24th Anniversary

First, thankfully, yes, Nathan solved that electrical issue we were having yesterday (after a full day of tracking things and changing things out) so everything's good there again. Whew.

And, with the basement project and everything else, it kind of snuck up on me...but today we're celebrating having said "I do" 24 years ago. Still the best decision ever. :) I don't really have anything profound to say right now...just incredibly thankful for this man. Here are three of my favorite pictures of us this past year...

Love this guy and the life we're creating together.

Basement project

Woohoo! We're mostly done with our basement project to close out 2020. A month or so ago we decided to go ahead and just do it--clear extra things out and make the space more suitable for what we're actually using it for (exercise and office). With Nathan having a week off between Christmas and New Year's and with no houseguests this year, it seemed that that would be the ideal time. We ordered the power rack and flooring and very much appreciate our delivery people who had to deal with the many boxes that filled up our front room for awhile...

(Yeah, some of those were pretty heavy. Sorry, delivery guys!)

Then, the weekend before Christmas, we started looking at paint colors. It took six different greys and a couple of potential accent colors and some new lightbulbs but we finally settled on a single grey (and eventually a mix of two different lightbulb types). (We'd not actually tried samples with paint before...had always just picked a color at the store and used it. But. This particular room was the one time we'd been unhappy with our color choice; we'd just lived with the blue for years. Given that, we decided to try to be smarter about it this time. Incidentally, the lighting in the basement made this very tricky.)

On the 23rd, we started moving things around to empty out the room. (Fun fact: when you sell a gazillion legos, you suddenly have empty closet space in boys' rooms where you can nicely fit a bunch of tubs from the basement.) After Nathan finished work for the day, we finished emptying out the space and Nathan and Micah pulled up the carpet. 

The next day, we primed that wall we'd painted with the samples, took all the carpet and such to the landfill and a load to Goodwill and then painted that whole dang room (two coats and all the trim). Yup, that's how we spent Christmas Eve. :) 

When we pulled up the carpet, by the way, we discovered a fun drawing of a dwarf...no idea why or how long it's been there. So, we added some art of our own before we eventually covered everything back up. 

The other pictures above are showing the pile of pieces for the power rack before Nathan and Micah put that together and the new flooring we put down. The larger area has 3/4" high density EVA foam tiles, and the smaller area has coordinating carpet tiles from the same company. (We looked into rubber tiles or rolls and various other choices but eventually opted for the foam since they don't off-gas nearly as much. Since Nathan spends most of his workday down there, that was important.)

Anyhow. We took Christmas day off to enjoy time together then spent the weekend assembling the power rack and getting that installed, finishing a few last painting things (outlet covers, doors), and getting the flooring mostly down (in addition to playing games and binge watching shows, lol). Since then, Nathan finished the rest of the flooring and reinstalled all his office stuff. This morning, I took the "after" photos to add to the "before" pictures...(you can click on them to make them larger)

From the stairs (which we're leaving alone for the time being because redoing stairs is expensive)...yes, those are mirrors over by the window. We put those up years ago when the boys started karate to create a little area for them to practice. (They've been too big to do karate in the basement for years now.)

From the guest room...Note, I was hesitant at first about painting the trim and walls the same color but am so glad we did. It makes everything look more open (fewer visual breaks) and definitely shortened our painting time.

From the mirror wall...you can see Nathan's office area in the back. In the after photo, you can see a large white board leaning against the wall. We'll be adding some small shelves to the wall on the left (the one with the door to the closet) and putting that there. Nathan also sold his old desk (the one against that same wall I just mentioned), which cleared up a good bit of room. He's trying out a chair from the family room for when he wants to get off his feet. 

And, finally, from Nathan's desk area...

I reserve the right to possibly paint an accent wall or mural still, and Nathan's wanting to paint the walls next to the stairs, but we're mostly done. So far, I've enjoyed the more open space for boot camp (and not having to constantly shift the cheaper loose tiles we'd set there), and Micah's enjoying his set up with the power rack and barbell and all. Nathan says the new flooring is more comfortable to stand on at his desk, too. 

So. It still has a bunch of stuff but looks so much cleaner, don't you think? Whew.

ETA: Now that I've finished this post and all, of course, we're having mysterious electrical issues down there...which won't do since Nathan's office is there and requires the outlets to work. He's trying different things. Wish us luck. 

The past week...

Happy Everything!

Obviously I went missing there for a bit. In short...had a good, quiet, different, blessed sort of Christmas here. Hopefully our holiday cards should reach people soon. :)

Longer story...last weekend we finally put up some outside decorations...

I love my inflatables and know that they make some of the little kids on our street happy, too. :) Asher and Micah also gave me my Christmas gift early and presented me with a baby dragon to go along with Holly (my big dragon). He's adorable and we've named him Buddy. 

Also over the weekend, I gathered up the last of the legos here to make more space in Noah's room. (They'd been scattered everywhere as I finished shipping things out. There are still quite a few loose bricks and pieces but at least they're all contained for now, lol. Incidentally, I sold almost everything of the sets I listed for sale. Yay!)

And that was just in time, as we picked Noah up from his apartment on Sunday and then, finally, that night put up decorations inside the house...

Yes. Ended up with a slightly smaller tree and had to shift it from the traditional place in front of the window given the climbing wall but we made it work. And while we were putting up decorations, I discovered some things that made me so happy...

This is the mistletoe ball that always hung in our house growing up. At one point my mom said she wanted to be buried with it and that none of us could have it, lol. But, last year, I scored a few goodies! I can't remember exactly if it was when I flew back for mom's birthday party in January or if mom mailed them to me last Christmas as part of my gift, but I'd forgotten until I opened the decorations boxes and it was such a happy surprise. 

Also in the box was this hanging that my mom made back before she had five kids. I have such fond memories of sitting in front of a heater or fireplace and looking up at this every holiday season growing up. 

The Christmas mouse is also from my childhood and always had a place of honor when we put up decorations. My boys think it's weird and don't really get it but whatever. :) And. Mom let me have my stocking. My godmother actually made them for us back when it was just my parents, me and one brother. After we added three more kids, mom and I made more in the same style and they were what always hung on our mantle. 

To me, this is what Christmas stockings are. I had a plan, at one point, to make some like this for us. But. We'd already used the embroidered ones I bought as a stand in and Nathan objected to changing...wanted to stick with what had become tradition. So. We've had the same stockings for at least 20 years. ;P Ours hang on our stair banister but this one, at least, is on our mantle this year. 

The week then was busy with finishing getting things in the mail...wrapping gifts for here (which I actually got done sooner than the day before Christmas for a change!)...watching holiday movies...eating holiday goodies from my brother's family and from friends and neighbors here (always some of our favorite holiday gifts!)...climbing a couple times with Micah...finally addressing and mailing cards (they got delayed somewhere...I ordered them at the start of the month)...and delivering neighbor gifts. Mostly, though, the week was filled with our basement project--deciding on a paint color, clearing things out, ripping up the carpet and taking that to the landfill, etc. That's going to get its own post in two or three days. Suffice it to say, it kept us busy. :) 

And then on Christmas morning, we leisurely gathered beneath the climbing wall to open gifts. Asher and Micah were particularly fond of the bubble wrap, lol. (Thanks, Lynne!) 

This made us all laugh...

Nathan and I had given Micah the tank he's wearing. (He'd changed into it after he opened it.) A few minutes later, he opened a gift from his grandparents...including the exact same shirt! Obviously, great minds think alike. :) 

Usually, I try to get everyone an ornament each year that commemorates some aspect of the year for that person. This year, I had a hard time finding anything that worked. So. I made these lego minifigures of each of us holding things representative for this year...and put them into a clear ornament. Voila! I also found the cute little face mask ornaments on Etsy and added those.

And there were new games (that have already mostly been played!) and pajamas and books and other fun stuff. Gifting for teenagers is more difficult than when they were little, lol. One of the things we got Asher was this kalimba...

...which sounds just beautiful. He's already learned a song or two. :)

And that was mostly our quiet little Christmas. Nathan's parents aren't joining us this year, which I think may be a first. (There was at least one year when they came a month later given Asher's black belt promotion but it was still a holiday visit.) We're thankful we managed to see them back in August at Lake Coeur d'Alene. 

Like Thanksgiving, we opted this year to mostly try to support our local restaurants by ordering (in advance) from a number of them for our meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas day...which also freed up more time from kitchen duties for things like playing games. Everyone wins!

Hoping you all had a beautiful Christmas also!

Today, we're back to our basement project. I'll post about all of that when it's finished, hopefully soon. :)

Thankful Thursday

Woohoo! Happy December, everyone! Hey, did you know it's the middle of December already? ;) I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I'm finally embracing December and it's lovely. So many things to be thankful for! This week I'm thankful for...

1. Shopping local. I've been trying to support local as much as possible this year and am thankful for the many choices and stores here in Fort Collins. Last Thursday, I made a number of quick stops at local shops to pick up various things. It was great both to feel like I was helping the community and to get things checked off my list. It was also lovely to experience the holiday atmosphere and see how everyone was doing their part to keep people safe and supported. 

2. Micah overcoming his fears. Last Friday, Micah gave himself his first weekly injection of the new treatment for his arthritis. It's got to build up in his system so won't noticeably take effect for 2-3 months, but we've started. After he psyched himself up and jabbed himself, he was pleasantly surprised at how little it actually hurt. Whew. (Note, it utterly knocked him out for most of the weekend...which is why it was recommended that he take it on a Friday night...so that wasn't great. Hoping it gets better as we get further into it.)

3. Finally getting our tree. On Saturday, we finally got our act together and went to pick out our tree. We went to the same lot we've been going to for years and found a great tree...smaller than usual for us because we don't have the same spot for the tree in the house this year (on account of the giant climbing wall in the front room, lol). It was cold, and we didn't have Noah obviously, but we did it...

...and, um, on Tuesday we finally got it actually set up inside the house. Where it remains. Naked. So, yeah, we still haven't got any decorations up. We'll get to it. ;) Thankful to have at least started.

4. Backyard lunches. On Sunday, Deanna and I continued what's become our outside lunch tradition during this pandemic. It was much easier back in May and over the summer when we met at a park and spread out blankets. Now that it's cold, we met in our backyard, sat on blankets and turned on the patio heater. It was still chilly, but the sunshine and patio heater helped greatly and allowed us to have a terrific meal and visit. (The hot spiced/spiked cider that Nathan brought us didn't hurt either, lol.) 

Thankful that we've made getting together a priority and that we've figured out how to do it in pandemic circumstances.

5. End of the semester. Asher and Micah finished up their semester on Monday and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Whew. That was a long and weird semester, right? Thankful that it's done and also that boys managed it so well. I know so many others really struggled with (and are still struggling with) online schooling...the logistics, the emotional/social toll, the academics. We weren't completely without issues but know that we're so fortunate in our circumstances--being familiar with schooling from home, having both parents here, having the technological stuff and capabilities to make it all work mostly smoothly, and being at a school where boys' schedules were as flexible as they were. All things considered, we did pretty darn well. 

(Noah, btw, will finish his semester tomorrow.)

6. Shipping packages. On Tuesday, I finally gave up on my plan to wait until our cards got here (unsurprisingly, they're delayed) and shipped most of our Christmas packages to family and friends. (One downside of shopping mostly local was that I ended up having to ship everything myself, lol.) Hoping the packages arrive in time but so thankful to have that checked off my list. 

So, yeah, finally starting to get in the holiday spirit. Woohoo!

Thankful Thursday

Wow. How'd it get to be December 10th already?! Okay, quick list before it's not Thursday any more. :) Things I'm thankful for...

1. Legos. Yup, this one seems maybe counter-intuitive, lol. But. I'm honestly so thankful for legos. They provided such fabulous building and imagination time for my boys...were part of awesome memories...and, ahem, they hold their value really well if you keep the sets together (which my guys mostly did). Whew. I had 106 items/listings after my months of sorting. I currently have only 11 left. (Well, we also have a number of containers of loose pieces. But I'll get to those.) The boys and I made some decent money, recouping at least some of all we'd spent in the first place. Mostly, I'm just thrilled that the project is primarily done...enough to put this aside for now.

2. Finally switching gears. Being mostly done with the legos means that I can finally shift to thinking about the holidays. We're not in full holiday mode yet, but I finally got our cards made and ordered last weekend. Stamps were ordered weeks ago (ironically, this order from the post office is taking the longest of my various orders to be shipped). I'm working on doing as much of our shopping as possible locally. Of course, we still don't have a tree or any decorations up inside or out. Boys are in the middle of finals...so maybe we'll get to that this weekend? (Asher and Micah will finish Monday or Tuesday and Noah will be done next Friday.)

Sigh...definitely behind this year but remarkably okay with that at the moment. I'm still gathering gifts and packages will probably be a little late to get in the mail, but it's all good. Thankful (???) that boys are all old enough that they're not as invested in all the holiday hoopla anyhow. 

3. MyChart. Micah had a follow up appointment down at Children's earlier this week. They did ultrasounds on his knee and ankle to check whether the arthritis was sticking with his tendons or moving into his joints as well... 

Unfortunately, it's definitely in his joints as well, as the ultrasounds showed plenty of fluid and inflammation. So. We're starting a new treatment protocol (as soon as finals are over) that will involve weekly injections and some other new drugs. For a boy who historically has been incredibly not fond of needles, it's saying something that this is the method he chose after hearing the pros and cons of everything. Fingers crossed.  

The part I'm thankful for is the online system, MyChart, that Children's uses that makes communicating with the doctors and nurses so easy and managing Micah's information much smoother. It's nice to have that in place and helped with picking up the various prescriptions today. 

4. Not repeating 10 years ago. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to jinx it, but Monday was the 10 year anniversary of when Asher snapped his arm. It showed up in my memories and timeline stuff and I shared with those here, asking boys to be particularly safe for those 24 hours, lol. So thankful to be seemingly past that stage of injuries! (Yes, I just knocked on wood, lol.) 

Okay, that's it for tonight. Must get this posted and go finish a couple things before bed. Hopefully next week will be full of more holiday cheer. This week's been largely about finishing up the semester...and tackling some more college application stuff (honors programs and housing deposits/preferences) for Asher...and mailing more lego eBay listings...and going down to Children's and getting that plan in place...and doing some research and prep for a house project or two that we're hoping to get to over winter break. Next week we'll all breathe a little easier and things will be a little less busy, right? :)