where to read the blog in chronological order from post to post, grab your coffee

Yay! The magic of the USB cable has been restored which means there are some great photos now on this handy laptop and available for sharing. And all kinds of not so great photos.

Can you say #tilecuttingfail?!?!? And then there’s the time I intentionally broke a bunch of tiles into millions of little pieces.

But today, as you read this a smattering of people I don’t know are in our apartment installing our new kitchen cabinets. (Insert inappropriate number of exclamation points here.) And I, most likely, am an annoying onlooker chomping at the bit to get my hands in there and start some organizing.

I may have busied myself last week perusing organizational aisles in our home improvement stores dreaming about handy lid dividers and shelf partitions. Big dreams!!

So let’s distract ourselves with a little peek into what things kind of look like around here these days until I can actually start stacking some plates on shelves. Kind of, because this video was taken on August 2nd. 6 months after we moved in … and almost 2 months ago.

On the up side, that means both of our babies made it in the video. 🙂 On the down side, I still apparently refuse to shower before putting myself on video. 🙁

A few noteworthy points:

the guest bedroom looks exactly the same today, except the stove is out of the box and ready to participate in the new era of the kitchen
we are in talks with the same company who made our kitchen cabinets to solve our ~~big~~ little hall bathroom issue with a single vanity cabinet and built-in around the fridge which hopefully will be less in your face and more nestled into the corner
when describing the current dish washing situation, when I say “luxurious” it is to be interpreted as something that gives me hives
I hope you love the new cabinets and shelving in the living room as much as we do, we can’t wait to see that area complete with the built ins below … which will also solve a bit of the mess problem in the guest room with the added storage
watching it now I’m glad we have the video evidence of this stage of the project, we have such high hopes for life-after-new-kitchen it will always be a good reminder of what the prehistoric-life-before-new-kitchen was like
sorry, as always, for all of the lighting issues … pesky sun 😉
1:51 makes my heart explode

Enjoy!

[youtube=https://youtu.be/P0OCog7iNNs]

This was a post I never wanted to write. And I almost didn’t. For many reasons I can’t really put my finger on I have been feeling increasingly private of late, hence the lack of posting, but I know that many of you have tuned in over the years as much to see pictures of our girls as you ever did to see the DIY. And I can’t say as I blame you. You are clearly very smart people. 🙂

Mico was always excellent at making it easy for me to combine the two into one shot.

Sadly, one week ago our sweet Mico passed away. We are very thankful that it was quick and as peaceful as possible. Throughout the night on Tuesday she was panting, more so than normal. This girl was always so happy and bounding with energy that panting was a pretty constant state of being for her. We always joked that she was never going to sneak up on anyone, her excitement and enthusiasm always lead her way. But something was just a little off that night so we decided I would bring her with me to a vet appointment we already had scheduled for Marley first thing Wednesday morning.

Joel helped me load the girls into the car before heading off to work and our sweet baby was gone by the time we arrived.

She truly had a smile on her face until the very end. She didn’t need a doctor to take any more blood or do any more tests and she took away the need for us to make any heartbreaking decisions about her life. She knew it was her time.

She was a wonderful dog and the best companion to us for over 13 years. We picked her out when she was just a month old, the only short-hair, all black female in the litter. She spent some time in the pound before we could bring her home and we always said that gave her a little edge.

She was fiercely loyal to both Joel and I, never wanted to be anywhere but right there with us and anything in the world we wanted to do with her she thought was the Best. Idea. Ever.

Over the years she survived a tumor removal, splenectomy and arthritis, her medication routine had become a process in and of itself. She was born in Indianapolis, and from the very first night we brought her home, about one year after Marley, she slept in bed with us. Most nights on the pillow above my head (we had an abnormally long mattress), unless it was too cold then she was nestled under the covers. She could never be too close. And that was just fine with me.

You completed our pack when you joined our family my sweet Mico. You instantly gave us spunk and street cred. I think you loved me more than anything in the whole wide world, yet somehow I know you had a way of making Joel feel the exact same way. Your love was unconditional and your smile contageous. You gave us more than we could have ever imagined. We were lucky to be your humans. Rest peacefully my sweets.

ps. I’ve posted more than is probably normal about our sweet girls over the years. To see some of the projects and adorable dog pictures you may have missed check out these early posts. Here, here, here and here. And so many more here. And a scroll through my Instagram feed might just be cute old lady dog overload.

pps. Marley is doing just fine. She is 14 and definitely has old lady moments, and I’m pretty sure she’s sick of all of the extra attention, but she continues to nap through the day and enjoy a slow, short stroll in the evening.

aruba apartment house tour video – 6 months in

rest in peace my sweet Mico