ice, ice baby!

     When Jarrad and I were engaged, we were counseled by an older couple who had been divorced before they met, that it would be best if I didn't move into his house after we were married.  They (and rightly so) said that it sometimes creates tension in the new marriage.  Jarrad would see that this was "his" house and what was I doing rearranging things to make it "my" house.  They suggested we look for an "our" house that we could move into together. 
   It was good advice and we did try for a year to sell the house that we are currently in.  It did not sell and Jarrad and I were able to work through the tension that the older couple predicted would occur.  Partly because we were aware of it and partly because he and the ex hadn't done much decorating - I mean, he still had his college couch (I don't care if it was the most comfortable couch in the world to sleep on; it was DINGY!  And why would you WANT to sleep on the couch when you had a beautiful wife to sleep next to on a comfy bed?  HMMM . . .  I guess Jarrad knew he was going to screw up sometime!  See, I knew he was smart!)

    Anyway, when we were pregnant with Sam, we tried to sell the house again.  It was on the market for another year.  Our family was growing and our house had 3 bedrooms and we wanted a bit more space.  I wanted a bigger yard and at least a playroom.  God used that time to teach me to be appreciative of the space I have and to look differently at it.  Every time I turned around it was about small spaces, TV shows I enjoyed seemed to focus on small spaces, a devotional a friend gave me was about that and being efficient, SERMONS were about being content.  I started to see unused spaces.  Backs of doors, above doors in closets, under beds.  I used that time to purge my stuff.  Getting my pack rat husband to purge was hard.  But he did, little by little.  And he has come a long way.  He no longer thinks he needs to hoard stuff but I guess when you have moved around as much as he did growing up, that is something that is learned. 
    I am very grateful that our house didn't sell.  It has an open floor plan that made this transition easier.  We are redoing the bathroom and someday, when it is finished, I will show you what it looks like.  I will have a whole series entitled  "Organizing our paralyzed life".  

That is a sheet of ice!

    Part of organizing our life is figuring out what we need.  Thankfully, Jarrad's job held his position for him.  They even promoted him.  (YEAH!  Windstream!) Now, he does deserve it and is the best person for the job but it also allows him to work from home which is great.  And very bad.  Because of the open floor plan, he works in the middle of the house.
    And have you met Sam?  He is ALLLL boy.  
 We need an office.  Jarrad needs space to work.  I would like a space to have ladies over to entertain that I don't have to worry about relegating him to the bed room or the kids coming out of theirs.  We would like a place where guests could potentially sleep if they need to. 
   We have a garage.  It is really tall.  We are hoping to put a bonus room over it and a lift that would go from the garage to the the main part of the house to the bonus room. 
     But I was afraid that we were wanting something instead of needing something. 
     And then we have a weekend  like this.  Welcome to NC where we don't get snow, we get ice!   I picked Jarrad up from work because we had planned on going out to dinner afterwards as he didn't have therapy.  I picked him up but we went home because of THIS!  That is not snow, folks, that is sleet that hardened to ice.  Ice.  We went  from the car around the house and up the ramp.  In. Sleeting. Ice
    And it is very hard to "wipe" wheels. 
    Needless to say, I am no longer questioning the want vs. need of a bonus room or a lift.  I think that it may be a safety issue.  At some point, Jarrad is going to be driving and I want him to be able to pull into the garage and go up a lift without getting drenched or iced.

    Sometimes, I just need justification.

My wonderful kids helping - just because they wanted to! 

Sweeping the thawed ice away so it won't refreeze overnight