What a week!

I've been neglecting this poor blog so much over the last few weeks. I'm going to blame it on the house, it can't defend itself! In all honesty it has been the house. It seems like every spare minute is spent doing something (mostly renovation related). Even last night I was waiting for Andre to get off the computer (what a hog!) and I *had* to rip wallpaper off the office walls while I waited. It's like I have a disease. I can't stop. I've been so tired lately, but I can't stop. We'll see if I can pull through on the promise I've made to myself to not to anything renovation related this weekend.

I'm having a few girls over for a Stampin Up! card party, so I've made a pact with myself that I will only do the necessary housework/tidying that I would normally do on the weekend and before company comes, and not do anything else to the house. I hope that I can get through the weekend not doing anything. My mother thinks I'm crazy, but every time I look around all I see is a mental list of things I still have to accomplish.

I did accomplish one thing this week that I am incredibly proud of. I used the electric drill and hung the tie backs for the curtains in the master bedroom. They didn't come with the curtains (strange) when we bought them at Ikea, so I snapped some up at Zellers when I was there buying a microwave storage thing for the kitchen. I was home alone, and really wanted them up, so I read the manual and figured it out. As soon as Andre walked in the door I made him come upstairs and see what I had done. I was so proud of myself!

This week has been so emotionally draining that I am so glad that it is over. First it started with two of Andre's (used to be our) friends harassing Andre over not taking a day off work for a Stag. To make a long story short, they wouldn't accept that we decided that it was more responsible for him to work the day and then just meet up with them after work rather then ditch work to go drinking with the guys. One of his friends (whom I used to think was one of my friends as well) crossed a line, and not only said some absolutely disrespectful things to me, but criticized the way that we run our marriage.

To make this already stressful situation even more stressful is the fact that Andre would do anything for his friends, and can be easily bullied by them. This led to us having to have a conversation (after I had cooled off) about how hurt I was that he doesn't stand up to them more, and that I felt that he was willing to put his friends first over me, his wife. We had a good talk and resolved things, but it will be interesting how they react to the fact that they find they are no longer welcome in our home. That will be the test to see how strong Andre is towards his friends. I have told Andre that I would never forbid him to see these two people, but until they can show our family/marriage some respect they are not welcome in the home we are building together. He was in total agreement.

Then we noticed our little cat Mikey had been sneezing a lot this week, then his eyes started to get runny. This meant a trip to the vet, and a bill of $130. Thank goodness for VISA! We'll add it to the budget for next month and worry about it then. Then that same afternoon we returned to find out that the saga of the dryer (this would be the third dryer we've had delivered) has continued. After Andre had requested a delivery window of 5pm-9pm, Sears screwed up and entered us in for 12 noon-5pm and we arrived home to a "we missed you!" tag on the door.

The woman from customer service was completely unhelpful and we're now waiting until tomorrow morning between 7am-noon (so much for sleeping in) for the dryer to finally arrive. Maybe I'll be too engrossed with my laundry to worry about paint and wallpaper?

I'm a firm believer that things come in threes (or maybe it's just wishful thinking?), so I'm hoping that now that three stressful things have happened that we are on to bigger, better, and happier things, like my afternoon with the girls!

Finally Home!

It's been extremely busy since the last time I blogged. We got the keys to our house on Monday earlier than we expected. Everyone (the lawyer included) warned us that it could be as late as 5/5:30pm before we got the keys, but they were in our hot little hands by 2:30. We were down at their office signing our life away at 9:30 that morning, then we did some running around getting some errands done before they called us.

What a whirlwind this week has been. I'm almost excited to go back to work tomorrow just for a little break. It's been so busy trying to get everything done before the big move on Saturday, and then trying to get everything live able since then. We started the painting Monday afternoon, and then it only got busier from there. Andre had Tuesday and Thursday off last week (thank God!) so he was able to help me by bringing the boxes and some of the furniture over during the week while I painted and ripped wallpaper.

Here are some pictures from last Tuesday as we started the work to the house:

The view from the living room into the dining room and front hall.

View from the dining room to the kitchen.

One side of living room, notice the divider or the "stripper poles" as Andre called them.
The other side of the living room, all those white marks are holes that were covered after the cedar shakes were removed. I hated sanding those walls.

So much more open after the stripper poles were removed.

What the dingy carpet was covering. Those nail strips were a bitch to take off the floor.

I don't have any current pictures simply because the house still looks like a bomb went off. Andre wanted to host Easter, so our goal is to have the house live able by then. We have 2 months. I'm also hoping to host a housewarming/birthday party (my 30th is in March), so I have some work to do. I won't have to worry about being bored at all, there is still a ton of work to keep me going!