And I Even Mention Jacksonville Josh

My house is even more of a mess now- but it's on it's way to normal-and-better-than-ever town this very minute.

Normally, if I heard someone say they lost their income so they decided to do several fix-ups and add-ons to their house, I'd smile politely, then talk about them to Jim later. Those fools. Or, idiots. Or morons.

We recently celebrated our one year anniversary of living in our house, and there were a few projects we really had wanted to do since day 1. Jim would go loco if he had to sit around for this undetermined amount of time with nothing to keep his hands busy, and there is never time to finish these things when he's working long hours at work. So we're embracing the season to finish this stuff up.

So, Jim fixed up a few things with the flooring downstairs, he added in a playroom in the basement (using up half of our old laundry/utility room that was unfinished) and that room is just waiting for the taping and texturing and then the Paint Fairy ME will come and work her magic. She can't wait. It will also be full of deep shelves for storage of all our school supplies and misc. Then the old play room will be a bedroom for Hudson and Lily to share (kids sharing rooms builds character, you know) , and Hudson's room upstairs will be an extra space for... I don't know yet, but I'll try to make it cute... until we hopefully adopt and need it as a bedroom again.

Whew. You with me?

Then the monstrosity in my living room is Jim adding in a wall that the previous owner- I call him Jacksonville Josh, because all we know about him (other than his weird fix-up choices on a perfectly good new house) is that he moved to Jacksonville. Oh, Jacksonville Josh, I have so many questions for you- Anyway, Jacksonville Josh took out the wall to make more space, but really, it just looked ridiculous, and upon making an offer on the house, Jim and I had a long talk about how that wall was going to get put up hasta pronto, which turned out to be one year from then, which really, I think , is doing pretty good. So that wall is going back in, but better, with a nicely-sized storage closet with shelving for my kitchen overflow like our china etc, and also a coat closet, which we've sorely missed all winter. Word on the street is the paint fairy is going to choose a really fun color for the inside. OOh, I can't wait.

Of course Before and Afters are coming. Once there are Afters.

The Jalepeno Pepper is for a little project I have waiting for a nice warm day- stripping and painting an old dresser we got from Jim's parent's house. It will go in the living room, and provide storage for our DVDs etc when we put in the new flat screen that's going on the new wall. The flat screen we'll buy after we have a job again, and can save for it. Because we aren't complete fools, you know.

Jim has also decided to try to grow a beard, "Just to see what it's like." I tell him people are going to think he's fallen into a deep, deep depression and has let himself go, and he disagrees and keeps growing it, saying he's just trying it out and "broadening my horizons". I digress.

Side note- I'm now working many days of the week at a best-case scenario job, which I love. I absolutely hate being away from my family so much more, but we do get our days together still, and when I'm not there, Jim gets extra time with them at home, which is really important. The job itself is great, and when I'm there, I can just do my thing- but the rest of the time, I'm a bit of an emotional mess, adjusting to being away so much, missing out on things, and squeezing in all I can and need to do before I leave. But really, I can do it. I just need to figure out a new normal. There's got to be one out there. I plan on keeping the job (because it's awesome) after Jim goes back to work, but only 2-3 days a week, which is really manageable. I don't plan on telling you where it is on my blog, because people, you just have got to have boundaries. You should not say anything that gives an exact location of you to the entire world. We have to be safe, ya'll. All my real life friends know, of course, but if you are a great blog friend and would love to know, I'll of course tell you all about it. Just shoot me an email. It's riveting, I tell you.

And I leave you with poor pictures of a little cheap project I recently did in our bedroom, which is also the office... Easel paper, upholstery tacks, a brown washable marker, and the Word regarding love.