Please Pardon our Mess During Construction

Okay, so I haven't posted in almost an entire month and while I have enjoyed the unannounced break, I do feel a certain urge to get back in the saddle. I did not intentionally take a break, but life got in the way, ya know? I had been house-sitting for a friend for the past six months -- not an easy feat with kids in tow...'don't touch that!' 'that's not ours!' 'leave that alone!'--but it was time for the homeowner to return from her contract position in another state, so we had to find new digs by Christmas!

We all know Christmas is such a busy time of year anyway, but add moving in to the mix and you have almost certain multi-tasking overload! Needless to say, moving is NEVER fun, but the promise of having our own space again was a key motivational factor. It meant we could finally get our stuff out of storage and it would be like a double-whammy Christmas! All the excitement of presents under the tree AND unpacking boxes of all the stuff from our old house, well it seemed like a win-win!

We got all the paperwork in order, put down a deposit, signed the lease and we were in the door on Dec. 20th, with just a few days to spare before Christmas. The kids were thrilled to unpack their boxes and the house was filled with shouts of happiness at a toy or book being re-discovered. It was great, if also completely chaotic, stressful, nerve wracking and exhausting. It is no wonder then, that on Christmas Eve I became violently ill with a stomach flu!! My daughter got the same flu two days later....and my son, two days after her.  It was a whole lot of puking and it wasn't pretty! We all got over that...luckily it wasn't long lasting, just gross....school started back up and the schedule normalized a bit. I started arranging furniture, hanging pictures and unpacking boxes which takes up a lot of time apparently because I wasn't getting much else done: laundry, eating properly, blogging......you know, all the basics. Then, just for fun, I decided to get Strep Throat. Ay carumba, it hurt!  I became a handwashing fiend in my determination to not. let. my. kids. get. strep! One round of Amoxicillin later and all is well.

So all this to say, I have a good excuse for the hiatus, but I'm back now and as I'm still getting settled in and trying to make order out of this chaos (!) I may not post as frequently as I would like, but I will get back into the swing of things very soon and I do want to thank each and every one of you for your comments and encouragement. It simply makes my day when I get a nice comment from a reader or gain a new follower. I have some pretty cool projects to show you coming up, so don't forget to check back! Meanwhile, here are a few shots of my new place in progress...or lack of.

Everything just got thrown into the room as it came off the storage pod.

This is every single pillow insert and piece of foam in my arsenal. My kids entertained themselves all afternoon jumping headfirst into the pile! It doesn't look like it in this photo, but the pile was about 5 feet high.

More chaos....yes that's faded paint on the walls and yes it's salmon pink! But I have the go ahead to paint, so that will happen soon.

The living room is pretty big so there will be the chance to arrange several seating groups. These walls are pale ballerina pink which oddly doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. The homeowners really liked pink! It's one of my favorite colors too, when it's done right.

The first thing I hung on the walls was this group of mirrors....I like the direction it's going....and again, the pale pink might grow on me.

See you soon....