We came home from AZ with lots of citrus from grandparents. Fresh OJ every morning for a bit. Can't be beat. I also came home with some sniffles, but after messing up 2 saliva covid tests, I finally got a good reading and didn't get covid on the trip. Just a cold.
These two.
We also brought back lots of fresh tortillas. I've never had better. I brought a bunch back for cousin Julie too. They freeze pretty well, but they are amazing when they're fresh.
We had a Normal day. Finally available at the grocery store.
Helping me do my puzzle, but also being adorable.
I love when he lays like this.
He's the best.
I made Anthony run around town with me to try and find a coffee table that was discontinued, and there was one floor model left. Sitting in the parking lot was his dad's cousin - fun to run into them.
Stripes!
Time to start project Goodbye Carpet. Little did I know this whole thing that should've taken two weeks at most would take months. Our install guy got in over his head with business and did not do great at finishing our project. We started early March and finished maybe early November? And he said he'd do a little side project for me as a thank you for being patient, but I haven't heard back from him in weeks at time of writing (Dec 30). I give up.
Here's the before.
Hardwood underneath a lot of this, which I knew.
But this gross stuff underneath the back room, which was a later addition to our house. Pretty funky.
What's with the random pattern?
And the stairs. Glad I didn't have to pull out all those staples.
Great subfloor.
These two had to find new places to sleep out of the way of construction.
These two rooms had a little lip between them. Install guy was great at figuring out how to make these rooms flush, and not have to do a transition between them. It added a couple days for the leveling stuff to dry out. But I wouldn't have known to do this had I attempted installation on my own.
The day arrived for vaccine dose one! I hoped to get to watch a movie or something during it. No luck.
Really grateful for this.
At church I'm now the president over the teenage girls organization, so we attempted to resume some in person stuff. Zoom with teenagers gets old pretty fast. We masked up to hang out.
All the furniture piled up in the living room means new access to things for cats.
More stuff piled up in here.
Went to Beirut Cafe and ordered way too much stuff.
Progress!
Reno stress eating.
Meghan and I went hiking in the Avenues one Saturday, but the weather got cold and dark pretty quick. I should come back here another time.
Another room finished, little by little.
This is the look I'm kinda going for. Eventually I'll install a runner. We just have those crazy pie shaped stairs at the bottom, no right angles, so cutting a runner is going to be a little more difficult. But I think I can figure it out. I took geometry once upon a time.
They never sleep in this compartment.
Back room mostly done! See - this happened in March. Stairs and transitions and finishing details didn't happen until much, much, much later.
There's that coffee table I had to hunt down. I'm into clean lines.
Crispy chicken thighs and fresh peas with herbs is one of my favorites to cook.
Finally tried Chick Queen (after trying once and they were sold out of chicken), and we got way too much food, but it was real good.
Miriam tolerates so much from us.
A random picture from our kitchen. Whoever lived here before had a great imagination...
Poke time.
With new floors comes a new vacuum. These two love it. They are so fascinated every time it runs.
Ta-da! More pieces in place, after months of sitting in a garage. For real - I ordered many pieces of furniture that just sat there until I could get this floorng in.
I went on quite the hunt for these things. Looked at stores constantly. Sad they don't make them in the big size anymore, only the minis.
Sold out.
Best napper.
Best box cat.
And best jumper.
My sweet friend Michelle found some for me and placed an online pick up order, so that I could go get them. So so nice.
I wish I remember what recipe I used for this.
It was pretty good.
Pre-flooring install I ordered a rug and realized that it was too big for the room. Luckily I learned via Instagram that you can find a carpet store and they can cut it down for you pretty cheap. Mine was a little more expensive since I had them re-attach the fringe, but it's a genius trick. Fits perfectly now!
Her spot.
Leo in a bag.
And that's March. One year into the pandemic.
