Weekend of sunshine

This was the never-ending weekend.  Some of it great - some of it not so great.  The kiddos skipped out Thursday morning for their much -anticipated two night sleepover with the grandparents.  They were giddy to begin their weekend with a promised trip to the dollar store and dinner at IHOP.  So off they went with their brand new rolling luggage.  That left me to hit the ground running with all the errands that had stacked up over Spring Break.  Finally got around to going to Tiffany and Co. to see what could be done about the stinking-like-a-fire watch that Bart gave me 10 years ago for our 5th anniversary.  Can you imagine taking a 5 year old in Tiffany?  HA!   So the watch has been shipped off to New York to get the stink out.  And since I was right down the hall from the Kate Spade store.............you know where this is going.  Meet my new Spring sidekick:

Surely you can understand why it was love at first sight! This silky flower ring and I were meant to be.  With choices of red, hot pink, black and white and this yellow, the decision was monumental - but I am confident with my choice.  In the coming months, this burst of sunshine and I are going to decide on siding, a stain color for the hardwoods, bathroom tile, bedroom furniture and paint colors for 12 rooms. I can do anything now!  Wearing my new love, I can even go to the warehouse with my true love (Bart) and visit my house:

That's right - our house is contained in those crates.  Should it be embarrassing that one crate just contains our artwork and photo albums?  Probably should be but I'm in denial.   I did have to remove the ring to put on the signature restoration blue gloves so that I could touch our furniture:

This is the armoire Bart made for our bedroom in 1997. It was the first piece of furniture he made for our house.   After 10 weeks in the ozone room, it still smells, the top is scorched and the inside of the drawers are black and can not be cleaned.  To the right is Owen's dresser that Bart made - same story.  We said goodbye to both pieces on Friday and also to Caroline's desk, permanently burned with the outlines of what she had on her desk the night of the fire - her homework folder, her library book, her lamp, a  few trinkets - all things that were ordinary in many respects but extraordinary to a 10 year old.  It was so hard to let go of these pieces of our life, but we tried to focus on what our children need and deserve and that is to be free of all that the fire destroyed.  I was grateful that Caroline, Owen and William were having a carefree fun weekend away.  It allowed me the freedom to cry the ugly cry and for Bart and I to both share in the sadness and feel the grace of moving forward with these three beautiful children.

So we spent the rest of the weekend shopping.  I never thought I would say that shopping is overwhelming but this shopping is a bit.  On Saturday, we purchased 6 bar stools for the new kitchen and on Sunday, we purchased a dresser for Caroline.  And speaking of Caroline, look what my ring and I found this weekend:

Its the same styrofoam and paper mache polar bear that Caroline received from Santa this year and was destroyed by the fire four weeks later.  She loved that polar bear and I am so grateful to the sales person who went into the basement storage at the store because she thought that there might be one more.  Small victories. This ring and I are going places!

Attention Moms

Dear Caroline-

I love the 10-year old that you are.  One of the jobs I take most seriously is keeping you age appropriate.  I love that you treasure your American Girl dolls as your prized possessions.  I love that you will spend hours playing Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Pocket.  I love that you will read a book a day and the books are meant for young ladies, not girls trying to be teenagers.   I love that you don't understand why Gymboree doesn't make bigger sizes.  I am proud that you and I are not succumbing to the pressures of American society that would otherwise propel you forward into adulthood too quickly.

You are strong and true to yourself, you are confident and lovely.  You play flute, you swim, you ride bikes and you act like a 10 year old.

Keep on living your life sweet Caroline!  I'm proud of you.

Love-Mom


A blogging note - check out this post on Clover Lane today.  I love her!  Ditto to what she said!!!!  So many times I have heard moms say "my daughter will only wear clothes from ________(insert trashy store)"  Guess what?  Its YOUR money!  You are in charge.  Let's take back our daughters!

Since the kids are on Spring Break and we were all needing a little something to look forward to, we headed off to Kansas City for the weekend.  We decided to make it a quick overnight trip.    The kids' excitement level proved to me that you don't have to spend thousands, jump on a plane and travel the world to have a great time.   They were giddy about the trip.

First stop - the Diana exhibit - a traveling tour of 25 of Princess' Diana's dresses, her wedding gown and childhood treasures.  While the boys ventured off to an IMAX theater, Caroline and I headed in.   We were beyond excited.  I have successfully converted my daughter to the love of all things royal.

I would divide the dresses into two categories: 1)Hello 80s and 2)Post-Charles Sass.   The difference is striking!  Our favorite dresses were the Post-Charles sassy dresses, but I did love seeing some familiar 80s plaids that I remember her wearing.  Her wedding gown is both extremely dated and capital F Fabulous!  One thing that was noticeably absent from the exhibit - any mention of William and Harry.  Since the exhibit is owned by the Spencer family, I'm guessing that the Palace did not authorize the use of anything belonging to the handsome young Princes.  Sad really, as I would guess that Diana would say her greatest role in life was being their mother.

Second stop on our 24-hours in Kansas City was the American Girl store and mega Barnes and Noble.  Something for everyone.

Dinner at a brick oven pizza place, swimming at the hotel pool, and day one was over.

Day two brought a trip to the Kansas City zoo.   We all agreed that the polar bear was our favorite animal there.  Turns out, we should have just stayed and watched the polar bear all day as the rest of the zoo was pretty dirty and old!

And now to leave you with some random facts:

Not sure which is weirder- that these cool illustrations were in the bathroom of a truck stop or that I took pictures of them.  Let's not even decide on that one.  Lets just give a shout out to the person who ordered them and tried to bring up the decor of the otherwise hillbilly design of the place.

Homesick

Never have I received a homemade giftie so lovely -the quilt top beautifully made by one of Bart's co-workers and shown to us before going to the quilters - arrived at the rental house this week.  Its funny how the kids have gravitated to it, all wanting to wrap up in it.  It made me realize how homesick we all are - not just for the house itself, but for our things - our homemade things, our family pictures, the children's artwork, our dishes, our furniture.  The quilt is a tangible reminder of warmth, not just by the physical warmth it provides, but by the way it injected a bit of home into our house.

Today, we received the inventory list from the warehouse that lists every item removed from our house, its tag number, box number and condition when it left the house.   I cried when I saw it.  To see your life on paper in this way is a bit sickening.  Everything that we asked them to try to restore from our bedrooms is listed as "heavily smoked." Some lines even say burnt.   Only one thing came out of William's room - a glazed ceramic cross that was hanging above his door.  It was hanging on a 6 inch square piece of black drywall - the only drywall left in the room.  It had been a gift from a friend at William's christening almost 5 years ago and I found it striking that it was the only thing left in the room.  I hope it can be cleaned.  The only funny thing about the list was that almost everything we own was listed as scratched.  I think they figured that we have three kids, everything must be scratched!

What this list doesn't tell is the emotional attachment to these things.  The first line is not just "white baby bed", it is "white baby bed that Bart made when we were expecting Caroline", "wood chiffrobe" is actually "awesome hot pink stained American Girl armoire with glass crystal knobs handmade by Bart for Caroline" and "red stain dresser" is actually "copy of Pottery Barn Kids dresser that Bart made for Owen when he moved into his big boy room."   In fact, this whole list was either built by, or an antique refinished by, Bart.  Oh I hope I hope they can be restored, but it seems doubtful.

On a better note, I was very happy to see the birthday plates that I paint for the children each year listed on the kitchen list, safe and sound.

By the time we see these plates again, Owen will have one more - because time is passing here at the rental house.  I have never in my life wanted to speed up time like I do now.  As I sit here listening to my children play in the background, I am homesick, yet I am home.  For now, their laughter is enough.  The stuff will come later.

Everyone is fueling up for Spring Break at the Fisher Price pump - a must have toy for any household I'm convinced.  Ours arrived via eBay on Saturday.  I'm happy to report that William LOVES it!

I mean what's not to love - the dinging elevator, the way the cars shoot out of the elevator and speed down the ramp.  Its all good.  All to make up for the fact that William does not have any boxes coming back to him that look like this:

Owen's stuffed animals from the cleaning company. My new weekend hobby - opening small plastic bags, sniffing the contents and deciding whether they go in the "okay to return to our house" pile or "return to re-clean" pile.  So fun!! (insert much sarcasm)

This hobby is only topped by the fun time entitled "unbox items rejected by cleaning company, take pictures on the driveway and inventory to throw away" hobby.  Warning though - this activity must be done outside as the smell of the items is overwhelming.  Also, your hands will be black from soot.

So sad to see my tote bags from Harrods in that pile.  I see another trip to London in my future!!

 And while I can't go to London over Spring Break, my obsession with the royals will be satisfied this weekend with a trip!  I am so excited.

6757

Everything that we own now has a number attached to it - 6757 - our job number with our insurance company.  Everything that has come back to us already and everything that will be delivered back to our house when we return is counted, coded and cleaned - all for job 6757.   I wonder how long it will be before all of our clothes have the 6757 tag removed.  Despite being a number, the people who have counted, coded and cleaned have been warm and personal.  They have touched everything in our house.  They know the things that we lost and their value, not just monetary but sentimental.  I'm okay with being 6757.

Aside from driving to counseling appointments and keeping house (the rental house), a big part of job 6757 is shopping for the house - a job I can handle.   This was a big shopping weekend.    So lets get to it!

Saturday AM found me standing in line at 7:30 waiting for the doors to open at a furniture close out sale.  This was the last sale of its kind which is usually held every quarter, since the company has been sold.  Boo!   I have found many bargains there and yesterday was no exception.

I bought this bookshelf for Caroline's room to replace one lost in the fire:

And a bookshelf that could go anywhere in our house because I love yellow, but it also happens to match my vision for the nursery.

And the launching point for our new master bedroom - a piece of art that I saw one day, thought about for two days and then went back to purchase on Sunday.

Its dressing up the kitchen in the rental house for the time being (because there was already a hanger in the wall)

But the most progress on job 6757 this week is the raising of the roof.  Today the scales tipped away from destruction and towards construction.  Did anyone else's house look like this today?

As they replace the top of my house, I buy artwork.  I mean, we all have to have priorties.