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I ordered my cards in early November and was ahead of the game. I started addressing them the first week in December. Here is what they looked like!
We got our tree fairly early this year -- another 16 footer from our favorite Bernard's $25 tree farm in Honey Brook! Paul built an awesome train platform and we were so excited for the season of Advent.
The first Thursday in December Maeve and I hosted a fun Christmas playdate for her pals in preschool and we enjoyed a great time of crafts, snacks and play.
We had a visit from Maeve's teachers and all of the kids were so excited to see them!
A few days after our party we were finally scheduled to have our kitchen floor replaced after a dishwasher leak when we moved in. The flooring company showed up and ripped up the vinyl in our kitchen to find a not so friendly black substance growing underneath.
We could tell that it was under the cabinets and so the entire kitchen was ripped out. No cabinets, sink, dishwasher, or stove.
This was what was underneath:
So the builder began the process of ripping up the subfloor to replace the plywood. Everything was structurally sound, thank God! However, when the floor was taken out no precautions were taken to confine the mold. The vents were open and the kitchen area was not contained. I was really scared about the type of mold and what could happen to our kids. I contacted a lawyer who encouraged me to stop all work and have testing done. We did this and found that it was toxic black mold and that it had spread in the air through the entire house (the spores, not the black mold growing). So we have spent the last four weeks waiting for everything to be properly cleaned up. Our house had to be professionally cleaned by Mold Remediation specialists from top to bottom for 5 days. The air was scrubbed, the walls were scrubbed, the floors were professionally vacuumed, the heating ducts were cleaned.
We had to assess all sorts of different things about whether it was safe to stay, how we react to mold personally... we had to call the doctors, the allergists, the CDC and the EPA!!!! But, thank God we are totally fine.
First we had to empty the rooms, then empty the cabinets, then empty the pantry and laundry room. So, all of our belongings are scattered throughout the house. Our drawers are in the living room, we wash dishes in the upstairs bathroom, we are eating off of paper plates (and if you know us you know we never ever do that!). We are using purely k-cups and plasticware. We balance between eating cold food, eating out, and using the microwave. Paul has the camp stove set up on the floor and we are managing! We have also had so many people invite us over for dinner or make us a meal and extend gracious hospitality to us.
(our properly sealed off kitchen, complete with zipper!)
Rumor on the street is that this week the floor will be reinstalled and the cabinets and appliances to follow. We will see!!! We are going on two full months without a kitchen.
We did have to move our washer and dryer into the garage because there is more mold under the laundry room floor. Our cabinets and granite are also living in the garage. These factors mean that we have done very little laundry and that we haven't been able to park in our garage during the snow. We finally had to move our washer and dryer back in because we ran out of clothes! They will come out again this week.
Despite all of this craziness, we are very aware of our blessings. We still have a warm place to sleep, an abundance of friends and family, and a life that is worth more than any kitchen could ever be valued.
So, as I stare at the HUGE stack of Christmas cards that never went out, please please forgive me. We did try to get some in the mail but we were using a list from our wedding and most of them were returned back to us.
I promise that next year I will be back on my Christmas "A game" and be ready to greet you with your homemade crafts, photo cards, and baked goods!
Happy February!
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