Patience Please

Nope. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the pictures of the final outcome of the kitchen project. We still have a few more things to put away. I'm shooting for Saturday. Pictures on Saturday and maybe I'll post on Sunday morning. So, stay tuned.
Tonight's entry is a public exhalation. A virtual sigh, if you will. An acknowledgment that the last few weeks have been really tough but I'm on the other side of it. Ironically, not because of the kitchen but rather other problems that I've had to work out in my head. Don't worry, everything's fine. The family is great, life is good - even with the construction and the chaos. It's just that sometimes, there are things that you need to work out in your own head. And your partner or you friend can listen to you and even offer advice but ultimately, you're the one who has to decide how you want to handle your problem. And that's where I've been. One of my new favorite slogans is "everything is a passing memory". Nothing is permanent. The pain or anger or frustration that I was feeling was a passing memory - it's already gone. And every time the fear popped up in my mind, I reminded myself that it was simply a passing memory and the anxiety faded. So, this post is all about me feeling at peace with myself and my newfound tool for redirecting my focus so I can let go of the things that weigh me down.
Everything is a passing memory. My new mantra.

Oh! The Suspense!

Oh the pictures are coming, don't you worry. It's just that I decided to wait a bit until everything is put back together before I post the pictures. Call it an unveiling if you will. Or, in reality television, it's called The Reveal. There are still a few little things to do. Plumbing the sink, for instance. Oh, that's a big one and it's in process. After that, the new light fixture goes in and then we'll begin to put the room back together. We're close, so close.

As you know, we've had to do a lot of eating out due to this project. Luckily, Jack and Dean have demonstrated that they are delightful dining companions and I can honestly say that every outing with them has been not just bearable but enjoyable. Even when it's been just me and them.

Alright, well Tom just walked in the door with a bag full of In 'N Out burgers so off I go.

More later...

Polishing it off

They've been working on installing my countertop now for the last 2 hours. The first two pieces went on so easy - POP! and there they were. But the other piece, the big piece with the sink? Not so simple. Our walls? They are not square. No, no, no. They are decidedly unsquare. They had to shave off a bit here, sand off a bit there. A bit more here and a bit more there. A shimmy and a shake. More shaving and sanding. Finally, that sucker went in. And now they're sanding and polishing the top so its purty. And it is. It is purty. I like it. I can't wait to put the new pulls on the cabinets and clean all the shelves and connect the plumbing for the sink and wash all my dishes and put everything back in the cabinets and on top of the cabinets and vacuum my floor and remove the pile 'o crap from my dining table which is in the middle of the living room blocking the boys' most precious toys and generally driving me crazy with all the clutter and chaos!
I seriously thought all that in my head with only one breath.
But, I must be patient because there is so much to do before that can be done.
First, Kate needs some attending to. She was spayed one week ago today and her incision is looking a bit weepy so off to the vet we go. As soon as these nice gentlemen leave.
Pictures of my beautiful new countertop will be forthcoming.

Addendum: Kate's fine. The vet says her incision is healing beautifully and that she doesn't need to wear the cone anymore. And that's good because she could not figure out how to navigate with that thing on her head. I can't tell ya how many times she has run into a door jamb or a wall and just stopped and stood there because she couldn't figure out what stopped her.

Quick Kitchen Update

The interruption in programming is due to extreme busyness at work punctuated by chaotic, dustyness (new word?) at home. I have updates to share but not enough time to download the pictures. I painted the ceiling in the kitchen on Sunday and did the walls yesterday morning. All it needs now is the countertop and that is being installed tomorrow. WOO HOO! I cannot wait to clean my cabinets and put everything back in!
I painted the dining room yesterday and realized we picked the wrong color. After I got 2 coats on it. Boo Hoo. It's a pretty color but it's too close to the kitchen color so it's too much of the same darn color. Ah well.

More to come . . .

Weekend playtime

We had really nice weather last weekend and the boys wanted to go swimming. This was the best we could do on short notice.

Six Steps and a Long Term Goal

As I promised here, I am outlining today what I plan to do in response to Lotus' challenge to contribute to the cleaning up of the planet (or at least my tiny part of it).

1. I will keep a trash bag and gloves in my car so I never have an excuse to not pick up trash when I see it.
2. I will walk a lap around the track after my run in the morning and pick up all the trash I see.
3. I will continue buying my fruits and vegetables from local farmers at my Farmer's Market.
4. I will make a conscious effort to buy other grocery items (such as meat and dairy) from within a 100 mile radius of where I live.
   
5. I will use those cool mesh bags for my produce that I saw here.
6. Once a month, I will take the boys to the park/beach/hiking and pick up trash while they play.
7. I have a long term goal to grow a vegetable garden so I can be somewhat self-sustaining but it may have to wait for a different yard.

I think that's a good start, right?

More about the kitchen

Here's where we left off, right? There was a door in the middle of our dining room. In years past, there used to be a wall that ran from the kitchen to that door and to the right of that door, was a laundry room. To the left was the dining room. Back then, it probably made sense to have a door there. I guess. Anyway, someone tore that wall down and left the door there. It was on our to-do list when we moved into the house and here we are, 6 1/2 years later, doing it.

And here it is, done. The taping, plastering, sanding, replastering, sanding, etc. is being done today. As promised, cabinets and appliances were re-installed yesterday and we finally begin to see how it will all work together.

In other news, I'm ridiculously stressed out about work (shouldn't be doing this now but procrastinating the real stuff) and starting to have the free-floating anxiety again. Woo hoo. Hives will be showing up any minute. Because, you know how that helps the stress level.

Charlie Bit Me

Go see this video because it cracked me up! I am amazed though that the older brother handled himself so well.

Charlie

A Floor!

The tile was laid on Monday so we went to dinner and a movie right after work so we wouldn't be tempted to walk on our new floor. We were pretty excited when we got home and saw how it looked. I couldn't wait to see how it would look with grout!


The boys were really happy to get to walk on the floor again. Dean said it was perfect for making snow angels. Wha??? Anyway, we love the color of the grout. I think it's the perfect sandy, dirty color so it will disguise the real dirt once we start using the kitchen again.

The cabinets and appliances go back in today and the company comes out on Friday to do the template for our countertop.



Also today? That door comes out and the wall gets framed in! I can't wait to see it tonight!!

Hidden Costs

of a kitchen remodel:

Thursday
Millies = $48.00

Friday
Hot's Cantina = $36.00
Penguins = $12.00

Saturday
Starbucks = $8.00
Jamba Juice = $14.00
Sizzler = $30.00

Sunday
Starbucks = $8.00
KFC = $30.00

Monday
Parking at Citywalk = $5.00
Nameless Pizza Place = $20.00
Movie Tickets = $37.00

Ultimately, the cost to our health is probably worse than the pain in our wallets. I can't wait to cook in my new kitchen!!

Dear Dean Letter

Cleaning out cabinets in preparation for demo/construction, Tom found a postcard given to Dean by one of the girls from the daycare who went to Kindergarten in Fall '07. Perhaps you recall the postcard that she wrote to Jack? This is Dean's:

Dean,

Thank you Dean for letting your brother be nice to me. I still love you.

T---

Kitchen Update

This is what we came home to on Thursday night. All appliances and base cabinets were removed and the kitchen was down to the sub floor. Most of the electrical work was done with the addition of 4 outlet boxes on the stove/fridge wall (seen below) and 3 outlet boxes on the sink wall.

Look at these beautiful boys amid the devastation!

Ok, then we got home on Friday night. All the electrical was complete, including 2 new outlet boxes in the dining room and 2 new phone jacks - one in the kitchen and one in the living room. Makes a big difference since we won't have to have phone line threaded all over the house! The drywall was in place and the arduous task of tape, plaster, dry, sand, repeat - had begun. The wonderboard is on the floor ready for tile. The cabinets are in place but not installed yet. It's supposed to rain this weekend so it's too risky to store the cabinets outside as we have been. So that's the latest. We have a birthday party to go to soon and then we'll go look at tile for the wall behind the stove. Jack desperately wants to clean and dust (me too) but we're making him wait until the construction is done. The work is stalled until Monday so no updates until Tuesday!

Holy Gutted Kitchen Batman!