I know some of you are itching for details about the house coming, and even moreso for some interior stuff, but I really want to document the basement.

While the trips to Warman to see our house were so fun, it was the ground breaking that made it real for me.  About a month ago they dug our basement and I’ve never been so excited about dirt and cement before.

How many times over the years had I looked out over that field and squinted my eyes to imagine seeing our home there?  And now it had finally begun.

My dear husband literally got greyer hair over the course of that week, though. It had been Saskatchewan’s snowiest winter on record.  (And when Saskatchewan breaks snowfall records, we’re talking A LOT of snow.)  It just kept falling, and falling, and falling, well into the end of April.  And it was cold too.  There were predictions of flooding of epic proportions.  Not exactly what you want to hear when you have a house scheduled to come in mid-June, and need your basement dug stat.

But God knew.  And even though the cold winter chill lingered far longer than any of us thought we could bear, beneath it all the snow slowly and  efficiently melted into the ground meaning that there was, in fact, no flooding where we lived.  The basement could go ahead, but we needed it dug NOW.

Fortunately my father-in-law’s close friend, Roy, owns an excavation company and they were ready to jump in as soon as they could.  And Sean’s friend, Matt, works for a basement and foundation company that was able to get to us in a timely manner.  (In fact, maybe so timely that the RM and the building permits were playing a bit of catch-up.) 

So, like I said, between flood-watch, excavation, building permits, inspections, last-minute revisions of the drawings, mortgage stuff, foundation pouring, utility applications… etc. etc. (all while finishing tax season and beginning seeding) Sean’s hair actually got greyer over the course of a week.  Poor guy.

But it happened.  God took care of the details.  Some key people stepped in and got things done.  My smart, capable husband worked things out.

And we got to celebrate.

We thought the excavation would be on the Saturday, but Sean got a call on Tuesday that they could start that day.  After working in the morning I whipped up a picnic lunch, rushed to the farm, and we waited and watched for the “digger” to break ground.

It was 27 degrees celsius that day.  Super hot for May.  But there were still piles of snow left on the ground.  Oh, Saskatchewan.  A memorable day, indeed.

The excavation was done that day, and when we went out for supper that night with friends, Sean received a call asking if the basement crew could start the next day.  Um… yeah!

The basement guys worked really efficiently, and before we knew it we were looking at footings.

Then walls.

We took a lot of walks to go visit our basement.

We couldn’t wait to put all of the pieces together and see our house there.

Yesterday I wrote about the plan I had to give a makeover to an old 80’s coffee table (that I bought for $30 on UsedRegina) into a beautiful contemporary one - something like this one from Restoration Hardware:

(Brickmaker’s Table from Restoration Hardware) 

RH boasts of the romantic, historical background of its “reclaimed wood” furniture.  And of the bajillions of reclaimed/barn-board/upcycled wood projects out there on the internet these days, I felt this one should serve as a bit of a reality check.  So, no big makeover reveal today - it’s coming.  First, let me tell you the story behind my coffee table’s reclaimed wood…

Coffee Table Copycat - Episode 1:

Sourcing Reclaimed Wood

It sounds so lovely, doesn’t it? “Reclaimed wood”.  Ah… just picture yourself reclaiming some wood with me, please:

You walk through slender waving grass in a buttercup-dotted pasture behind a stately old red barn.  And there you find it - a stack of strong, beautiful old boards that tell stories of decades gone by.  As you pick one up and run your fingers over its wavy grain you see a bird land on a fence post nearby.  The bird smiles at you, as if to say, “Hey.  Thanks for caring about the environment.” You feel good about your choice, and you smile confidently at the trees growing overhead, knowing they get to live because you’re going to reuse.  You carefully load up your bundle of character-laden, beautiful wood and set off to create.  And the sun shines.

Yeah, so it’s not really like that.

To be honest - when I planned my coffee table I didn’t think much about where or how I would get the rustic wooden top.  I live in the prairies - there are weathered old boards all over the place.  I figured my husband could go out the farm and throw a few nice old boards in the back of the Jeep and we’d be peachy.

Ahem.

Until he told me they didn’t have anything.  So I asked my dad for ideas (he is equal parts thrifty/creative/borderline hoarder) and he suggested getting old floorboards from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  Good call, Dad!  But when he went looking they said they don’t carry them anymore because they’re structurally unsound and some had lead paint on them.  Party poopers.  I asked my dad if he could keep an eye out for some old shipping pallets.  This is when Sean realized I had not really communicated what I wanted.  ”Oh, like old ugly pallets are OK?” he asked.  

“Yes!”  

“Oh, we’ve got a bunch of those.”

I knew it.

So we drive out behind the barn, past the grain bins to find a great pile of pallets - silvery grey and weathered.  And they’re lined with a gorgeous array of hoar frost gleaming in the bright January sun.  Perfect.  

My husband pulls out the hammer and the crow bar.  Hmm.  Oh yeah.  I guess we can’t just pile the crates in the back of the Jeep, we’ll have to take the boards apart.  He starts reefing on the boards, and the cranky wrenching sound of old nails being torn from old boards fills the air.  The cattle begin to stare at us.  

As he tries to pull them off, the old weakened boards crackle, split, and splinter.  It is not going well.  And yes, it’s sunny, but jeepers is it cold!  My husband starts to grimace.  I realize very quickly that this experience would have been exponentially more terrible in our first year of marriage:

I would have been an erratic sobbing mess, spewing between “You don’t understand/care/support my creative endeavours!” and guiltily apologizing non-stop for what a terrible task this is.  Meanwhile he would become a silent, but fuming, mess of aggravation/confusion/mystification (at my spectacle) and that male-only emotion called “this girl is crying.  Why is she crying.  I have no idea what to do right now.”

But fast forward.  We are wiley veterans with nearly seven years of marriage under our belts.  And we know better.  I stand back, quiet.  I observe my husband and try to pick up on cues.  Should I hold that board?  Should I get out of the way?  I hold my tongue.  Meanwhile he does not let frustration get the better of him by mercilessly beating the snot out of a pile of wood with a crowbar.  He persists.  And he tries different approaches, all the while knowing that though he doesn’t understand why this is important to me, it is important, so he will do his best.  

Sensing he needs some space, or perhaps a new approach, I take a little walk.  I find a pile of boards mostly buried in several feet of crusty old snow.  I try a few boards to see if they’ll come loose from the frozen, tangled mass.  They do.  And they’re lovely.  Thick, weathered, with tons of character.  Some are rough sawn, others have gorgeous woodgrain patterns, and all have the patina of age.  But most importantly, they require no crowbar.  I call Sean over, and after convincing him that these boards will work (and are in fact better) he tosses the hammer and crowbar and gladly helps me gather a few boards of similar thickness, and appropriate length.

The romance of “reclaimed wood” was further dispelled as we waded through the piles of old barn boards:  

“Hmm, do you think this is lead paint on this one?”  

“Do you think this pattern is from years of pigeon crap?”  

“Hmm… do termites die when it’s this cold or do you think they’re sleeping inside this board?”

“Can you get the crowbar and chip the frozen cow poop off of this one?”

But soon we had what we thought were enough boards jammed in the trunk of the Jeep, and we were done.

So now as you peruse Pinterest BEWARE!  All of those cute “look what I did with an old shipping pallet” projects are not necessarily easy.  And the stories of 100-year-old barn wood, or antique factory floorboards - they sound nice.  You just probably don’t want to be the one chipping off frozen cow poop, or scrubbing off lead paint.

Here are a couple tips for you, if you’re still planning on using old wood for a project:

-Look boards over carefully for signs of bugs, mold, old paint (may be toxic lead paint), or rotting.  

-Make sure you try to find boards that are fairly straight, and of a similar thickness.

-Bring a measuring tape to make sure you find the right length of boards

-Take a few more boards than you think you need so that you have some options when you get around to laying them out.

-Do not attempt to “reclaim” any barn boards in the first year (or two) of marriage.

Now, tomorrow, I’ll show you what I did with these hard-earned beauties…

(All photos by me.)

**UPDATE: See how I constructed the table here, and see the finished table here!**

Hey there.

My name is Justine.  In case you forgot about me.  I blog here.  In theory, anyways.

I thought I should check in with you all and let you know that I’m still alive.  And still have every intention of continuing to blog here - I just need to take care of life as it demands first. Consider this a bit of a blog sabbatical.  A “blogbattical”, I like to say.  (Because I’m a nerd who often makes up words inserting “blog”)

So I’ll be back.  Maybe this week.  Maybe in a month or two.  I do miss this terribly, but other things are a little higher on the to-do list these days, like:

• enjoying every minute I can with my two beautiful children.
• spending every moment I can with my kind and gorgeous husband.
• enduring every stressful second of raising a baby (I don’t do the baby stage well, unfortunately, and right now she’s teething like a… um… like a baby getting 4 teeth all at once.)
• surviving serious sleep deprivation. (Example above.  Not so good with the creativity these days.  Actually not so good with the thinking in general.  It’s been a bad stretch the last few weeks between Baby L being up, Little M waking through the night, and my own bit of insomnia thrown in.)
• cleaning my house.  This is an impossible, never-ending task with a  two-year-old tearing around.  I want to go back in time and say to the pre-kids me, “Just clean your house.  It’ll take no time at all.  It’s so eeeeeasy.  And it won’t be when you have a two-year-old.”
• blogging.  Wait.  What?  Oh, not here.  Over at UsedEverywhere.  Straight up, folks, I get paid for that.  And not for this.  So.  (Tell me how to feature ads, and then pay me to advertise cool stuff.  Not dumb stuff.  And then my blog will start making money.  And then blogging will move up my to-do list.  Cool.  Good idea.) ;)
• home projects.  Whoa baby, when I DO start blogging again I have some cool stuff to show you.  I’ve been chipping away at many projects (with the help of our team of free babysitters.  Family and in-laws rock, peeps).  Hopefully in the new year I’ll have a bit of a living room tour with some major changes we’ve made(and are making), followed by dining room and bedroom.  hopefully.
• church stuff.  Sean and I are teaching grades 4-5 Sunday school together this year and I’m loving it.  I’ve worked with these kids since they were tiny, and it’s so good to stay involved with them, even on my maternity leave.  Plus mom’s group, and my sweet care group.
• Aaand that’s kind of life right now.  Oh!  And another reason my blogging’s been slow this fall?  My computer was broken.  But I got my Christmas gift from Sean early, and this it’s inaugural blog post.  It’s big, and silver, and has a cute little apple on it.  (Traded in the macbook pro for an iMac.  A desktop makes more sense to me with growing kiddos around.)

SO!  check back in a while, OK?  I promise I will too.  And if you’ve only recently started following my blog, a big fat apology.  I’m not usually this lame.

I consider last week an initiation into a new stage of parenthood: Sean and I ventured out on our first week-long family vacation with two little ones.  We learned a lot.  We laughed a lot.  Both Sean and Micah had no clean pants left by Wednesday.  (I’ll spare you the details, but if you’re reading this, good Calgary Harvey’s employee, my apologies for the one incident.)  We had a very excited two-year-old who only threw up twice,  a poor three-month-old who was introduced to the perils of teething, and two twenty-something parents realizing how much their lives had changed.

We visited old friends, older friends, the zoo, shopping hot spots, and my kids’ great great grandma.  And by the end of the week I found myself marvelling at the patience, resilience, and kindness of my husband (whom I dubbed “Super Dad”).  It was a great week.

 And we visited our house.  Sort of.  In the Spring we found out that we have permission to subdivide the farmland to create a spot to build our house.  Shortly after that Sean and I agreed upon a house plan.  Last week we were able to visit a showhome model of the plan we like.  (And if any of you have ever bought a home from a floorplan, you may understand what an incredible opportunity it is to see the actual space beforehand!)

It was great to see how big the windows are, how the ceiling peaks, the size of closets, or how the rooms flow.  It was also great to meet our sales lady and know that our “hunch” about her being awesome and knowledgeable was absolutely right.  It was nice to inspect the craftsmanship up close.  And it was delightful to stand in the rooms and dream a little bit.

So, now we have a lot of other things to do before we begin building… but it sure is nice to have a specific space to plan!  Woo hoo!

Sometimes when you’re a mom you get no sleep.  And by sometimes, I mean all the time (at least in my experience so far).  Well, you usually get some sleep - just not the amount you used to get, or want to have, or is medically recommended.  And then sometimes you really get no sleep.  Luckily Baby L’s been a bit better than her big brother was, and allows me more sleep than he did.  But she’s a baby.  And babies can’t feed themselves, work out their own gas, turn over, take off a blanket when too hot, and sometimes (my babies, anyways) can’t even fall asleep on their own.  So.  That sucks.  And I have to do it for her.  And last night was one of those nights where she needed a whole bunch of all of that.

Last week I had one of those nights too.  Plus she continued her fussiness all day.  Plus her big brother decided to be way overtired and put up a legendary rebellion against nap time, eating, house rules, and all things “mommy”.  And I had no wits about me (due to lack of sleep) to handle this well. This resulted in all of us crying.  Numerous times.  And a messy house.  And no supper made.  And Daddy coming home early.  (What a good Daddy.  Have I bragged about him lately?  Because he’s AH-mazing.)  Luckily the day was saved.  In thanks to Daddy.  

And also thanks to a dear friend who took me for a smoothie and sat on a sunny park bench with me while we poured out our hearts to each other.  I cried more - but good tears this time.  And I was reminded once again how good it is to have hope.  As we shared with each other we also reminded each other of our Good God who will see us through and provide what we need for today and tomorrow.  We also spent time praying together.  And we moved on - not just having vented raw emotion, but also being encouraged, strengthened, and determined to go forward for His glory.  What a blessing.  And I learned that I will need to be intentional, especially when sleep is sparse, to live for His glory for my children’s benefit.

And today?  As the wee morning hours rolled along towards daybreak and I realized sleep would not be a part of my near future, I braced myself.  I resolved not to flounder in hopeless frustration.  I prayed that God would strengthen me.  Help me think clearly.  Help me look beyond myself.  Help me love my children with patience.  Teach with gentleness.  And focus on what matters.  I knew I needed to intentionally work hard today to be compassionate.

So.  At the end of the day: the house is still a mess.  Sean took us out for supper, because nothing was ready.  The “To-Do” list was not even glanced at.  But I did spend time praying with my children.  I did make time to play.  I did snuggle, and hug, and kiss whenever needed.  I was able to be silly.  I did (endlessly!) hold a tired and sick baby girl.  I did have a dance party with a silly little boy.  They did eat.  They did nap. We did sit in the sunshine.  We did read some books.  And so, I guess today was a success after all.

Now.  Enough blogging.  I’d better get to bed!

Woke up this morning
Fed my baby girl
Laid her back down in peaceful sleep
Just like the rest of my family
Ate some cereal in peace and quiet
Enjoyed some of God’s word
Dressed in my cute new skirt
Walked to church with my beautiful family
The sun shone warmly
The breeze relieved us in the heat
Greeted the beautiful faces of friends
(The family of God - how I love them)
Sang my heart out
Listened to the pastor and delighted in God’s might and goodness
Prayed my baby girl and little boy would be courageous to obey the Lord
Delighted in the fellowship of God’s people
Walked home
Laughed with my amazing husband at our funny little boy
Put on shorts
Changed some diapers
Finished packing our lunch
Drove to the park
Ate strawberries, sandwiches and Fudgee-os together
Watched my husband and son play soccer together
Cherished the sound of my son’s voice
Relished the sunshine
Laughed at my husband and son wrestling in the grass
Held my baby girl close
Remembered an old song “it’s days like this I realize/ what a gift it is/ it’s good to be alive”
Praised my Father
Squeezed our whole family onto one small blanket
Laid down and looked for birds and airplanes in the blue sky beyond the treetops
Cleaned up our mess
Picked up slur pees on the way home
Turned on the Blue Jays game (the soundtrack for summer, I think)
Tucked my boy in for a nap
Loved that he wanted hugs and snuggles
Wrapped my girl in a warm blanket
Loved that she smiled in her sleep
And now it’s nap time for me too…
But I just had to take a moment
To capture
Just how good life is.

Thank you, Lord.

Well, on the blog, that is.  I’m under a month away from Baby #2’s debut, and I want to use my limited energy for my sweet boy and my wonderful man, and my home and preparing for what’s ahead.

Isn’t he just the sweetest?  Photograph by Justine Taylor

So instead of trying to blog regularly, I’ll blog for the next couple of months when the mood strikes, or the inspiration comes, or I have a pile of reblogs for you.  We’ll see how often that is!  Besides, summer’s finally here, so you should be outside, not on your computer, right? ;)  And if you’re looking good stuff, check out the archives button on the right side bar.  

Thanks for following, I’ll see you around!

-Justine

My husband’s work is very seasonal.  He is both an agricultural accountant and a farmer.  This means there are 3 critical seasons in our family life: Tax season, quickly followed (hopefully) by Seeding, and in the fall is Harvest.

My least favourite of the 3 is tax season.  Maybe because Sean is just so darn happy when he’s out farming (he likes doing taxes, but looooves driving a combine.)  Maybe it’s because seeding and harvest can have the occasional rain day for a break.  Maybe it’s  because he just looks so hot in jeans and a ball cap fresh off the tractor.  Whatever the reason, tax season is my least favourite.  But this year I’ve felt it hasn’t been so bad.  Maybe because we’re used to it now, or maybe because we’re doing better at carving out family time. Or maybe because I’ve decided that Sean’s tax season = my DIY season.  If he comes home later (in the evening) then I have more time to make a mess with my projects and clean it up by the time he’s home.  If he’s working Saturdays then I can use those days for projects.  So here are a few of the things I’ve done in the last week…

…the pieces of paper mapping out the location for an art arrangement were finally replaced with actual frames…  (You can see some good picture wall techniques here and here.)

…the sad little phone table finally got a new outfit with a glossy black paint job…

…and I finally sewed a bench cushion to bring some “doneness” to our entryway!  (though we still need to find the black hooks I hid from Little M… or he hid from me… and hang those on the wall!)

I also decided to take on our poor “flood pant” drapes.  They were the first I sewed, and were unfortunately crooked and too short.  I added a band to the bottom to bring them to floor length and even them out:

Unfortunately I was insistent on using fabric already in my stash for this project.  So I used a white bed sheet, which, even beforehand, I knew wasn’t the best idea.  Here’s why: as the edge of the drapes it’ll get dirty.  Also the sheet material is more “true” white while the drapery stripes are more off-white.  Not to mention if you’d asked me advice on what colour to use I’d have recommended a darker colour to “ground” the drapes.  And the final reason the white sheet was a bad idea?  As you can see, the bottom of the striped fabric is visible through the white fabric.  But I’m stubborn and forged ahead because I already had my sewing machine out.  I don’t hate it, but I’ll probably change it when the right fabric comes along.  Until then, however, the drapes look far less nerdy than before.

And here’s the project I’m working on tonight:

My wonderful dad built the frame for Little M’s new bed this weekend, and I’m working on upholstering it and creating a headboard!  (Based on this tutorial from Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom)  I’ll show you more when I’m all done.  

But the best part?  The cutest “helper” in the world.

photo by Corby Evenson (Our engagement pictures)

I just finished a wonderful Valentines supper with my two favourite boys.  Little M and I dressed up, and set the table with candles and paper hearts, and Little M greeted Daddy at the door with a valentine he’d coloured.  Now we’re out of our fancy duds, into our sweats, and contemplating which Blizzard flavour we’ll get when we’ve finally digested our yummy pasta dinner.

And I can’t help but marvel at how blessed I am. A home to live in, good food to eat, an adorable and fun and active little boy, another Little One on the way. And of course a dear, handsome, intelligent, funny, kind, trustworthy, and incredible man to call my husband, with whom I shared a heart-shaped pizza (meatless, he always insists on reminding me… He loved me so much he let me pick a meatless pizza) on our first date 7 years ago.  What a good 7 years it’s been.

Since we discovered that we have Little One on the way (and maybe even before that) I’ve been thinking about how to re-work the nursery.  Most notably how to change up the floor plan and storage situation so that we can fit two kids in nicely.  Also, I’ve been hunting for a toddler bed for Little M, since that would be nice to have before the Little One arrives.  From a design standpoint I wanted to integrate some new colours - particularly red - for a few reasons.  

One: I’d love to use this quilt I made on Little M’s bed.  I have more of these fabrics to make pillow cases, crib sheets, or a few other projects.

Two: Little M has some really nice storybooks displayed on his bookshelves (IKEA Ribba picture ledges) that look so sharp against the cream walls.  

And finally, three: I’ve always loooved the fabrics from the nursery good ole’ Sarah Richardson did on Design Inc. a few years ago, and thought this might be my chance to use one of them.

(photo on left from www.sarahrichardsondesign.com, photo on right is Panama San Bari Remo Flor from Designer Fabrics.)

The fabric looks green, blue, brown, grey and red in the nursery picture right?  Well I ordered the sample from Designer Fabrics and discovered it was more of a coral pink.  Which was a little disappointing, since the other colours match existing colours in the nursery perfectly.  I had hoped to use the fabric on Little M’s new upholstered bed (a plan I’m adapting from this one on Design*Sponge from Design Mom).  

But Sean’s immediate reaction was that it was too girly with the pink.  So I put the question to the masses.  The response?  Currently the masses also think the fabric’s too girly (well, 35% of them.)  But the masses can’t see what I see in my head.  I really think that if paired with true red, the thin asterisk-like stars will read as a faded red in the overall scheme.  So I’m switching my plan to put the fabric on new drapes (I love sewing drapes!) instead, and I’ll use some solid canvas material that I already have to upholster the bed.  Trust me.  It’ll work.  I really like the look of the fabric sample when I put it next to the quilt.  Sean gave me the go-ahead to use it, if I really want to.  (He was satisfied with the victory of the voters siding with him.) ;)  So here’s the plan:

Now this is a little misleading in two ways:

1. It looks darker and more colourful than it actually is.  The wall colour is a creamy white (Moonlight White from Benjamin Moore) and a lot of the other stuff (trim, doors, picture frames, lamps, shelves etc.) are white.  So I don’t think the overall effect will be quite as dramatic.

2. It looks like more of an overhaul than it actually is (i.e. expensive).  But really, I think it’s pretty doable since I’m working with a lot of stuff I already have.  The major expenses would be:

-The toddler bed.  My dad and I will build and upholster it, and if you look at the link above, it should be done for a reasonable cost.  And since I’ll be using fabric already in my stash we’ll just be paying for building materials, wood, batting, foam, and button kits.

-The rug.  This IKEA Jorun rug is my ideal.  I just like it.  Plus it’s dark and woven, so I’m hoping it’ll hide messes.  (And hey, you people still stuck on the pink stars - this rug’s pretty masculine.) :)  It’s probably the priciest purchase.  But we need a rug in there whether we change up the nursery or not, and for a rug that’s pretty affordable.

-The side tables.  For these I’m scouring Kijiji and Used Regina for nightstands, end tables, stools, piano benches, TV stands… anything that’s solid, good-looking, and the right size.  For these I’m aiming at no more than $30-40 each.  The colour or finish doesn’t matter because I’m going to paint them no matter what.  I’d love to do a great cherry red, but I’ll save that project for closer to the end.  If the red’s too much I’ll paint them cream, which would also look sharp.

-The new drapes.  I have a great method for making drapes, so I can sew them myself (huge savings for custom drapes!), I just need to buy fabric.  And since this one’s a double width fabric I don’t need to buy much.  I’ll use remaining scraps for a chair pillow, and potentially a new crib skirt.

The rest of the elements I already have: the light, the chair, all the picture frames will stay, wall colour and flooring is the same, crib and change table remain.  I’ll snag the second lamp (and spray paint it) and the art prints from my office (I’ll be on mat leave anyways).  And I’ll finally get to use the cute alphabet quilt I’ve already made, and its coordinating fabrics in my stash!  There may also be a new mobile above the crib, but that project will include nothing more than tissue paper or string, paste, balloons, and fishing line.

Here’s the floor plan: (Not to scale, but you get the idea)

We’ll move the change table into the closet to save space, and swap the locations of the chair and crib.

Here’s how I picture the overall look:

And on the other side:

So that’s the plan!  It may experience some changes along the way, but it’s a good starting point, I think.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for my daily perusal of Kijiji and Used Regina to find those perfect side tables…

Some days are full of yuckiness, and cold weather, and no parking, and dumb parking attendants, and grumpy people, and grumpy feelings, and disagreements, and feeling like crying, and whiny babies, and failed plans, and misunderstandings, and messy houses, and time-outs, and stress, and difficult decisions, and feeling dumb, and trying to be patient, and just needing to go to bed.

And then some days are full of sweet moments, and family outings, and blue skies and sunshine, and holding hands, and kisses and hugs, and yummy food, and happy well-behaved babies, and kind husbands, and good parking spots, and relaxing afternoons, and naps, and making homemade chili, and excitement over little things, and supper with friends, and decorating Christmas trees, and smiling when you go to bed.

But you know what?  In both days God is there.  And in both days God is good.  So whatever day you’re having remember that.  And if you had my yesterday, know that they won’t all be like that.