Honeymoon is Over

Honeymoon is over

The honeymoon is over and the changes have begun. We have slowly started tearing down wallpaper, painting walls and ceilings, putting up light fixtures, fixing shelves, and picking out tile. Our house has turned into a bit of a time warp where you can travel from 1967 to 2013...and back to 1967. Sometimes i wonder if the house feels like it is going through an identity crisis, or a mid life crisis at the very least.

Outside of House

What I appreciate more with every passing day, is how this house feels like our home. Don't get me wrong, we are still a long ways off from any feeling of completion. But at least it doesn't feel like we are house sitting for a retired couple with awesome furniture....more like awesome toys, as that seems to be the majority of what is in the house.

Updating the house has been coming along at a snails pace and having a little one is the biggest part of that challenge. I have so much respect for my parents; they added a basement to their house with 4 children growing up in it! I'm not joking here, they dug out the basement with a Bobcat...on their own. Simple amazing.....might be where I got my ambition from....

Dinning Room Before

Tyler and I have noticed one thing with Harrison, only one person can truly "work" at a time. (To those of you that read this and have suggestions on how to keep a 1.5 year old entertained long enough for you to complete a project...please send ideas my way.) We can generally keep him entertained for 15 minutes....but then it is time to play chase me (best game ever, by the way, the whole goal is to run around the house saying "I'm going to catch  you!" And when you do, you tickle the little monster). Since i have Maximizer as one of my top five strengths, I struggle to watch a list that keeps getting longer (not shorter) even though we are crossing items off. I just keep reminding myself, some progress is better than no progress and I would much rather enjoy Harrison while he still lets me. :)

New Light fixture in Dinning Room

When Harrison walks in the room looking for "mum," as he calls me, I remind myself that it is Gods way of saying, "Alicia, take a moment and enjoy this beautiful life that is in front of you." And what better way of taking a break then playing with the cutest, happiest little man ever (it's ok, I can brag cause I'm his mom!). This past weekend, we took Sunday as a play day of just enjoying time with the family. As I was playing cars with Harrison, he decided to randomly run over to me, give me the biggest hug and kiss, then run back to play cars. Unsolicited love is The Best gift any mom could ask for, ever. It may not last forever, but I cherish these moments the most.

 

Harrison being a Cheese Ball!! :D

Speaking of unsolicited love, I need to send a shout out to my husband. He has been a rockstar through this whole "project house." For those of you that don't know, Tyler is really handy (thank goodness, as I was not blessed with a handy bone in my body....that sounds funny, but I like it so I'm keeping it). Not only is he handy (and handsome..."Red Green Show" joke) he has vision. Many days I sit back and think, how he drew the short end of that stick when he married me. I can't visualize anything without a Pintrest board and even then, i have to draw it out on the Home 3d app!

Hopefully by the next blog we will have some progress on the guest bath. As this has become priority one. This is the bathroom with.....carpet! :-P I'm sure there are more disgusting things in this world, but carpet in a bathroom is at least in the top 50. Currently, we have the idea in Tyler's head, and I believe I know what I want. Now to go to Pintrest to change the entire plan because of one awesome pin! Wish us luck!

Who puts carpet in a bathroom??

Much love,

The Glesnes

New Years resolution

Here goes....after a lot of thought and discussion, I decided to try my hand at blogging and; therefore, made it my New Years resolution. As far back as I can remember, I narrated my life, I have an internal dialogue for whatever I am doing each and every day. This prompted me into believing that I could be a shoe-in for a blogger.

I am dedicating this blog to my family, as they will be the majority of what my blog is about. My husband, Tyler, has been my best friend for 14 years. We were high school sweethearts, and I can honestly say that I love him more every day. He makes me laugh like no one else, he helps me stay grounded (and sane), and he truly inspires me. My son, Harrison, is an amazing 18 month old. He can make me laugh and can melt my heart all in the same sentence. He is incredibly smart, I am blown away by how much he knows/understands, and is able to do daily. Our dog, Ollie, is a 5 year old boxer. He is a clown in biker clothing. He is so patient with Harrison (really all children) and he loves all people (even though he is allergic to humans). If it were up to Ollie, he would rather scratch himself raw from too much human interaction, than never see his people again.

So why do I call us the "Glesne Village?" We are truly a village, because there are 11 related Glesnes that live in three houses within two blocks of one another, by choice.  Tyler and I actually just moved into our new house literally next door to Tyler's sister (Tracey), her husband (Chad), their four children (Riley, Gunnar, Harper, and Hason), and dog (Herman)....by choice. Key words there. I joke, but we really love our families and want to live close as it takes a village to raise a child. (In case you were wondering, my folks and one of my siblings families are just 3 miles from our new house, too.) We wanted Harrison, and other fun/adorable Glesne baby(s), to be well rounded children, so we made our own village!

The house that we bought, is a diamond in the rough. it has a lot of potential, but it will be a lot of work until we get there. We are still in the honeymoon stage of the excitement of what is to come, realizing that budgets and chaos are looming in the very near future. But until then, I will blog!

Let me tell you about this house that I love and call home. It is a two story, seven bedroom, four bathroom, three stall garage, 4400 square foot home. That's what sold us. it feels a little empty right now, but trust me, I will enjoy filling this house. Unfortunately, to my chagrin not with children. But I was told that one of the basement bedrooms could be my wine cellar, someday.

Now let me tell you the downside. The house was built in 1967 and the original owner was the seller to us.  They were a family of 8. That's right, they had six children (holy cow!). The house has not been updated since.....1967. You guessed it, lime green linoleum in the kitchen, wallpaper on every wall, the most unique light fixtures I've ever seen, and many rooms with wall to wall carpet (including the guest bathroom, yuck!). To top off that little nugget of fun, I'm not sure if the house had been cleaned in.....lets say 10 years.

As you can imagine, it has been a tiresome act of getting this house clean enough to live in it. But the rewards are and will pay off, soon. I will attempt to post some before photos of the house and (as we get them done) post the after photos as well.

Thanks for reading, as I'm sure this will only be my poor husband (as i make him check it for mistakes) and maybe my family (true pity) reading....but I will make this commitment to myself to blog about our crazy life, known as the Glesne Village!