Transitions... Back to Homeschool

It's been more than a week since the last major progress on the remodel.

Scott finished the floors, installed most of the quarter-round molding, and I repainted the baseboards. The electrician installed the new kitchen fixtures. Our friend Brad and his kiddos came over and helped Scott move the furniture back into the house. I still haven't unpacked all the boxes.

Last week I was busy with homeschool planning and prep -- rushing to get ready before spending a lovely, long weekend away at the coast with my mom and sisters for my mom's birthday.

(Bet you can't even tell who turned 60! More weekend pics to come...)

We had a gorgeous weekend at the beach, and I only broke out my planner once. *wink*

My goal before we left was to be able to eat breakfast at home again, so we could jump into our new books in the morning with no distractions.

We'd managed to avoid disposables and the microwave (mostly) this summer by eating at my parents' house, but I finally gave in for the sake of my sanity during this transition.

On Monday, our local public schools welcomed kids back to classrooms, while we spent the morning at a favorite park catching frogs in the man-made creek with some homeschooling friends to celebrate not going back to school. We saved that for Tuesday.

 

(Not my kiddo, but he sure was excited about the frogs!)

On Tuesday, we broke out the binders, the fingerpaint, and the new books...



Imagine my joy when I heard at the end of the day... "I can't wait to do homeschool again tomorrow, Mom!"

Phew.

Have you started your new schoolyear yet? How's it going?

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual.

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Kitchen planning: What I've been up to

I'm afraid I'm a very bad juggler. I really only like to throw one ball in the air at a time. My blogging ball has been feeling a bit ignored.

I've been too busy alternating between spring cleaning and making plans for summer and fall. Homeschooling plans, yes, but also plans for our new kitchen.

Thirteen years ago, when we moved into our century-old Sears bungalow, the kitchen had just been remodeled and modernized. Nothing fancy, just your basic white laminate cabinets, vinyl flooring and new white gas appliances.

It was a perfectly nice kitchen, especially considering I didn't know how to cook at the time. But a decade later, the inexpensive materials were already showing some wear-and-tear. (I did learn how to cook!) And then there was the water damage under the sink...

Two years ago, friends of ours were remodeling another old house, and offered us their solid wood cabinets. We accepted! I figured out which ones we'd be able to use, and the men spent a rainy day carefully removing each cabinet.

Those "reclaimed" cabinets have been in my parents' garage ever since, waiting patiently for us to be ready for them. This summer, they finally get to come out and play!

As a kid, I used to spend hours drawing house plans and reading House & Garden and Architectural Digest, so this is totally my idea of fun. (I'm such a nerd. Why didn't I become an architect?)

I've been designing this kitchen in my head for more than a year, but of course a lot depends on budget, and how things work out when the walls come down. And walls are coming down...

The counters are stained and chipping. The flooring is scratched and coming apart at the seams. And the oven is literally falling apart. Plus, I'm ready to change the footprint to a more functional shape. So, basically, the whole kitchen is coming out. What's salvageable will be donated.

We've experienced the mess of home renovation before. We lived with my parents during the summer of '04, when Scott, with the help of friends, installed our hardwood floors.

Fortunately, my parents live right next door, and don't mind us invading their space a bit more than usual! We're still planning to sleep at home most nights through this process, but we'll be there for most meals, and any time the dust and mess are just too much.

Demolition is scheduled for June 4.

In the meantime, we've been pricing options for flooring and countertops, choosing paint colors, decluttering the pantry and cabinets, making menu plans for easy eating at my parents' house, ordering homeschool supplies to keep the kids busy in the heat and chaos, trying to figure out where all the STUFF is going to go, and praying not to be overtaken by remodeling anxiety!

This ball has been a big one, I hope you understand. But now that my brain is done obsessing the planning is almost done, I can finally start blogging about it!

I'm calling it our Frugal Farmhouse Kitchen Restoration. Because every big project needs a fancy name, right?

A sneak peek...

At what's been keeping us busy this week!

It'll probably be another week before it's all done, and I can't wait to show you!

The chaos before the calm

Questions that come up during a home renovation...

How does my garden grow? Will I ever be able to see it from my kitchen window again? (Yes, that's the old garage door blocking my view. It's been leaning against the elm for three weeks now.)


How do feet grow so fast that I have eight different sizes of socks stored in one drawer?


Where did all the matches for these socks disappear to? And what do I do with them next?


Wasn't I planning to make a curtain for this closet five years ago?


Am I really this bad of a housekeeper?


Is Scott really going to be able to fit all of that stuff back in the garage? Or will it live permanently on the new driveway?


Why did it take Jillian so long to get rid of Wes?! And is Reid going to get his heart broken just like Michael did?!

(Alright, you caught me. That last one had nothing to do with home improvement, and everything to do with my addiction to the Bachelorette.)

Celebrating the Fourth

I hope you've had a fun and freedom-filled Independence Day weekend! Ours was full of everything red, white, and blue...


Fruit salad with blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon... Rainier cherries...


Tomatoes from the garden for our bbq'd burgers...


Sprinkle cookies...


Fresh blue paint on the walls of the boys' new bedroom...

And new red curtains...


I celebrated our country's independence by staying home alone Saturday night to clean and prep the bedroom, while Scott took the boys to a Fourth of July celebration for games, treats, fireworks, and to see our friends perform in a play.

For the last 20 years, I've spent the morning of every Fourth of July at the annual neighborhood parade on the street where I grew up. It ended last year, and we missed it yesterday. We might have to begin that tradition anew on our own street next year.

Home improvement: the driveway

Just in case anyone wondered, we also like big trucks around here... ;)

This week we had the old, beat up, barely-there blacktop dug out of our driveway...

This was the view out of the boys' window...

It was a four-day process to go from the old blacktop to a new, crisp and clean, concrete driveway...

We loved watching the whole thing, even though we were woken up quite a bit earlier than usual all week. I didn't get photos of the cement-mixer because I forgot to charge my camera battery, and I was still in my pjs when they finished anyhow.

Stay tuned to see new grass and plantings along the side of the house! I've been waiting 10 years to be able to plant roses here!