And it's Outta Here!

Some people take comfort in familiarity and routine, but I thrive on and crave change. Familiarity and routine have their place, but after awhile they begin to feel stagnant. Maybe this is purely a product of my upbringing, but I think it's more likely a combination of nature and nurture. Chris talks about us moving into the big bedroom upstairs when the kids are grown and we're empty nesters, and I can't help but look at him funny because I have no desire to still be living in this house 15 or 20 years from now. I ask him if he's ready to move on a weekly basis, but it's not because I necessarily have anything against this house. The house is great. It's just that I want to try other things. It's just that staying in one place for too long starts to feel suffocating after awhile. For now he wants to stay, and I can't fault him for that. There are worse things for our kids than sticking in one place for an extended period of time, maybe even until they're all moved out, something that I can't quite fathom at this point in my life. Both the staying here that long and the kids living away from me. My life is so deeply enmeshed in my children that I can't separate us yet, even in my imagination.

So I like to travel. Without travel I would surely lose my mind. We never really have any money to speak of, so we don't go too far, but going anywhere is a much needed breath of fresh air. Somehow we manage to get away several times a year, and as much work as it is to pack and get everything ready for all of us, being someplace different for a few days refreshes me and so the effort is always worth the trouble.

And then sometimes I get an itch to change something around the house. I'm sure Chris inwardly (and sometimes outwardly) groans and wants to kill me pretty much anytime he hears me say something like, "...so I've been thinking and I have this idea..." Well I've been not too subtly hinting for quite awhile that I'd love to get rid of the carpet in the family room. This afternoon Mathilda spilled a cup of hot chocolate on it, and as I was cleaning it up I mentioned that this would be a great time to just rip the carpet up. Chris agreed that maybe we should think about doing that soon, and the stars must have been aligned because he barely protested when I said, "why don't we just do it now?"  Within minutes we were pushing furniture aside and ripping out the carpet. When the time is right, it's right, you know? I've found that to be the case in many situations, by the way.

Over three quarters of the carpet is out, with just some small pieces under our desk and entertainment center left. Chris was going out tonight so we couldn't get all of it. I'm motivated, but not enough to do it myself. There are about a billion cords to deal with by the entertainment center and I'm not about to be held responsible for messing any of them up. Even so, I'm really happy with our progress. This morning I had a carpeted family room, and now I have a hardwood family room. This makes me happy. Three cheers for old houses made standard with hardwood floors! The floor is definitely looking a little rough, but it's not that bad. We'll get a rug or two. This summer when I get the kids out of here for a couple weeks, we'll get someone to come and re-finish the wood. I know from experience that there's no way we can stay here with the smell. But that's okay, I can be patient. I've been waiting for this moment since we moved into this house almost three years ago. A wall is coming down next, just you wait.