2014 in review

 The significant moments of our year in pictures...

January 6

A dumpster and port-a-potty in front of our house...let the demo begin

January 8

It doesn't take long to gut a house...too bad rebuilding isn't so fast

January 25

Checking out progress on the house on a nice day led to some time on the trampoline

February 15

My mom, the little girl, and I took a shopping trip to Ikea to get ideas for the new house

March 29

Bathroom tile is in

April 8

Kitchen cabinets are in...

...and the pantry is built and ready to be installed

April 30

Paint...

...doors...

...and a sunroom ceiling!!!

May 1
Kitchen drawers (I LOVE my corner drawers!!!)

May 7
Disaster #2
A paint fume explosion in the kitchen
Blew out the back window...

...and a hole in the dining room ceiling

(It also cracked some rafters and did some other damage.)

May 10

We rescued a turtle off a busy street.  The girls named her Sparkle Betty and we set her free where she could roam without getting in the street.

June 29

We took a roadtrip of a lifetime with my parents

Big girl got to check off a bucket list item

We saw this too

And this

And Old Faithful, checking off one of my bucket list items

Dinosaur National Monument was almost the end of our road trip sight-seeing

July 12

We moved in!!!

July 14

The first artwork was hung

July 19
Thrilled to have been reunited with our sweet Izzy, who stayed with a friend during the rebuild (we also had my grandmother's dog, Molly, but we lost her in May)

September 6
This sweet little boy joined our family and made himself right at home on my bed.
His name is Romeo and he lives up to his name as a heart stealer.

October 26
Great Pumpkin Sunday...the big girl in costume

November 30
We decorated for Christmas.  Romeo still chews, hence no ornaments on the lower part of the tree.

December 22
The big girl's gingerbread house (an annual tradition with Nana)

December 25
The big girl folded the napkins for dinner...

...and the little girl demolished her gingerbread house to eat the candy

There were other good moments that would have been included if I had pictures that didn't include the girls' faces.

All in all, it was not a terrible year.  It wasn't a great one.  It had some of the hardest moments I've been through, although not the hardest and it could have been much worse.  Nonetheless, I'm glad to close the door on a year dominated by the fallout of fire.  Here's hoping for a much calmer and smoother 2015.  So far, we're starting off right.

Going crazy...must blog

I've got to get back into the habit of journaling or blogging.  I feel like I'm losing my mind and need to deal with life's craziness.

The house is getting better and better.  The girls' bedrooms are completely done.  My bedroom is mostly done.  I haven't found any artwork but there's no rush for that.  The kitchen is completely done.  The living room and dining room are mostly done.  I need a tv for occassional family movies and some artwork.  Also, 3 chairs for the dining table and get the artwork hung.  The sunroom is completely done.  There are a few things in the garage to put away still but very few.  All of this is so much easier when you don't have much stuff.

The girls are in school and it's going great and so-so, depending on the child in question. The little girl had a birthday recently and turned 8.  The big girl will be 14 soon.  We added a new family member at the beginning of September.  His name is Romeo and he's a 1-year-old chug.  I'm not thrilled with his presence currently and he's been much more work than the big girl expected but I know it will get better with time and we will love him to bits.  It has been weird having a dog who can hear!

As I try not to bring more stuff than we really need back into the house, how did we handle the little girl's birthday?  Well, we didn't have a party.  That was for reasons other than minimalism but it helps with that too.  From me and the big girl, she got a dress and a bracelet.  From the grandparents, she got two books and an Elsa hat with a long blond braid.  That's it!  These are all things that 1) don't take up much space, 2) that she will use, and 3) that she loves.

Now I must contemplate the big girl's birthday.  It's coming soon and she never asks for anything so she's much harder to shop for.

Home

We've been home 2 weeks now.  Two weeks.  It's hard to believe.

There is still a little more unpacking to do but not a ton.
I need to finish painting the little girl's desk.
I need to paint the sunroom floor once it cools off a little.
I need to build the coffee table.
I need to put the sunroom furniture together (planning to do that before the floor gets painted.
I need to hang the artwork we have and see what else I might want to look for.

I am amazed at how quickly this house felt like home again, comfortable and safe, both for me and the girls...mostly for the girls as they were both so nervous about coming back here.

We still have so much less stuff than we had before and I know there are a few things I still want to get (a new alarm clock, drawer dividers for the kitchen drawer) but overall, we have everything we need and want.  It feels great!

The big girl loves her room and has been working hard to keep it neat.  She's made her bed every day!  I'm trying to get into the habit of making my bed too.  With less stuff, it's been easier to keep things picked up so other than the stuff sitting around that we haven't decided where to put, our home has been easy to keep clean.

Izzy, the basset hound, came home and got settled in.  It was nerve-wracking at front because she was rather traumatized by the transition.  She's almost completely deaf and even though she came to the same house, nothing was the same.  She's settled in and is very comfortable now.  We are all annoyed by her barking and so happy to have her back with us!

All in all, WE'RE HOME!!!  It feels great!  I feel like we can live again.  I didn't notice it while we we're out of our home but now that we're back, I can say life was on hold for all of us.  Now we're living again.

Part of that living...the little girl and I are getting up and walking in the morning before work.  The big girl normally runs at the same time but she's at camp right now.