Placeholder: The Home Improvement Edition

So, as promised, here is the long list of lame excuses as to why, up until two days ago, there had been a month's-plus silence on the blog. First, I've been super-duper, very, especially, completely, overwhelmingly busy with work--more than usually so, in case you didn't catch my meaning there. See, twice a year, all six journals for which I manage the edit, publish within a month and a half time span. It's a bit insane for while, and so everything else slides a bit. It's all I can do it keep up with work, the kid, and the house. Plus, in light of said craziness at work, there hasn't been too much of note going on at home. I know you all miss my rambling (and the pictures, yes, the pictures), but trust me; you missed nothing.

What have we been doing? Well, Jon and I (okay, mostly Jon) have started in full-tilt on the upstairs bathroom again. His dad is available to help with tiling tomorrow, so we needed to have the bathroom "tile-ready" before Nana and Pa (or NanaPa as Maddie used to refer to them) arrive. Therefore, Jon cut and is currently laying down the last of the backerboard for the shower, the floor, and the odd 80s-style step in front of our tub. Wednesday and Thursday night were spent painting, which is one of the few remodeling projects I can help with. Dear readers, I am so sore! The bathroom is the only room in the house with vaulted ceilings, so painting it involved screwing a roller onto a broom handle and seeing how high I can make it go. Also, I'm not tall. (Chris Stoppel, I want you to note that I just said I wasn't tall. I am not short. Average height! Anyway...) Tonight we went and bought about three tons of tile, so by tomorrow, I'm hoping the floor and shower wall will be taking shape.

On the Maddie front, she's still talking up a storm. Yesterday, she said what I think has got to be her longest complete sentence to date: I saw a man walking a doggy. Not the most scintillating material, I'll grant you, but still, long. Sadly, she's continuing her streak of getting up ridiculously early. It seems like once a week, she sleeps in until about 7:30, and the rest of the week, we're lucky if she's still in bed at 6 a.m. Luckily, she's cute, or we might have to sell her. (What? Maybe there are some people who'd like an adorable, curly-headed alarm clock. People who like to get up really early all the time.)

All right, lovelies, I'm going to wrap this up and enjoy what's left of my evening off, but I promise some pictures or videos or something soon. Have a good weekend! --A