Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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December 21, 2009 by Alison Hodgson 2 Comments

Well, the good news is that, barring the hanging of the closet doors, extensive caulking and a little touch up painting, the living room is finished and a lovely delight.  I am thankful and truly surprised since I wasn’t sure how everything was going to look.  I bought a couch off Craigslist about six months ago, grabbed a wool rug half off at Lowes right before Thanksgiving, then snagged a pair of chairs off Craigslist a week after that.

 The couch spent the last month in the front entry, the chairs on opposite sides of the dining room and the rug was rolled up in the attic.  Friday night David finished up the trim and yesterday afternoon Paul and I carried everything into the living room and arranged it.

 The couch is a medium, brownish green, the chairs are a light camel and the rug is a light green, almost beige with lighter tones woven through.   I chose a cream shade for the walls with absolutely no yellow or red in it and the trim is white. The floors are bamboo with it’s natural color.

 In the weeks while we waited for the electrician, as we stared at the water-damaged tiles of the ceiling that was exposed after we removed the faux beams and first layer of drywall, I began to question the paint color.  I had been wondering about the rug since before I bought it; not sure if it would work with the floor and the couch, but decided to buy it because of the quality and the price. I knew it would get us down the road and anything was an improvement on the ancient berber it replaced.

 I thought the chairs would look good with the couch and hoped that there would be enough of a contrast with the rug, but it didn’t look hopeful.  I planned to get some pillows or throws for the chairs to bring some color into the room. 

 Late in the game of redoing this room, I realized I didn’t have, what those in the business of personal training call, “a vision to lead me through the pain of transformation,” that is, the hope that it would all be worth it.  I knew it would be better, and clean and new – which is NOTHING to sneeze at, I know – but I thought all the furnishings would look bland and boring or cold and unwelcoming.

 But when we brought everything in yesterday, it all came together and rather than being bland it’s peaceful, which is exactly the sort of space our family needs. 

 My mom, who had stopped by to accompany us to the Christmas tree farm said several times, “It feels very calm.”  That word has never been used to describe anything remotely associated with me and certainly not my décor, but she was right.  I wanted to stay and keep putting things back, but we had an appointment with the Christmas tree farm – or so we thought – and the finishing touches would have to wait.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2009/12/258/

Filed Under: Christmas, holidays, housewifery, renovation

September 14, 2009 by Alison Hodgson 1 Comment

One week is done.

Everything is going well, but Paul and I have been running the gauntlet of orientations, curriculum nights and special meetings, basically the introvert’s Olympics.
We continue with our community service/home improvement which is painting the exterior of the house.
The days have been busy.  Tomorrow is my first day home alone.  I plan to cook, write and make a lot of dog hair angels on the floor.
Once last week I asked Christopher how math had gone that day.
“It did a little bit exceed expectations.”
When I asked how, he replied, “It was somewhat reasonable and interesting.”
He has been eating lunch with a young man who has a mohawk.
“It had to be the kid with the mohawk!”  Lydia teasingly moaned.
Well yes, apparently it did.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2009/09/269/

Filed Under: neducation, renovation, rest

Twenty-first day of school

September 4, 2007 by Alison Hodgson Leave a Comment

The pool is blue! Paul and I can, once again, hold our heads high…well in this regard.

School is out. We got a late start, but worked hard and and finished early. We still haven’t moved our schoolroom back upstairs. Today I called every one up to help me carry the cedar shingles downstairs. Why did we have cedar shingles? Brace yourself. Just because walls of every sort of paneling, faux brick and faux rock were not enough, the former owners just had to have a wall of cedar shakes.

If I was that sort of blogger I would have taken extensive before pictures…I didn’t. Picture hideous and be satisfied. You can’t handle the truth. I certainly couldn’t. The kids and I are going to be redoing our schoolroom this week. A month ago they help me remove the shingles. Today we put them in the garage and tore out the carpet in the front of the room. Our upstairs is one giant 55 foot long room, but about a third of the way down there is a step up. We have the declared the schoolroom the first third and plan to take down the wallpaper, paint the paneling, the walls and the floor and, hopefully, have a skylight installed and call it good for now.

I want to do this with the kids, for this to be our project and to have fun working together. Paul and I were both taught that work is long, arduous and fraught with anger, frustration, bitterness and fear. We started to teach what we knew and then decided to learn something new. We’ve been working on our work ethic the last year. I want the kids to know that work is just another way of being together and that we all – oh dear I am beginning to sound like a bad corporate employee campaign – who cares.

What if I really believed that Together Everyone Achieves More? Seriously, what if my kids, and Paul and I really GOT that there is a work God has begun in us as this little family and that it will only be brought to fruition as we love and value each other, as we fully receive each other. That’s what I want. I want my kids to know that together we have a work, that only we get to do and I want us to look for it and then do it with joy.

Filed Under: Captain's blog, family, renovation, work

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