My not-so-little brother joined a new team of fire fighters and our Grandpa had the honor of pinning his new badge. It’s taken an incredible amount of time, training, and dedication (and will continue to be), and I could not be more proud of him. And these pictures, such sweetness!

This photo is a double entendre. Rough, rocky, bumpy, crumbly as all get out. Our life at the moment. A wee glimpse: the one mostly working sink (the cold water doesn’t always turn off) in the house is in the basement bathroom. It is too small to put dishes in, so we fill cups with water to wash in a giant bowl in the shower that doesn’t work. The refrigerator is in the dining room, but our makeshift kitchen is in the guest room in the basement, so we have to cart everything down stairs and from our pantry in the laundry to make any semblance of a meal. Not all of our necessities are unpacked because we lack space, so I must improvise – glasses as bowls, paper as coasters and trivets, plates as lids. The window in the living room is boarded over until the new one gets installed later this week (we hope!). The plug nearest to the television is broken, so we have to snake an extension cord from the dining room and hope we don’t trip because there isn’t any light from the window being boarded over and the fact that there isn’t a fixture in the dining room (soon!).

But, getting to that double entendre, there IS light, too. The oak floors are refinished and positively beautiful. The bedroom is painted, and we have the luxury of sleeping there! After more than a month of having clothes in the basement and the garage (cold underpants!), they are all in the bedroom. My shoes are lovingly organized on a rack the hubster installed and not in a jumble on the floor. The hubster’s office, the absolute winner in the gross category, is painted. It took me three days of prep and two days of actual painting to get that job done, filling with spackle, I kid you not, more than a hundred nail holes, washing the walls, and covering some very disgusting stains with four coats of primer. The plumber comes tomorrow to install a basin in the laundry room and move the pipe for the sink under the soon-to-be window (also boarded up). The drywall gets installed at the end of the week. Fingers crossed for kitchen flooring the following Monday, then cabinets after that! A real kitchen! A fully functional sink! Stove and dishwasher to follow!

Oof, that’s a lot, but I could not be more grateful. I could be a refugee wondering about my next meal. I could be in a rotten marriage. I could be sick. But I’m not. I’m in a city filled with kind strangers and natural beauty of such exquisiteness that I shout near daily, “I live here!” I have the best man I know by my side. Life is good.

And fear not, I am taking lots of pictures and will share them when all is finished and looking lovely and fine.