Let it Snow!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Once we got past the tummy bug situation, things just got really busy and tiring. But, for the updates:
1) SNOW: We had snow last Saturday, last Tuesday, and about, oh, 2.5 FEET today. As my friend EH posted in her blog, what, did we move to Michigan? James only had school for one day last week (teacher work day and then canceled). We are hoping he goes at least twice this upcoming week. We'll see. On Wednesday last week when school was canceled, I tried to be the uber-mother (okay, I'm already a fabulous mother, but I tried to be EVEN BETTER) and do some fun activities incorporating his topic for the day. Topic was the color red. I feel I'm better qualified for this than what he will surely be studying in high school (if it's calculus, forget it). So, we did the following:
- dyed water red, then played with dipping coffee filters in it and throwing it in the snow.
- went on a color red "field trip" where we each gathered red-colored toys around the playroom
- printed coloring pages of apples, fire trucks, etc.
- practiced cutting skills with the pictures
- wrote out the letters R-E-D, then colored them and traced the letters with our fingers
There was probably more but after an hour of schooling I got tired. I admit it, I'm no educator. But it was still something. I was glad  he went to school on Thursday. Thursday's topics were Flags and Fireworks. James told me at pick up that they studied the color red. Sigh. Oh, well!
2) KITCHEN: The renovation continues!! Happily, we are actually ahead of schedule. I will try to post photos when it's all done. There's been some hiccups along the way:
- The cabinets are in. They are gorgeous.
- Knobs do not come with them. Luckily, our project manager, "Bob The Builder", told me not to bother at the pricey place where we ordered the cabinets from. So I went to Lowe'd and found some brushed bronze knobs I liked a lot. We had to buy 27 of them. What an odd number.
- Frosted glass for the corner cabinet: It didn't come with the cabinets although I clearly have an email where I say I approved the purchase of it (for a bit too much money I might add). Thankfully it was confirmed that I DO have it coming and it will come on Monday (weather permitting).
- Cabinet doors: I flipped out on my biz dev. contact when some of the cabinets weren't lining up correctly when shut. Thankfully Bob fixed them quickly the next day. Have I mentioned that Bob looks like Dee Snider from Twister Sister?
- Paint: This is a whole saga in and of itself. I chose a color that was a pale sage. Or so I thought. Mistake on my part: Not buying a sample of the paint and throwing it up on the wall. The painters got the paint and went to work. Mistake on their part: starting the work without having me approve the proposal first. So, after completely freaking out about the color (I mean, crying, venting, emailing with big words!), the owner of the company that's doing the renovations came over and agreed that they would re-do it. Then he also agreed that I could have the rest of the upstairs painted at cost. So the contractor wouldn't make any money off of it. I said that I'd be responsible for the color and the paint for the walls (they would paint the ceilings and trim in their standard white). I got some good recs for paint stores and went one morning and spent an hour with an interior designer with all of my samples as well as my 5x8 foot dining room rug to show her my inspiration and direction. She helped me pick some lovely, albeit incredibly expensive, paint for the walls. Now the rooms are the colors I want! The dining room is a warm sage green ("Range") and the living room and hallway and foyer are a warm khaki ("Hammock"). It cost a lot but I'm extremely pleased. The painters were difficult to communicate with (what, they don't speak French??) but it was all fine and dandy in the end. Three days of painting! And it would have taken us a few weeks and lots of bitching in the process.
- Countertops: We had to choose our granite slab for the countertop. We are going with a stone called "New Caledonia". Whatever, it's Italian. It came in on Friday. The guys installing it also put in our under counter sink and faucet (not functional yet, the plumber will do that) and drilled a hole for our phone line to come through on to the counter.
- The next steps include the electrician coming back to install the permanent recessed lights, the under cabinet lights, and the over window lights. He will also hopefully (free of charge we hope) put up our new chandelier, which is also a black with brushed bronze overlay. Then I assume the plumber comes in after the appliances are installed. Then, finally, the new floors and the tile backsplash.
- This past week was crazy getting the paint and the knobs and being here and there but it's all worth it and will be wonderful!
3) SINGING: I've been very busy with Music Play and Kismet. I've subbed for Heather here and there and now have my very own class every other Tuesday. This past week I had my first class and it was awesome!! I'm still teaching every other Saturday too. So it's a good schedule. Kismet is busy because we are singing at SingStrong in early March, which is an a cappella geek fest. :) But we are preparing to sound perfect on three songs so yikes it's a lot of work. But has been fun.
4) SOCIAL: I was out three Sundays in a row for dinner. On the heels of crazy weeks and Greg working very late, it was hard to get out but still fun. I've had a bit of a break but am gearing up for some fun times soon.
5) SLEEPING: Nate's sleep has been crap. And I've been so lazy I've just been getting him and bringing him to our bed. Which, shockingly, he apparently loves. But it's either one or the other boy.
6) OTHER STUFF: Greg's sister and her family stopped by (which I think I posted about), I've barely been exercising, my parents have been helping a LOT, which is awesome, and we have tons of ants in the house. What gives? It's frickin February.

I think that's about it. I'm sure there is more but I have to stop letting James watch Baby Einstein. I mean, he is almost 4 after all. But it's his first TV of the day since we didn't have power (and poor guy was SO UPSET when he woke up today and his room was pitch dark). Considering no power, we had a fun and busy day: I learned to use the tailgate grill to heat up water in the tea kettle for coffee, I also used it to cook way too much bacon while drinking a beer at 11 a.m. (what? I felt like a dude) and pancakes, and we played a lot of games and just hung out. We also made Valentines and made a puff ball snowman, and eventually went outside to play. We are very grateful that the power is back on, but also super happy that we have so much wood out back to keep warm. And since our upstairs is basically un-liveable right now, being all together downstairs felt very nice and cozy.