Can you hear that? Its the sound of pencils being sharpened and To Do lists being written out! I would write mine out too but there are only two big projects on the agenda this year: renovate the basement and create a big girl room for Chloe.

We've been slow on the start of the basement but we've been waiting for our contractor to become available and then we've gone back and forth on the scope and price. There's just some things we can't bear to pay for (like $2200 for painting? No way! Where's my paintbrush?!!) Now things are just falling into place and demo should start next week. I'll give you a proper tour of the "before" basement, complete with the never-before-seen "Van Gogh" bathroom (yes, the Monet wasn't the only masterpiece I had in my home!). This part of the process is so thrilling to me. Okay, I'm not a fan of all the demo dust and debris but seeing a big empty space down to the studs sure is exciting!

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And before we jump into the chaos, I'll take one more deep breath and remember how relaxed we were on our Christmas vacation in the Mayan Riviera. Here's the wee one with her toes in the sand. Ahhhhhh!