are you tired of my home improvement updates yet?

Things are moving along.  It seems like what 'should' take 'just a couple weeks' ends up taking months...and months...and months...

Not really any fault of anybodies, because if we really thought of the time and energy it takes to get anything accomplished, I doubt much would get done.

My living room is nearly done.  We still don't have a TV (we want to get a new one because ours is really really really OLD) and put the old one in the basement for the kids to use.  Josh is also going to build some bookshelves, but like I said...things take longer than I expect.  I won't buy any bookshelves though, because whatever he makes is much nicer than what one can purchase. 

We put our wardrobe (I guess that's it's technical term) in the living room to serve as our TV stand.  It is an antique with an interesting history.  It belonged to Josh's dad and was purchased on the roadside in Germany when Josh lived there as a child.  It's not worth millions, but is very special to our family. 

The -soon to be- tv stand even has a lock and key (probably from the early 1800's) that still works, so I can lock the tv up, and the kids can't mess with it!   I love that. 

Josh even put in a new ceiling fan, and if you look to the right, you will see the wall lamps (sconces) that he wired up.  So industrious! 

The wall hanging that says "Welcome To The Masquelier Home" was made by a family member.  I don't know who, possibly one of Josh's grandpa's uncles...but I don't know.  We like it, and that's all that matters! 

And this is what Josh did with the piano.  It's always been a sore spot for us, because the kids climb all over everything turning lights on, then the lights are glaring in your eyes when you're trying to play your music etc... so he put in track lighting which shines down on the music!  Good idea!  Now we can find a better use for those lamps.  any takers? 

The breakfast bar in it's infancy.  Josh plans to put an oak facade around the frame, and obviously we will need stools.  I used this space to fold laundry yesterday, and it was very nice.  It will also work well as a food prep area, and also a good place for the kids to eat breakfast!  They can sit in their stools and look at the wall instead of each other.  Maybe that way they won't have silly fights about who is 'staring' at whom during breakfast! 

And now I leave you with a picture of what Abigail does with my camera in her spare time. She dressed up our bears (from when we were little) and took pictures of them.  I wouldn't have discovered this picture if I hadn't uploaded my pics to post on this blog.  Abigail is funny.  She thought our childhood bears would look cute dressed up sitting side by side.  She was right. 

I also have lots of eyeball closeups and such...but I thought better not to post those.  She is quite the creative one. 

Have a blessed weekend!