Wednesday, April 27, 2011

HAPPY BELATED EASTER




this is unbelievably frightening.
and i'm a twilight fan.
but still.
frightening.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

WE'RE HOME...


crap.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE


hudson tells us at dinner one night,

"i used to have 3 enemies at school.
then one of them moved away.
now i just have 2 more enemies left to defeat."

woa.
i had no idea preschool could be so rough.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM A DISPLACED HOME OWNER

...a collection of
random thoughts,
images and whatnot
from almost 7 months
of living in a hotel,
dealing with insurance,
overseeing construction
and trying not to kill anyone during the process.

2 shirts for dad? check. raspberries? check. oh, and a mattress. check. ever bought a mattress from costco? it feels kind of weird. people look at you funny. they know it's weird that someone is rolling a mattress on a cart up to the cash register, and yet it's costco, so it's kind of normal, you know?

the cool part about buying a mattress at costco is the wild ride that follows.

there's been a lot of this lately. shopping at hardware stores and trying to keep the boys occupied. thank you, angry birds!

we had snow on and off during the first two weeks of the fire. and while we were on "vacation," spring came. freezing-fanny cold wetter-than-all-get-out spring.

despite our sleepless nights, huge amounts of stress and total frustration around this whole process (how many times can we hit our breaking point?), wyatt still manages to kick some butt. or in this case, the bad guy kicked the butts of the red and blue power rangers. booyah!

there have been moments of peace during this whole process. moments where i pause and realize we are really ok. and good things continue to happen. here's boon doing his homework. so proud of this guy. he's worked hard and it shows. he's become more independent and confident in his work and we are so impressed by him.

it's easy enough to feel cooped up in our neck of the woods when it's gray and rainy most of the time. but when you live in "home sweet hotel" (hudson's term), you take whatever opportunities you can to get outside. so when the rain pauses and the sun threatens to show itself, we head outside in rainboots. our hotel has a lot of great puddles to explore,

not to mention the parking lot.

this was the scene the day servicemaster packed up our items from two rooms. just two. yep. looks like a household's worth, doesn't it? the family room and guest/crap...i mean craft room. don't judge.

the guys have had fun sharing a room. sure, they should be sleeping in these pictures, but heck. these are the moments that help strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, don't you think?

this is the most heavy duty vacuum cleaner i have ever seen. this baby cleaned out our duct system after the fire, and for that, i am thankful. yucko.

the lego masterpieces being created by the boys lately are amazing. funny what creativity comes out when your wii is in storage.

and last but not least, quarters. i'm ok if i never see another one of them again. ever. (we should get a new washer and dryer delivered soon. and fyi, the insurance company studied our dryer and decided the cause of the fire was a child's sock that somehow got stuck in the lint trap and eventually caught fire. speaking of random.)

FIRE PROGRESS UPDATE

when last we left our heroine
and her 3 heroes,
they were knee deep
"on vacation"
in a hotel 10 minutes from home,
anxiously awaiting construction to begin
on their bathroom/laundry room following
"the great underwear fire of 2011."

well, since then,
construction has been moving along...
slowly.
the bathroom was gutted to the studs,
and the family room and guest/craft rooms
were emptied.
all items were taken to be thoroughly
cleaned of smoke and stored until
their home was move-in ready, or at least close.

to date, all walls in these 3 rooms
are awaiting their second and final coat of paint.
baseboards and trim have been installed.
shower tile has been completed.
flooring...check.
soon to come:
toilet, sink, light, etc.

and barring any roadblocks,
housecleaners will arrive on wednesday
in an attempt to
a) remove construction dust
and
b) clean up almost 7 weeks of grime that accumulated
from a home with no occupants but a variety of
construction workers
using the toilet.

and barring any other roadblocks,
thursday will be pack-in day.
all of their items that were packed out,
including every single textile in the entire house,
will be returned.
boxes and boxes.
and hangers and hangers.
stuff. and a lot of it.

and as overwhelming as that sounds to our heroine,
there is also the relief that soon her home will be hers again.
she will belong somewhere instead of
feeling a stranger no matter where she goes.
no more housekeepers and maintenance workers in her hotel.
no more construction folks in her home.

just her
and her 3 heroes.
and boxes and boxes.
and hangers and hangers.
and a mountain of pillow pets.


our heroine and her hero...
(photo credit: Hudson)


and her other two little heroes.