Relief

Relief is starting to set in as I finish up all the remaining items on my to-do list before making the final submission of my dissertation to the Graduate College. All is finished on my end, so as soon as I get the "go" from my adviser, I can submit it. Then relief will TRULY be here.

It's been a little anti-climatic, really. I was home again, back to life as normal, within 5 hours of completing my defense. I plan to have a graduation party this summer, but other than that, not much has changed for me. Except for that feeling of "Phew, finally finished that big item on the TO DO LIST."

Still, I can see remnants of the old me creeping back in. Slowly. For example, we are having homemade chicken and rice soup tonight with homemade raisin bread. And I made yogurt for the kids this morning instead of buying the store-bought sugary stuff. My joy for cooking is once again coming alive, and I'm enjoying the thought of having more time for it again. In just a few weeks we will receive our first CSA box of the season, and I relish the thought of having a full summer of more "down" time to really utilize all the veggies by trying new recipes and starting to eat a more whole foods diet again.

I'm turning my attention back to the house, and the settling we still have to do here. All the wall hangings from our old house have been stacked on the built-ins by our fireplace. It just hasn't been something that seemed to merit attention until "after the dissertation" (which has been a coined phrase around here lately). I'm hoping for that to be this week's activity; I want to hang up what we are keeping, and get rid of what we aren't. I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff for decorative purposes, but I'm fine with really waiting awhile to fill the walls so that I know we are hanging things that have true significance. I don't believe we'll hang our family photos now. They don't contain Gavin, so until we get new photos, they'll likely stay down. They just don't feel like a true reflection of our family.

Since moving into the house, the exterior has remained undone. I have had UPS delivery guys and random neighbors approach the house with uncertainty, sure that no one lives here. Now that the weather has started to warm again, little by little, things are starting to get done. First order of business: pouring the cement porch and the portion of sidewalk that already collapsed!!



I continue to fight the "stone battle." The stone contractors for our house swtiched stone colors on us, putting the color we chose for the interior on the exterior, and the exterior stone around our fireplace. I've adjusted to the stone around the fireplace, but the exterior continues to bother me. The red we chose for the siding is a dark, almost raspberry toned red, and I cringe when I see the samples against the warm, brown tones of the stone they mistakenly put up. I found out our builder hasn't yet paid them for their work (they aren't finished--must put up more stone around front porch when porch is done), so I've decided to have them correct the mistake. They are fighting it. We're going to dance.

We are next on the painters' list for exteriors, so I'm excited to have a nice long stretch of warm weather so that can get done. Then hopefully it will be some "real" pillars at the front porch, sod, fence and landscaping. Hooray!