Congratulations to my cousin Angie and her husband Dave on the arrival of Quinn Michael!! I'm hoping that the excitement will distract Auntie Jolene from the fact that I've no pictures to post today...

Speaking of family excitement, Oliver has something to say--

"I'm gonna be a big brudder!"

Yeah, 'mommy has a baby growing in her's belly.' All three of us are filled with enthusiasm at the thought of this new babe!...though I'm not sure telling Oliver so early on was a good idea. He keeps wondering when's it gonna be here? Not till May, Bud. The snow will come, stay for what seems like forever, then melt, then it might snow again... then we'll have a baby. Andrew and I ask him whether it'll be a brother or a sister. Sister. What should we name her? "BLACKY!!" So far he's named a kitty Meow Meow and another Basketball. Ironically enough, Blacky is the name of a family friend's cat, so we're loosely keeping with a theme. 'Theme: Cat' is not very enduring. His vote is likely to be lost in the final count...

Other than that, we're just, you know, 'plugging away' at the house. (What does that even mean?) Working hard. Trying to get outside painting and trimming and building wrapped up. Not exactly the most construction-friendly fall we're experiencing here what with mud up to our eyeballs. Thankfully we've had some amazing helpers lately. Who would assist someone in the unkindest chore of all - outdoor painting - if they weren't forced? My mother-in-law, Bonnie, father-in-law, Bruce, and cousin Megan, that's who.

Andrew has been working on and is nearly done with both bathroom vanities. We're actually having a little competition, as I designed one vanity, and Andrew the other. If you've ever seen Design Star on HGTV, that's sort of the idea. By the way, I am the next Design Star. We're going to have a vote on whose cabinets are cooler. Andrew is building them both, but I have gotten in on the mindless work of sending ALL the wood through the plainer and sander, then sanding by hand with the orbital. Andrew's piece, for Oliver's bathroom upstairs, is made of old wood I tore out of our barn. When we started machining the boards the whole shop smelled like cow pies. Miraculous... I don't think a cow has lived in that barn for 20 years. That's rich. My pieces (a vanity and stool topper) were inspired by an antique bar my cousin Kelly found under mountains of oil in her garage - emerald green with a wood top. Rich...in a different way than the cow trough episode.

I hope to have pictures ready and running soon.