Oh, life's about as good as it can be with: a) a project house that's always messy and something's torn up b) a project rental that needed new tile in the bathroom and kitchen, which is what Shane's been doing for the past three days. We DO have the best renters ever though - Shane's cousin and his wife - who help us...

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And a slacker, but there's a very good reason. I'm growing another person. Which means, for me, long days of laying in bed writhing in nausea waiting while the world continues to progress and age and actually accomplish things. I'm not necessarily complaining because women have it so much worse than I do, and some women aren't ever blessed with pregnancy. It's just...

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We've now successfully lived 7 weeks without a television. We're all still alive, we've finished more home projects than we thought we could, and the children have used up every square inch of paper in this house*. I'm never going back. Okay, I won't say never, but I'm going to admit I'm on the no-tv-in-the-house bandwagon, much to the disdain of my 15-yr-old...

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Shane and I were working on the hardwood floors last night, as we do after the kids go to bed, and we opened the closet at the back of the stairs to pull up the (original!) carpet. Ah! Could you believer our (indoor, old) a/c had been leaking for months, maybe years, and the subfloor was so moldy and damp it crumbled when...

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Sweaty. Things have been really sweaty here. Gosh, it's hot. And wet. And in the humidity, the baby hairs in the front of my head do this: We've been productive.  Installing fans (!). Building (the girls' bed is a queen daybed based off these plans, with a few changes. This was my favorite build yet, except SANDING. Hours and hours and hours of...

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The Good 1: Green, everything's green! 2: People are so friendly. I've figured it out - the thicker the accent, the more friendly the person. And the more they talk in circles, to anyone who'll listen. But I love it. 3: Southerners are especially comfortable in their love for God and praise for Jesus. I'm learning a lot from this. 4: It's fun...

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I'm a believer in houses with small bedrooms and bigger living spaces, but our last house' master bedroom was so small a queen bed barely fit, so we abandoned all dreams of one day owning a king-sized bed. Abandoned them right along with our dreams of a full night's sleep. So, although this house has far less square footage than our last house...

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We're already drowning in over ten projects we've started, but haven't finished, which is typical with us. We know this. We admit this. When we moved away we took a marital oath, an oath that stated we'd never start another project again until the current project was finished - tools put away in their proper places, paintbrushes and trowels washed out and stored,...

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