Trying Not to Sweat the Small Stuff

At work, our department was split into two departments a few months ago.  There were three floors occupied by the one department; now they are combining the two departments, which means that all three floors are being remodeled and everyone is getting moved.  I am staying on the same floor; but since it is being remodeled, I had to move out of the way.  I am in a window cubicle during this week. 

I packed all of my stuff into bins to transfer it to the new digs.  Since I'm only going to be here for a week, it seems silly to unpack, just to have to pack again a couple of days later.

Only it feels like I'm sitting in my kitchen in the middle of lunch.  Quel disaster!  And when I leave this cube, I walk into the thick of the re-construction--quel disaster!

The truth is that there is nothing I can do about it.  Whining doesn't help, obviously.  But I find myself taking large breaths, several times a day.  I think I'm a nut job.

Progress, But It Doesn't Look Like It

The boys are moved into their room.

The girls' room has been cleaned, masked, and textured.

All three bookshelves are in the dining room.

Two other shelves are in the pantry (thanks for the suggestion, Lo!).

The organ, Bri's cedar chest, and Bri's sewing table need to find a home, so do many boxes of "stuff."

Our kids need to finish getting their stuff out of the downstairs bathroom and into the upstairs bathroom.  I helped them a little bit yesterday.

The huge, heavy file cabinet needs to come upstairs.

We need to swap our sofas and loveseats.

We need to figure out what to do with all of our movies.

We need to get rid of the TV (and buy a new one).

We need to paint the girls' room, set up their bunk beds, and put together their closet and organizer.

Why is it that you can work all day long and feel like you haven't even made a dent?

Little By Little

This is the lighter color of blue that is on 3 of the walls in what will be the boys' room.  Still to do:  paint the darker blue on the 4th wall and the ceiling, hang the light, put up curtains of some kind, replace the outlet covers.

This cute armoire is a ksl.com find.  It is our new "pantry."

There's still stuff hanging around all over the place, but we got the desk moved to the north wall, which included moving the cable for the internet.  We've also turned the dining table 90 degrees.  I don't like it that way yet, but when it's all put together, I think this will be the best option.

There are three bookshelves that need to come upstairs.  I finally made the kids take care of one of them today.  (Did you know that children--even big ones--do not help until given specific instructions?  *sigh*)

Little by little we are getting this move moving!

Moving

My brother and his wife lived in our ward for a while. We LOVED having them so close! When they made the decision to leave Utah, I cried. A lot.

Some weeks ago they announced that they were going to make the move back to Utah. Brant has been unemployed for several months, and it was as good a time as any to take the leap. We offered them a place to stay (with us).

The day that they were scheduled to arrive, Spencer and I started talking about the possibility of offering them the entire basement. The rent would be fairly cheap for them, and the rent would help us.

They've now been here for about a week and a half. After discussions with my brother and his wife, and with our children, we have decided to divide our house into two homes. We are doing amazingly well with all of us in the house together. But we feel that it would be beneficial to have our own places.

So by the end of the month, our family will make the full move to the upstairs, after which Brant and Lo will take possession of the basement. The preschool has a sink and a stove in it, so that will be their kitchen. The play room will be a bedroom for their three oldest children. They will take one bedroom, the younger two children will take the other bedroom, and they will have the family room. We will share the pantry area downstairs and the laundry area upstairs.

We are moving the boys into what is now Briana's room--but we want to paint it first. So Bri is moving downstairs with Ashtyn this week. We will paint, and then the boys will move into that room. Once Landon's room is empty, we will paint it. Then the girls will move in there. In between all of that, we will move our family room, play room, and preschool stuff upstairs and/or into storage.

There is a lot to do. But we are excited. We hope that the Fishes will stay for as long as they want to. Our boys are having so much fun together, and I simply love having them so close.