After-Thoughts

I'm having a hard time gathering up my words right now, but I did promise to post some After pictures of the floor project. I'll admit that living on and with the floors for nearly two full weeks has completely wiped away all memory of the reportedly awful experience of having them installed. When I think back to that time now, the only image I can conjure up is one of Peabody and me skipping through a field of daisies. Peabody's lips are moving and there's a voice-over of Ray Charles singing What a Wonderful World. There is absolutely no hammering in the scenario at all. I'm pretty sure now that this wood just settled quietly onto our floors one day in the early light of dawn, like a soft, silky morning dew settling over a meadow.

That is exactly how it happened.  Oh yes it is.



You're standing on the threshold of my front door here. WIPE YOUR FEET! You'd see this first if you popped by for coffee. In your dreams. If you popped by for coffee in real life you'd see a peek or two of this almost completely obscured by pillows, blankets, books, unmatched socks, cars, toy cars and airplanes, sunglasses, mittens, cereal bar wrappers and in the middle of it all a small adorable boy, who is completely innocent of anything at all, ever, since the beginning of time, and No Mama, I didn't saw who did it!



Ahem.



To the left of the entry, you'll find the cozy room. The floor plan calls this the dining room, but we're real people and we don't "dine." We do, however, pile up like puppies, under and on top of and wrapped around each other so you can't tell whose body parts are whose, to watch movies and stuff. You can't see it but the TV is hiding on the other side of the wall you can just barely see a sliver of on the left side of the picture. Because I'm ashamed to let anyone immediately in on the fact that we have a television, I guess?



To the right you can peek into the office, where I sit to write put my fingers on the keyboard and apparently unwittingly call my kids to me like an accidental siren and then spend the next 45 to 50 minutes saying, Go play, Put that down, Don't put quarters in that slot, No you can't play Poptropica right now, We're having chicken and rice for dinner, Do NOT eat that, Hey can you give me a minute here, What's that smell, Where's your brother, Where's your sister, I said chicken and rice, Ummm... and broccoli, Well too bad that's what we're having, We'll talk about 'beezurt' after you finish your dinner, I heard a rumor that there are actual TOYS in the basement, why don't you go check that out, Chicken, rice and broccoli - do not ask me that again, We will eat in a few minutes.

You get the idea.  It's not so much an office as it is The Chamber of Distractions and Complaints.

We have ordered another polka dot chair so that both of my complainants will have seats to completely ignore as they hover, one right beside/behind each of my elbows, any time I sit down in my desk chair. It didn't seem fair there was only a chair for one of them to not sit in when we're all together there as a big happy, whiny, not-wanting-that-for-dinner family.



A few more steps ahead and you can look to your left and see my VERY RED kitchen that we painted this color 24 hours after I found out I was pregnant with Peabody. Isn't it funny how once you've had kids, you measure time by them? Everything around here is "before Bean" or "back when Peabody would only sleep in my lap," and so on. There's Central time, and Eastern time and Mountain and Pacific time, and then there's Mama time.

Anyway, red kitchen. I'm going to paint it another color in the spring. I am so over this red. Have any suggestions? I might still keep one wall red, but it will NOT be this red.  I knew that about 48 hours after I found out I was pregnant with Peabody.  So, to save you the mental math, that makes well over 5 years living nearly full time surrounded by walls that make me want to scoop out my own eyes with a melon-baller.

It's time for a cool, cool change, y'all.



From where you're standing, if you just look a bit over your left shoulder, here's the entry to the downstairs powder room. And the empty wine rack. I haven't had the energy to drag any of the wine back upstairs yet. Maybe I'll do that today. After I pay Peabody's preschool tuition, which I keep forgetting about. I hope I don't forget it again. Remind me, okay?



And the kitchen opens into the family room, which is where we lie around by the fire, read books and play games and occasionally pretend we're a Mama cat and two kittens. Every morning when Bean and Peabody and I come downstairs, I make coffee and then take a cup over to the near corner of the sofa (just on the other side of those tulips) and Peabody climbs up in my lap, and Bean lies down beside us with her feet on my legs, usually, and we cover up with a fleece blanket, and I yawn and blink and drink coffee and kiss Peabody's head and rub Bean's feet and tell them how much I love them and wish this could all go on forever. And then they get squirmy and start asking for breakfast and that's the end of that and we go in the kitchen and the whining and begging and reminding and rushing and stuff starts and I miss my cozy spot on the couch and my two snuggly (quiet) babies.

And that's pretty much it. I didn't show you the powder room (it's boring) or the laundry room (it's kinda small to take a picture of) or the pantry (which would scare you), but you saw everything else.

I love the floors. They're pre-finished American cherry, no stain, 4 inch planks, and they make the house feel solid and complete. I hadn't realized until after they were done that before them, this level felt half-done to me, and a bit flimsy. The wood just feels good underfoot, permanent and rich. I'm happy we made the decision and suffered through all the daisies and Ray Charles voice-overs to get them done.

 They've taken warm and cozy to a whole new level, and that's what home is all about, to me.




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