This House

Our house...we spent a lot of time in it over the weekend. It was the most low-key of low-key weekends. It's a comfy place. We like it. We just don't think it's location is very reasonable. So, we've turned it into a not-so-comfy place for just a week for the sake of sprucing things up. With all doors removed, all furniture grouped to the middle of the room and covered in plastic, the fumes of paint and, for some reason, a lot of dust, we have begun the new paint process. So far, we've got some baseboards and ceilings done, and it already looks much better than it did.

Luckily, the kids and I hung at my parents' house for the afternoon to stay out of the way. Somehow, with a little extra effort, they are asleep in their doorless rooms right now. Dylan hung back to do some painting of his own in the garage and on the patio. After some drywall repair...and then a week later, some more drywall repair, our house needed more than just a fresh coat of paint on the inside. Jose and his crew will be back in the morning, and the rest of us will do what we can to spend as little time here as possible this week.

When we got home this afternoon, Gavin was in a little bit of shock to find his house pretty unrecognizable. He found his bin with all his toy cars and trucks and pulled out a little green garbage truck then asked me, "Mama, when we sell this house to somebody else and then they live here, can I bring this green garbage truck with me?" It was so sweet. He wasn't even sad. I don't talk about buying/selling houses to him all that much, but I'm sure he overhears plenty about it. I explained to him that if we move and live in another house, we will bring our things with us, and the people that buy this house will bring their own toys and furniture and stuff with them here.

But back to the weekend. It was reserved for prepping for paint. So, we put in some time trying to move the furniture (which was dumb because the painters did it all anyway), but we did take 1,000 things off the wall and removed just as many drywall screws. I can't wait to see this place with fresh walls. The original paint color was way too dark. Plus, I really did a number on the old coat of paint with constantly changing things up, painting random walls blue, and overall just too much crap everywhere. Speaking of which, we plan to get so serious about decluttering, minimizing and organizing that we are considering hiring a professional. It sounds so dumb...but I just don't think I'm any good at throwing stuff away. However, I'm sure I'd love to live in an organized home. Like, it would increase my happiness every day.

Everything is so much better in Gavin's world when dad is in town- only Dylan would think the fill up the trunk of this Cadillac with Cheerios for a snack.

Happiest little menu artist

He insisted on wearing his shorts backward, and I'm discovering that I'm the type of mom who doesn't really care.

Taking over Nonna and Papa's house before they'd even made it home from the cabin.

The paint prepping process didn't take that much time in the scheme of things, so we had lots of time to play at home, run errands, and have dinner out and play around on Market Street. I made a quick run to Safeway for a carton of ice cream for us to share, and we spent the evening climbing around on the fountains and running in the grass. Shawn and Luke came over on Sunday afternoon, so the boys took their off-roading vehicles out, and I took a half-hour to bask in silence. And you know what? That's about it. When you're old and boring like me, though, it's the perfect way to spend a weekend.