jennanddave.com

I don't really remember going through a nesting phase when I was pregnant with Henry. This time around, however, there is little doubt that something out of the ordinary is afoot. I'm managing compelled to keep the house somewhat clean and clutter-free (with the exception of the bathroom; I'm nesting, not insane) because lately the sight of something out of place makes me twitchy. Unfortunately for Dave, he's also been put to work, doing some of the things that have been on my personal "to do" list, the latest being finishing painting the three doors at the end of our 1st floor hallway. One of them I did a while ago, the other two had problems I just didn't want to deal with. After two weekends spent getting reacquainted with his palm sander and a paint roller, Dave finished the job and frankly, the level of satisfaction I feel when I look at them now is almost equal to what I'd feel if I'd done the work myself. Which, fortunately, I didn't.

Yesterday we hired a guy to refinish the wood floors in our living room, back hallway, and study. He also offered to buff and put another coat of urethane on the dining room floor that Dave and I refinished ourselves a couple of years ago so it will blend in better with the living room. The best part was he said he'd do it for free. His quote came in about $500 less than a quote we got for the same work from someone else two years ago, so that was an unexpected surprise. Fifteen minutes after he left, our heat pump/electrician guy came by with the contract for the work he's going to do for us. We're having to get our box upgraded to 200 amps before the heat pump can go in. He'll be here Thursday to do that, then on the 30th he'll be back to install the heat pump. We've decided to go with natural gas because it's a lot more efficient than oil, and it's cleaner burning. The bonus of hooking up to gas now means that our dreams of a gas fireplace insert and a gas stove will be much easier to realize.

Although these are fairly minor (albeit sort of expensive) changes that we're making to the house, I'm completely giddy with excitement. I've grown really attached to this place in the six years that we've lived here. When we almost bought a house in the Spring of '08, one of the factors that made me change my mind was being completely unable to imagine anyone else living here, and it's still true. I love driving up to it when we come home, I love how Henry refers to it as "the yellow house", and I love our yard, including the insane not-necessarily-in-a-good-way flower garden. Hopefully the house loves us just as much.