Charming Violet

Decided to try that clay facial mask that's been living in my bathroom cabinet for a year or so. Violet comes in:

Violet: You look so pretty, Mami!
Me: Yea, right, Violet.
Violet: No, honestly, you look so ridiculous!!
Me: Well, that's more like the truth...

Such a little charmer  :-)

Happy Egg Day to everyone!

Week In Review - Ten Things Of Thankful (44)

Today was a busy day, the last day to get things done before our vacation. I'Ve picked up the girls' rooms while hubby was out on kitty-sitting duty, we've had another meeting with a contractor for finishing up the interior of the house, and in the afternoon the girls and I went downtown for some last-minute gift shopping. Upon returning home I found poor hubby spiking a fever just in time for the pre-trip stress to really pick up, so I threw together some dinner and an Easter bread before bathing the girls and finishing up the Easter baskets for everyone. And now, with my translation for the night done, I am done as well.

But even though my brain is more than fried, I should still come up with at least 10 things to be thankful for, since it was a really eventful week.

1. Being on leave until May now. I so need the break!

2. A good book to read while sitting on the bus for an extra hour in downtown Erlangen, waiting for the street to clear after the fender bender right in front of us. George R.R. Martin can also write really good science fiction!

3. Contending for Mother of the Year when I Richard pointed out to me that the girls were just watching their first Quentin Tarantino movie. And losing all chances to that title again since the Quentin Tarantino movie they are watching is The Muppets and the Wizard of Oz.

4. Having my husband. I can never be thankful enough for him. Even though he feels like crap and is spiking a fever he picks up the second part of bathing duty with the girls because Baby Boy demanded me to sit down and rest for a bit. He's simply the best.

5. Asparagus.

6. Violet being her absolutely even sweeter than usual self and giving Daddy extra-hugs because he feels bad.

7. Finding a really knowledgeable painter to finish the interior of our house by mid-May. Got everything arranged within a matter of days. It was stressful and anxiety-inducing, but we are both very comfortable with our decision now.

8. Having a building site manager who doesn't mind getting panicked phone calls on a Saturday morning from me. And not only does he not mind, he also calls me back and puts my mind on ease.

9. Spending a fun day downtown with the girls. We shared ice cream and the girls got to run around a play during perfect spring weather with surprisingly tons of sunshine after yesterday's all-day rain showers.

10. Being able to look forward to a mostly stress-free day tomorrow. And how much I'm looking forward to it!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and a happy springtime celebration!

Missing Something Friday (And Decisions)

Here I was, trying to find the "Finish The Sentence Friday" link-up, hoping for a prompt to take my mind off the decision on hand we have to make. Soon. But then I realized that Janine is somewhat taking the weekend off, so I'm here on my own and you all have to bear with yet another house post.

As I have already mentioned, on Wednesday evening, we've been handed over our house. Now it's up to us to organize the interior to be finished. Walls and ceilings must be finished, floors be put in. A walkway to our house as well as our parking spot must be paved.

Right now, our goal is despite two business holidays on Friday and Monday to give out the contract before we fly to the U.S. on Tuesday. We have two offers on hand:

1. Structured wallpaper on walls and ceilings, twice painted over.

2. Base coat and structured top coat on walls and ceilings with another coat of colored paint on the walls.

Option one is considerably more expensive than option two, but then again, we don't want to save money on the wrong corners here. Some people say that the structured paint is the way to go if you don't plan on changing colors every couple of years (which we don't), others say that it could look sloppy if the walls aren't 100% smooth.

The advantage of the wallpaper seems to be that it smoothes out some irregularities on the wall, but on the other hand, since the house is brand-new, tears could appear because of the house settling that is harder to repair than with structured paint. Plus it's easier to repair little ditches in the paint than in the wallpaper, which may be a selling point with the little ones.

I somehow feel as if we have our decision made, but somehow I still feel uncomfortable, especially since we'll have to say no to one contractor. And I hate disappointing people!  Another issue I may have to work on in the future!  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!!

House Update - It's Ours!!!

Unbelivable but true: Yesterday, we were finally officially handed over our house. There are still some minor things to be done, and we we're currently on the best way to hire a contractor to paint the interior before installing the floors. I can't believe that the moment of the move is coming so close!

In the meantime, a little review, brought to you by our general contractor:

1. The property before everything started; 2. The foundations; 3. The ground floor is complete; 4. The house is growing; 5. The entrance way; 6. The ceiling supports; 7. The staircase; 8. Our future bedroom; 9. Our HOUSE!!