Overdue

I am long overdue on updating the blog.  We moved in two and a half weeks ago, and I have yet to write about what has been going one.  There are several reasons.  One is because not much has been going on.  Another is because we have been busy.  Also, some things have been trying so I have not wanted to write about them.  But my biggest reason is still to come.

Let me start with the saga of the kitchen floor.  It's actually the kitchen/dining room floor, but that's too long to type every time.  On the Friday before we moved in (moving day was Wednesday), I tackled the linoleum, as I wrote about in my Roller Coaster post.  It did not go well and we still have no kitchen floor, well at least not a finished one.  Our plan of attack has been to scrape away the paper that was left from the first layer of linoleum, then prime over it to seal in what paper we couldn't get up.  Next will be a layer of thin set, which is like a little bit of concrete to make it all smooth.  And finally, adhesive, tile, and grout.  Ken is going to help us with laying the tile.  Currently, Tim is priming the floor with his trust extension roller, so our house has that lovely oil based paint smell... we are going out for dinner.

Scrape, vacuum, repeat.

Now that you've seen the kitchen floor and what a hassle it has been, let me explain my biggest reason for not blogging lately.  Some women I go to church with (whom I completely adore) started a women's Bible study in a really lousy part of town four years ago.  They started with two and currently have up to 40 each week.  This summer they have expanded to add a literacy program for some of the women who struggle with reading.  I have one student that I meet with on Tuesday mornings to tutor.  There is a curriculum, which is necessary for a music teacher, and it is such a cool thing.  My student, who will be referred to as B is one amazing lady.  She is 51 years old and wants to learn to read better so she can read the Bible more, read novels, and possibly be able to get a job.  She is so selfless in her thinking.  She is always seeing the best in people, and she loves the Lord!  I have been doing this for three weeks now, but it only took one.  After the first time I went downtown and met with B, I came home and didn't have a single care for my kitchen floor.  The women we see on Tuesday mornings have very little, if anything, but they are happy and they love God.  Not only do I have a house, but it has three bedrooms, two of which we don't particularly need but which are full of stuff.  Not only do I have a house, but it has two working bathrooms.  Not only do I have a house, but it is in a great neighborhood with people around who are friendly and nice.  What does it matter if my kitchen floor hasn't been the easiest thing in the world to deal with?  I didn't ride in a bus last night that got shot at.  I get to eat three meals a day and wear clean clothes every day.  

So this has been my dilemma.  For a while I didn't really know what to say because I have it so good.  There have been plenty of mishaps at the house and we still don't really know what we are doing a lot of times, but it just didn't seem that important for a while.  Don't get me wrong, I am fully aware that the floor does need to be finished.  It just isn't so important that it hasn't happened yet.  And, of course, I still have days where little things seem like a big deal because they aren't the way I want them.   And I will love it when we no longer are tracking paper from the kitchen to the rest of the house (it gets everywhere!).  And I will be particularly happy on the day when there are no longer any boxes to be found.  But I have learned an important lesson from B and the rest of the ladies that I hope I do not soon forget.  

With all of that being said, there has been some definite progress made on the house in the last few days.  My friend Tasha came and helped me clean the kitchen cabinets and put new paper on the shelves on Thursday.  It was a big job, and she was amazing!  I even had to take a friend to the airport, but she stayed at my house and finished the papering.  What would I do without you, Tasha?!  Friday, Tim and I bought and hung some curtains and rods, he worked in the yard, I unpacked kitchen stuff, and he was victorious against the pesky vent cover that did NOT want to stay up.  :)

Unpacking madness!

That's what I call using your head.

For some time we were using a very small space in the kitchen because the rest of it was dirty, and we have also been eating meals that either come from a crock pot or the microwave, as all of our dishes and pots were still in boxes.  It's also fun to starting seeing some of our stuff around the kitchen.

The entire contents of our kitchen for two weeks.

Tried some new recipes that don't require any chopping
or precooking meat.  

These are my canisters, which I love, and Liz found the crock
to match at her mom's house.  What a great house warming present!!

In case you were wondering what I might be cooking up now that we have our dishes and pots unboxed, I'm afraid the menu isn't going to change very much.  We had to take the stove out today so that we can do the kitchen floor.  And falling in with the norm of everything else in this house, it did not prove to be an easy job.  But it's out for now and we will deal with getting it back in later.  

Where's Tim?

I hope to write again soon to show some more pictures of things that have gotten done around here.  I do have one more to share today, though.  This morning I went and met a friend who is going to be my accountability partner, which I am really excited about!  This is certainly a God ordained thing.  When I got home, my thoughtful husband had flowers for me in our semi-finished kitchen where we had been working so hard.  He's such a wonderful man and hard worker... I had to brag a little.  :)

Glad you were curious enough to read.