The Porter Crew: December 2011

About two weeks ago, I asked Ryan, with much trepidation, "Do you want me to do Christmas cards this year?" His immediate response was, "No!!" I was quite relieved! I feel guilty as I get other families' cards in the mail, kids smiling, grown so much from the year before! We had decided to be an every-other-year Christmas card family, but even though this was the year to send them out, we had too much going on at our house to do one more thing.
So what do we have going on? Well, several months ago, I told Ryan that I would really love to get laminate flooring put down upstairs in all the bedrooms -- eventually, at some point down the road. My grandmother Jan Jan just had her whole house done earlier this year, and it was so beautiful that it started my wheels turning. We had carpet upstairs that had been installed probably when the house was built, so between several owners, kids and pets, it was pretty nasty. (We have an ornery, old cat who didn't use the litter box at all times, so you do the math!) This fall, Ryan was asked to coach the 8th grade girls basketball team. He already coached the 8th grade football team, as well as varsity baseball, so this put him busy year round. When he asked what I thought, I, in turn, asked, "Could we get the floors done if you agree?" And here we are -- we had the bedrooms redone in laminate, and the hall and stairs redone with new carpet. The floors were started Monday and finished Wednesday. We had packed up everything except the furniture, so we have been busy unpacking and rearranging since then. I finished wrapping presents last night (Wednesday), and we will be opening them tomorrow (Friday) before leaving for Mississippi. Our floors are such a blessing though, and I have been thanking the Lord that we could actually do them. They were a huge investment, but at least we can enjoy them for years to come, Lord willing! Oh, and the ornery kitty -- due to all the commotion, her tummy was not quite right, and she vomited twice on the floors. The clean- up was so easy that I cannot complain, only sympathize with poor Kitty.
Merry Christmas everyone!!