TGIF

I'm so thankful that today is the end of the work week, that the weekend is peeking around the corner, that I'm comfortably in a pair of jeans and daydreaming of sleeping in tomorrow morning. Truly Friday is a day to thank God for! Of course, just when you think you've got it made, someone comes and reminds you that Daylight Saving Time starts this weekend and you're going to have to relinquish another precious hour of sleep. You know, I'm okay with the dark. I don't really need the extra daylight this year, do you? Can't we start a petition or something? I'll trade you my juice box for your hour of sleep...

This week we got a good taste of what life will be like with me back at work. Though I only worked four days, it's been a long four days, with many distractions and unexpected additions. Our participation in the movie was supposed to occur last weekend, so the snow and resulting schedule shift really threw us off kilter. We've also been trying to get my car fixed after I was rear-ended recently, and I had to rush off last night to check on my brother after he'd been in a little five car pile-up of his own (he's fine, just shaken up a bit). We're still working on the house, and getting the hang of managing getting all three of us up and ready for work/daycare, and all of us back home, fed and put to bed at a reasonable hour. Let's just say I may not have quite gotten my full 8 hours of sleep all week this week. What I'm finding is, if you get started on your daily routine Sunday, and get prepared to go on time Monday, that's a good start. However, if one morning or evening gets messed up, the rest of the week wants to fall like a stack of dominos - it's very hard to catch back up mid-week. Especially when one of you (or all of you) are busy being a big-shot movie star.

We are excited about the upcoming weekend and our opportunity to work on some of our projects for the new house - landscaping, painting furniture, getting last-minute details finalized. The house is this close to being finished, thank goodness! We have floors in and finished, painting nearly done, lights on, and now we're just waiting on cabinets and countertops, front steps and a handrail for the stairs, oh, and a screen door for our wonderful back porch! I am so thrilled about finally moving in -we've even gotten to buy furniture for the nursery now! - but I am dreading the actual move. We have stuff EVERYWHERE, and for someone who still has a challenge getting enough time (or brainpower) for a shower AND brushing her teeth AND getting dressed every morning, the task seems monumental. The light at the end of this tunnel is that, once we're in, we're not going anywhere for a very long time! Also, we have built-in babysitters next door, so whether my in-laws are at our house or next door with Hayden, I should be able to make some progress on setting up home at a reasonable pace.

Just for fun, here are some of our latest shots of the house. These make me nearly giddy at the possibility that I will soon be in my OWN house again, and are a great way to end the week, I think.

View of our house from the driveway approach. The pond is to the right, and the 'front' of the house is around the left side of the house.

A view of our new floors from our front door into our great room. I just LOVE this flooring - Brazilian Cherry wood, and it's a gorgeous cinnamonny color. Yum.

This is our guest bathroom, which will be Hayden's as well until we finish the upstairs bedroom and bathroom. It's actually Chris's pet project. He really wanted a Victorian bathroom, so here is the fruit of that - a pretty little wainscotted powder room with high-tank toilet, slipper tub and pedestal sink. What you can't see here is the beautiful marble floors, accented with black granite dots. The paint is called "Georgian Brick", and really makes the room pop.

This must be the largest Tiffany light ever made. Okay, I exaggerate, but not by much. Measuring 3 FEET in diameter with over 1400 pieces of glass, it is truly something to behold. This picture just doesn't do it justice, and I can't wait to see it in its final position over my kitchen island, with all my cabinets around it. If it still looks so obscenely ostentatious, you have my architect to blame. I had the modest 22" light picked out before I was convinced that "bigger is not only better, but the ONLY way to go" for this room!

Another beautiful floor shot, and this of my master closet. Are you drooling yet? No, it's not a bedroom, not a living room, it is in fact my wonderful, beautiful, lovely closet. Chris may laugh all he wants but this is where it's at! You can never have too much storage space, in my humble opinion, and if he keeps picking on me about it, it will be my husband storage space. :)