Gettin' Spiffy

None of the following happened because of the impending wedding. It just seems that way. But right now—my house is looking pret-ty goood!

It began with replacing the toilet in our powder room and then escalated from there. I’ve learned that the four most dangerous words in home improvement are “While we’re at it…”

My house is almost twenty years old and it shows. Most of it needs to be refinished, refurbished or replaced. So once we decided to replace the toilet, we determined we should replace the floor, which encompasses the bathroom, laundry room, kitchen and breakfast room.

While we were at it, we took down an oak railing that separated our breakfast room from our family room. Removing it left a narrow gap of family room flooring uncarpeted. Our floor people (who replaced our family room carpet a few years ago) said they could stretch it to meet the new kitchen floor. Of course, to stretch the carpet and install the new flooring, all the furniture and appliances had to be removed. While we were moving our old beast of a TV, we decided to move it right out the front door to benefit the Vietnam Veteran’s Association. A new television is now on the list, but not a priority (at least not till football season). So with an empty kitchen, breakfast room and family room, we decided to paint—all that trim and woodwork was probably the worst part of the entire job!

Since we were updating the flooring, we decided that while we were at it, we would replace the refrigerator and stove and install a microwave over the stove, all to match our relatively new dishwasher. Fortunately, our cabinets are in good shape but new counter tops are slated for another day! Then there are the little things: a new laundry room door, new fixtures in the bathroom, new cabinet hardware and new curtains.

It’s all slowly coming together, but what a job! We have to find that magic stopping point before the wedding so the house isn’t in an uproar. I’ve worked harder over the past month than I have in years, but without Henry’s help, the job would have been impossible. Although, working together on home improvements as a couple opened up a side of our personalities that we don’t often see. Enough said.

This Thursday, I’m off to Seattle to spend a long weekend with Calvin and Vicki—our chance to visit, relax and have fun before the wedding. Calvin has planned a whole itinerary of things to do. I’m fine with anything as long as it doesn’t involve spackle and a paintbrush!

The Countdown…A Wedding Update

We all know how quickly time goes by. It doesn’t seem possible that Calvin and Vicki’s wedding is less than two months away. I ordered a dress back in March, which just came in. I have a fitting scheduled for next week, which is good because I leave for Seattle May 26, so now I’ll know how much I can eat during my trip (I’m thinking a stop at Trophy Cupcake is in order). I’ve ordered shoes and a wrap as the dress is sleeveless. Always a good idea to be prepared for a chill even though the wedding ceremony will be late afternoon on a patio that faces west. (Reminder: bring sunglasses—which will be good not only for the sun, but because I’ll probably cry.)

The entire event is at Musket Ridge Golf Club in Myersville, MD. The reception is indoors, after the ceremony—dinner and dancing which should be fun, although I think Henry and I need some pre-wedding practice! The kids decided one venue for both the ceremony and reception would work the best given the accessibility issues some of our older family members have. After all the months that Vicki and her mom have spent planning, it will be fun to see it all come together.

The mother of the groom really doesn’t have too many obligations. Throw the rehearsal dinner and show up on the big day. Vicki just got dates and times to have a rehearsal at Musket Ridge and the minister’s availability decided it: Saturday at around 1:30 pm. I have the rehearsal dinner scheduled at Dutch’s Daughter in Frederick Saturday afternoon following the rehearsal. I still need to firm things up with the planner, because we don’t have the times quite pegged. Dutch’s Daughter is one of our favorite places and a Frederick icon. I wanted to host the festivities at one of our local restaurants because it’s a great way to introduce any non-local guests to our community.

It’s beginning to look like the groom will have more family in from out-of-town than the bride. That’s not saying much, as my family is quite small, but I don’t often get to see my close childhood cousins as we are spread out over the country, so this wedding will be a mini family reunion for us as well. I think most of the wedding guests will be friends of the bride and groom, so I expect it will be quite the party.

And anything that is destined to be quite the party deserves a certain amount of “spiffy”.

Up Next: “Gettin’ Spiffy”