The Stapletons (Part II): January in Windham

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

January in Windham

This month has been a busy one as we've tried to tackle many goals after the holidays.

This picture represents the moments that make it all worthwhile, and the moments I hope my kids remember about our lives.

We've enjoyed the rec room very much so far, but it's not quite done. Scott made a push to finish the last of the woodwork by completing these doors for he utility closet, with a blackboard up top.

Isn't it pretty? The wood matches the railing and stairs.

Then, we both stayed up until 2 am to clear the garage so that I could park there during the upcoming storm. (The garbage can weighed over 100 lbs - full of scrap wood and pressed wood shelving.)

Scott then flew to San Diego early the next morning for a Conference and got to enjoy this beautiful view.....and a bunch of work. :) He didn't even bring a swimsuit people!

He did venture to try an electric scooter they rent on the streets for about 5 minutes, so that he could report to me that he took some time to do something fun.

After a relatively warm December, January has had some COLD days.

Our pond, frozen solid.

A lot of families were out ice skating early this week as the ice was smooth and solid. It looked just as you would imagine authentic New England to be, with hockey games going on all over town.

Aaron had a morning recorder and choral concert at school. Scott even took the morning off work to come and see. It was a great winter concert, entitled "Snow Biz."

The big basement projects were sanding and staining the stairs,

and sanding/touching up the baseboards. Scott said the baseboards were very time consuming, and that he'd wished he had done it differently.

This has been a huge project, and he's learned a lot in the process.

It's really made a difference in our home though. It's such a beautiful room, and very very warm. The insulation is excellent! We don't even need to turn on the heater, because it's always nice and warm from the furnace being in the room.

As our living room gets really hot in summer with the many windows, I really think that we'll enjoy the basement in summer too. It will likely be the coolest room in the house.

Another great change was that Scott took the trim off the right side because it was squeaking, and added adhesive to soften the connection. No more squeaking!

The Sandman

Ollie's new favorite words this week were "tea party."

(all my workout clothing)

I caught a bit of the Marie Kondo bug. If you haven't seen it yet, it's "Tidying up with Marie Kondo."

Scott and I watched the first episode and I immediately organized all the pens in the kitchen. :) haha

Then, I moved on to Cora's toys, Ollie's toys, Ollie's clothing drawer, and finally, my side of the closet.

We desperately want to get our desk/workspace organized.

Anyone have a desk/workspace system they love?

I'm also trying the turn-the-hanger-backwards trick to see if (even from this reduced wardrobe) if there are any pieces that I don't use in the next few months. If so, I can let them go too.

Scott stayed up to see the "blood moon" a couple nights ago.

The boys set their alarm and were so excited to see it,

but they would NOT get up when Scott invited them. :)

Another late night project Monday night as Scott and I cleaned up from the last of the sanding and staining, mopped the floors and hung the new TV!! Yay!*

(*Cue the arguing as to how high it should be. Scott wanted it to be higher and possibly overlap the window frame slightly. I wanted it 3 inches lower. This was our compromise)