The grass is greener...

People say that there are moments that can change your life forever.

It wasn't when a tornado hit our house. Although that played a factor in "the moment". It wasn't when we drove up to our block realizing that something very bad had happened.  No, mine came when I realized I hadn't packed pajamas. 

I've told the story many times... and this year I find myself needing more than ever to remember my "moment". I feel like lately I've started to "forget" and I'm grateful for the anniversary to "remember". 

There was a period of about 30 minutes where I was worried our house was going to fall down. Practical? No. Realistic? No. What does one do when one thinks your house is going to fall down? Well, first you tell everyone to get the h$!! OUT!!! Except yourself. Okay - except ME and my friend Meredith. She tried to keep my head on straight. It was quite a chore I assure you. 

I made the decision when I thought my house was going to fall down that it was the time to pack. Giant suitcases full of stuff. I think I packed Katherine's entire dresser. She's small. It was totally possible to stuff all her crap in one bag. Then I packed for Stephen and I. All of the important stuff... Dress shoes, dress pants, dress shirts, dresses, heels... You know, business clothes. Oh, and my best jewelry. (I'm not all dumb!)

When we arrived safely at the home of our dear friends Andrew and Tina, Stephen looked at the pile of suitcases in the back of my mini van and said (shaking his head)...

Stephen: Okay... what needs to come in? 

Me: Um. All of it?! I don't know. I just threw stuff in!!! 

Stephen: Okay...  which bag do you think has pajamas. 

Me: (confused) Er. Um. Hm. Pajamas? I don't recall putting any of those in the suitcase(S). 

Blank stare. 

Silence.

Stephen: Dar, there are 4 suitcases here. What in hell did you pack? 

Me: (exasperated) WORK CLOTHES!!!!

Stephen: Seriously?

Me: Seriously. 

Stephen shuts minivan gate, pulls me into the house shaking his head. 

It was my moment. I didn't realize it then... but it was at the moment that I made the decision to pack work clothes instead of I don't know... something to sleep in, that made me rethink my priorities.  

Some of you may recall my work tendencies back then. 55-60 hour weeks were the norm. I occasionally had a 70 hour week. My thoughts (and I remember them distinctly even two years later) as I thought my house was going to fall down was "what am I going to wear to work on Monday... I have to go in and deliver performance evaluations to my team!!" My boss, in the wake of the events, told me "don't worry about it - you can deliver them on the phone." This was moment #2 if there was one.  I was facing questions like, can we live here? Is our home structurally sound and I was concerned about, and directed to, give my performance plans on schedule... Just "remotely". 

Two weeks ago I received a call requesting I come to the Trauma Unit at the local hospital. They wouldn't tell me what happened, just that I had to come.  I waited three hours in a family waiting room with no information imagining all sorts of horrible things.  (hard) Knock #1.  

Today a terrible tragedy occurred in Boston.  Your life can change in a split second.  Knock #2. 

I don't think I need a knock #3. Consider me reminded. 

Of what? Lately I've found myself getting sucked into the too late work days. Too many hours.  Too much time away from my family and friends "handling things" happening at work.  

I am reminding myself here and now... There will always be more work than can be done.  There will never be enough time with my family and friends.  

So the deliverables are going to start waiting... I have date nights to be had, cakes to bake, craft projects to make, ballet recitals to go to, pre-school graduations to attend, swim classes to shuttle to and Sunday family dinners to make.  I'm sure you'll understand if I don't respond to your email right away. 

I put together some pictures of then and now... I'm so proud of all of the work Stephen has done outside to restore our yard & grass.  I tease that he's like an old man out there working on his grass to make it "cushy green" but I really do appreciate it so much.  I'm full of pride when someone walking by stops to compliment him on his "lush green lawn".  

I don't cringe thinking about Katherine running around in the grass barefoot anymore. I don't worry about her playing in the garden beds and finding shards of glass, roof, siding and other assorted debris.  

Thank you honey! You're amazing!!! I love you!!! 

This slideshow made with Smilebox

Countertop Transformation

Finished!

Last spring we started our big remodeling project in Myrtle Beach. We removed the popcorn ceiling, painted the whole place, replaced all of the flooring with tile & hardwood throughout. One of our plans for last spring was to do something with the unattractive green laminate countertops. Best laid plans. It got warm. The beach called to us... We answered... The countertops didn't get done.

Winter came... It was cold. We stayed home. Spring arrived (again)... Enough already. We've got to get this done!!! We've had the boxes of stuff sitting for almost a year. Let's do it!! That's what I said. Stephen said, "grumble grumble" when I proposed it on Thursday after hearing that the weather in Raleigh and Myrtle Beach had rain rain and more rain in the forecast. But... good man that he is - He went along with the plan.

Overall Thoughts: Great product.  If you're considering replacing countertops but don't have the money or just plain don't want to spend the money to replace them - Try this.

Our lessons learned:

• If you have the ability to do it over a three day weekend. Do it. We did it in two days but three would have taken a lot of pressure off. If you don't have a three day weekend - Start Friday night with the cleaning & sanding part.
• You need two people. No more than two is necessary but two for sure. It'll help things go a little faster.
• The time frames they estimated were off. Well. Either that or we're super slow. We spent WAY more time sanding, prepping the countertops than their estimated 30-45 minutes. I think we were at least double that. Day 1 was about 4 hours. Day 2 was... 6 or so hours. (We had repairs... See bullet towards the bottom.)
• We bought two kits. We'd heard from a friend who used the product, through reviews & in the videos that you need to make sure your base coat is pretty thick. Technically we had enough with one kit to do the whole kitchen - but because it was just the right amount we were worried. We're glad we did. Otherwise we would have stressed over having enough of the base. We found the additional tools to be useful too. Of the 2nd kit the things we didn't use: The additional spreader, the chips and the extra top coat. Everything else we used.
• REALLY REALLY inspect your countertops for laminate that needs to be repaired. Figuring that out the morning you start the work isn't the best time to be fixing stuff. You want to give the rubber cement enough time to dry.
• We started a humidifier the night before to bring up the humidity for day 1. I'm not sure if it helped or not, but... we did it.  
• We used an orbital sander to rough up the countertops. It helped take the first layer off but didn't prevent the need to sand using the diamond sanding block. Stephen used the sander (because I can't be trusted with power tools) and I did most of the sanding block work. The directions say to sand in a circular motion with both hands. They're right. It's much easier on the hands/arms and you get a more even sand.
• Tape/plastic after you've sanded and wiped down the countertops. You don't want all of that dust in your tape to accidentally get in the base coat. 
• Taping & plasticing is a must. Particularly the taping. And make sure that you extend the tape up at least a couple of inches. This isn't so much because you're going to get paint on the walls but when you spray the rewetting agent if you happen to get it on the walls, and then use the spreader to put the chips on and it hits in the wetting agent that's on the walls... You may have problems getting the chips off the wall. (Personal experience.)
• The base coat is thick. I agree with all reviews, friends, directions - put it on thick! You'll be thankful later when you're tossing on chips and then sanding. 
• Repairs to spaces that you accidentally bump into (with your butt - yeah, no joke) aren't hard to fix. Just make sure you lay the base coat on pretty thick and REALLY toss the chips at it. Throw them hard. And if your aim is like mine you'll throw 5 handfulls and only one will actually hit the spot you're trying to get to. *sigh* 
• After you're done putting the chips down. Walk away. Leave it alone till tomorrow. Leave the plastic, etc and all of the mess as it is. Seriously. Tomorrow is just going to add to the mess.
• Sanding and chipping on day 2 is the messiest part of the whole project in my opinion. Messier than the chips spreading. Messier than the original sanding. That stuff is going to get up your nose, in your mouth.. If you have a mask and can use it - do so. I can't stand it on my face so I took 2 years off my life by sucking in the dust. 
• After we sanded & chipped we took out all of the plastic & cleaned the floors and such. Part of this was because I'd exceeded my time frame for allowing a mess. The other part was that I was worried we'd be moving around the dust when we were putting on the top coat. I'm really glad we removed it. I also removed some of the taped sections that I thought were sketchy (i.e. really painted on and/or chipped) and replaced the tape. This turned out to be a great call. In fact, if I had to do it over again I'd probably retape all of the walls again just to make sure that I didn't hyper glue the tape to the walls with the base coat and then chips & then top coat.
• Plan for repairs. There's going to be a section you didn't coat well enough with chips, that you bumped and didn't realize you bumped or that you just plain missed. You'll need an extra four hours for this purpose alone. If you plan for it and don't need it - great. If you don't plan for it and you do need it you'll be like us finishing at 10:30pm on day two.

When we left the countertops were still a little tacky so I'm not sure how they feel completely finished but we'll find out in a couple of weeks when we go back. Again, great product, easy enough to do and way cheaper than replacing the countertops, even with laminate again.

Good luck!!! :)

Photos of our before/after.

Four Shots of Giggle Juice

Enjoying some FroYo at the Frog :)

I forgot to mention in the last blog that Katherine also had her 4y/o check up. She was pretty excited on Tuesday morning when I told her we were going to see Dr. H. In fact, so much so that when she got to school she ran in to tell her teachers how she was going for a check up later that day to see how she was growing.

I didn't mention shots.

Her friends did.

When I picked her up from school the conversation when something like this...

K: Mommy, am I going to get shots today?
Me: I don't know honey. (I really didn't.) Why do you ask? Who told you you were going to get shots?
K: My friends.
Me: Which friends?
K: The friends that are 4.
Me: Oh.

When we got to the doctors office she was so enamored with the fish tank (LOOK MOMMY SHARK BAIT OH LA LA IS IN THERE!!!) that she forgot about the shots. I didn't. This was the first time I was going to the pediatrician sans Stephen with me and I'm the mom who cries when she gets a needle.

I filled out all of the paperwork and back we went.  She started out with a vision test that she did great on.  Then we went to the height & weight check.  She's now 31lbs and is 39.25" tall.  (It's not lost on me that she's a mere 20" shorter than I am. At four. That puts her in the 50% percentile for height and the 25th percentile for weight. "Tall and skinny like we like it!" ~ Says Dr. H.

When we went back to the exam room the nurse asked if I had any concerns.  I mentioned her snoring (seriously for something so little the snores are unbelievable) and the fact that I was worried she might have a hearing issue.  As for the snoring... her tonsils are huge and the doc said she might need to have them removed at some point. For now, if we can deal with the snoring, she can. Don't fret.  Her hearing... I struggle between wondering if she can't hear OR if she's just ignoring me.  After a hearing test it was determined (by the nurse AND Dr. H.) that she's ignoring me. The good news is she has no medical issue. The bad news is... I have a parental issue.  She even proceeded to tell Dr. H sometimes she just doesn't listen to me.

Then the moment came... I think she was more afraid of the fact that Dr. H laid her down and said to me "hold her down. Hold her hands. Hold her TIGHT. Do not let go." She started crying then. Heck, I think I started crying then. He was done in under a minute and she was up in my arms. Dr. H gave her a Strawberry Shortcake sticker for doing so well with her shots. She smiled. And then cried again.

We talked about how we were going to meet Aunt Nikki for dinner to celebrate her check up. She calmed down and we sent Aunt Nikki a video text telling her we'd see her soon.

Then she stood up.  Apparently Dr. H injected 4 shots of giggle juice into Katherine's legs. Or at least that's what she told me. From that point on when she walked she giggled.  And walked bo-legged... Because of the giggle juice in her legs. When asked what it felt like she said "It feels like my legs are giggling mommy!!!" Mmmkay. Whatever you say babe.

The good news is she doesn't hold a grudge. She still thinks Dr. H is awesome and that the giggle juice shots, while they pinched, weren't so bad. After all... they made her giggle for days!  :)