House update

Here are some pictures of our house update. I can't find my camera (one of the casualties of the remodeling chaos), so hopefully these pictures taken with my phone suffice.

Kitchen BEFORE:

Kitchen AFTER:

Living Room BEFORE:

Living Room AFTER (new carpet, paint, and no window treatments):

Piano Room Before:

Piano Room AFTER (not too many changes, just the floor, rug, and different plant in the corner):

I don't have a "before" of the master bathroom (picture off-white walls, and white cabinets), but here is the AFTER:

Hopefully I will have more pictures of the master bedroom and guest bathroom soon. They are still works in progress. :)

Demolition in progress

We are getting new flooring and paint this week. Yesterday we did all the demo. It is a little weird seeing my house all torn up. But I am excited to have it done! (And so glad I do not have to do the rest of it. I do not think I am cut out for manual labor.)

5-Star Books

I have had a streak of 5-star books. It has been so great! I love reading, but sometimes it feels like a waste of time when the books are less than stellar. These books were all uplifing, inspiring, and worth every minute.

"Unbroken" tells the true story of Louis Zamperini, an olympic runner and World Ward II survivor. It is inspiring, heart-breaking, and totally gripping. The things Louis experiences stretch the extent of human endurance, but his example makes me realize that maybe there is greater depth in my ability to endure as well.

"Flags of our Fathers" is about the 6 flag-raisers in the famous picture taken on Iwo Jima. I learned a lot about the Pacific theater of WWII as well as the battle of Iwo Jima. It is written by the son of one of the flag raisers and is another inspirational account of valor, heroism, and the ugly side of war. Another book I could not put down.

In retrospect, this may not exactly be a 5-star book. It was a little silly and predictable, but I did completely enjoy it, so that has to count for something. I am a sucker for a good, clean regency romance and this book had it all-- interesting chacters, a plot-line with tension and intrigue, and a happy ending. It is the sequel to the book "Seeking Persephone", but I didn't know that before I read it was still able to follow the story-line just fine.

Anyone who loves "These is my Words" by Nancy Turner will appreciate "A Lantern in Her Hand." It is the story of Abbie Deal, a pioneer woman on the Nebraska prairie. I feel like this book came into my life at exactly the right time. I needed to learn from Abbie and feel so thankful that books like this exist. It would make a great book-club book because there are so many things to talk about after reading it.

New Haircut

Yesterday I had about 6 inches cut off my hair. I was ready for a change. It feels good.

McKenna the Horse Rider

For the last few months McKenna has taken hoseback riding lessons from David's sister, Rebecca. She LOVES it. And she apparantly has some natural talent for it. (Who knew riding horses was a talent!) This is a whole new world for me, and I think it is pretty cool.

Here is McKenna "tacking up." She does it all by herself.

This is my sister-in-law's barn and riding ring. McKenna rides a sweet, calm pony named Cookie. Seeing the other horses training in the ring is a big of a rush. They are such beautiful, powerful animals.



Here is McKenna trotting. Well, I guess technically the horse is doing the trotting, but you know what I mean.

McKenna and Cookie. 

Today

This morning while I was running with Knightley he got spooked by one of our neighbor's dogs and totally tripped me. I fell hard on my elbow and got all scraped up. The dog was inside their electric fence, but it was lunging and barking and looked like it would try to eat us if it had the chance. The whole experience made me cry. I have SO much to do. But all I want to do is crawl in bed.

For the last month or so I have been obsessed with looking at (little) dogs available on Petfinder.com. I have never really been a dog person, but every since we got Mr. Knightley my interest in dogs has grown. I realized that dogs have an incredible capacity to love and that their companionship is very comforting. I have grown to really love Mr. Knightley. But he is a big dog. He can't sit on your lap or cuddle in your arms. (Although sometimes he does try.) And I kind of want something to hold and cuddle. I still have Chloe, but she is three and getting bigger every day. And another baby is not an option right now. So, even though dogs require a huge amount of time and commitment, I have found myself tempted to get another little dog. Am I crazy???