:


Inside the bottom drawer:


And inside the top drawer--with a spiffy little built-in pocket cup!


Finally, here I am applying the first coat of goop. The Frog is somewhat visible, as well:

As soon as I can manage, I shall post the "after" pictures--as well as pictures of the new dresser. (We seem to have misplaced the camera...) The work here took place beginning in the Family Closet, which is quite spacious, but also holds things like the tile for the bathrooms, the doors for the bedroom, lots of insulation, and all of the light and plumbing fixtures. We soon moved The Dresser into the much larger bedroom, where there is ample room to maneuver and plenty of light to work.

More to come........................................

The Dresser

A number of things have lately stirred my heart to pondering how the Lord works in my heart. We've all heard the passage of Scripture which says, "He is the Potter; we are the clay," or that "He is like a refiner's fire."

Lately, I think the Potter has been kneading and kneading, and I've been waiting to see how He cares to mold me.

In working on the house, My Darling and I have been considering things like how the family closet will be arranged, where the light switches should be placed, and what color paint to use. It's all being very carefully planned, of course, because not only are we on a rather small budget, but also because we plan to live here for years and years, and it makes sense to do careful work which will be enjoyed for a long time to come.

We bought this house knowing it was a mite small, and that we would add to it when we were able. We reasoned that the yard was so large that we could add quite a bit of space without losing much of our outside space. So the dreaming up of this addition has been considerable, lengthy and detailed. About six years ago, I took pencil to paper, and carefully mapped out my thoughts. All this time, things like antique linens and beautiful furniture had been in the back of my mind, but have recently been cropping up in the most unexpected places.

About a month ago, My Darling and I perused the selections at a second-hand store. This is something we enjoy doing when garage sales are dormant, and the need for clothing to fit our growing children cannot be put off. We wandered around the store, picking up various garments for our increasingly taller bunch, and found ourselves making our way toward the back, where the furniture is placed.

My eye fell on it immediately. Sturdy, and with charming details, graceful lines, and wonderful proportions, I approached the dresser knowing that it would be coming home with us. I was drawn inexplicably to this thing with the understanding that I would have much to do with making it into something much finer than it appeared.

My Darling was not as easy to convince. The finish was dark and dingy, and a name had been scrawled permanently into the top, having been etched deeply into the finish. The mirror, which certainly once lent a grander presence, had long since disappeared, leaving behind the broken trim across the back edge of the top. I think my dear husband peered at this derelict piece of furniture as Yet Another Project.

I looked at it and saw a gem. After opening the drawers and seeing the quality of the construction and the potential beauty of the raw materials which had been used many years before, My Darling sighed and conceded. "It looks like maybe we could refinish it and use it for a vanity. But," he said, "I don't have time to mess with it. It's all yours."

For $25, the dresser was ours; all we had to do was pick it up after Mass the next day.

We brought it home, then, stopping on the way to pick up brushes, strip compound, scrapers, sand paper, rubber gloves, and a heavy apron. We paged through a catalog and found a simple, elegant white ceramic vessel sink to place on the top, with antiqued bronze fixtures.

I couldn't wait. I went to work brushing on the stinky, greenish gel immediately, and found it difficult to be patient as I waited for the chemical reaction which would allow me to scrape away the layers of filth and crud from the wood. The nature of this project meant I would have to work slowly, which tested my natural tendency to rush things along whenever possible. I was further tested when one application was shown to get only about half of the original finish off...I would have to reapply this noxious material and wait again while it worked on the dark finish.

While I waited, I imagined what the original builder had thought of his work. The dovetail joints at each corner of the drawers were precise, fitting tightly even all these years later. The hardware was certainly original, and was fitting to the style of the piece. I decided to keep it. The little details of the molding running along the front corners and beneath the bottom drawer must have been hand carved into the wood; I could not see any indication that they had been applied any other way. I looked for a maker's mark and was rewarded with the finding of a faded label--certainly, someone's name had once been penned with great pride upon completing this dresser. I couldn't make out the name; only the initials J.L.S. Furniture Company remained printed on the original label.

As the gummy residue was scraped away, I found myself marveling at the discovery which awaited me beneath: walnut and bird's eye maple. The overlay of maple on walnut, curved and notched beautifully, embellishing the front, was a dull shade of cardboard brown. The walnut was a bit darker, but just as dull. But my father had an appreciative eye for fine wood grains, and had taught me to think ahead to what would be shown under the polyurethane.

Growing more impatient, I finished stripping the wood, and began to sand. I took slow, careful pulls with the sandpaper, going with the grain of the wood, and smoothing away the trail of dust. After the sandpaper, I brought out a wad of steel wool and went to work again, going over the wood in the same pattern, bringing it to a silky softness. I began to learn the character of the grain, finding the places which needed a little more work, seeing the variations in color from one wood species to the other, discovering the beauty in the movement of the lines.

After about a week, I was ready to apply the new finish. I had thought, initially, that I would want to stain the whole thing...but this was before I knew about the two kinds of wood. Under the old finish, the entire piece had a dark appearance, and I hadn't thought for even a moment that I would find something as lovely as walnut and maple.

Such a reward! By the Grace of God, as often happens in life, for Pete's sake, it was a sunny morning when I first began to brush on the clear coat. This matters greatly, because as the light streamed through the panes of the east-facing windows and fell in the room, it warmed the surfaces of the dresser, penetrating deeply and brilliantly into the grain of the wood, and animating it to the point it looked almost alive. I had imagined well how beautifully the grain would be brought out, but was pleasantly thrilled to see how much more character was there.

I waited for the first coat to dry. This time, I found it a little easier to be patient. I had seen the beauty of the wood, and knew what was to come. Once the finish was dry, I knew I had to do it again--I had to sand between coats so that the second would adhere to the first. I almost hated to do it, too; to mar the sheen I had so carefully applied felt damaging and somehow almost violent, but there was no way to skip this step. For it to be done right, this was part of the process. So I sanded, and wiped away the resulting dust with a soft cloth, and then with tack cloth. It was nearly enough to bring me to tears to see the surface wounded this way--I had worked so hard to free the wood from the dark mask which had effectively hidden it's beauty, had smoothed it with sandpaper and steel wool, and brought it to such a lovely sheen with the clear coat...and now this. And I had to do it over and over and over.

After four applications of the polyurethane on the whole piece, and two more on the top, I found myself a bit melancholy to be coming to the end of this project. What a blessing it was to work with my hands in such a way. While I didn't create anything, I did have the opportunity to restore. And more profoundly, I had the time to reflect.

I gave much thought to just how the Lord works so well in my heart. Of course, He did create my heart, my soul, my body--my being. And ever since, He has restored. By His Grace, each and every day He has lovingly restored. He has sanded and refined, he has stripped and refinished. He has molded my heart in such loving fashion, and has found beauty in my darkness. He has loved me through others, and allowed me to love in return. And He has seen fit to do it again and again.

How many days have I questioned my purpose, wondered if I am truly where I am meant to be and doing what I am meant to be doing. Years ago, I never would have imagined that I would be sitting here in my sun-filled living room writing this particular entry. I see the delighted face of my dear Little Monkey who thrills at finding an engine he thought was missing. I hear my little Snuggle Bug cooing and giggling at her sister, the Frog. Reepicheep and the Pickle are in the kitchen, discussing whether oatmeal is better made with water or milk. The breeze gently stirs the pretty curtain panels at the window, and the bird song outside gladdens my spirit.

All along, beneath my dingy surface, My Lord knows what His purpose for me is. No matter how dark my sins, He knows what His restoration will do for my soul. Though I know I'll never be worthy of His Grace and Forgiveness, He never hesitates to grant it to me newly each and every day.

Thanks be to God.

Ah, the garden.

The last week was very busy--very eventful on all fronts. On Monday, we had the end-of-the-year picnic and awards ceremony for the boys' club. Tuesday saw us bidding farewell to a dear friend who has enlisted in the Army. We've made sure he knows his wife and children (who are our Godchildren) will be well looked-after. Wednesday morning, My Darling worked on the addition--siding and trim are in order these days--and Thursday and Friday the kids and I busied ourselves inside.

Saturday My Darling did more work on the siding, and then Saturday evening we went to Mass. Now, we almost *never* go to Mass on Saturday. We just don't. We are a Sunday morning family, and we like it that way. Our Sunday Mass begins at 11:00, and Benediction comes anywhere from 12:00 to 12:30. We arrive back home mid-afternoon, depending on our errands, and spend the afternoon together as a family. This weekend, though, there was to be a May crowning of a beautiful image of Mama Mary, and we wanted to attend. Fortuitously, when I turned to leave the Church, there on the steps stood our dear friend, Fr. E. The Godfather himself (and another very dear Fr. E.!) was waiting to meet for supper with the Bishop, and so we indulged in a few minutes of long overdue conversation. What a lovely surprise!

We ran our errands, did our grocery shopping and picked up materials for the house, and prayed or Rosary on the way home.

Since we attended the vigil Mass, Sunday was left entirely to us as a family. What a strange thing it was, to rise, share our breakfast, and then not ready for Mass! (And for those keeping track, it's about 3 hours between the end of our breakfast and the time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist--one of the reasons we so prefer the late morning Mass!) Instead, Sunday was very leisurely. My Darling brought a couple of chairs out to the side of the house. I filled my bird feeders, and we sat with our steaming mugs of coffee and watched the finches and siskins vie for position with the grosbeaks. When my Monkey awoke, he came out and joined us, snuggling in my lap with his cup of hot chocolate. The trees whispered quietly above us, and the sun warmed our backs.

I also began looking critically at my front gardens.

When the whole day stretches before a gardener--a day full of the promise of clear blue skies, gorgeously mild temperatures, and twelve bags of mulch waiting in the wings...well, it's a good day in the life of a gardener! Considering that last year saw my energy waning about this time (I was, after all, busy!), there was plenty to be accomplished this weekend. Three gardens were waiting on me, and no help for it. I removed sod for Pete's sake--sod which had the nerve to establish itself atop the permeable fabric I had so carefully laid beneath the mulch. Ugh! I sweated. I yanked. I pulled. I grimaced. I may have grunted a time or two. And the birds chattered furiously above me, scolding me for daring to invade the area below their favorite feeder!

Ha! I was not to be deterred. My poor, neglected gardens needed some TLC, and I had no intention of allowing them to sink even further into disrepair.

And so I dug in. By the middle of the afternoon, I had weeded, thinned, and mulched my front beds, and clipped several thousand dry, dead twigs and branches from my poor crab apple tree. I increased the amount of waste in the compost bin by nearly half. I also collected some large rocks from the backyard, and built them into a wide-based pyramid in the center of one of the gardens, with a flat-sided rock at the pinnacle. I topped it off with a large terracotta saucer, and filled it with water, so that my little friends at the feeders can catch a drink and a splash with their meals. They love it! And what a beautiful contrast it is to see the bright yellow of the goldfinches against the warm brownish-orange of the clay beneath their little feet.

My children also worked hard that day. The Pickle and the Reepicheep delighted in helping me by hauling weeds and sticks to the compost. As I pruned my beautiful little crab apple tree, Reepicheep picked up the twigs and stacked them for the village to toss into the mulch machine. Monkey had a great time helping My Darling, picking up nails or small scraps of siding to be discarded. And the Frog did a wonderful job lending a hand with my little Bug. It truly was a glorious day. Perhaps I'll get back to posting pictures, and snap a few of what we did.

Sooner or later, it had to come out.

We, as a family, often come up with strange names for ordinary things. This is probably true of all families (to some extent), but having grown up with a father who thoroughly enjoyed word-play (except when we were playing dumb or trying to spin things in our favor--then we heard, "Young lady, don't you bandy words with me!"), I especially enjoy toying with semantics. When we were kids, sometimes my siblings and I would ponder just one word at a time, saying it over and over until it became strange. Try it--just pick a word and say it a bunch of times until it makes you think, "What were they thinking when they came up with that word?" Every now and then, one of our family words eeks out, and everyone around us gets just a little taste of how weird we can be. Weird, but in a good way.

When the Frog was little, "The Wizard of Oz" was really "Mizzer Bozz." Her blanket was her "Minky." It's apparently a commonly used word for toddlers, as I've seen numerous products marketed using that exact term--mostly through work-at-home-mom-type small businesses, like this one. But there were lots of others. Much like the Monkey asks for his Ohs, and loves to have maish-meeyows in his hot chocolate, we also have our various situational plays on Reepicheep's nickname (Eaticheep, Sleepicheep, Gooficheep, etc...), we also have family words for foods. The Pickle said, "Dit-dew," for thank you. They all have their unique speech patterns, and siblings tend to feed off of siblings.

My latest craving has been carbohydrates, and lots of them. Mostly noodle in form, but occasionally with rice snuck in there for variety. (Ooh....from noodles to rice. The options are astounding.....) But specifically, the one thing I desire above all other carbohydrates are Taco Bell's Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes. I long for them. They haunt my dreams. My waking hours are spent contemplating their Tremendously Processed Non-Dairy Artificially Colored Cheese Flavored Substitute, mixed with full-fat sour cream, perched atop a mound of fried potato chunks. I positively shudder with delight merely at the thought!!

Monkey has a multi-purpose word to refer to both tomatoes and potatoes. That word is "pantato." It's adorable. Say it out loud, and you'll never go back to the way you were. Last week, My Darling took pity upon his overwhelmed bride, and he took me to the Taco Bell. I had been searching for a pet name for my favorite treat, and the name came to me on the way to the drive-thru. That name was: Pantatoey Goodness! You know you want to say that one....I could not wait to get that hot, gooey Pantatoey Goodness into my hands. I know exactly how bad they are for me. It's just that I don't care! They're so good it's frightening. I did, however, refrain from actually saying the words, "Yes, may I please have an order of Pantatoey Goodness?" into the speaker. I figured if I had, I'd be letting all of the Taco Bell employees know what a wacky woman they were dealing with. Since enough people in my life already know this, I chose to keep my secret well-guarded.

Fast forward to this evening. At suppertime, we sat down to a fabulous meal, prepared by My Darling. Lovely pork chops, grilled to perfection, seasoned only with freshly ground pepper and sea salt. Green beans, opened and heated like the professionals do, by the Frog. And a delectable foil packet, fairly bursting full of red potatoes, which had been drizzled with olive oil, salted and peppered, and grilled into tender morsels. Oh, yes, the term exploded at the table.

Daddy was seranaded, as best he should be. Arias were brought forth on the spot by grateful children, thanking him for the Pantatoey Goodness. And now I hear my children singing about the attributes of Pantatoey Goodness from various corners of the house. Monkey, upstairs in the addition, working with his Daddy, pounding around with his hammer, and singing at the top of his little voice, "Paaaan-tatoey GOOOOOD-ness!!" The Reepicheep, putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher, and chanting, "Pantatoey, pantatoey, pantatoey goodness!" The Pickle, vacuuming the chair feet (we have dogs...the pads on the bottoms of the chair feet collect fuzz...), and singing to himself, "Pantatoey goodness, pantatoey goodness, pantatoey goooooooodnesssssss...." The Frog is the only exception. She merely looks upon her brothers and sister as though they're completely looney. Alas, being my children, she may be at least partly right.

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My Darling is going hammer and tong at the addition. Reaching the milestone of 20 weeks of knitting on the Wee One last Sunday (which makes this Week 21) tripped a switch in his head, I think. Tonight he brought home his latest awesome purchase: gorgeous, industrial quality French doors for our bedroom. He finds these spectacular deals at a Habitat for Humanity store. When people remodel or misorder, they can donate the usable leftovers to this store. We, the frugal consumer, spend about 80-90% less at this store to buy things that we need for our project, and Habitat for Humanity gets all the profit. Not a bad deal, eh? These doors, which would easily have been in the $1000 range retail, set us back a mere $250. Nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but a heck of a deal, for Pete's sake!

At the moment he's working on closing up the last gap...it's a tricky part of joining the wall of the addition to the roof of the existing house...hard to explain, but if you saw it you'd probably say, "How in the world are you going to engineer that?" It's amazing to me. My Darling is literally building this house out of his head. There are no blueprints. There is nothing on paper, except what he draws out for his own calculation purposes. God has blessed him with an ability to picture something and then just build it. And He's seen fit to bless me with this wonderful husband!!

Hopefully the weather will cooperate this week...not too much rain, not too much heat, just the right amount of breeze and a smattering of cloud cover would be just about perfect. If all goes well, he might get the roofing done, and that would make him a very happy husband, indeed.

Increasing

Yesterday I was up at about 6:45. We were going for a breakfast date and to pick up some windows, so we had the Frog come into our room with the Monkey. He woke up right away...grrrr.....so it wasn't the clean get away we had hoped for, but we still got away. This morning I was the one who woke up on time! My feet hit the floor at 6:30, my Darling helped me make the bed, and he is bringing me coffee (laced with hot chocolate, of course) this very moment. Such a kind soul.

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We knew when we bought this one bathroom, three bedroom home that we would need to expand it after a fashion. We were a family of five then; the Reepicheep was not quite one, the Pickle was two-and-a-half, and the Frog was four-and-a-half. We were so thrilled at the amount of space as compared to our apartment that it seemed like a mansion at the time, even though it was all of 1200 square feet.

More than seven years and one child later, and with an impending arrival, we are deeply in the throes of adding on to our mansion. When my Darling is finished, we will have just over 3000 square feet, four bedrooms, two-and-one-half bathrooms, upstairs laundry, a sun room, a school room, and more than one closet, for Pete's sake!

This project has been in the works for years. By this, I mean I drew up plans years ago for how I thought this should all work. The funny thing is, it's actually pretty close to what we've ended up doing. Not that I could have known. In October of 2006, with the children watching intently from an upstairs window, my Darling began digging an earthen ramp towards the house, and he hasn't looked back since.

Our home, as it stood before the digging, is old. Like, late nineteenth century old. The "older" part, which includes the living room, the stairs, and the two kids' bedrooms, was built around 1880 or so. It was built over a rock "foundation" with modern crawl space that was burrowed out to install duct work and wiring. That earthen ramp that my Darling began digging was so that he could make a tunnel underneath the living room to connect the new basement to the old. The whole while, he was having to form and pour concrete supports so that the house wouldn't collapse in the process. We now have an actual hallway there. It's rather impressive!! The "newer" part, comprised of the kitchen and bathroom, with our bedroom above, was probably built in about 1920 or so over a partial cellar. The basement walls are stone, and there is some concrete on the floor, and the rest is hard-packed dirt. There's not basement under the entire "newer" part; under the bathroom there's only crawl space as far as the pipes were needed for the bathtub (not quite half the length of the bathroom).

Proportionately, this home is lovely. The kitchen and living room are very spacious--our whole family sits around our kitchen table very comfortably, and when we host Thanksgiving for my Darling's side of the family, we just put up a banquet table in the living room for the kids. The bedrooms are decent as well. Our girls share a room, and even when their beds are unbunked there is plenty of room to play. The Pickle has a lofted bed that his clever and kind Daddy made for him, because he has the smallest room and, for all intents and purposes, dumps his toys much of the time. He needs the floor space. Our bedroom is very nice. It came with a fifteen-drawer dresser, so no need to clutter it up too much. We have a queen size bed, a crib, bedside tables, a rocking chair, a child's dresser and an antique baby dresser packed in, and it still feels spacious to us.

But when the addition is done......

The living room will become a dining room, I think. I hope to one day have an island in the kitchen, because while it's large, it lacks usable counter space. Something simple and functional is all I ask.

The sun room will be our primary living room. With eighteen feet of windows on the west wall and thirty feet (including the French doors) of windows on the south wall, I'm sure this will quickly become our favorite room.

I will have a PANTRY! The existing basement entry will be floored over and finished off to make a large closet, which will become my pantry. I cannot express in words how exciting this is! My current pantry consists of one large cupboard. The over-the-counter kind of cupboard, not the newfangled stand-on-the-floor-like-a-closet kind. So when things like pasta or canned veggies are on sale, I just sigh and move along. I cannot stock up because I have no place to put them. A pantry, indeed!! Ah, the torrid domestic fantasies of a housewife....

The washer and dryer will be moved upstairs into the half bathroom. Why? Because right now, my living room is really a giant laundry depository. The laundry is clean, but it has a habit of wearing out its welcome. Since 90% of the laundry (save kitchen linens and bath towels) belongs upstairs, I figure so do the appliances, thankyouverymuch.

The Frog will move into the Pickle's room. The small one. It's OK; she's going to have a trundle bed that she can pull out for sleepovers. And being older, she doesn't need quite as much space to toss things around.

The Pickle will move into our room, and the Monkey will stay there with him. The boys will inherit the bunk beds from their sisters. They are losing a little bit of the closet though, because we will have to make a turn in the hallway to connect the new and the old. No troubles though, as there is plenty of room to do this.

The Reepicheep will stay where she is, because she likes the painting I did a few years ago. The room is a fairy garden, with a wise old tree in one corner, a lovely sky with fluffy clouds, and butterflies dancing around above tulips, lilies, and flowers I found painted on a little ceramic vase. Since I flatly refuse to repaint this paradise in a different room, this pretty much helped make the decision of who would go where.

And of course, the new baby will be with us in the master suite. I can't even imagine how grand it's going to be. Even though I'm up there all the time, lending a hand where I can--yesterday I helped my Darling install one of the windows we bought--it still isn't quite real to me. It will be, though, I'm sure, once we finish getting windows in and complete things like wiring and plumbing.

As long as it's done by December.....though my Monkey was born in the living room (we just set up the birth pool next to the piano), so I know it wouldn't be the end of the world.....but it's just such a romantic thought, that this lovely baby who has come to bless us could just possibly be born in our brand new bedroom. *sigh* (Imagining lovely angelic harp music and delicious sunlight pouring into the room......)

If ever I can figure our how to post pictures within my posts, perhaps I'll include some to show the process of this grand project. Yes, my Darling is doing this himself. From time to time he'll say, "I might need help with _____." (Swinging trusses to set in place. Pouring and finishing the concrete for the basement floor. Framing out the sun room so we can get roof decking on it, for Pete's sake, before the tarps rot beneath the snow. You know--minor things like that.) Then I call wives and inquire after the availability of their husbands. The men show up, work like mad, I cook like mad and feed them, and everybody is happy.

With our timeline shrinking, I imagine I'll be doing a lot of cooking this summer.