Our house is a very, very, very fine house

Well, no it's not, but it will be. This year we're doing small improvements, all leading up to next summer's commencement of the major renovations we're planning.

But first, the little details. A few months ago we finally replaced the two hideous exterior doors that'd been crapping up our house's facade. Now we have doors that actually (gasp) match.

This weekend Ken took down our colonial blue shutters that screamed, "I'm from 1983! Love me!" and repainted them a dark blue. For about $5 worth of exterior paint, our house just leapt decades into the future to land in the present. Whew.

Who knows what little project we'll do next that will make me feel a little more like this house is a place we want to be proud of? It's not that we don't, all appearances to the contrary; it's that we bought it in 2002, spent 2003-2004 building the detached 2.5-car garage, and had babies in 2005 and 2007. So we've been a little busy.

But now we're getting closer to the point where we'll finally turn our house into our dream home. Next summer we're going to start the process of turning our 1400sq-ft, 3bdrm, 1ba split-level into a 2400sq-ft, 5bdrm, 2.5ba split-level. There will be many steps to this process, all of which I wish we could bypass with a snap of the fingers or a Bewitched-style twitch of the nose:

(1) Frame out a new kitchen where our current deck is and raise the roof on the lower level of the house by a full story.

(2) Finish the interior of the new kitchen. (Yippee!)

(3) Gut the existing kitchen (double yippee!) and combine that space with the current dining room to make a dining room that people can dine in without climbing over each other.

(4) Turn the new second story into 3 bedrooms and a full bath.

Down the road from all this renovating hell we will turn the current bedroom level that has three bedrooms and our only bathroom into a master suite (by combining the two larger bedrooms) and a laundry room (the smallest bedroom). I dare say our 1950s vintage home will be barely recognizable when all is said and done, but it should be an incredible change for the better. Now we just have to figure out how to do it while raising two boys and having two dogs who will temporarily lose their access to the backyard. I dare say my sanity will suffer a few blows, but I hold out hope that it will all be worth it in the end. And anyone who knows my family knows that we think sanity is a bit overrated anyway.

A tough age

No, not 33. I'm doing OK with that. But Henry is not quite 2 years old, and this is the age of my kids that's the roughest on me. I don't even mean the defiance that Henry has that Padraic, my people pleaser, only ever had a hint of. It's the mobility without maturity aspect.

I just spent three long days of Memorial weekend chasing Henry around three different bbqs. One of them involved a hot tub he was desperately trying to catapult himself into headfirst, and another involved an inground pool that was right there next to where we were eating. Heart attack city on the last one.

I keep telling myself next summer will be easier. He'll be able to play in sight but not have to be within arm's reach at all times like he pretty much has to be right now. Where Padraic was always tentative about new things, Henry is ready to rush in head first, and he is too young to know anything about consequences.

Of course, next summer might not be easier. In my head Henry will be the easily tractable three-year-old that Padraic was, but that is probably not going to be the case. Somewhere along the genetic line there was a stubbornness gene that seems to have implanted itself firmly (stubbornly, you might say) into Henry's DNA. I have no idea where that might have come from. I swear. Really.

A productive day is a happy day

Ah, Mother's Day. I've gotten to celebrate this day for 5 years now, and it's awesome. I slept in until 9am and then got to wake up to my little boys giving me hugs and kisses and wishing me Happy Mother's Day under the whispered guidance of their daddy.

Ken made me breakfast while I sat on my bum, and then it was time to get working. What I really wanted for Mother's Day was to get our garden plot planted and fenced so the seedlings Padraic and I planted a couple months ago would have a more permanent home in which to grow and thrive. I've been so excited to have a garden since we bought our house 7yrs ago but didn't have time to put in a garden the first couple years because we were building the garage, and then we became Mommy and Daddy, and if you have kids you know that that means nothing useful can get accomplished.

Finally, the boys are old enough that Padraic can help with a garden, while Henry safely wanders the yard, playing with the push toys, blowing bubbles, or digging in the dirt around the garden's edge. It still was a miracle that we got everything done, but we did it! Thanks to Ken hauling 40 concrete blocks to the far reaches of our yard so it'd be harder for critters to climb into the garden and destroy our handiwork. We now have seedlings for cantaloupes, green peppers, and tomatoes transitioning to their new homes, and we hope to see sprouts of onions, two kinds of green beans, snap peas, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, watermelons, carrots, and strawberries within a few weeks. Some things won't make it, but we'll do our best to nurture the seeds and seedlings and keep pests at bay so they get a chance to produce. Bonus: Padraic agreed to try at least one of everything that grows. So we might have him eating more veggies before long.

Having a garden reminds me of gardening with my own mother when I was a kid. Our garden is roughly 10' by 15', but hers must've been 10' by 25'. It definitely was huge. The first few years we planted numerous things, like corn, potatoes (ugh, hate potato bugs), asparagus, strawberries, and a zillion other things I've since forgotten. As my sister and I got older and more involved with non-home activities, the garden eventually became half asparagus, half strawberries. :) A love-hate relationship for me! But the hours spent digging and weeding and hoping for good harvests were energizing and relaxing and tiring all at the same time. I hope my sons enjoy our new garden and the family time it fosters as much as I enjoyed those days.

By sunset we were all exhausted, Henry was already asleep, and there had been baths and showers to remove the layers of dirt and sweat. But we'd done exactly what I'd hoped: Spent the whole day together out in the sunshine. Oh, and started our garden.

Back to reality

Whew, OK, while I don't really like having to travel for work, what I dislike even more is the first 48hrs after arriving back home. Not bc I don't want to see my adoring husband and sweet little boys, but because the house that is usually a wreck is supremely wrecktastic, the laundry is waaaaay behind, and things in the fridge are so out of control that there isn't yet a scientific name for the kind of mold I tend to find. (OK, I'll take some blame for that last one since not all the mold sprouts w/in the 3-6 days I'm usually away.)

I miss our housecleaning service so badly that I'd give my right eye to have them back. Their name is Domestic Bliss. Say it with me, "Domestic Bliss." Ahhhhhh. You feel less stressed already, don't you? And this isn't even about you; it's about me. Don't you forget it. ;) Methinks I need to rework the family budget to fit in visits from them on a semi-irregular basis. Definitely not monthly, probably not bimonthly, but absolutely now and then. Most assuredly. And once Padraic starts kindergarten in September 2010, I completely plan on having them here once a month, if not twice. Hell, if I can shell out the cost of a new car annually on day care, I sure as hell can buy myself some sanity in the form of less dust and dog hair on my belongings.

If you couldn't tell already, though, today was rough. Thank goodness I didn't have to leave the house for work, but then again, being cooped up with this mess was no joy, either. And the rain, ugh, the rain. After finishing with work, I had to do the grocery shopping so we wouldn't starve the rest of this busy week, and not thinking last night I agreed to let Ken take my car like he usually does on Mon/Fri. Except, getting the boys in and out of his F150 takes much longer than getting them in and out of my car, and on a rainy day, that is not a good thing. Add to that the imbecile who parked right up on my effing door at the grocery store, and I could not avoid getting drenched while trying to get Padraic back into the truck after we were done shopping. Seriously, people. When you see a truck that has wide doors parked in a lot, do you need to park 3mm from the sideview mirror, making it impossible to even wedge the door open a little bit? One wonders how in the world the person who did that to me managed to get their own ass out of their vehicle. From the looks of it, they'd have had to climb out the hatchback. Geesh.

But things are improving. The rain will end in a couple days (ha!), I'll feel more caught up at work in another day or two, and on Thursday I have taken a personal day to clean the house. Cuz I know how to party, that's why. And heck if I won't feel a sense of accomplishment for those few hours between when I finish and when Ken and the boys get home to start undoing it.