I used to blog once

I used to blog once upon a time.

Then I bought an awesome house with great "bones" in a fantastic idyllic neighborhood.

We (Craig & I) were going to turn this old ranch into our dream house. Years of subscribing to magazines like Cottage Living, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart's Living, This Old House, and every other magazine I can't think of right now.... we were ready to abandon our brand spankin' new McMansions and create the perfect home!

What a colossal pain in the a**!!!

We've done this before 10 years ago with our first house. It was dirty and disgusting, but we were young and tore that house up inside and out and made it a beautiful and unique home.

Fast forward 10 years, we're at it again. We're older, busier, and now with two kids and a dog, this has been harder than even I could have imagined.

It's terribly draining physically, mentally, and financially.

I worry about the NAILS sticking up and out everywhere!

"Wear your shoes" "Don't go in there!" "Don't touch that!"
were (are) daily admonishes!

The whole house felt inside out. The kitchen was a wreck, 2 bathrooms in a state of wreckage, and our two main rooms were also construction zones. The dust and dirt was incredible. I felt like I traded my nice life in for this stressed out mess and I felt like I was suffocating!

A home should be your refuge, your safe place, but I felt ours was anything but! Just the opposite, it was place I just had to get out of everyday!

So I would wake up and take the girls somewhere everyday. The mall, museum, a movie, walks down by the lake, playgrounds, get us all haircuts and many a time, we just went to Grandma's house.

But things have gotten better lately.

Long holiday weekends that give Craig extra time to work on the house.

Craig has been amazing with all the work he's been putting into the house.

I don't think I'll ever say it enough, but he's a real champion when

he has the time to get this stuff done. Nobody works harder than him, balancing his real job, remodeling a house, and still fitting in time to spend with his little girls.

It's been amazing to watch him.

Now with school in session, I'm not running around trying to think up things to keep our girls entertained daily. Yay for school!!!

And that's not all.

There's a kitchen that is definitely making a comeback in a major way!!!

These photos are only part of this story. More photos in tomorrow's post of a kitchen at it's darkest hour (eek!) and (dare I say it, dream it!) it's future glory!

Patience grasshopper.