Back, Sort of

Hi there, blog world. I'm not really sure why there's been a one year gap here. It's not like I wasn't at home (I was at home sooooo much) and it's not like we weren't doing stuff around the house. But I just could not, for the life of me, find the energy to write anything. And then I read a good post recently that so succinctly summed up why I couldn't seem to write a single update: "given that the world is on fire, it will seem callous or insensitive in the face of it all..." And I think that's it exactly. How can I even begin to write about silly things like power washing and grout when...everything.

Well it's not like that has changed, though perhaps it finally feels like the firefighters are on their way to this metaphorical fire and maybe writing about silly, unimportant things like home improvements will start to be a little easier. But really, what changed is that first, we're about to embark on a relatively large project, and I really do enjoy getting to see the before and after pictures and the progress along the way in narrative form. And, second, even when I wasn't updating the blog, I was regularly consulting it to find out things like "when was the last time I did..." and "what color did we use to paint the..." and that won't keep being useful if I don't continue to update. 

So that's all just a big introduction to say that I'm back, sort of kind of mostly.

But how to catch up on a year of stuff while also telling you (and myself, because let's face it--this is really for me) about our upcoming project? I'm going to list some of the things here that we've done this year and go back and create a full post for it later. When I do that, I'll update the link below. I'll also try to start on some of the new stuff. Two parallel threads, running along different timelines. 

Without further ado, here is a list of what we did during the suspended animation of 2020 (and a little into 2021):

• re-grouted the kitchen sink and bathroom tub, which now took place so long ago that we already have to do it again...
• planted a mostly successful garden from seeds
• planted tiny trees from the Arbor Foundation, most of which have died or been eaten
• removed wisteria and some invasive bushes from the back edge of the backyard fence
• cut into that back edge to add more grass/usable yard behind the swing sets
• bought a cheap bidet attachment to the upstairs toilet (trying to cut down on toilet paper and all that)
• power washed the house, which is already slimy looking and ready for another round
• pulled up crazy amounts of landscaping cloth from under our back yards (whyyyyy???)
• filled in a giant hole from what we're hoping was a root from a decaying tree
• had a tree cut down
• emptied out an entire cabinet full of cloth diapers to make space for games and puzzles
• unclogged some gutters
• dealt with (ok mostly just watched) a really massive flood in our backyard 
• added some more edging pavers to the side of the shed
• changed the bed arrangement in the kids' room
• cleaned out the dryer vents
• had the chimney swept
• replaced parts in our upstairs bathroom to stop the shower faucet from leaking

Stay tuned as I eventually create posts for many of these, with pictures. I'll save the big reveal on what our new major project will be for next time.