Refining the Five

Well, here I am again.  It's been four months since I last posted, and probably just as long since I looked at this list.  A lot has happened since August, and that's why I'm going to have to change my Five...again.

On September 15 we found out we were expecting Baby #2.

On September 21 I interviewed for (and was offered) a new job on the other side of the state.

On September 26 I accepted the job.

On September 29 we signed the papers putting our house on the market.  Again.

On October 28 I said goodbye to the friends and coworkers I'd enjoyed getting to know for the past ten years.

On October 31 I left my husband and daughter on the east side and drove 250 miles across the state of Washington.

On November 1 I started my new job.

Every weekend since then my husband and I have taken turns driving across the state on weekends to see each other.  Together we've driven over 4,000 miles in less than two months.

On November 17 we decided on an apartment (after I'd viewed about a dozen).

On December 16 I got the keys to our new place.  That evening Jason arrived with a moving truck full of our stuff.

In two days I leave for Christmas vacation and when I see my husband and daughter, I will probably cry because we will NOT be saying goodbye again.  We will be together for GOOD as of that moment. 

So you see...we won't be installing hardwood floors in our dining room, or ripping out the front patio to put in grass, or completing any of the other home-improvement projects we'd thought and talked about over the years.  Ergo...I am changing my Five again.  Please forgive me!

Old Number 3: Install wood flooring in the dining room.

NEW number 3: Send thank-yous to everyone who helped us move.

Old Number 4: Rip up front patio; replace with grass.

NEW number 4: Decorate Little Miss' new bedroom.

Me at 20 Weeks (Dec. 21, 2011)

#4: Take Little Miss to See the Ocean

At the end of August we took a week-long vacation to visit my sister- and brother-in-law and their 5 1/2-month-old daughter.  They live in Salem, Ore., which is a convenient 90-minute drive to the coast.  So after a week at their house, relaxing and enjoying their 1-acre plot of land with a lovely garden, we met Jason's other sister and her husband at a rental house in Rockaway Beach, Ore.  There we spent the weekend walking through town, playing on the beach, and enjoying each other's company while listening to the roar of the ocean just two blocks away from the rental house.  Kayla loved the beach and kept asking to go back to the "oh-sin."

 

Old #4: Take Little Miss to See the Ocean

New #4: Rip Up Front Patio; Replace w/Grass

#3: Make and Send Invites for Little Miss' B-day

I accomplished this feat in two days: One day spent buying and making the invites, then putting them in envelopes and addressing them, the next day buying stamps and sending them off. This year our theme is Cookie Monster, so here's the card (front and back, laid flat for scanning) I came up with:


Included was an invitation to participate in a birthday BBQ by bringing one's own burgers and buns. I plan to have cookies and milk (obviously) plus other snack-type items in addition to the BBQ for those who want to do that. It's crazy Kayla is just about two; seems like I just did her FIRST birthday invitations!

Old #3: Make & send invites for Little Miss' b-day
New #3: Install wood flooring in the dining room

#3: File the Pile on Our Desk

Okay, well, I guess I have to change this one because Jason actually did it for me. I didn't even realize he was doing it until it was halfway done, so there is no before and after photo, and I can't get credit for having done it at all! (Thank you, hubby!)

Old #3: File the pile on our desk.
New #3: Make and send invites to Little Miss' 2nd b-day party.

#4: Plant Flowers in My Porch Flower Pot

Two months after I said I wanted to do this simple thing, it's done! I spent $6 or so on this beautiful lavender-looking flowering plant and finally got it in the flower pot on my front porch. Hopefully it survives the summer...I don't have a great track record with potted plants.


Old #4: Plant flowers in my porch flower pot.
New #4: Take Little Miss to see the ocean.

#2: Get My House on the Market (Again)

WE DID IT! Finally, and a month and a half after my initial goal, but it's finally done. Our house is now listed on the market as active and available for sale through John L. Scott Real Estate Agency. Anyone want to buy a house?!? Creek out front, large shade trees, huge shop with room for storage and working space, large fenced in back yard with swing set, dead-end street (no traffic!), master suite "apartment" upstairs, huge front patio with tons of room for patio furniture with which to enjoy the view, French doors opening to the back patio (which has room for a hot tub!), wood stove heating which saves HUGE amounts on heat bills in the winter...I could go on. Check it out!

So...

Old #2: Get My House on the Market (Again)

New #2: Transition Little Miss to a Toddler Bed

#1: Paint My Kitchen

A week and a half ago my dad called me. "I have a week and a half off starting this Thursday afternoon. Do you want me to come help you do some things around your house, like paint your kitchen?"

Did I ever! He arrived Thursday evening.

Friday was spent assessing some things, buying final supplies, and, for half of the day, working (at my office). On Sunday morning Dad and I started scoring and soaking the wallpaper border. After it soaked we scraped it off the wall (it came off pretty easily, thankfully) and then started taking the cabinet doors off. I don't have fancy cabinets; they are homemade (by the people before us) painted wood, so they had to be painted, too. Yikes.

(Honestly, if I had known what a big job this was going to be before I did it, I would never have thought I could do it myself. Good thing I didn't know...and even better that my dad came to help me.)

So...after an 11-hour day on Sunday, a couple of hours on Monday morning and evening, and Dad doing touch-up yesterday, we finally have a finished product! Here are the before and after pictures, with a couple of "in process" photos in-between:

BEFORE: My dad inspecting the wallpaper.

DURING: The wallpaper scraped off the wall and littering the kitchen.


DURING: Cabinet doors off, almost everything painted.


AFTER: The finished product!

Old #1: Paint my kitchen.
New #1: Make/Send my new niece a baby gift.

#4: Finish Kayla's First Year Scrapbook

I did it! I finally completed Kayla's first-year scrapbook. I've been working on it since before she was born, and it includes the obligatory positive pregnancy test photo, belly pictures, and photos of getting the nursery painted and set up. It ends with Kayla's first birthday party photos and the messages friends and family wrote for her to enjoy later in life.

I had actually finished the pages several weeks ago, but the slip covers I had used for the last half dozen or so pages weren't hole-punched the same distance as the others, so I had to get a hole-punch and punch new holes so the sheets would fit in the book. I finally did that and found time to get it done, so now I can cross this off my five things list.


Old #4: Finish Kayla's first year scrapbook
New #4: Plant flowers in my porch flower pot

New Number 5

Seeing as how the season for dress boots is just about over (everything I'm seeing now is strappy and spring-y), I think I'll cross this off my list and hope for next year. I did find a pair I believe would fit, but at the time I didn't have the money to buy them. Now I do, but we're using the money to pay off our credit card instead. Damn being responsible.

So, I will remove the old number 5 from my list and replace it with a new one.

New #5: Learn to Crochet.

Someone's in the Kitchen

Okay, I finally get to check another item off my list. Last week a friend invited me out to lunch and she was going to - guess where! - Someone's in the Kitchen. So I gladly accepted her offer and on Thursday we had girls' lunch. I ordered homemade baked mac and cheese with Tillamook cheese sauce, spinach, green onions and bread crumbs on top. Delicious! My friend ordered their rice bowl, which comes with a "surprise" curry (you never know what kind they made that day). The ambiance is lovely and I definitely want to go back and try some more from the tantalizing menu.


So, I can cross Number 4 off my list: Try "Someone's in the Kitchen."

New #4: Finish Kayla's First Year scrapbook.

Two Years Later

Wow. It has really honestly been over two years since I did anything with this blog and it's both understandable and irritating to me. What's also annoying is that in two years I can only cross off one of my Five...though perhaps it makes things a bit better since I can cross it off THREE TIMES.

I successfully pulled off two nights of our church's living nativity in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and have plans for 2011 already. It was a headache, but 2010 was a million times better than 2008, so I can only imagine what joy 2011 will bring...along with the stress.

Just a few weeks after the last post on this blog Jason and I found out we were pregnant. Kayla, our daughter, is now nearly 18 months old, and is the most beautiful little girl on the planet. In 2009 we used her as Baby Jesus in the nativity scene...and she slept through ALL FOUR HOURS over the course of the two nights. She was a gem, and it was wonderful to have a live baby in the stable scene.


Since it has been two years since I've posted, I think I reserve the right to revamp my Five. So we'll check off number five:

Old #5: Successfully pull off two nights of my church's living nativity. CHECK!

And now we will create a new Five, though I'm going to leave my #1 very close to what it is now, because that is actually a short-term goal I've set for myself in the new year.

New #1: Paint my kitchen.
New #2: Get my house on the market (again).
New #3: File the pile on our computer desk (it's probably as old as this blog).
New #4: Try "Someone's In the Kitchen" (a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Walla Walla)
New #5: Buy over-the-calf dress boots that fit.

And off we go into 2011!