New Look, Same Great Family!

So I am relieved to say that we are "fin" with the renovations.  The tribe has migrated back to their original grazing grounds and things are mostly tidied up.  Here are some before and after pho'ohs.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I hope most of you can come and see it in person.  Most of you.

Refugees

So we've been staying down at La Residencia de Geoyce now for days, and although we've been treated like the royal guests I'm sure we appear to be...the basement is taking on a sort of refugee camp feel. Don't get me wrong. It's very comfortable. The night brings on this chill only a room below ground level can provide...and it's actually very nice, but four people to one room over an expanse of time seems to bring the same vibe no matter where in the world it happens.

The house is coming along...Little Lamb has just about made it look as destroyed as possible. No more popcorn. Dust and wall crumbs everywhere. Things wrapped in corners. I pay a nightly visit to make my list of the small things I need to make sure Little Lamb is mindful of. Tonight, though...I paint!

My first target is the Parent's room. Today during lunch I'm grabbing some primer and a gallon of PEPPER SPICE 250F-6. Their room once had wallpaper on it, which gave it a sort of drug rehab dorm room look. I want to make their room look like a place grown-ups are. Class it up with a dash of Pepper Spice.

I'm not sure if Joyce and George are sick of us yet. Baby Tyler has not yet popped onto the scene...which is a damn shame. Little stinker. One real joy is chumming around with Booty.

This is the look this beast has every moment of the day. This still photo is about as active as he gets as well...just constantly giving you "the eye." And have I mentioned his snoring? When Booty falls asleep it sounds like a car with a transmission problem. And you can hear it everywhere in the house...even the basement. Ultimately, the wee hours become a symphony of Booty, Charlie and Chase...and I'm sure myself...all sounding like angry chainsaws about to cut down the neighborhood. Good dog, Booty.

Transients

I'm sitting here eating Guacamole that my bro-in-law George deftly made from a gaggle of over-ripe avocados that travelled with us from our house to...his house. This is day three of living in George and Joyce's basement. Basement paints the wrong picture. Subterranean room is more accurate I suppose. So why is the Dodge Clan all sleeping in one room on two mattresses for twelve days?

Two words: Ceiling and Floor.

It was time to scrape all that nightmarish popcorn off the ceiling and replace our carpet - which might have been issued by the Ford Administration - with some wood flooring. Now, don't get me wrong. I love popcorn ceilings, in the right environment. I spent my entire childhood lying on the floor of my living room, day dreaming while staring up at my Grandmother's glitter accented popcorn ceiling. But popcorn just doesn't feel right in our place. So we wanted it off, and then the natural question was begged, "Since we're doing our ceiling...maybe we should do our floor?" So we've hired our usual fix-it guy gunslinger for the task. In Chinese, he goes by the name "Little Lamb." Little Lamb gave us a handsome quote and we couldn't say no. We shoved everything we own into our bathrooms and garage and the folks went off to stay with some friends while we moved into George and Joyce's. Just close your eyes and imagine Cousin Eddie and his kin in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and you know what it looked like when we pulled up.

This ordeal has been like moving out without moving out. We had to pack EVERYTHING. Closets. Furniture. Under the furniture. All the kid's toys. All of them. ALLLLLL of them. This ordeal really made me appreciate the concept of throwing stuff away. When we finally unpack everything that is exactly what we're going to do. Half of the stuff we own will not make it out of the boxes and bags. I promise.

Hmmm. Guacamole....

So here we are under the roof of my generous Brother-in-law and Sister-in-law. And here's the kicker: Joyce is about to give birth any day. So soon we will all be humbly living together in the presence of our family's newest member. Very very exciting.