Days 211-217: I can't even remember what we ate but I think I'm getting my sanity back (slowly)

Abby & Noah's completed bedroom!

So this week I think I'm recovering from self-pity.  My last post was all about Mommy Guilt and sort of feeling sorry for myself for experiencing so much of it and it also was describing the renovations and current state of our home.  Truthfully, I hadn't been excited about much because the home projects were consuming my life.  (They still are, to an extent.)  I don't think I ever expected to be quite so consumed--I think I just imagined that my life would carry on as normal once renovations started and the projects would just sort of be in the background of my daily routine with my children.  Quite the opposite is true.  The renovations seem to affect everything I do and they are in the forefront of my life, not the background.  But at some point, that had to change.  I'm a perfectionist, so I had it in my head that my routine could not carry on as usual until everything I wanted to get done was done and perfect. 

Opposite corner of their room.

I start "preschool" with Abby in 9 days and I wasn't even excited about it because our school room hasn't been touched.  It needs to be organized, stripped (wallpaper), painted, and re-organized and decorated.  But that will have to wait.  (Our kitchen table is currently in there as we wait for the kitchen to be completed.) And we will have to start school in an imperfect school room.  I will have to continue sleeping in an incomplete and disorganized bedroom and continue living in a boxed-up and nearly barren living room.  These rooms have not been touched yet as our main focuses have been the kids' room, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the second floor apartment as a whole.  All this to say that I am so grateful that I "snapped out" of my need for perfection before starting anything or jumping back into routine.  I am so excited to start school with Abby, I've begun meal-planning as usual again and house-ready or not, I'm thrilled to jump into my favorite season, autumn, with two feet and see where this year takes us!

The title of this post is accurate: I can't remember what I ate all week!  It's been such a whirlwind.  I mean, if I really sit down and think hard, I probably could remember.  I know we ordered out a bit and had turkey sandwiches.  I went out Tuesday night with a friend I'm getting to know so much better lately and we had a fantastic time!  My husband was supposed to be gone all day Friday and overnight into Saturday but surprised me by changing his mind at the last second and decided not to go but rather stay home and work on the house.  And, thank God he did, because it was a productive weekend and I don't know what would've got done without him!  He and I ordered from Outback Friday night for an in-house date. Saturday night was another fun night for me as a friend and I met up for appetizers at the 99.  Then on Sunday we had sandwiches for dinner.  The good news is that this week's meals will be much more thought-out (since they have already been planned) and homemade.  I bought Randy an early Christmas present over the weekend--a Forge Master 3-burner gas grill (with an extra burner on the side).  Having the grill makes meal planning much easier and life without a good stove much more bearable.  It will especially be helpful during the in-between time that our stove is disconnected and the new stove is put in.  We can only do heavy work on the weekends, so it's very possible that we will go a week without a stove in the house, but we'll see on that.

As far as house work that has been done this weekend, the main concentration has been the floor on the second level apartment.  Friday was spent picking up parts, assembling Randy's grill and his other new "toy"--a table saw.  Saturday the guys cut and screwed down the new ply wood and Sunday the tiles went down.  It's almost done!  I also got one more room completely painted upstairs and woke up early this morning and framed the final room.  My goal is to complete that one today.  As things are starting to come together upstairs and very slowly coming together downstairs, this week brings its own challenges as Randy heads back to work at his evening job.  I have goals for the house projects, and goals for my grill meals this week, but also more personal goals of getting back into a routine and letting go of what doesn't get done.  That may be the hardest goal to achieve. 

Tile that's going down on the second floor.