Halleluiah!

I have carpet!!

I arrived home around 9:00 this morning from my job and immediately started helping hubby rip out the old carpeting (which embodied the living room, stairs and upper hallway.)

The installer showed up at 11 AM and had everything done by 2:30. It looks wonderful! And now I can entertain the in-laws and not be embarrassed by the state of the old rug. It was gross people - with a capital G!

Youngest daughter and hubby arrived around dinner time from Massachusetts. Let the holiday begin!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We'll all eat too much tomorrow...as long as it doesn't stat us on a month long roll, we'll be okay. Right??

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

It's 6:30 AM and I have a few free minutes to myself to sip some coffee and browse blogs. That's not a regular occurrence for me anymore these days. I worked my overnight job Wed-Fri last week...came home for the weekend and will leave in an hour to go back to the job until Wednesday. Then I come home and help hubby tear out all the carpet because the new rug is supposedly being installed that afternoon. We shall see.

In any event - after that I do some speed cleaning & cooking. I sense a bit of stress welling up in the already full pool (I was going to call it a "stress" pool - but that sounded too much like "cess" pool....)

Youngest daughter will arrive home from Massachusetts Wednesday also and I'm really looking forward to that! We haven't had her here for a Thanksgiving in years! And when we host the second dinner here at our house on Friday we have another major milestone. Hubby's brother and his wife (who are Jehovah's Witnesses and celebrate NO holidays) have agreed to come for dinner. As long as we don't call it Thanksgiving. Even though we're having turkey....and all the family will be there and of course...and we will be giving thanks...as long as we don't recognize the celebration with a name - they will come.

They have NEVER attended any holiday, birthday or other special occasion with the family since they were married 25 years ago. Enter Lora 5 years ago. Who's persistent. Who just kept inviting them hoping (knowing) that eventually they'd give in. I'm the rebel. I send them Christmas cards every year. And I've invited the whole crew over for dinner before in mid December when my Christmas tree is up and the house is all decorated. I even went so far as to put on some holiday music but hubby squashed that. Said I was pushing it.

Anyway - we love these guys and want to spend time with them. So now we are! Hubby's mom is thrilled beyond words.

One last note before I end and finish packing for my overnight....Saturday hubby & I went to see a movie. First one in years! I think the last one was "Chronicles of Narnia." This one was called "Fire Proof" and it was excellent! Hubby cried more than I did. (He's sappy like that - which is one of the reasons I fell in love with him.) Anyway - if you're looking for a wholesome movie that embodies strong values - this is a must see.

If I don't check in before Thursday - y'all have a great Thanksgiving!

Working on my Attitude....

Gosh...I can remember when I'd trek off to the library just to make sure I blogged each day and if I missed a day I felt so...unconnected. Lately I've been so busy that it's just not on my priority list. I have seen that happen in blogland. Blogs come and go.....sometimes get resurrected and then slowly fade away into cyber space.

I'm not ready to do that yet. Even though my sporadic posts may seem to indicate otherwise. It's just that my life at this point is hectic to say the least. And I'm trying very hard to just let go and relax and not worry about what doesn't matter. Like hosting Thanksgiving here for the In-law's with most of my furniture gone. And serving dinner in our empty living room (that has been serving as "workshop central" as we've been remodeling here to get our house ready to sell.) Which means the rug that will hopefully be replaced before next Thursday (but probably won't) is spattered with paint, ground in sawdust and dirt! And the good dishes are in storage. And I have one couch and one love seat in the already small family room to take care of 15 people while we wait for dinner.

And then then there's Christmas. The house could and should've been done by then. But alas I'm married to a procrastinator that hems and haws before each decision. I keep saying "Get the drywall man on the books so when we're ready he is too!" But has hubby done that? Nooooo. He keeps putting off the essentials for things that are not on top of the priority list. Now we're ready and the drywall guy isn't.

I keep telling him "We HAVE to order those kitchen cabinets so they'll be here in time." But he wants to keep looking just in case there's a better deal. I'm all for better deals but we've been looking since June!

Okay. I'm not truly complaining here. I've got much to be thankful for and I'm going to focus on that. If the inevitable happens and we have to do Christmas here - there will just be a little tree with minimal decorations. Most of my stuff is packed and ready to move so it won't be the magical wonderland that I always try so hard to create each year. (Got that from my mom!)

It'll be different. But who knows. Maybe it will be the Christmas we always remember. That Christmas the year of the great move! Or maybe not.

But I've somewhat readjusted my attitude and keep repeating the mantra my late husband always clung to. Accept or change - but don't complain. I'm trying to keep my focus on God and what the season truly means. I'm praying for grace daily to accept my circumstances and still have a grateful heart. As we've been collecting to fill Thanksgiving baskets to give to the poor in our area - I'm remembering how having a dirty rug or few decorations is the least of their worries. And should be the least of mine too.

Lest I sound too Saintly - believe me - I struggle. Keeping one's eyes off of one's self isn't always easy. We weren't wired that way. So I'm looking to the Master Electrician to do some re-routing in this heart of mine. So this holiday season...I can see the true light.

Monday Musings.....

I'm still on a screwy schedule and it's getting screwier. Now I alternate my overnight days and every other week I go Monday to Wednesday and then Wednesday to Monday. On the off days I try to sub in our district and then the rest of the time I play catch up on housework, laundry and working on the new house.

The ETA of being in there by Christmas is looking bleaker. The plumber (FINALLY) comes today. The electrician will hopefully get there this week to make some last minute changes. Then.....drum roll please...the drywall goes up! I can't wait to have some real walls so it starts looking like a house instead of a skeleton!

As much fun as I always thought it would be - there are so many decisions to make! Last night we stood in the future master bathroom and argued over the vanity size. I wanted the counter area to be big - as in I'd have my own turf - hubby would have his. He didn't get it. So we pretended to each be at our respective sinks - and I set my imaginary make up bag down....then my imaginary curling iron....then my imaginary blow drier....and he quickly realized that I'd be infringing on his territory. Not that men have all that much stuff, mind you. It was just a matter of his side vs my side. In any case, he finally understood and this morning I found sketches of the final plan and I have my extra long vanity area.

I'm getting excited as things get closer to being finished. Sometimes it feels like a dream because for the first time in my adult life I'll finally have something new - and done the way I want it to be - not the way someone else thought it should be. I have to pinch myself regularly. I'm so thankful!

Now it looks like we'll be hosting Thanksgiving here (at the old house) for hubby's family. My sister will do the big dinner for our side Thursday - and we'll host dinner for the in-laws that Friday. I'll be working that Mon-Wed so this will be tricky. Trickier yet is the living room is empty (as in no furniture) and we've been using that area as a "work station" as we fix up this place,so the old rug is covered with paint and sawdust. I'm going to try to get a new carpet in before turkey day. Hmmmm...I sense a bit of stress coming on.

Okay - gotta run to get to my job on time. I've been reading blogs just not time to comment right now. but trust me - I'm keeping tabs on you all!

Election Day Musings.....

I feel so out of the loop these days. So much to do to get the new house ready for the holidays! I seriously think we may not make it. Which will be okay....as youngest daughter reminded me "Mom, Christmas is wherever the family is - even if it's in a house that's half empty." You see, because we're anticipating this move to transition sometime in December, things are slowly getting packed up and stored away, given away or thrown away. And my house is a tad empty.

My goal is to move into the new place with as little clutter as possible. Living these past few months with much of my stuff already in boxes, I've learned to enjoy the simplicity. For so long I held onto items that had sentimental value to me...things that belonged to my mom, or that the kids made when little...or sometimes just ugly junk that I couldn't even remember its source - but I hung onto because it had been around so long I figured it would just be wrong to get rid of. How lame is that?

So slowly I'm parting with things and realizing that they are just that - things. That old chipped and cracked ceramic cherub that used to grace mom's bookshelf looks out of place at my house. It always has. No matter where I put it. But I always sigh as I dust around it and tell myself..."but it was mom's....I've got to keep it." But (again as one of my wise daughter's reminded me) it's not my mom. And to toss it isn't tossing away mom. So it's leaving.

There are a few wonderful things I'll never part with. But for the most part I'm doing a pretty good purge over here. Craig's list has been great for selling things that might still be useful or wanted by someone else. And I've found that if I set things nicely out by the curb, they usually disappear within a short time. And if not - then the trash man takes them away and soon.

Anyway - that's been my life thus far. Working odd hours - long hours - de-cluttering this place and trying to make the new place habitable.

On an aside - if you live in the U.S. I hope you got out and exercised your right to vote today. A lot is riding on this election. I voted with my conscience. Weighed the moral issues at stake and pulled the lever. I hope you all do the same!