86'n It

Remember when I repeatedly almost lost it about the paint that Marc got all OCD and peeled in our house.

That I then had to look at for 5 years????

Revenge was had today. Marc was sanding the mudroom door frame for painting prep. We ran out of sanding pads, so he decided to peel a bunch of it to minimize sanding. He yells up to me:

"Hey, Nikki. You know that punishment where a kid has to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes as punishment for getting caught smoking? This paint peeling is like that."

Mwahahaha!

Apparently, the paint wasn't coming off that easily and it was jamming itself under his fingernails.

Revenge. 
I has it.

If you like 86'n It on facebook, you already know this, but this weekend we managed to get 3 of the 9 things done, plus some.

1
Back porch light is installed and switch swapped. I ended up chickening out on the ceiling fan. The installation was just going to be too complicated and I was feeling lazy.
Any tips on straightening the light cord? I know that a professional photographer we used to shoot our products for the blind used to take a hairdryer to the cords to straighten them, but I'm not sure on the safety of that!

2
Marc made the threshold and installed it. I actually stained it too, but I'm too lazy to go down and take the pics. I'm waiting to poly it until Wednesday and Thursday when the girls are out of the house more. It's so stinky.

3
I also installed the towel bar. Such a simple, practical thing. Felt good to get it done.

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I also touched up paint in the bathroom, painted the missing play/guest room radiator cover, and cleaned the stain off the back porch doors (Marc told me that would make my Father-in-Law happy, he hates dirty glass!). Plus, I did a ton of laundry, ate an amazing lunch at the Greek Community Center in our neighborhood and worked a little bit.

Phew!

Marc has a deadline Tuesday, so Wednesday and Thursday we are going to hit the kitchen trim and wood wall full force and get it done. The Realtor comes Friday. Too excited!

I'm resisting purging and staging even though I'm dying to do it. It will be much easier if I just wait and do it all at once.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I know I talked about selling the house and getting ready, but then have just let it slide. My goal was to have it listed March 1st, and well, we are 21 days late for that goal.
I did schedule the Realtor to come next Friday to get the ball rolling. Eek!

So what's left? Here goes:

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I can't honestly say that I don't have the teeniest, tiniest smudge of reservation about selling this house, because I do. The smallest. smallest. smallest. reservation, but it is there. It grows sometimes when people try to talk us out of selling it.

Up until now the renovations have been fun and rewarding, but also hard and stressful.
Up until now.
Notice that part?

Let me introduce you to a window. The window that broke the camel's back actually.

I hate this window. I would like to take it and smash it into a million tiny little pieces, then burn those pieces in a big firey ball, then take the ashes and pulverize them, and then feed them to a shark.

I. Hate. This. Window.

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Window's story goes a little something like this:  Innocent, dirty window starts out on the back porch "bathroom" (as much as you can call it a "bath" in that none of the plumbing fixtures actually worked, and as much as you can call it a "room" in that it had paperboard walls between it and the outside.). I digress. But I took this window out when I demolished that "bathroom" to make our lovely screen porch.

Poor window sat neglected outside for a little while (bad window parents!), and then sat neglected in a corner of the basement. That is until we decided to construct the bathroom downstairs and someone had the brilliant idea that we needed a window in the shower. We pulled out window. Window was looking bad, but we thought:  we will just clean it off, do some bondo-ing repairs, and reglaze it. Pretty easy, right?

Marc got started. About 4 hours of work on the window in, he started to have reservations. Should we really use window? Should we spring for a new window? This might be a lot of work.... Ehhh.... new window will be expensive. Let's just use this one. That discussion happened in October. In February the window is still not done.

Window has a new frame. Window has new frosted glass. Window has been reconfigured to be an awning style instead of casement. Window has new hardware. Window consumed about 3 months of Marc's life.
Every spare moment: I have to work on the window.
That $60 charge at window-hardware.com? Oh, that's for the tiniest hinges you've ever seen.
Every time the bathroom progress was stalled: I won't know that other detail until the window is in.

I. Hate. This. Window.

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Here is a really fun fact about me: I like to work hard. I like to be busy. I'm hard on myself. If you have the pleasure of being my husband I expect you to work hard, be busy, and oh, yeah, just for fun, I'm super hard on you. Fun!

Here is another fun fact:  I don't appreciate perfection. It's not that I don't get it, because I might if I could actually see it. You know what I like WAY better than things that are perfect? Things that are done. Bathrooms with half-assed windows, but fully functional toilets that toddlers can, you know, like poop in. Sounds better than trying to get them to make it upstairs to go, or carrying a training potty full of toddler poop up a flight.
Imperfect but DONE things. I like.

This window. It broke me. Renovating isn't fun anymore. I despise it. Those doors and thresholds I stained the other week? Excruciating. The thought that we have to trim out the kitchen still? Tantrum-inducing.

I *might* have yelled in the car alone on the way to Home Depot (for the second time) today. To me, this window represents what I hate about renovating this house. You have good intentions, you want to reuse original features, you don't think it will be *that* hard, and then BAM! Window eats your life and your soul and your will to live....err... renovate.

This window? It did get installed. It is beautiful and functional, but I will never know, I'm not touching the damn thing. Ever. I don't care if the bathroom mirror is so foggy I apply mascara to my eyebrows.

I've got a grudge and I'm holding onto it.

Since I finally got around to doing Mina's 1 (AND 2) Month post,
I thought it might be high time to tell her birth story.

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I had a 45 hour labor with Franca. And I mean ACTIVE labor. (I had been having mild contractions a whole day before this marathon, but I count 45hours as the time I had OMG this HURTS contractions.) I labored at home for 26 hours. Got to the hospital and was 6cm, but then I stalled at 8cm for 8 long long hours. We went thru 3 doctor shifts. It was insanity. After 40 hours we decided to get the epidural even though I had hoped for a med-free birth. I slept for 3 hours, woke up, pushed for 2 hours and she was FINALLY born! If you want to ready the whole story, you can find it here. Franca's Birth Story.

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Needless to say, I was really banking on an easier delivery with Mina. Little did we know just how much "easier" it would be! It happened so fast, the best way to show it is with a timeline.

10:19pm
Contractions start 11-15 minutes apart while watching Sleepwalk with Me
11:01pm
Contractions spread to 21-25 minutes apart. We decide it is false labor, go to bed.
12:50am
Contractions return to 11 minutes apart. And HARD.  I have trouble getting through them.
1:38am
Contractions at 9 minutes apart. I wake up Marc. Tell him this might be it. He doesn't believe me.
2:06am
Decide to call friends who are going to stay with Franca. I'm starting to panic.
2:46am
Contractions 6 minutes apart and REALLY HARD. Marc starts to believe me.
3:07am
Friends are here. Marc is dawdling getting truck ready. I'm starting to panic.
3:12am
Contractions 4 minutes apart. I'm starting to think I might give birth on the parlor floor.

3:27am
Last contraction timed. We leave for hospital. I ask Marc to run red lights.

3:50am-ish
We get to hospital triage nurse checks me. I'm 9cm dialated with only a lip. She panics. Starts throwing our stuff on bed with me and says: "I've always joked I've never delivered a baby here in triage. Let's not make you the first. Let's go dad!" Then she and Marc push the bed run/walking down the hallway to Labor & Delivery. I'm crying out of happiness. It look me 38 hours to get to 9cm with Franca. It has been less than 6 hours.

4:15am
In Labor & Delivery. I can only labor while lying on my left side otherwise it is crazy painful. My nurse is awesome. Contractions are pretty hard. I'm just squeezing the hell out of Marc's hand and moaning with each one. I say to nurse: "Um, what are we waiting for?" She answers: "For you to feel like you need to push." I say: "Um, I think I can push." "Wait, don't your doctor isn't here yet!"

4:30am
Doctor arrives. Checks me. I'm ready to push! Start pushing. It is the weirdest feeling. Doesn't really hurt and I'm now feeling no pain in between contractions. Water breaks during a contraction/push. Marc asks doctor if when he can see her, to tell him if she has a lot of hair like Franca did. A couple of pushes later, Mina is starting to emerge. She's crowning. HOLY HELL THEY ARE NOT JOKING ABOUT THE RING OF FIRE. Her head pops out. Doctor pauses and says: "Hey Marc, look she has hair!" I lose my composure for the first time and growl like the girl on The Exorcist: "GET HER OUT!!!!" I'm in the worst pain of my life and they are looking at hair color. Geez.

5:08am
She's out. And she is beautiful and perfect and wonderful. My heart grows three sizes. They put her directly on my chest. Best feeling in the world.

I have daughters. Plural.

When the cord stops pulsing Marc reluctantly cuts it. Within 10 minutes Mina has rooted and latched on all on her own. That's my girl.

I never did a Mina 1 Month post, so I thought I'd combine them for her 2 month post.

Can you believe it has been two months already? She is huge! As Marc said yesterday: It seemed like you were pregnant forever and now we blink and Mina is 2 months old!
So true.

And what a great two months it has been. Franca was a great baby, but Mina might have her beat. Sleeps an 8-hour stretch at night. Eats quickly. Naps a lot easily throughout the day.

And the smiles. 

Oh the smiles. 

And the coo's. 

And the laughs.

And the half-sneeze sigh.

She's a real charmer. She likes being sung and talked to, but most of all being howled at. That was a favorite of Franca's too, and is convenient because Franca is going thru a Where the Wild Things Are phase right now.

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I've been pretty obsessed with my girls this week. They've been so sweet and funny and happy. It is making me REALLY look forward to selling the house so we can spend all weekend in bed laughing, or you know, do something that doesn't involve a hammer.

They guys from Blue Ridge Glass (Hi Bob!*) came this morning to install our mirror. I know, this seems like something we could easily DIY, but the installation cost wasn't much more. Plus, if anything, paying for the installation of breakable things is worth it. If I break it installing it, I'm out the mirror cost. If they break it, they replace it free!

There was no breaking going on though, but there was some (OF COURSE) in the field modifications that had to happen. They broke out the grinder and took a smidge off the top to make it fit correctly. So glad to see that happens with the pros too, even though they had come out to measure. It's not just us!

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Anyway, it looks terrific and I can finally see the toothpaste foam on my face instead of walking out the door looking like a rabid dog. It is pretty huge though. Check out this photo with me in for scale.

Plus, look at my awesome new bangs! I cut them myself (and gave myself red highlights) this week while waiting for work files to download/convert/upload.

(Which is actually allowing me to write this post now too, I'm having to work on a crazy 3d model that requires a bunch of processing time.) Sometimes working from home is great.

Marc has 1/2 of a radiator hole to drill in the tile. (He already did 7 of them.) Then we install that and bathroom is DONE! Yippee!





*Bob actually doesn't ready I blog (I think), but Blue Ridge Glass is a great company - and I'm not being compensated in anyway to say that.

I have started to make a list for the new house. Things I absolutely want. This goes beyond the 3-bed and 2-bathroom lists to something a little more esoteric. Here goes:

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Second
I want to be able to put everything away. Not so much in the bedrooms but in the kitchen/living/dining area. I want countertops with absolutely nothing on them, not even a utensil container. A hidden TV. A huge wall of storage with a place for everything we own. You know those modern interiors that cause people to say: It doesn't look like anyone lives there! That's what I want. ;) Every night before I go to bed, I want to be able to look around at a clean, clutter free space.

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Third
This one is specific, but I want a family bathroom near our bedrooms that is a series of compartments. Soaking tub compartment. Shower compartment. Toilet compartment. Sinks, mirror, storage, washer/dryer and countertop in another open communal space. We will be designing this house for us, with all our specific requests and this is mine. We'll have another bathroom near the K/D/L that is more standard.
I grew up sharing a bathroom with 5 other people, including 3 other women (even though we had two bathrooms, we only used one to get ready). Corny, but I liked the closeness this gave us. I don't think I showered, peed, or put on makeup in a room by myself until I had my own apartment in college. My sisters and I had some of the best conversations while one person was in the shower and the other blow drying her hair.

Plus, I've always found it odd to have a toilet right next to your toothbrush and the place you wash to get clean. Ew.
So compartments it is!

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Last
I'd like a house that opens up.  We love our screen porch, but I often which our whole house could open up on one side to a courtyard or yard.  The whole 'bringing the outside in' is such a cliche, but I'm not just talking about a house that isn't closed off.  I mean more a house that looks out.  A house that were you sometimes can't tell where inside stops and outside begins.

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Simple right?
I'll share Marc and Franca's (hilarious) want lists in a later posts too.

Also, if you see any inspiration pics I'd like, please email me, or link in comments, post on 86'n Its Facebook or share your Pinterest with me. Man! Talk about options!

I just got an email from Kohler apologizing for our issues with the Persuade Circ Toilet, and offering us a Moxie shower head/speaker as a condolence gift. I accepted, of course, because I'm not one to pass up free stuff, even if that means Kohler getting press for a new product by having a shitty old product.....



We won't install it as a shower head, but hey, a free waterproof speaker? I'm game. Our new shower is totally big enough to do the running man in!

BIG HUGE GIANT ups to Michelle @ SoWonderfulSoMarvelous who tweeted my post to Kohler and got their attention. Thanks!

If you follow 86'n It on Facebook, you would have read that the plague struck our house this week.   Franca barfed, Marc was stuck in bed all day, even Mina threw up (which was the worst thing EVER.)

Thing is, this week was supposed to be a break.   Two weeks ago we were in a hectic rush of prep for tilers and drywallers, plus I had a ton of work deadlines.   Last week we were in a hectic rush to get the bathroom functioning and be ready for guests & Franca's 3rd birthday party.

I wanted a breather, but got a breath of stinky germ-laden air. Ugh.

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And the balloons.  The balloons.  The balloons balloons balloons balloons.* .

All 175 of them were great for the party dance floor, but now they follow you around, sticking to your pantlegs and try to trip you.  They hang out by the radiators and threaten to pop just as Mina falls asleep.

Something had to be done.

Pretty cute, but they don't all fit.  I might have to pop some.  Seems like a waste, but hey, so is this week of sickness.

The weekend, next week?  Something has to be looking up right?






*Can you tell we are still reading The Grinch around here?

I was going to wait until it was 100% and do some glamour shots, but I'll post these teasers anyway.

It is absolutely amazing to not have to shower in the clawfoot and not have to walk upstairs to use the bathroom. The best part though? NO MORE TRAINING POTTIES! Yippee! (I'm fully aware that we could have just made Franca walk upstairs to go, but imagine how fun that is with a newborn.)

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