“Finish the work, otherwise an unfinished work will finish you.” ― Amit Kalantri "I'll build you a kitchen." These were the first words that came out of Luke's mouth after we looked at our current house in the spring of 2015. We loved everything about the house--the beautiful ceilings, the ranch layout, the location central to our life, and the gorgeous neighborhood. But I HATED the kitchen. It was super modern, laid out badly, and filled with fancy slate tile that did not begin to match me. So, I agreed to buy the house on one condition--that someday I would get my dream kitchen.
When we first moved in, the kitchen was in working order. However, the first Christmas in the house, the dishwasher died. The next Christmas, the double oven died in the middle of cooking my Christmas turkey. Rather than risking a third bad Christmas, we started remodeling the kitchen in the Summer of 2017. It is beautiful--new country cupboards, top of the line appliances, and stunning quartz counters grace the space that I formerly disliked. The feel is cozy and homy. But we never finished. The past 12 months we have spent chasing an electrical problem throughout the walls so we have avoided putting up the backsplash until it is was found. In September, Luke finally realized that the issue was a stove that pulled too much current. He installed a new circuit and the kitchen is ready to rock and roll. So, for thanksgiving break, we took off and installed my backsplash. This ended up being a great team effort--I "wallpapered" the surface with the glue paper and measured all the tiles that needed to be cut. Luke placed the "large" tile sheets and cut all the pieces I measured. By the end of the week, it was beautiful! We still need to finish the trim, but it was a great start.
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"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."-Norman Vincent Peale I love Christmas--the lights, the music, the foods, the time with family and friends. Thus, we spent our weekend getting our house decked out in its Christmas Best. My favorite part is seeing the boys decorate their tree filled with memories of their lives. It is amazing to think about how fast they have grown from tiny babies into bright, kind young men. It is the best gift in the world.
"Be present in all things and thankful for all things." -Maya Angelou Thanksgiving is for family and ours this year was perfect. We spent time hanging out, cooking great food, and celebrating all of our many blessings! I love that there is no hustle and bustle on this day, just savoring time together and tasty treats! My heart is filled and full of joy. What a truly blessed life.
"Take that one thing you don't like about yourself and more often than not that's the one thing that makes you more special. Whether it's that gap in your teeth, or that mole you never liked, or your skin color."- Shay Mitchell I am a Mole Monster. Thanks to genetics (thanks Jordets) and lots and lots of time in the sun as a child, I am covered with more than my fair share of moles. Over the past few years, I have had several new ones appear, including a massive one on my nose! So, when it was time to make my list, I decided to have them all checked to ensure that there was nothing to worry about. I have had the best of intentions all year to call and get a dermatology appointment, but somehow, in the hustle and bustle of life, it never seemed to happen. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I found a new mole on my rear and had the hubby check it out. He said he thought it was fine, but maybe I should go get checked by the dermatologist. So, I did it--I set an appointment. Today was my visit and I am happy to report that everything checked out fine. He did use frozen nitrogen to freeze off a skin tag in my arm pit, but otherwise, no big deal. I did learn that this is what you should be concerned about if you too have moles: At this point I have none of these signs! Woo hoo!
"There's just something beautiful about walking in snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you're special."-Carol Rifka Brunt Reading through my list yesterday, I saw this item on the list and wondered, "What was I thinking?" I'm not really sure why this item was on my list but I figured since it was there it was worth doing. The whole idea of my life list was to get out of the rut of doing the same things over and over again. So, this morning when we woke to snow, I walked in it barefoot. Exhilarating , painful, and just plain silly, I am not sure what I was thinking. But I got out of a rut, tried something new, and realized that I will NEVER join in the Polar Bear Plunge.
“The more we love the more we lose. The more we lose the more we learn. The more we learn the more we love. It comes full circle. Life is the school, love is the lesson. We cannot lose.” ― Kate McGahan Just over a year ago, I started this adventure with wanting to make my bed every day for a week. (See post here). Today, I FINALLY achieved my very first life list adventure as my husband started making the bed while I was still in it so I jumped out to finish it. Amazingly, as I go to add it to my list, it is the 40th adventure I have finished, thus completing my "40 before 40." This adventure has been a fun ride and has reminded me of the power of dreams, goals, and living each day with purpose and passion. It has helped to fill up my soul and work on finding a better work/life balance. When I originally started this project, I figured I would finish and be done after my forty, but instead, I have SO MANY more adventures that I want to go on that I am just going to keep on going. After just over a year, here are some new items I want to add to my list: Finish 100 items on my life list. Figure out how to turn my life list blog into a blog that people actually follow. Apply for the Colorado Teacher of the Year Program. Volunteer for Santa's Little Hackers Become a policy adviser for education in Colorado Write a letter to my newly elected politicians to advocate for more funding for public education Go on a 40th birthday trip with friends See a show at the Grand Old Oprey Try a new type of meat Give Inidan food another try Try Ethiopian Food I have also decided to take two different items off the list. First, my summer reading adventure--I loved the idea of it and got through some good books. However, I am realizing, that I don't want to be bound to reading certain books. Instead, I just want to READ! I also took walk 500 miles in a year off the list. Keeping track of it quickly became a pain in my butt--I know I am walking a lot more this year and I don't care to figure out how far right now. There is only so much band width and this isn't the bandwidth I want to use now. "The most important family value of all is time with your family."-Tom Perez Tonight was perfection--after a long week a much needed moment to pause and enjoy the best life has to offer. Jaxon volunteered to make dinner--grilled ham and cheese. As he was finishing cooking, Daddy walked in with my favorite beer and some beautiful flowers. As we finished dinner, the boys asked if we could play a few games. Clue, Risk, and pure joy. A woman can't ask for anything more.
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AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
May 2020
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