what I have been up too

I haven't been around much. I haven't done any layouts or any products for 1hourscrap. I haven't had a workspace for 2 weeks, with another week or so to go. We're finally getting wood flooring!!! It was supposed to be installed last week. So the week before I spent packing up the living room & moving what i could elsewhere in the house & then we were going to rent a moving can to hold the furniture we had no space for. Last Saturday we were ready to get loading when the guy calls & says he can't be here until next week. The guy is an old friend of ours. So I'm a bit peeved & decide that since the room is cleaned out & the furniture is already piled in the middle of the room, lets take the week & paint the walls. We picked out a medium golden yellow - pirate's treasure if you look on Lowe's and some chocolate brown for trim. The plan was to paint every night last week & get primer & 2 coats done. Primer got done & one coat got done & then we all had this 48 hour bug that kept us from doing the second coat. Saturday we go the truck, loaded it with the furniture & pulled up the carpet & tack strips. Today we were going to go get the plywood for the underlayment (it's concrete slab), but it's snowed 6 inches so far & now we are getting a sort of freezing drizzle thing. So we're stuck here. The other thing we were going to get was the cabinetry for the built in 2 workstation desk area DH is putting in where my old useless plastic shelving & odd desk were. I am so looking forward to that. Of course the snow means our friend probably won't be down tomorrow as planned, so that's another day of no floor. The living room is giant freezing echo chamber currently. Here are some pics of developments so far.

my computer area before clearing (taken by DS1 age 4)


the rest of the living room before clearing- taken this summer, we have new curtains now.


my computer area last week (I'm at the kitchen island at the moment)


the mostly empty living room


little boys painting primer


my work area in color


DH pulling up tack strips


I really hoping to be able to post next week pictures of a fully furnished living room with new carbonized bamboo flooring and custom built in office area. Or by the weekend after that at the very latest.....except the office area, which I am bracing myself for not being done until April. But here's hoping for the best

Glory day!!!!

At long last, after 8 years of talking about it, planning for it, saving for it (then needing to spend the money on something else) we are finally getting wood flooring in the family room! Yippee!!!! We're going to Lumber Liquidators today to pick up the carbonized bamboo flooring we ordered. Next Saturday we go pick up the moving van we've rented to store our furniture for the week and then Sunday our friend who is going to install the floor is coming down to help us move the furniture & then get started with the floor. He'll be here about a week, living with us. He's DH's oldest friend and redid our kitchen while I was pg with DS1 - a 6 week project that stretched out to 14 weeks. He'll be sleeping in the playroom, which is where we will be during the day while the family room is redone. We have a family room, a kitchen, 3 bedrooms (one is the playroom & the boys share a bedroom) and 2 bathrooms. The family room is 1/3 of the house's square footage. It is going to be a big challenge to keep the boys occupied and out of the way while this is going on. DS1 is already suggesting ways he can help M with the floors. M has 2 kids about the boys age & has been renovating their home so I'm sure he is used to it. Hopefully he'll have a few tasks the demons can help with & then they'll be willing to go play in their room or watch a movie. Mel has already said we can spend an afternoon or 2 over at her house, but I don't want to impose too much. I'm thinking of calling DS1s preschool and see if I can't make some arrangements to have him stay in the aftercare program that week. They want you to sign up by month, for the whole month, but I'm hoping they might make an exception.

I am so excited about the floors! I have a construction kit around here somewhere, I think one of Christina Bartholomew's and plan on doing some flooring layouts.

combining things

I've done a fairly good job this week of getting my scrapping done and reading. I've completed a QP set for 1hourscrap, plus half a second set. I've got my stamps & word art uploaded. I've done 2 layouts for myself.

And I have read 3 books and am working on a 4th. These books are excellent! If you like fiction, you will love Jasper Fforde's books. I love wordplay. Puns are my favorite type of humor and his books are full of them. One of the characters in the books is the villain of a book called The Squire of High Potternuse. They are excellently written, well paced, have wonderful characters & the plots are engrossing. I not only have a hard time putting one of the books down, I have a hard time not starting the next one immediately. The one's featuring Thursday Next are better than the ones with Jack Spratt (and if you can manage it read the first 3 Next books before reading the Spratt ones) but all of them are highly entertaining. I am reading the 4th Next book now & hope to finish it tonight after the boys are in bed. Then I have the 2nd Spratt one.