The Vanity is Coming! The Vanity is Coming! And another life change.

Whoooie, folks.  What can I say!  Vanity!

That vanity for our master bathroom I have been SO longing for is BUILT, thanks to the fantastic Sirens construction guys.  I am indebted for sure.  Though I hear a couple cases of beer will make them quite happy.

Here it is all loaded up in my car and waiting to come home with me.  Good thing Mike has the day off and is at home gathering strength....ahem.  Rest up, babe!

And here the carpenters didn't believe me when I said it would easily fit in my cutie little Rabbit.  Pfft, silliness.  

That plywood box-ish thing on the right there is the form the guys built for me for the concrete countertop.  They also built a cutout moveable insert thingamajig for me to screw into the form to block out the concrete for the sink area.

There's the stain color, Varathane's Gunstock.  The guys even poly'ed up the whole cabinet for me too!  I say, they sure are nice to me over there in that construction department.  *blush*

I am not gonna lie -- knowing that the vanity cabinet is in the general, round-a-bout kinda close-ish vicinity of our bathroom is going to make me insanely insanely anxious to finish the project.  Did I mention, insanely anxious?  Yes, insanely anxious.

But, as restlessly wide-eyed as I may be to get it installed, I have to take a deep breath, calm down, shake the wiggles off and be emphatically methodical with this countertop.  Which is hard for me to do.  I usually plow into a project head first, guns a-blazin', roarin' on fire, let's get this baby done!

I've been doing some (ok, reams of) reading on how best to accomplish this little DIY concrete countertop as it's a new-to-me adventure.  Sure, I made those little soap dishes (which I will get back to) and I have no issues with mould making so I'm not a complete buffoon.  It can't be that hard.

At the same time, there are lots of involved tutorials, loads of sites with reading material, tips, tricks, pointers, how-to's, lots of love as well as lots of hate out there in the world in regards to concrete counters.  Types of concrete, the process, the steps, sealers, waxes, this that, the other thing, don't do this, watch out for that, blah blah blah.....

Don't worry, I'll share appropriate links when the time comes.

The guys made the form using some nicer grade plywood so I need to decide if I am sealing the daylights out of it somehow to avoid plywood patterns or get some melamine instead.  Then I need to map out my steps, get all the necessary materials and supplies, get organized and go.  I have to view this project kinda like baking;  take your time, follow the recipe, and you'll get the correct results.

But, I was SO excited about loading up the cabinet into my car for its happy-tears trip home, I just had to share with you.  I so hate our current vanity.  So hate.  And hate is a strong word I avoid using, my friend.

So right, since I was last here, our lives have changed again.  We have a new member of the family.

Meet Finn, everyone.

Yes, he is absolutely ginormous.  He is fantastic.  So sweet and so gentle.  He's about a year and a half old, we were told.  He's super lovey dovey, in puppy heaven at our house, and is coming out of his scared shell daily.

We heard his heartbreakingly awful story from a coworker of Mike's, then saw his terrified face in a photo, then had numerous discussions, some very teary, and came to the conclusion that we should meet this boy.  His previous owners were evicted from their apartment and literally left this guy behind.  Shut the door and walked away.  After an undetermined amount of time, he was discovered by the landlord.  Terrible.  Those people.....well...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, right?

Honestly?  I am a million ways topsy turvy all over the map mentally and emotionally.  I think I have experienced every emotion known to man in the last four days, usually within seconds of each other or overlapping and always with great intensity.  I do have a sense of being "ready" if you will, obviously because Finn is with us now and forever, but as my mom and Mike have astutely pointed out, I will never feel 100% ready.  Not today, not in five years, not in ten, not ever.  But there is room in my heart for more love.

I miss Hailey in the worst way.  I cry all the time still.  The slightest thing sends the eye moisture stuff into overdrive, dam bursting mode.  I grieve for her, the pain is crushing, and I am profoundly sad.  As my brother pointed out, bringing Finn into our lives will not diminish Hailey's importance nor lessen her memory.  True; he's right.  I am glad Finn is with us, I do feel excitement.  We did the right thing.  I have to admit though, this is hard.

Hailey is my soul puppy.  She will still be mentioned here, photos of her shared.  Our house, our flip being "flipped" is the house she built.  I dedicated this blog to her.  I will always love her.

Two of Hailey's favorite things:  car rides and sunroofs.

See the installed vanity by clicking here.