The Only Sin

In case you were wondering, it's hanging onto the past when change is afoot.  And change is heartily within our midst.  The flyskim dad is on the verge of being released from the hospital, but our usual residences are 653 miles apart.  To say the least, this makes keeping an eye on him while he continues to recover from his bilateral pneumonia a little difficult, not to mention coordinating and being involved in his upcoming cancer treatments.  So, the population of chez flyskim will be expanding by one come the end of November.

It was a difficult decision for my usually independent and active dad to make, but in the end, it makes the most sense for all of us.  He'll have people he can rely on if he needs help in the future, and we'll be able to spend as much time with him as possible.  We understand that there are a lot of stresses involved in becoming a multigenerational home, particularly when our home really isn't built for three adults and two cats, but we're going to make it work.  This is something that Mr. flyskim and I have been planning for a couple of years now, so we're not coming into this without a plan.  And that plan?  Involves a lot of changes to our house.

Because of his health, we don't want the dad climbing the stairs to the upstairs bedroom (currently serving as my sewing room), so he'll take the master bedroom downstairs, as well as our current office space, which is attached to the master.  We hope that this additional personal space will help make the transition easier for him. 

I don't think that there is anything that will make the transition easier for the rest of us.  Mr. flyskim and I will be moving into the former guest room/sewing space.  The room is small and doesn't really have any closet space.  We plan to put up a hanging rack and use as much underbed storage as possible.  We're also going to be paring down our wardrobes.  This move is only temporary, and the boy cat will be overjoyed because there are few places in our house that he loves more than the upstairs bedroom.  It's his room, as far as he's concerned, and now he'll get to sleep there every night with his people.

The rest of the upstairs is a very basic half bath that is large enough to be a full bath and a large but unfinished attic space.  Our plan is to turn this into a third bedroom that will be much larger than our current guest room and to finally turn the half bath into a full bath.  The only problem is that we will have to wait to start this until next spring when the Portland weather improves, so we're in close quarters until then.  Of course, given that Mr. flyskim and I will be camping in the living room once the construction starts, close quarters doesn't seem quite so bad.  We may also have to evacuate the cats to my sister-in-law's basement during the construction.  They already have two cats, three dogs and a teenager, so I'm not sure they'll even notice.

Not our attic, but you get the idea.

So, close quarters, no space to sew, camping in our own home which will be a disaster area, a possible lack of pets and a dad who will be undergoing regular chemotherapy.  They really got it right when they said that living in interesting times is a curse. 
But you know what would be worse?  (Other than my dad not being here to move in at all?)  Fighting that this is what needs to happen (there are a number of factors that I have not explained that led to our conclusion that this is the only workable solution which include, among other things, a 92-year-old grandmother and a twin brother who cause my dad far too much stress, my being an only child, financial planning based on "what if" and not on what is, and additional contributing medical issues).  Just accepting that this is the right decision for all involved makes things a lot less stressful, and it gives me something to plan and do.

The good news?  Since I've been in California, Mr. flyskim completed the window seat staining and did the last few items left on the kitchen remodel checklist, so those projects are officially completed (except for the kitchen curtains which I will begin in December).  Many pictures to come once I get back home to photograph.  And even though my family has really not caught a break in the stress arena since 2010, and 2012 will come with its own set of challenges, it's comforting to go into the year with an idea of what could go wrong instead of being completely blind.

So what's going to happen around here?  Well, sewing on the dining room table, for one thing.  Given all of the changes, I really need a pretty new dress for Thanksgiving.  Either Vogue 1191:

I have a great raisin-colored wool jersey for this one.  My fitting skills may not be up to this pattern

or Vogue 8685.

I have an Anna Sui stable knit that has a birdcage print earmarked for this one, but it may be too similar to last year's dress.

There will also be a detailed view of what happens to a family when they rip the top of their house off in a desperate bid for more space (this is assuming that we can afford it).  Once everyone gets settled and the holidays are over, we'll be hiring an architect and drawing up plans.  Then the work will start and all hell will break loose.  I was just whining about feeling like we always lived in the middle of a half-finished project, and now, because we're positive that remodeling the upstairs will require a lot of sweat equity on our part, my house is going to turn into one giant half-finished project just as two things on our already long list got completed.  Oh, and we're landscaping the backyard.  I could seriously have a breakdown.  I may have to film that because inquiring minds may want to know.  Stay tuned.