It's been a long and emotional week.

Last Thursday I went on an office retreat to Kingston, Ontario, the first in 10 years. At some time during our last night together, one of my colleagues died in her room. It still seems surreal to me and I keep expecting to see her around the coffee machine so that we can continue updating each other on our ongoing renovations. Also surreal since she seemed fine during the retreat - dancing and socializing the last night on a lake cruise, though complaining of an upset stomach and headache. I can only hope that she is in a better place and that her children will grow up keeping their wonderful memories of their Mom. Glenna's funeral will be held tomorrow.

The other emotionally exhausting event was Jakob's tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (I have no idea if that's an actual word) yesterday. The surgery went well but I didn't expect the near-violent reaction to the anesthesia and morphine cocktail. When I entered the room he was awake and being held on to by three nurses while he yelled and thrashed and tried to pull out his IV. I rushed over and held on to him, murmuring sweet nothings against his face but nothing would calm him. Thankfully more drugs inserted in to the IV had him finally knock off to sleep after about two hours of yelling. I held him tight and then lay down in the hospital bed with him. When I finally felt confident enough to get out of the bed, I had such a migraine. Thank God I still had my baggy of pills left over from the retreat so I popped a couple of extra strength advil to take the edge off and then downed cup after cup of coffee.

Today I went to work while Paul stayed home with Jake and I was exhausted, cranky and barely able to speak to anyone. And then I donated blood. Now, I'm drinking wine. Yes, yes I know, STUPID. But as the Globe & Mail so thoughtfully pointed out on Saturday: mother's of young children drink more. Of course we do, didn't have to pay for a survey to come up with that conclusion.

So on to the house. Much has happened and I love that when ever I enter I see progress. Of course as always changes are being made and the end result of the house is moving further and further away from what I envisioned. And unfortunately some last minute changes are not what I would have chosen, but not being at the house during the moments of decision (instead being home with the kids and DRINKING) I lose the vote to Paul and John.

One exciting bit of news is that the bathtub has FINALLY been installed - after what, 3-4 weeks after it was delivered. Plumping, wiring is currently being worked on. The outside colours have been chosen so the siding and stucco will begin soon. I feel like I can (almost) confidently say that we are now slightly beyond the half way point. John just stopped by with stucco samples for us to choose from, must decide TONIGHT so that he can provide a sample tomorrow. I can do that, probably one of the easier decisions to make. Now I wish we'd asked to have concrete quoted like on my office building. It looks amazing and is the look I'm desperately trying to emulate with the stucco. If I could only do this over again, knowing what I know now.

Truth be told, all I really want to do is recreate my office environment within the context of my house. I love my office building and interior, couldn't care less about the work, but the office and the espresso machine gets me in happily every morning.