I Didn’t Sign Up For This…

Things I did sign up for:

1. Being tired – I’m terrible at making G sleep in his crib. He is just SO sweet when he sleeps next to me!
2. Tight pants – Lots of Coronas/tacos and zero exercise isn’t an ideal healthy lifestyle.
3. Life with Tyler – most of you know how utterly ridiculous that guy can be BUT he does make my life pretty darn great 🙂

Things I didn’t sign up for:

1. Cancer – there’s nothing that knocks the life out of you faster than hearing the words “kiddo, your tumor tested positive for cancer”.

At my first appointment post cancer diagnosis, my nurse navigator Gloria (who knew these angels on earth even existed?! Not me!) said that I need to start a journal through this process. I was completely against this… hello I’m a fully stable 27 year old that really doesn’t have the time write to her diary. But here I am because one thing I do know is  Gloria is a survivor and I want to be just like her.

We don’t know a ton about my journey with breast cancer yet, but we do know that my team of doctors are some of the best around. I have over 15 doctors reviewing my chart next week and they are certain they will find the best treatment for me to beat this.

Sanford Silhouette Selfies. Is this a thing? Maybe it should be. 

Cancer, I may not have signed up for you, but I am ready to fight like hell against you. Life on Lewis may have gotten a lot more complicated but who wants a boring life anyways? Apparently not us 😉

Closing Time…

You don’t have to go home but you caaaaan’t staaaay here.

Thanks for the memories 91st Street. You blessed us with one tree that blew over every time it stormed and neighbors that became good friends. Ehhh you win some, you lose some.

I’ve heard quite a few people say they were sad about moving out the house they raised their new baby in, but not us. When you’re married to someone with take-advantage-of-the-housing-market syndrome, you say good riddance and pray they give you a little break before the next house.

My parents spent 12+ hours a day this past weekend at Lewis Ave. and it looks awesome! They worked and worked and worked in order to get the house ready for moving day and I really, really owe them. I’m still paying off my debts to them from raising me, but maybe someday I’ll get caught up on repaying them.

Eeeek here a few before and after photos! We still have a few touch up things, new lights, some flooring and the master bathroom to do, but holy cats we Joel got a lot done in 30 days.

Graysen’s Bathroom:

Hallway:

Master bedroom:

It looks SO much bigger without that damn sink in there. That sink creeped me out.

Family Room Closets:

Front Living Room:

Tyler’s Office:

One last photo from 91st… Graysen’s nursery. It was my favorite room in the house because Tyler had no say in how I decorated it. I spent many pregnant days in here crying because birthing a child scared the shit out of me or because we were out of cereal. Mostly because we were out of cereal. Ohhhhh those were the days!

Trust me, this room always looked this neat and clean because my child was never in it. Eye roll. #teamnosleep

Tyler’s family is coming this week to help us unpack, move furniture around, etc. I keep promising them that this is the last time they have to help us move but no one has believed me yet. We really lucked out in the family department.

I’ll post more pics once we’ve gotten our stuff moved in and settled. Until then, I’ll be listening to my husband complain that he can’t find something when he hasn’t even looked.

Life on Lewis has finally begun!

Aspiring Retiree

Woah! What a whirlwind past two weeks. We’ve spent every extra hour we have painting, tearing down wallpaper, cleaning, chasing Graysen around, etc. at the new house and I am so tired. I wish I could say I haven’t seen 10 p.m. since we closed on the house but I have a child that still doesn’t sleep so I see 10 p.m. quite a bit. And 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. and most days 5:15 a.m… UGH.

The house is really coming together. We still have a long ways to go but I’m pretty confident that I’ve fallen in love with this house already. I’d share more photos, but this is it’s current state right now.

You can sort of see the paint and new doors/trim in the photo above. It looking SO good! Here’s another view of it:

Notice that Tyler is watching my dad do the work. Are you shocked? 🙂 But seriously, thank God for our parents, they’ve been SO much help! 

If we aren’t at the new house, you can be sure to find us at Home Depot or Lowes. I’m pretty sure I heard the paint desk lady say “Hi Graysen!” the other day, but I could be losing it. Both are very possible. I do have to give Graysen credit, he’s actually been loving these shopping trips. He must get that from me. 😉

Ok, isn’t he just the cutest?!? #humblemombrag

We have so much to do in the next two weeks before we move in. And a million more projects to do after we move in. Retirement, where you at?? I’m soo ready for you! Until then, you’ll find me yawning at my desk and dreaming of doing 10 a.m. house projects instead of dreading doing 6 p.m. house projects.

The Calm Before the Storm

I did a very scary thing yesterday. I downloaded an app that tracks my spending habits. It wasn’t scary at all, it was absolutely freaking terrifying. All I’m going to say is the West Side Target better thank me for paying their electricity bill each month. Woof.

Anyways, I downloaded the app so we can tell exactly what we spent on the remodel. Tyler and I created a budget for each room, and we plan on sticking to it. By we, I mean he. Tyler will stick to the budget, I will most likely have to eat ramen noodles for months because I had to have that bathroom vanity. Sigh, whatever.

According to our budget, we can do the kitchen/living room and all 3 bathrooms with the proceeds from the sale of our current house. Unfortunately, the rest of the house and the unfinished basement will have to wait for awhile. Take a peek at the before photos of the kitchen, living room and bathrooms:

Bye honey oak cabinets, see ya never!

This is my favorite room in the whole house. We plan on taking down that wall to open up the kitchen and living room.

I’ve been drooling over this fireplace since day 1. I can’t wait to white wash it and paint those built-ins. The carpet is going too and we will have hardwood throughout this room, the kitchen and the dining room. 

We will put hardwood in the dining part of the room but the second living room will pretty much have to stay as is for now.

The Master Bath and the other bathrooms are pretty similar. We will gut the Master and build a walk in shower, but the others we will just update the flooring and vanities. 

Did I mention we have an intercom system? That HAS to go or I’ll have to hear “Mom! Bring me a snack!” through the intercom 45 times a day from my child husband.

Now that Graysen is crawling everywhere, this whole home remodel process might get a tad tricky. And I still have no idea what the heck we got ourselves into. But for now, we are just enjoying the calm before the storm.

Been There. Pinned That.

Ohhh Pinterest, I hate love you. You’ve been with me through it all. My wedding, the birth of my first child, the 46 failed diet attempts and now our home remodel. You’ve also really taught me some of the best life lessons. Like no, don’t put baking soda on your carpet to remove pet stains. And no, your child will not sleep through the night in “7 easy steps.” And also no, homemade Chinese food does not taste just like take-out Chinese food.

I really don’t know how people remodeled homes before Pinterest. If you are one of those people (hi mom!) props to you. I could and probably have spent days pinning ideas for the new home. Here are a few of my faves:

Love this kitchen! I’m a real big sucker for wood beams on ceilings and farmhouse sinks. But who isn’t crushing on farmhouse sinks these days?

This bathroom will fall in the category “Claire, we can’t afford that” but I NEED this tile in my master bath.

We plan on doing this with our fireplace and built-ins. This actually might be the only realistic pin on my home remodel board thus far.

We don’t close on our house until July, so of course by then I’ll have 27 different kitchen layouts picked out, 13 different floor tile options for the bathroom, and 6 “this is for sure the one” living room paint colors pinned.

I’m so excited to begin this process and I can’t wait to see my home remodel board come to life. Will my house actually resemble my vision? Will I come to love spending my weekends at Home Depot? Will my white cabinets actually stay white or will I have to tell everyone the paint color I chose is called “grimy fingerprints from my husband and child”? Only time will tell. Stay tuned…

Oh Darling, let’s chase our dreams

It started with a simple text. “How much do you think it’d cost to remodel a kitchen, 3 bathrooms, finish a basement and paint 2300 square feet of walls and trim?” I said to my husband Tyler. I was expecting one of the usual responses, “wtf” or just a “no”, but instead I got “send me the link.” And that my friends (or mom, my only subscriber) is how Life on Lewis began.

To say I’m an internet creep would be an understatement. If searching for houses on Zillow was a top skill, my resume would be astounding. If I had to guess, I’d say this skill is hereditary considering my mom sends me “did you see this house on Zillow” link at least once a day. Anyways, this is Life on Lewis not Life via Claire’s phone.

I had stumbled upon a new listing and instantly my inner wannabe HGTV star fell in love. It was the perfect location, had the space we desperately wanted and had SO much potential. After four hours on the market, we had walked through the house and our offer was on the table.

This house and all its potential has given me life! Look at those mature trees… swoon! Ok, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic and maybe we are in over our heads, but Tyler and I haven’t been this excited about something non-child related in years.

Check back in a few days to see the before photos and meet our contractor Joel. Spoiler alert: he’s my dad and he will be very sick of us by the time this is done.

Here’s a sneak peak of one of the before pictures:

There’s a sink in the master bedroom next to a sink in the bathroom. A sink! What is this, a hotel?! Also, I took this photo from the MLS listing, probably illegal, whatever.