If I ever repeat myself in a title, just let me know.

I sit in a silent house. The girls both still sleeping and Paul just off to work. I have free time. I guess you could call it that as there are no mouths asking me for something. But.... There is the house and the this and the that. There is a list as long as my left arm of daily chores that I am now three to four days behind on cause we have spent the last three and a half days replacing two windows upstairs.

And then there is something else nagging on my soul. My Man. His never ending list of things to get done. And all I can do is watch and help where I can. I feel so helpless. Like I am in his life to watch him be weighed down by a pile that is bigger than he. How am I to be his help mate when all I can do is watch? I long to dig deep into my day and fill it with getting things done for him and yet I have the other list. The left arm list. The house, the kids, the this and the that.

And so here I sit in a silent house wondering. How do we get it all done? Where do we start? What is my first order of business for the day? I have been absent from here and I miss it. I miss sharing life, spilling it all out here in the open. And I know there will be more absence. There will be less and less time that I can give to this.

: :

I am back a few hours later with a Bean on my lap who is playing peacefully with a tea pot and cup. I have had some time to think on my last thought there and remember that things are really not going so badly. Some days may be hard, we may feel backed up, but then I just hunker down and get to work and remember that this is life. Crazy, Busy, Full, and Awesome. It is a gift. Each day is new and though it feel heavy on our shoulders we must remember to settle into it and move forward at the same time. There will come an end to the crazy. It may be awhile. There may be more crazy yet to come. But it will end. Even if for only a weekend.

So Let me say Thanks. Thanks for being patient with me. Thanks for checking in all week to see how things are going. Though I may be absent from here I think often on what I would say. I have plans to share a recipe. I want to share our lives. But when we awoke to the leaky kitchen ceiling all had to be put aside.

And so we climbed up on the newly tinned roof to figure out what was really going down.



This is it. The rot in the bottom of the window trim was extensive. Water sat down in the corners of these windows for far too long.


As we dug deep into the trim we discovered that these windows had to go. Sudden house reno in a mad dash.


My mans legs as he works on assessing the situation. Here is a man who will work hard to get a job done no matter how frustrating the process.


Trim removed and the bottom portion of the window gone. This is when we decided to go with all new windows vs. trying to use what was there. Especially seeing as what was there was rotten.


My work attire before I realized how deep we were going. I changed to shoes when it was my turn to start prying away at the window. I removed the top portion of the girls window while Paul took off to Brandon to pick up the two new windows.

From here I dropped off on the picture taking. So here we are with the final window in place. Paul is foaming up all the leaky holes in the wall. As we were pulling these windows out we realized that it is indeed time to redo the upstairs of this home. We are thinking next summer will be the start of one room at a time.


Now that those are done and trimmed out, well kind of trimmed out. We did a very hap hazard job as per the reno talk for next year. There are no after shots at this point cause well... My mind has moved on to the next big thing that is going to start around here.

Starting tomorrow I am going to attempt POTTY TRAINING!!! Yup, here goes the start of cleaning up all the same stuff I have been cleaning up for the last year and a half but now off the floor. WOOT!!. Ha. I am pumping myself up for this. There is one thing I learned for sure last time around. When toilet training a child this young it is not really so much the kid that is learning it is the momma. I am the one who has to put the little one on the toilet every 15 min. I am the one who has to watch the kid like a hawk. Keep my mind always on where she is and what she is doing. So if I appear to drop off the map for another week or two, do not worry I am just in the throws of some crazy sh*t.. Okay I am sorry for that but it's true.

So to all of you my readers thanks for keeping up with this crazy life. Thanks for checking in every now and then. Thanks for all the encouragement. I love to share my life with friends and family and often find being cooped up in this house I wonder if I will ever "get out". This is my coffee time with friends. Thanks for all the love.

Keep coming back. I hope to fill you in soon on the crazy learning that will be taking place in This Old House.