The title of this post says it all, Spring break, sick kids and still remodeling the kitchen… we have had a lot going on in our home in the past month. Most of it was unplanned and other things have taken wayyyy longer than expected (the kitchen remodel). So let’s dive in to what I was doing the past month I was not blogging.
I wanted to start off by saying how amazing you all are! I got many messages and emails from people making sure I was doing ok on this mini-blogging break and I appreciate all of the care so much. I started this blog years ago as a way for me to have something for myself that did not include babies, diapers, potty training and 3 year old tantrums. Once my youngest went into Kindergarten I dived head first into this blog as my job, turning it into the little engine that could and carved out a career for myself. The benefits of that is the flexibility. While my kids are school aged they still take up a lot of my time, throw in no school days, volunteering in their classrooms, PTA responsibilities and sick days with my kids a big chunk of my day is still devoted to them. That is the way it was designed and this blog works perfectly for my family as my “job”. This past month or so those family needs became even more prioritized and this blog needed to be put on pause.
Over about a two week period at the end of January beginning of February we all get hit hard with the flu, Influenza A to be exact. Fever, body aches, sore throat, bad coughs, asthma treatments for one child…throw in crazy high fevers, hallucinations with one of my kids because of Tamiflu (a Influenza medication), and dehydration. It was a brutal two weeks around here. Seeing my little ones miserably sick and there was nothing I could do about it was hard. Also, taking care of sick kids while I was sick was also pretty miserable. But, we got through it and are thankfully all back to 100% health!
I try not to share too much personal things on here, you are here for the house porn, easy decor ideas and DIY projects. I get it, that is my thing too. I am simply sharing with you guys to explain where I was and that I did not quit this here blog, life just got in the way.
If you will remember we started our kitchen renovations in January, my goal was to be done with it by April… yeah… not happening. There was a two week pause because of being sick that turned into over 1 month on all things kitchen renovations. We started with this layout below;
Once the wall was taken down and the cabinets were moved to their new places we ended up with this layout. It feels huge now!
Luckily all of us coming down with the flu happened after our kitchen became functional again. It is not pretty, plywood counter tops and drywall damaged from the back splash removal is not my final dream look. It has worked for now and gotten us through this tough month.
After we all recovered from the flu I was excited to get back to work on the kitchen. Unfortunately Dale’s family was dealing with a lot and had a family member pass away unexpectedly. We wanted to be there for Dale’s family, support them and help in any way we could. We also had to travel for the funeral out of state. This is definitely a situation where everything else gets paused in life and we take time to remember the good times and the kind person that we lost too soon. We all needed time to heal from this loss.
Getting back into the usual day to day of life after something like this is hard. My kids are older now so there was a lot of tough conversations and tons of extra hugs during this time. In a odd way I will never quite get used to the fact that life does go on and we move forward with the day to day after a loss. The kids went back to school, Dale went back to work and we continued on. We had plans for a while now to go on a Spring break vacation so it was full steam ahead to prepare for that.
The kitchen continued to go untouched. We cooked in it, the kids did homework at the makeshift island, I attempted to gather my thoughts to check in with you all. However, I ran out of hours in the day before we were off to our vacation.
We headed south and spent the time exploring a new city, chasing the sunny days, warm breeze, waves, water, sand, and so many memories to keep close. This past month has been a whirlwind, has forced a lot of self reflection, quiet reminders to take it all in and slow things down when we can to enjoy life.
Even though I am determined that life is made up to always throw you for a loop. Once you feel like you get your bearing with one thing and then another comes at you fast. I try to balance it all with family and responsibilities. I attempt to tackle the forever growing pile of laundry, too long to-do list, this blog and enjoy the days we have all at the same time.
Believe it or not, part of my enjoyment is working on my home. Dreaming and scheming of new ideas for my home (like the new kitchen counter tops shown above), decorating, crafting, renovating and turning our house into a home is my hobby. After the dust had settled from everything and I got us unpacked from our vacation we were antsy to get back to work on the kitchen!
Over the weekend we had some friends over and they helped us mud the drywall to get it ready for cabinets, a new window install and then tile to go up. After the work of the day was done we sat around the table and ate too much food, laughed really loudly, our kids ran around playing and we enjoyed our time with close friends. In life it is all about balance and this past month has taught me life can change in an instant; so take it all in and squeeze in as much good in those days as possible.
Spring break, sick kids and still remodeling the kitchen… After this roller coaster of emotions, sickness, to-do list going untouched this past month I have lived the phrase “life is what happens while you are busy making plans”. Our 2 month kitchen remodel has been turned into a whenever-it-gets-done remodel and I am ok with that. I can continue dreaming, shopping for the best deals for finishes in the kitchen and work on it when we get to it. Because today, right now we are all healthy, happy, loved, and content. Hopefully I can move this kitchen along, but if not that is ok too. I hope you all understand, DIY style means life happens and things move slower than is typically shown online. I promise the journey and eventually the pretty after, just don’t hold me to a hard finish date.
How have things been going with you? I checked in with you all, now check in with me. How is life treating you?
OMG I CANNOT wait to see the AFTER!!
So glad all is well again. Really missed you.
Aw, thank you so much Judy! I am so honored to have you following along!