So, who's the next lucky couple?

"So, who's the next lucky couple?" I don't think the Zoning Board chair realized how ironic his choice of words was as he moved to our item on the agenda, but I found it very humorous. The Board approved our variance request last Thursday for the placement of our garage, another step toward setting a ground-breaking date. The variance allows us to build the detached garage back-to-back with our neighbor's garage, preserving more of our yard space than what the street set-back requirements would have allowed.

Over the next couple of weeks we expect to receive final approval on our building permit and to finalize our budget for the project. Getting anxious to see that light at the end of the tunnel!

Way to go, Annika!

Annika received special recognition this morning by our school district for being such a brave, resilient girl, and we're very proud of her! A special thanks to Krista Smedstad, Marcia Friedman, and Superintendent Ric Dressen.

Pre-Construction Video 1.0

Daily Shenanigans

We’ve had a busy month. Between work, school, travel, illnesses, doctor appointments, and other activities, most of our days feel like business as usual, yet there is always this extra layer of "stuff" hovering around us. Where are we with the house designs? Were we supposed to make a decision about the basement floor plan? Let's plan a ground breaking! I should be working on the inventory. Did I save the receipt for my new sandals? I should be writing more thank you notes. Where is the closest gas station? There’s no décor in this townhouse – should we buy something for that wall? We don't have a hammer. Don't we have an ice scream scoop? Do I have to miss work for that appointment? I’ll write a letter to the city about the retaining wall. The fire chief called. Has the adjuster called back? I’m too tired to work on that right now. Let’s watch DIY. Insurance needs our birth certificates - are they legible? Annika misses her duckie. Will Marit ever sleep through the night again? Is it still 2010?

Yes, we feel as crazed as this sounds. The fact is, before any of this happened, we thought we were so busy that we couldn’t possibly fit another thing into our lives. But somehow you do. You adapt. You learn to ask for and receive help. You don’t do as much of what you did before. You lower your standards. You whine. You have planning meetings with your spouse. You have planning meetings with your kids. You get tired of planning and love it when a friend makes the plans. You eat up the random acts of kindness – dinner, shopping, etc. You think about how lucky you will be to have a new house. You think about how lucky you are to have each other. You think you are OK most of the time, but you wonder if you really are. You should really spend less time thinking and more time laughing. You pray that everything will be OK and know that it will.