Soon

It's been another busy, busy day!

The whole day turned inside out when the school nurse called to tell me Tuna had twisted her knee and fallen in P.E. and thought she might have hurt her hip. After the whole broken hip ordeal and the two screws she sports in that hip, we don't take falls lightly. I stopped work and took her to urgent care since the Big Guy was tied up with the sheetrock crew and a fixtures delivery.

It's not supposed to be that way. The Big Guy would normally handle doctor's visits while I work, but nothing is normal anymore.

I'm writing this post in the car, on our way to dinner at almost 9 o'clock.

We usually eat dinner out because we don't have adequate space to store food for our herd of 7. Plus, our rented refrigerator doesn't keep food well. And, we don't have any place for all 7 of us to sit and I'm determined that through this disaster we will sit together for meals as much as possible. We're going to maintain some sort of normal if it kills us!

So, that pretty much sums up where we are apart from the house right now. Tuna is out of P.E. and Color Guard activities until we follow up with an orthopedic doc (because the ortho department is our second home),  and we have more physical therapy ahead. We are all sick of eating out and we all hate the rental house with a growing passion. I am exhausted and frustrated from trying to manage 5 kids and a job while juggling endless lists and tile samples. The Big Guy is exhausted from keeping all of the work moving and fighting the insurance company over every board, nail, and brick.

We are all so over this mess. There is this sort of restless, agitated atmosphere among us that threatens to overtake what remains of our emotional stability. We're just two days short of being out of our home one year. It's still surreal.

But...the journey is almost over. I can see the end now. I can actually visualize my home again, because there are actual spaces and rooms.

Master bath.

The wading pool bath tub arrived! And...they got it in without tearing any walls out! And...there are even some walls up in there! I like it!

Upstairs bath.

The walls are really looking good. 

Upstairs bedroom. 

Soon, we'll be ready for paint! And lights! And then I can actually get good photos! The house is so much darker now that the sun is not actually shining through the walls.

Check this guy out:

I have serious respect for anyone brave enough to carry giant pieces of sheetrock around, on stilts, with a nail gun in hand, while stepping over boxes and debris and extension cords. You have to be some kind of hard core to do this job. Or just bat shit crazy. 

Movie night while Daddy works on the house.

Soon, so very soon, the kids will sit in the family room on an actual sofa, and watch a movie on a TV, not a laptop screen. 

Soon, we'll shop for groceries again, and actually have a place to store them. 

Soon, we'll return the rented 8-piece dish set and we'll have enough dishes of our own to eat lunch and dinner before we run the dishwasher. 

Soon, we'll bathe with big, fluffy, colored bath towels again. 

Soon, our kids will walk out the door in the morning and get on a school bus, in their own neighborhood, with their friends. 

Soon, this will all be over.  

Soon.