Inertia is pure truth.

The fundamental principle of physics is such a beautiful reality in our lives. Have you noticed this to be truth in your lives as well? When you add an outside force to start a new path, you keep going and the momentum builds? That is SO true for us. Something happens, an event, and it sends us on a path and the more is accomplished, the more we WANT to accomplish. It's true about eating veggies, finding a curriculum you love, or a new class.... or work on the house - which is the point of today's blog! We are getting some great traction and forward momentum in our home!

Looking at our home, you'd think we started ALL the projects at once, right? Wrong. We began the main floor/kitchen update first. Once we began that project, we had a major septic flood that wiped out our finished basement (dry wall on the walls and ceilings needed removed, carpet gone, everything about it that was "finished" before).... A lot of our belongings were ruined in the basement (our family room).. Our kitchen savings were obliterated with the new septic installation but we tried hard not to get down about it. Just about the time we were ready to launch into kitchen rehab full speed - we found ourselves with a big surprise. She's super cute, so totally worth the year wait!

BUT - here we go again! No, no surprise cuteness (thank you tubal!), but we are moving forward with some home projects. HURRAY!

Did you know? Picking the perfect paint color is ROCKET SCIENCE. I think I could perform simple surgeries with more success and less second guessing myself than choosing wall color. Sheesh.

I tried several greys and hated them all..... so instead, I bought something without trying it first and moved on in life. I am big on the MOVING ON stage right now. Forward motion feels better than stuck anywhere. So, without a "tester" I bought gallons and gallons of paint. I figured anything was better than the baby poop beige they had on the walls. Gag.

Ours kids were SO thrilled to get involved. They are amazingly hard workers and I'm proud of what they dive into!

So much needed done too. Old doors, holes in the walls from 80 years of use... So many patches, so much sanding! SO many tools that we own?! Apparently. 

But in the end, that no-testing-before-buying-colors (both wall and trim) delivered EXACTLY what I wanted!!! Pale, cool grey walls with a medium darker grey trim. It's hard to photo accurately, but I love it so who cares :) 

And we moved the boys back into their room for ONE night....... because this was the floor upstairs.... It is pretty, yes. But it also has DECADES of damages. scars. dents. burns?! Tons of damage. 

You could see paths worn raw. Tons of splinters!!! 

So, we rented some tools..... 

And this is what our antique, solid cherry wood looks like raw! Isn't it AMAZING!!!! 

Now the edges have been done too and we are planning on clear coating it (it will darken again because it's cherry). But most of the ugly scars are gone. It's so lovely. 

Illness struck our home though so the floors ended up doubling up on another project in our home, but on the main floor.... Most of you know that our "great room" kitchen/dining/living area is a huge work in progress.... but we took some big steps forward on that this week! 

Consider the cat photo a before...... but it's really a "in the middle, looked like this for a year" photo

And BOOM. The entire space changed. 

It's still a "working on it" stage. I am opting for concrete counters but for the time being, they won't be installed (no debt, no debt, no debt! chanting in my head!!)

Damon is waiting on a paint sprayer part to arrive before he can spray the island a deep navy blue color. 

The drawer fronts won't be attached until after those are painted. Hardware is installed after that as well.... A couple of the drawers were built the wrong size and were sent back to the cabinet shop for modification (two top drawers missing in photo)

It's stunning how quickly we jumped forward!!! I am so happy, I DID cry. Patience is really not about just waiting for what you can't change, but more and more I'm realizing it's an inward journey of not losing your CONTENTMENT in what is in front of you. I really have struggled with the "can we hurry up already" conversations with God. I have felt angry that I had a baby not a kitchen (at least, that was my pregnancy struggle). Now? I have the BEST 4 month old. She's so sweet. I can't imagine life without her at all and hey! a kitchen is coming along just fine..

I can't wait to continue to update on our forward movement but I am going to work harder on never losing my contentment in the middle again.

I'm also not letting go of the fundamental principle of staying in motion.

Onward, upward. 

xoxo