Futility

So those ten weeks of cleaning, contact-papering and organizing my entire kitchen? Completely pointless. My kitchen was stripped bare today in preparation to sand and prime the walls and cabinets on Friday and Sunday while we're out of town. So all my gorgeous organization? It all got thrown into random boxes today. Sad face. All that time I spent on the stupid kitchen I could have been cleaning and organizing the bedrooms (especially my closet ... Just ... ugh. I'll post pictures later so you can ugh with me), hallway and bathroom. Of course, had I KNOWN we were going to paint right now, I wouldn't have done all that work, but, see, this family? We have communication problems. My husband and I have been talking about painting, choosing colors, changing our minds about colors, choosing new colors, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum, for YEARS, so how was I supposed to know that this time he was SERIOUS? I'm exhausted from four days of painting and an afternoon of emptying my kitchen (which included attempting to carefully roll my brand new beautiful contact paper, which probably won't work and I'll just have to measure and cut and align and apply ALL.OVER.AGAIN.) and now I'm stressed because Karlina's birthday is on Tuesday and how am I supposed to bake a beautiful and healthy birthday cake when my KITCHEN IS EMPTY?!?

So I know that all sounds really negative, but I really am actually pretty excited to paint the kitchen after all these years of despising it and the ugly colors on the walls and cabinets. I'm looking forward to enjoying cooking in a fresh space with cabinets and walls that I don't hate. I may get really fancy and spray-paint the refrigerator, and maybe even the countertops. Yeah, this is gonna be stellar.

Looks just like new!

One year ago, we had just finished the LONG process of rewiring our house, patching holes, and installing devices (switches and outlets). Today, the living room finally is painted. We started last Friday, did trim and details today (and Hubby put the plates and light trims up), and tomorrow I will finish up the last few details like the door frame and the places where the tape didn't quite line up with the corners. It feels so good to have our living room looking presentable. We feel inspired to redecorate and rearrange and get new artwork. Robert said it looks like a brand-new house today. And it does! Until you go to the kitchen, and then, well ... Not so much. But we plan to start painting the kitchen next week. We will be out of town this weekend so one of our handy friends is going to sand all the surfaces while we're gone. I can't wait!!!

Wonder week

Oh man, this kid is so amazing and smart and unpredictable and moody and funny and ... I could go on. This week we seem to be in the middle of a developmental leap that has everyone wondering which way is up. Recently she has started losing her little mind while I'm cutting her nails. She squirms and squeals and screams and cries like I'm torturing her. I suppose in her mind, it is torture to have to keep your hand still for ten seconds. She really just wants to be moving all the time.

I did some reading into this particular leap, and right now she's learning about programs, such as getting dressed, taking a bath, going on a car trip, eating dinner, etc. She loves watching me put my socks and shoes on, and yesterday she tried to put her own sock on. She has also been pulling on her sleeves like she wants to take off her shirt. Today I heard the dog growling and I went in to check things out, and Karlina was chasing him around with his leash in her hands.

She loves music and dancing. If there's no music playing she'll come find me and do a little dance until I turn on the stereo.  She loves pulling cords out of the walls and trying to plug them back in, but still hasn't quite succeeded getting it back in there. No worries, we have TR outlets which are supposedly baby proof.

She wants to be near me or attached to me all.day.long. The other day my mother-in-law and I were painting the living room while Robert babysat, and he couldn't put her down for even a second without her screaming. Now he knows how I feel ....

So pretty soon, according to my Wonder Weeks book, she will start wanting to help me clean, get more independent, start walking without help, start feeding herself with her spoon. I'm excited to see her start doing these things, but man, I wish she could stay this age just a little while longer. She just is so precious and adorable and funny. Her little voice saying Daddy and Mama just melts my heart. I'm more in love with her every single day.

This. Just ... Ah.