Sanity still intact!

Yes, this is the dining room I was describing in this post I wrote the other day. The floor is done! And it really only took Friday night and Saturday to get it all done!

Thanks to the brilliance of our friend, Zach, the whole thing was done {including putting the baseboards back on} by 6:00-ish on Saturday night. The installation part anyway. jaysen and I spent Friday night ripping out the carpet and old vinyl that used to be there and had a fun time pulling out the board that the old vinyl was glued to. Unfortunately they had installed the cabinets ON TOP of this board {which is not the norm}. We were grateful to have Brandon down in the basement to guide us through the should do's and should not do's and also for the use of his fancy electric saw so that we could cut around the cabinets to get the boards out. {Don't you just love the unexpected?}

Anyway...the floor was all ready for the expertise of Zach and with him there, Jaysen was able to do his "man" duty and be tool-ish {which doesn't happen around here!} and they got it installed in no time.

I'd also like to take a minute here to thank dear Holly {Zach's wife} who let us steal her hubby for the entire day. Even though he is an accountant and tax season just got over {That means she just started seeing him again!} and even though she was gone for three days this last week and got home on Friday. You rock Holly! OH! And for letting me invade your home for a few hours at the end of the day. We ran out of things to do to keep the kids busy, so thanks for letting us come over and play. We hope you liked the shredded beef tacos we fed you for dinner. :0)

Yes, that means I was even actually able to eat dinner in my new kitchen/dining room! I plopped the meat and seasonings in my crockpot before we left the house yesterday morning and when I got home at 5:30....it smelled delicious! Easy as pie dinner. Good stuff!

Anyway...just thought I'd share my excitement with you after I went off on the hubby for his insaneness of destroying my home for the weekend. I lived. {obviously} And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen floors! :0) I don't even need the floor runner to hide the scuff marks the old owner left behind! It's amazing!

Hope your weekend was a good one too!

OCD alert! I need help!

I'm not kidding! The chaos that is my home is about to drive me batty. We moved into this house the first weekend of August. 8 months ago. Though this house is bigger than our last {because of the basement}, the upstairs level we are currently living on is smaller than the single level home we came from. Does that make sense? If not, let me spell it out for you....We came from a four bedroom house and crammed us into 1300 sq ft and three bedrooms.

We were already crammed into our last house, because when we got married, the hubby had a three bedroom house full of stuff, and I had a three bedroom apartment FULL of stuff. Yeah....Though we did get rid of a lot of stuff, we added another kid to our happy little family, which added her stuff to our mix. Again...does this make sense? My brain is on overload here.

So, we moved in, and everything we didn't "NEED" we kept in boxes and put it in the garage.

Yes, this means we have not been able to park in our garage. Or walk in it. Or get to anything in those boxes.

Life was "manageable". Sure, the computer desk had to be put in the dining room. Sure, there was no room for my scrapbooking supplies {I have a lot!}. But, we would manage, right? Sigh.

As I have previously explained, I have OCD tendencies. I can't handle chaos and clutter. It drives me insane. For four months, I did ok. But then I needed to get into my scrap supplies for Christmas projects. And half of my crafty supplies ended up being stacked along the wall in my dining room.

Don't even ask how we managed to find a place for a Christmas tree. But, it was only for one month right?

Then we started construction on the basement. Hallelujah! The end was in sight. We started the end of January. All of the things that we had stored in the basement {because the garage was full} had to be moved upstairs. Those items now line the wall in my dining room along with the rest of my stuff. {are you picturing this?}

So, we are crammed up to our noses in our own "stuff". There is a continual layering of sheet rock dust all over my furniture. I dust, and it magically reappears just like that *snapping fingers*.

We are almost three months into this whole construction thing. Next week we get texture and paint. We are near the end! But, we have been near the end for weeks now. I am frustrated. And, more than that...I am on the edge of insanity! It hasn't helped that all of this has taken place in the middle of winter and then our fabulous winter/spring we've got going on. Cold weather means we are stuck inside this hole.

I need to put everything away. You don't understand. My brain has tried to shut it all out. But, it's screaming at me now. My brain....won't be quiet. So, today....instead of working on my final projects like a good little student {I have to have them done by tomorrow} I got out the carpet cleaner.....and scrubbed. My couches, my carpet....for two hours. The couches made sense. Except that I have visiting teachers coming in about 45 minutes and my couches are still wet. Where are they going to sit? My brain didn't care! AND...we are replacing ALL of the carpet in the house when we put in the carpet for downstairs. We figured we'd just go all the way up the stairs and finish the house. The carpet here is b-a-d BAD. Gross! Not kidding. So, why did I clean the carpets? My brain told me to. Nothing is coming out of this carpet. We had them cleaned before we even moved in. Nothing is coming out of these fibers. Yet....I scrubbed. On my hands and knees because just pushing the vacuum part wasn't good enough. I used the upholstery attachment for couches....on the carpet.

Now, I know most of you are shaking your heads at this. You are thinking....she is INSANE. She is looney! You're right! But I can't help it. Things have to be JUST SO, and for 8 months THEY HAVEN'T BEEN! I can only take so much.

The hubby laughs at me. He walked in as I was scrubbing on the couches and just shook his head. He knew I had finally broke.

To make matters worse....tomorrow night he is tearing apart my kitchen and dining room so we can install hard wood floors on Saturday. Can I tell you how much I am freaking out over this? More chaos! More mess! I think I might just explode. And I'm not kidding. I told him I might just need to leave the house for the weekend. He asked where I was going....not a clue. Seriuosly...not a clue. But I don't know that I will be able to handle being here.

Let me further explain this one....

All of those things I told you were crammed into my dining room? Yeah....they will have to be moved somewhere else...along with the dining room table and six chairs, china cabinet, refrigerator and stove. Where will they be put? In my living room. Which means there will be nowhere to "be". My living room is tiny. Just enough room for couches and a coffee table. And since the family room is currently being built in the basement...we have crammed the tv into the living room. So, there will just be stacks of all our stuff...in the living room. While he destroys my kitchen and attempts to reassemble it.

So, this is an OCD alert! I need help. Talk me down! I'm not even kidding just a little bit. I can't even go and eat a tub of oreo cookie ice cream to make me feel better because I'm on an 8 week challenge!

This is my story. My story of chaos, clutter, construction, finals week, and....my OCD.

help.