...we have upended everything.  I can't begin to write about the goodbye's yet.  They are too fresh.  I would rather write about the view from my living room window.

I'm up to my neck in catalogs and ripped out pages from home and garden magazines.  We have the dimensions of each room in our new home, and I have been given the task of planning the furnishings for each of them.  For those of you who don't know me, this is literally like setting a kid loose in a candy store.  I am loving every minute of it.

My husband thought it was great too, until he saw the Amex bill.  Ooops.  After the third new rug arrived, my excuse of "But, honey, we NEED it" begins to ring a bit hollow.  However, I remain undeterred, I must decorate.  The Swiss have an interesting take on the use of color and form.  Seriously, this is the kind of design aesthetic I'm working with...

The rain is leaving wavy ribbons on the picture window, as I sit and drink my fourth cup of tea for the day.  We are cozied up indoors, the feverish little one and myself.  Today is not a day for errands, although those will need to be done.  It is a day for homebodies.

There are piles of laundry waiting their turn in various rooms of the house, a sink full of dirty dishes, and a small stack of mending on the counter.  They will keep until later, after my tea is drained.  This is what home feels like.  Home feels like a little one asking for another cup of orange juice, the flicker of the candle burning in the kitchen, and beds fitted with fresh sheets.  It feels like a stack of towels warm from the dryer and a steaming cup of tea next to the sofa.

Home brings me comfort on the rainy days and a respite from the endless running around.  It is a vanilla scented haven of white daisies and polka dot mugs and sweet grins.  Home is where my heart smiles, I breathe easy, and I unwrap the daily gifts of the ordinary.

Kimberly

Take a minute or forty to check out the gifts that Emily and friends are unwrapping today at Chatting at the Sky.  You might want to throw that load of laundry in first, grab your mug, and settle in for a while.

Much of the deck progress was slowed due to rain, rain and more rain. We're now having some lovely sunny days, so Michael has been working hard on the deck after work each evening. While he's busy building and sanding, I've been making a great show of cooking dinner every single night. Yes, Dave Ramsey, that is for you. Not only are my shopping habits greatly altered, but I have to cook too. Did I mention I hate Financial Peace University? I digress, back to the deck....

Remember this?




Remember how I was somewhat fearful of falling down into a pit of snakes below? Not to worry. My slithery friends have now moved to the front of the house. Even better. I think the neighbors are now used to my occasional screams upon my return home and seeing this curled up in the catmint:


Again, I digress. But, I feel you must all share in my pain seeing as my children think it's "cute", and my husband has nerves of steel. On to the deck:


Built with no plans, just a vision in his head. Impressive, no?


I'm off now to begin sanding and prepping the deck for stain. I guess I don't get time off for good cooking behavior.

Tomorrow I'm traveling to PA for my sister's baby shower. Cute photos to follow. Have a great weekend!

Kimberly

This is the sort of thing that Michael does for fun. "This" is thirty cubic yards of mulch. This looks a lot more like work than fun in my opinion. Michael likes to fool me into believing we are "gardening" when what we are really doing is hard core landscaping. He lures me in with the promise of a trip to the greenhouse, but then sucker punches me with the mulch pile.




May I point out the size of our SUV in comparison to the size of the mulch pile? Yes. It really is that much mulch. Do you see Michael's head barely visible above the pile here? He is six two. I had to count the kids after it was delivered to be sure that none of them were buried alive beneath it. They weren't, but even if they had been, we would have found them by day's end.



This was the biggest part of our project. Cutting beds around the swingset that my man built by hand last year. (Another thing I was suckered into helping with). Those wood posts don't sand themselves. Don't you love the fact that Sophie still swings, oblivious to the fact that Michael and I are killing ourselves trying to get the fabric staked? Oh, to be four and not know the joys of a high functioning husband.




The end result after cutting the beds, laying the landscaping fabric, and mulching was pretty impressive.



We worked our way from the back to the front of the house, alternately cutting beds and laying mulch. Moving a shrub here and there, and laying a watering system beneath the front beds. By day's end, the entire pile of mulch was gone, everything was in it's rightful place, and I was rewarded with a trip to Friendly's. I think I need to raise my hourly rate.



Kimberly

PS So as not to fool you all into believing that we are superhuman (although the verdict is still out on Michael), we did have the assistance of two other fellas. There is no way we could have done it all in one day without their help. Even I'm not that good.

Michael has the endearing quality of starting home improvement projects and then leaving for a week. We've decided to find it amusing instead of annoying. Here is the latest project/death trap.



This is our deck. This is our deck missing 1/3 of the wood that keeps my children from accidentally hurling themselves down below.




This is the view from down below. Just under that portion of the deck is where we've found more than one garden snake. This small fact is one of the things that keeps me awake at night. I have a totally healthy and rational fear of snakes. My kids have a totally absurd and unhealthy desire to catch one.

In Michael's defense, we are in the process of readying the house for sale. I don't know if we will actually follow through on it, but it does mean that the few remaining projects are likely to be finished this summer. If this means that I have to live in fear of falling off my deck into a nest of snakes then so be it. (I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.)

I will leave you with a photo of our spring yard. It's almost enough to make me want to stay in this house. Almost.



Kimberly

Autumn has finally arrived in the Coyle home. This week I spent some time decorating inside and out for my favorite season of the year. I love lighting my spiced pumpkin candles and a crackling fire, then cozying up with a good book underneath a soft blanket. That's where you'll find me most evenings.




To be honest, it's not as idyllic as I make it out to be. More accurately, you'll find me studiously ignoring my husband and his infernal reruns of Las Vegas, as I ATTEMPT to focus on my book. The only sound reason I have ever found for watching Las Vegas is to catch a glimpse of that cutie Josh Duhamel. (Just keeping it real folks!) Even that's not really enough to keep me from hissing at every gratuitous cleavage shot on that show.

I'm not exactly sure how I've ended up on this tangent, when really all I wanted to do was wish you all a Happy Fall! I hope you find the time to have a warm cup of tea, study the colors of the falling leaves, and take a deep breath of cool, crisp autumn air. When I finish re-reading the Twilight saga, I'll be sharing my fall reading list with you. (That's right, I'm reading it AGAIN, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!)




Kimberly

It is finally finished! After four years of nearly non stop work and a ridiculous amount of money, the house is finally complete! We have systematically remodeled every single room in this house, as well as all of the grounds. The exterior of the house took a real beating during this process, so it remained the last thing on our list. We can finally cross it off! Take a look.

New paint. New gutters. Looks like a new house:)