Hubby Lifting: Part 3

We're continuing to work through our honey-do list. One of the major items on the list is the fireplace in the living room. I've never been a big fan of it but I've never been sure what to do.

We're in the process do redoing a lot of the house and specifically the living room. So I decided to tackle the fireplace. I decided I wanted more light in the living room so I decided we were going to paint the fireplace white! I was nervous about this decision. I don't want to impact the value of the home but I couldn't stand to look at the ugly brick anymore.

I talked Adam into starting the project on a Saturday afternoon thinking it would just take a couple of hours. I was wrong. We did the first coat on Saturday but then we had to finish it up on Sunday.

I am very happy with the fireplace now. It really brightens up the room and it makes it look much more modern. Now I just need my new furniture to get here, decide on a new rug and paint the walls!

Original Fireplace

Updated Fireplace

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Little Girl Brooks Turns 2!

One of my favorite little girls turned 2 years old this month!  It seems just like yesterday that we were doing her 1 year old pictures.

Gabby has been going through a phase lately where she doesn't want to have her picture taken.  If you pull out a camera, she makes a face at you and covers her face with her hands.  She really does not like having her picture taken.  So Kim and I were fully prepared for a break down and were trying to find ways to keep her entertained.  Thankfully though, Gabby was a trooper!  Not only did she smile for the camera, she was posing for me.  I'd call out to her and she'd look over her shoulder at me and give me a look.  She could be a little model if she wanted to be!

Below are some of my favorites from the session!

Flying Lessons

Note: I found this in my drafts from months ago. I'm traveling to LA now, which isn't quite as bad but this is still applicable. 

The title of this post may be a bit misleading.  I'm not learning to fly but I've found that flying every week across the country on a US airline is teaching me lessons in patience, kindness, and gratitude.

On Sundays, I take a 2:45pm flight from Phoenix which gets me into Harrisburg at around midnight.  This week, when landing in Charlotte, NC for my connection, the flight was diverted to Knoxville, TN and then promptly cancelled.  Two weeks ago, on the Friday I was supposed to have off from work and supposed to be driving to Las Vegas, my flight out of Harrisburg was so late that I was originally told that I wouldn't get to Las Vegas until Saturday afternoon.  Six weeks ago, I spent the night in Chicago b/c my plane sat on the tarmack for over an hour and I missed my connection.  Not to mention the number of times my flight has been delayed and I don't get home until midnight Phoenix time and have to be up at 6am to work on east coast time.

Traveling in the US isn't easy.  And in each of those instances, I was more than angry and a little sad - it meant less time in my home with my husband.  But I think I'm getting better about it.  In each of these instances, I watched other passengers yell and mistreat the ground crew of the airlines.  The delay or cancellation is not the ground crew's fault.  They're trying to do the best they can.  And I've learned, kindness in these situations really will get you farther.  There's a gentleman that works for American Airlines in Harrisburg who knows me.  And each week when I fly with them and my flight is late or delayed, he sorts me out first.  I like to think it's because I'm friendly and I don't blame him.

I've also learned that patience is immensely important in these situations.  Getting it fixed isn't going to happen quickly and if don't have patience, you're just gonna be angry and forget to be kind to those people trying to help you get home.

But I've also learned to be grateful for the opportunities I have.  I work for a good company who thinks highly enough of me to want to fly me out to a project every week.  I've amassed an obscene amount of frequent flyer miles and I'll be able to use them to visit my family and friends in Australia or Colorado.  There are alot of people who don't get these chances.

Saying all this though, I would love to have more time at home. Maybe one of these days I'll be ready to move on from my company but that isn't just yet. In the meantime, I'll just amass lots of status points with US Airways and Hilton and Avis!

Hubby Lifting: Part 2

With Adam not being able to work, it's become like I have a live-in handyman. We have a list of things that need to be fixed and he's slowly working through them. It's fantastic!

One of the items was to paint the cabinets in the laundry room. I don't know if they were original to the house or not but they were very old looking. The laundry room doesn't have any windows so it's very dark. It's In desperate need of some brightness.

So I told the hubs what colors I wanted and then left it to him. One week while I was in Harrisburg (yes, I know I'm late posting this!), he sorted out the laundry room for me. It looks so much better now!

PS what you can't see is that he also painted the walls a very happy yellow.

 

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