Or maybe the better title for this post would be “It is finished” (Ben friend with the puns going strong over here 😂)

Either way- I’m super thankful the past 2 weeks are behind us.

Ben’s new house is a small ranch style house from the 60s with lots of hardwood flooring and lots of oak trim. And while it has all stood the test of time, it became pretty obvious to us on the first trip thru that it needed a face lift.

The floors were dull and chipped and dirty.

I’d always heard that it was worth your money to hire a professional right out of the gate. (In fact the winning joke we heard when we asked a group of friends if they had experience refinishing flooring was “the most important thing I’ve found for using to refinish floors is the telephone”)

But Ben’s dad had a fair amount of experience with working on school floors, so we waded in.

We rented a sander from the hardware store for 24 hours and chased that thing relentlessly across the living room, down the hall, through the laundry room and 2 bedrooms… back and forth, over and over until dust practically settled on my brain and I lost track of which room I’d sanded last.

We took a hand sander to hit the spots that needed a bit more attention. And hoped we’d done enough.

And then Rohrer Floor and More took over.

Progress 🤞🏼🙏🏼

I’m overjoyed at the finished product. And I can’t believe that we were able to pull this one off ourselves with the help of family (bless y’all)

Somehow I don’t foresee us becoming the next Chip and Joanna but we are definitely 1-0 with a happy homeowner.

Blessings to you in your new home, Ben ❤️

Bonus Pics:

Our neighbors got in a 2 story modular recently and it was super neat to see how rapidly the house went together. It went from straight dirt to all the pieces into place in about 24 hours.

Grandfather has decided the twins are old enough to go with him everywhere. Usually they have to take turns. Julia commented that it’s like she’s back in her childhood whenever Father drops off a thirsty, hungry, exhausted boy and says “that took longer than I was expecting” 😂 ah, the good Ol days- been there,survived that. ❤️

Recently I travelled to PA with a group of ladies (and Sweet Baby A). We watched Esther at Sight and Sound. Such a powerful reminder that “everyone has a story” “perhaps you were born for such a time as this”. Definitely worthwhile time spent.

I don’t know if you remember the Covid Cow who popped up randomly on our western adventures last year.

But he’s back-with his own twist on all the fun.

I put together a short children’s story including a lot of random facts about the places we visited. Example: the steam from Old Faithful is as hot as your mom’s oven (350° F).

My goal was to gift the book to the children of the family we traveled with as a fun little memory. So I only printed a few.

But I have one extra that I’d love to giveaway.

So if you’re somewhere in the US- comment something about one of your favorite children’s books (past or present) on this post and I’ll announce a winner March 7. (Sorry but international shipping isn’t an option)

Covid the Cow and I wish you luck 😘

Kendra

P.S Naming our mascot Covid was not a solid plan. I’ll never forget walking through a crowded national park and suddenly realizing how we sounded: “Hey do you have Covid?”

“Yep, sure do”

🤦🏻‍♀️🥴