Thankfulness

This time of year always makes me a bit nostalgic. November is the month Justin and I got married in, December has many memories of time with family and big decisions, an January has always been a time for new beginnings. The week of Thanksgiving, Justin and I got the privilege of spending time away together in Nashville and then got to share the place we spent our first anniversary with my family for Thanksgiving.

Although Thanksgiving has already passed, I just thought, after getting a chance to go through pictures, that I would like to share some things I am thankful for. It has been an interesting year for Justin and I. Exactly a year ago, we boarded a plane to fly back "home" after living in China for two years. It feels like an eternity ago while also feeling like not so long ago. I guess time is weird like that.

In the last year, we have been so blessed. I have been doing two jobs, nannying and working at a dance studio. It has been so great to be able to spend time doing something that feels like such a part of me like dance. Also, we have been blessed to live in my parents house. Despite its challenges, we have been able to help around the house with some tasks and have a roof over our head. On top of all that, we were so grateful to spend time away for our anniversary and then to spend Thanksgiving in the peace and tranquility of the mountains. Here are some photos of North Carolina and our cabin (which was just lovely)!

What we expected, and what we did not

Justin and I completed another renovation for my parents in June. The guest bathroom of the house was a bit out of sorts. The shower did not work, the hot water in the sink had to be shut off, and we (all five of us) were using the master bathroom everyday for almost everything. It was not an ideal situation for any of us.

We put together an estimate of the work for my parents of remodeling the bathroom. We had a range of just fixing things to a total overhaul. We ended up landing somewhere in the middle. We decided collectively to keep the old sink and toilet, which could easily be changed later, in order to deal with some other necessary and cosmetic issues.

We originally wrote up a plan of action to complete the project in 4-5 days, so that we would not be out of a toilet in the middle of the night for too long. We began with demolition, which just took a day and we were on our way pretty quickly.

The next part of the plan was to turn off the water in the middle of the day, so Justin could re-plumb the shower. That got done pretty quickly and he tested the water flow, which did not seem to be a problem. Then we moved on to hanging drywall and putting up Durock. In the second day, Justin made so much progress and we were ready to put up the last piece of drywall. 

As soon as he hung it, water started flowing from below it. We knew there was a problem. We found out that the pipes running to the sink were completely rusted out right at where they met the concrete. I remembered during demo that it was very grimy down there, but did not think much of it. Justin gave his best effort at trying to do the repair himself, but not being a plumber, put him at a disadvantage. We had to keep the water off when we could and my dad and Justin rigged something up to stop the water as much as possible when we had to have water on.

We called a plumber in and he came and showed Justin how to repair the pipe. He did one and then my mom and Justin went out and got the tools to finish the rest of the 4 pipes that needed repair. Our 4-5 day job, turned into three weeks quickly, because the time we had set aside to do the work had been eaten up by the unexpected. The rest of the bathroom had to be worked on and finished between work and other tasks that had to be completed. I had more time available than Justin, so I did what I could while he worked, but I am clearly not an expert at anything.

In the meantime, I was working out a cost-effective, but stylish, storage solution for the bathroom to help accommodate an over-extended budget due to our unexpected challenges. We removed this monstrosity of a baby blue cabinet from the bathroom. It was built in, but too large and impractical for a small space. I decided to use some wood from it, along with pallets, to create something new and fun. I had the idea, and Justin helped with the construction, but I did the majority of the tedious work.

I stripped what seemed like a billion layers of paint from the old wood for the shelves, then we built the exterior of the shelf from pallets. I then sanded the entire piece until I could rub my hands over it and not get splinters, which took an entire day. I used pre-stain to prep the wood, stained it with a "Classic Grey" color, and then coated it with polyurethane. In my slightly loopy state of mind, from all of the chemicals, I came up with the idea to make a towel rack, shelves, and a toilet paper roll holder from all the same materials. I even dug a wooden crate out of the garbage, in true "Nicole Curtis" style, that my mom was throwing away. It was A LOT of work, but I love the way it turned out in the end! My family may not have had a whole lot of faith in the process, but I think everyone is pleased with the result!

In with the old...

I have decided to start a new blog for a new phase of my life. It really is a way for me to share what is going on in this transition for Justin and I and what the future holds. I had a lot of thoughts while helping my parents organize their house and going through old stuff.

As you may or may not know, my Grandmother passed away while we were in China. I was not able to be home for her funeral and I was not a part of any of the process of saying goodbye. My family cleaned out her house, sold it, and divided up her things. My mom got a portion of them and they have been sort of in boxes since then.

I wanted to go through everything and help my mom to incorporate some items into her home as a way to honor her memory. It is strange to have her items in our home and to see them in a different place, but it is nice to be able to see them everyday and have nice memories of her. Below are some pictures of how we have incorporated these items into my parents home.

All of my Grandma's plates. Everyone would buy her one when they traveled.

Rearranging photos to update them and incorporate some older ones (I still have one to put up)

My sister and I (Old pictures, new matching frames)

Lots of family pictures of us growing up

A new shelf to showcase my Mom's trinkets and some from my Grandma

Repurposing my Mom's wicker shelf as a plant holder on our new porch

My Grandma's china cabinet with trinkets

New shelves for all of the movies my mom has and the records we got from my grandma

It has been a long but wonderful experience to make these items part of the family home. It has helped me to have more closer and to remember my Grandmother fondly.