Reconstruction

To continue to break up the year into periods, this is the period where someone (who could it have been?) had the crazy idea that while Dan was in India for 9 weeks, and I was pregnant and working full time, we would remodel the kitchen and turn the carriage barn (I have to admit, I think it's fun that we have a carriage barn) into a functional building and garage. I wasn't maybe as helpful as I would have been if my belly wasn't sticking out over my toes, but it did entail a lot of running around, decisions (one of my strong points), painting, scraping, caulking, moving stuff, etc. Not a leisurely pregnancy, but as a result, the little girl can already stand on a ladder and paint a straight edge at the tender age of 3 months. It was definitely worth it. We also now have lovely countertop space and a super-duper kitchen. I could go on, but at the cost of sounding house-wifey, and I have to dismiss in my head that the food actually could taste better with brighter surroundings. Of course, the changes were at a cost in our 1850's house. In attempt to add warmth to our house in our freakin' cold winters, we decided to put insulation in the walls - crazy. That meant that the lathe and horse-hair plaster walls had to be ripped out and distributed in an even one inch thick layer of dust particles over every exposed surface in the house. Only then did we start to replace the existing wall contents. The bowler hats, silk umbrellas, pool sticks, framed pictures of stern ladies with 2 cents stamps on the back, old lamps, broken china, cocoa cans with cocoa still in them, bottles that said poison, etc all were replaced with boring, pink panther insulation. I have to admit, I kept expecting a bony hand to suddenly reach out and grab us. I have since stopped reading E. A. Poe at bedtime.
The backyard was transformed, seamingly effortlessly, into a large mud puddle with a paucity of the color green, so Dan took the opportunity to do a little landscaping and built rock walls for garden beds with rocks from a nearby farmer's field. I think that I had pictured a variety of plants and vegetables when the winter is over, but Dan has now planted over 800 tulip and daffodil bulbs that have pretty much filled all of the garden beds. Just an illustration of the poor communication in our marraige, I guess, but is sure to have spectacular results come spring.

don't be fooled by this picture. i had little to do with the rocks with that belly. we had lots of help with everything.