This article makes me smile and nod in agreement. There was a time when I abslutely hated housework. It become clear to me that it was a necessary evil however and I developed a sort of grudging acceptance. That step helped me to get started but every inch of the job was spent longing to be finished and get to the "good stuff".  I can honestly say I enjoy my work these days.  I haven’t really been able to articulate that monumental change in my life until I read the linked article.

My days can be demanding and occasionally boring and sometimes downright bizarre.  Life with small children and teenagers is like that. : )  For all its challenges it is real, however. It is sustaining. It is what life is made of, if you are fortunate enough to have a home and lots of people to share it with, and learning to embrace that has made a huge difference.

Seriously. : )

I guess I am telling this story backwards, but I am starting the WI trip update with the tale of our return.  The most noteworthy item in our travels was that we made it all the way to WI and nearly all the way back with nary a mishap.  Not a wrong turn in the mix! Not til we got within 30 mi of home.  Somehow I missed our crossroad and just kept on trucking about 20 min further south.  Ah well. What is that saying? Blessed is the woman who can laugh at herself, for she shall always be amused. <g>  The only real problem with the missed turn was the little boys were anxiously waiting in front of the house and had to be brought in to wait so that was disappointing for them.

We finally rolled in, exhausted, around 9 Sunday night. I was surprised that the lawn hadn’t been mowed.  Allen is usually very vigilant about lawn mowing when we have company coming. He was very um, smiley, though. Actually they all were. We walked into the sunroom and I saw the last of the old bookcases from the living room. You may recall the bookshelf/living room/family room/remodeling saga that started last fall.  Or not. <g> I may far overestimate the interest of the general public in our little domestic dramas lol!  Anyhoo I was very pleased to see them because that meant Colin had moved all the books out. When I walked in the house it smelled really odd however. Much like old attic. I couldn’t place it but it was undeniable. Still the kitchen was very clean and dinner was waiting for us. We got ready to eat and Allen said hold on, follow me.  We walked down the hall and as I was puzzling about the sawdust-y smell we turned into the living room where…. (insert drumroll please)

MY HUSBAND HAD REFINISHED THE FLOOR!!!   

On my stars, you have no idea how giddy I was with joy! Gone was the old off-white carpet that bore striking resemblence to a Dalmation. A Dalmation with a fondness for mudpies.  In its place were gleaming wood floors. Well gleaming laminate floors, but hey they are stunning. They give the room a whole new look and are soooooo much easier to clean. And now they match the rest of the downstairs main rooms and hall.

It was no small feat for Allen and Colin to accomplish. They were the only two "big" people home and Colin is in a wheelchair so they had to work nights and naptimes. They had to be innovative too since Colin couldn’t lift and carry. They managed to rip up and roll the old carpeting, for instance, but then got stuck with removing it. In the end they pushed one part through the window, hooked it to the truck, and pulled it to the dumpster on the other side of the house. Where there is a will there is a way. : )

They completely and utterly took me by surprise and couldn’t have been happier about it.  It was such a blessing! It was a convicting lesson about contentment for me as well, though Allen could not have known that. In the past few weeks I had watched Alice’s flooring project unfold with admiration. I had so longed for my own re-do but knew it had to wait. Another friend had a pending floor job but it was on hold temporarily. We had surfed the net together for a beautiful area rug. Again, I thought gee, a nice big rug might help a lot.  That didn’t seem to be in the cards either though. I had two choices at that point: envy and resentment or peaceful surrender.  I chose the latter.

I was a bit embarassed about bringing my mother into the house with the stained carpeting but figured we would clean it up as best we could and it just was what it was. It would all come in good time and heck, it is NOT a bad way to suffer, lets face it. It’s a little bitty thing in the whole big picture. And then,out of the blue, there was this gift of time and treasure, all the more wonderful because I didn’t ask, I didn’t badger. Instead, my dear men had plotted and toiled to make it a beautiful surprise. Thank you! I will remember every time I walk into that room.

My new camera needs a cord and we have to transfer all our pics to CD offsite so pics of the floor will be coming later. Suffice it to say, I love it. : )

I am only online in snatches this week since I brought my mother back from WI with us and we have a full schedule this week and next.  I did want to quickly share some highlights from our trip which went very well.

Our first outing in WI was to Cedarburg, a small historic town near Lake Michigan which has a lovely shopping district. I snapped pics as we shopped so you could enjoy too. : )   Lots of inspiration here!

Tess was game at the get-go but by afternoon’s end she looked more like we felt……