C'mon over...

So, I'd like to begin by showing you the amazing, dazzling light fixture that my Dad and Krissy gave us as a house warming present. 16 mason jars will hang from our ceiling and fill our evenings with a warm and magical glow. It arrived today and once we get our table, we will center and install. OOoooooo!!!!

Below is one of my favorite trees. I imagine she and I will share many a gaze as I wash endless dishes at my kitchen sink. This beauty is right outside.
So, when you pull up the 217 foot drive way, our abode will be to your left.
In warmer weather, you might want to just walk around back and look for us, as we will most likely be outside. Or grilling by the deck.
There are going to be some killer bbq's on this deck.
But, let's say, it's chilly and we are not outside. You'll want to walk up to the front door. Finn might greet you with a balloon if you are super lucky.
You might want to visit our cozy upstairs bedrooms. They are all sporting brand new hard wood floors. (Oak, in case you are wondering and they are absolutely gorgeous.)
Liam's room has the most windows. We hope to have paint on the walls in the next week or so and a bunk bed for the buddy as soon as it dries.
I have to admit, all the rooms look kind of the same. They aren't huge, but they are just right. This is the master...just a tad bigger than the boys' rooms.
And this is Finn's room - and even though it looks like all the others, I had to include this to show my brother and Mira how good the walls ended up. :)
I keep forgetting to take pictures of our gorgeous bathroom. It really is gorgeous...I'll try to remember tomorrow. In the meantime, we have been very busy in the playroom. We're priming all the window trim. They will be painted white.
Here's the view of our awesome front lawn from the playroom windows.
And finally, on these super chilly days, we can gather around the amazingly cozy wood stove. It warms the house like you wouldn't believe.
So c'mon over. It's super cozy over here, even if we don't have a lot of furniture. And who knows, you might meet Alien Finn. He's really cute and funny. He's also NOT ALLERGIC TO WHEAT ANYMORE!! WOOT WOOT!
He was tested for cat, dog, peanuts, various tree nuts, three different milk proteins, soy, wheat, egg white, and egg yolk. He only had bad reactions to: peanuts, black walnuts, and all three milk proteins. (The milk reactions were the worst). And, the only three nut he's allergic to is the black walnut). He actually had NO response to egg white and a small response to egg yolk. The doctor wants to play it safe, so we are going to keep away from eggs for one more year. We are also not taking any chances with tree nuts. He's never actually ingested this things, just responded to skin pricks. Anyway, the big news is that he can now have WHEAT. Tonight he ate his first REAL pasta! It was a mix of wheat and corn pasta...I don't want to overload him and have him in tummy pains. We'll work our way up to it. But I am thrilled about this. I am sure he'll be on to eggs next year...yipee!

Little by little...

While neither of them really gets "New Year's," both boys could feel a sense of festiveness in the air.

On to the house - we had our couch delivered. Amazing how just one piece of furniture makes the place feel like home already. Can't wait to replace the paper blinds...

I managed to get all the wallpaper off the playroom walls. The whole place looks lighter now. I have no idea what color we will put down there...but definitely something light.
More new year's eve pics with Mormor.
David caught this great and special moment my mom and I were having. She just got an iPhone. I'm just going to say it - I look pretty awesome for someone who spent the last 6 hours scraping wall paper...
Awww, tired little Finny Finn. This afternoon, as a reward for being so patient and helpful these last few days, I took Liam to see The Adventures of Tin Tin. Apparently, just minutes after we left, Finn conked out right at Bill's feet!
And so it goes. Scraping, spackling, priming, painting, scrubbing, vacuuming, and the list goes on and on. Every day a little closer to moving in. Today the former owner came to pick up a few last things they left in the yard. He gave me a tour of the property lines. I can't tell you how many trees we have...It would be fun to try and count them one day. There are so many...pines, paper birches, maples, evergreens...we've been scoping out spots for swings and tree forts. Yipee and happy new year, every one!

Day two...lookin' good!!

While shopping for dish soap, I came across this new scent by dawn...well, new for me. I bought it hoping that every time I wash my hands or dishes or new pantry shelves, I can think about my dear friends frolicking on their beach in New Zealand - so far, success!

Not sure if you can tell, but the entire hallway and stairs are devoid of carpet.
And not by a miracle, but by the tireless efforts of Chuckie and Mira, every last bit of wallpaper and carpet has been removed from the three upstairs bedrooms! Those two worked nonstop for the last two days and I will be forever grateful.
And who wouldn't want to end their blog reading with a picture of my latest bubble bearded boy???

Renovations begin...

This pink room was the first to get 'gutted.' It will be Liam's when all is said and done. Chuckie and I took down the wallpaper and pulled up the carpet. The hardwood was delivered today and will be installed after we get all the wallpaper down. Liam, shown below, really worked hard today. I am so proud of him. He spent the entire day at the house with us. He picked up bits of wallpaper that blew into the yard after Chuck and I threw the carpet out the window (there's a dumpster now). He took trash to the dumpster and helped in any and every way he could. He didn't whine or complain. He was just so happy to be a part of this adventure.
This blue room, to be Finn's, is proving to be much more difficult. The blue wall paper came down without a problem...it's the circa 1970's floral print that is being a cranky pants. After hours of pain staking scraping, with little results, I sent Chuckie and Mira out to rent a steamer. We'll see how that goes.
Here's a shot of the play room. The carpet is actually not bad, except for the three cat's-w0rth=over-2o-years issue. So, that is also going to be ripped out and replaced. Lots of things happening over the course of the next few weeks. And Amber, I, too, wish you were here to help me renovate. Just about every room needs to be painted...oy.
Oh, here's that blue room with SOME of the floral print removed. That 'hole' there took over 45 minutes to unearth. What a pain!
I thought I'd end on something we DO NOT have to replace or fix. Lovely wood floors in the living and dining area.
In between scraping wallpaper, I am taking off all the baseboard covers and washing them and vacuuming out all the cat hair. It's loads of fun...sort of. Tedious, but all to an awesome end. And while I'd love to hire someone to strip and paint, I love working as a family to make our home OUR HOME. I love that Liam is involved and excited.

And mostly, I LOVE how much my family is helping. My mom and sister kept Finn all day long. Chuckie and Mira are scraping and peeling all day long. I am a very lucky and grateful girl. Well, now it's time to take the 'thank-you-brownie' out of the oven for my peeps.

OH, one last thing - the new house has literally NO cell reception. As we'll be spending a majority of our time there, I will send out the land line we had installed so you can stay up to date...or just check back here.

Can you say, "DOUBLE OVENS???"

Okay, so this first picture is not of the double ovens. It's where our kitchen table will be. Those are the French doors out to the deck. We closed in the late afternoon, so you'll have to wait for outdoor pics...and bedroom and downstairs pics, as there is very little lighting in those rooms.

Below you'll see my beautiful double ovens...oh, yes, take a moment to imagine the amazing concoctions I will create in those babies...the dinner braising in my new Le Crueset pot and the sweet delicious goodness baking in the oven beneath....ahhh....heaven....oh yeah, the cabinets and stuff are nice. That country-bumpkin wall paper border will be down shortly....
Here's another shot of the kitchen. The dishwasher is about 25 years old...oy....but everything else is new and updated.
Here's me, Jean-Paul, Lauren, Will, Chuckie, Mira, and Bill toasting. Mom is behind the camera. What a treat to have so many loved ones around to fill our new home with loving vibes. Every one who is reading this has an open invitation...c'mon by!
Happy, happy, happy, happy!!!!!
Newly updated bathroom.
The living room...there's a fireplace buried somewhere in all that brick.

Happy boys. Liam can't wait until he can move into his new bedroom - all his!! With a bunk bed, no less!!!! I can't wait to post the pics.

Piss Pot

Where America is bigger, bigger, bigger and more, more, more, Norway is bigger on mountains, but in general, less is more over there. Smaller homes, smaller malls, smaller loaves of bread at the grocery store, and so on. Or at least this is how I remember it from my summers as a young person.

My grandparents house resembled a dollhouse. Perfect little rooms intricately decorated with velvet covered sconces, hand embroidered doilies under the glass figurines on carved side tables. A tiny, narrow twisting staircase led to the bedrooms upstairs, all with slanted ceilings and very little room for anything but a bed. My brother and I shared a room across from my Mormor and Morfar for many, many summers. And of all the amazing memories I have of those summers in that quaint and beautiful house, there is one that comes to me EVERY single morning since we have lived in my mom's basement in upstate NY.

The piss pot.

I know my grandparents had a different name for it...something with 'tisse' because that is the Norwegian word for pee. Most people know them as 'chamber pots.' My grandparents had a 'grown-up' sized one and there was a smaller one, with a cute childish painting on the side for my brother and I. As I said, in Norway, things are smaller - one bathroom on the ground level was the only bathroom in the house. So, I suppose, to save yourself from falling down the steep staircase at 2 in the morning, my grandparents procured these "pots." They were kept under our beds and if we used them in the night we were to leave them outside our bedroom door to be emptied in the morning.

Now...having spent most of my childhood time in America, where we had a bathroom on each floor, this notion seemed almost barbaric. I remember a five or six-year-old me thinking this was an insane expectation...sitting on a pot in the upstairs hallway in the middle of the night...to pee! Crazy! And yet...I vaguely recall breaking down one night and doing it...I have an even fainter memory of my Mormor's approving 'I told you so' face in the morning when she collected the pots to take down stairs.

Oh...to have a piss pot now. You see, the arrangement we have at the moment is such that Finn's crib is RIGHT NEXT to the basement bathroom door. It is also pretty close to the stairs that creak and lead to the upstairs bathroom. SO, every morning, around five, I wake up with a pretty strong urge...and knowing little Finn will wake up for good if he is disturbed anytime past 5 am, I am forced to hold it...in a sort of sleepless/sleep state....dreaming of a piss pot to appear under my side of the bed. What a silly predicament.

And I am not complaining. No sir. I have found myself a perfect little house down the road with a bathroom sufficiently down the hall from Finn's to-be bedroom. But I think it is worth noting and sharing with the world that currently, every morning I am lying in my bed thinking of my grandparents' piss pot.

Pigs must be flying...

because here I am...finishing a 5k...well, technically it was only 3 miles, not 3.1, but STILL. Me! Running! Honestly, I never ever, ever, ever dreamed I would run...except to catch a plane or a movie or a Finn.

It started with this. My brother and sister finishing a half marathon together in NYC this past October. It was wonderful to be there to cheer them on, but as I saw their faces crossing the finish line, all I could think of was how badly I wanted to be there with them.
I enjoy exercise and physical activity, but never running. And practically my whole family runs. But I left the city that weekend with crazy kind of yearning. A yearning I had never felt before. A true, to the core, desire to push myself to a place I never thought I could achieve. And the reason why? Not just to share a tremendous moment with two of my siblings, but for the two reasons below. My two angels. I want to be healthy and fit for them. I want them to have a mama who CAN run after them...for years to come.
And this angel. My Billbers. My love. I know he loves me and is proud of me. The best thing I can do for my family is be the healthiest me - and I think training for a half marathon next October is the ticket.
And here are my secret weapons. A best friend who showed me that YES, it IS possible to run races no matter how impossible it seemed. A best friend, who, despite freezing weather, stood out in the cold to cheer me on. This picture of Jen was what I looked at right before I started the race. She never dreamed she'd ever run - and look at her! Smiling and running....
And these two. Amber and Fred. Their belief in me. Their love. Amber's music to keep me moving and Fred's coaching to keep me on track. I'd never, ever have made even to the race had he not given me goals and a path to achieve them. I am forever grateful for these three people - I could never have done this without them.

And while this is not a great picture - this is a big chunk of my family running. My mom, my stepdad, my brother, Chuckie, my sister, Lauren, Mira, even Liam and Finn! (Liam was on a bike, four miles is a little much for him just yet.) These guys are the picture of health and are always running and skiing and just plain staying active. It's inspiring to be part of a group that's so ALIVE. I want to model this for my boys so we can run on the beach together when they are all grown up, too.

Here's where I 'train.' It's just one of the hills on my road. Oh yeah, I can call this 'my road' now because we are buying a house on it. :D
That's me and a new runner friend nearing the finish line. I may look like I'm all smiles, but I was pretty sure I was going to hurl at that point. It felt great and awful all at once...but mostly great.
And there's my time. 3 miles in about 31 minutes. From what I gather, not too shabby for a first run. Honestly, the time didn't matter nearly as much as just finishing it without puking.
And so, I want to say Thanks. (as usual, it seems). Thanks to my friends who believe in me and made this possible. Thanks to Bill for watching the kids so I can get out and train. Thanks for the breath in my lungs and the wind in my hair. Thanks for not freezing to death. Thanks for it all. I look forward to sharing my journey to "THE HALF" with you.