Thankful - Day 19

What I thought for sure was an ingrown toenail was actually only a split toenail.

Thankful - Day 18

Warm November days that allow you to put off admitting its actually winter for yet another day...

Thankful - Day 17

The hope for relief from lower back pain with the purchase of a new mattress today. Will have it within the next couple of weeks.

Thankful - Day 16

Helpful, non-pushy sales representatives. Had a great experience to at the Sleep Number Store.

Thankful - Day 15

Fridays.

Thankful - Day 14

The awesome group of guys that makes up the high school hockey team.

Thankful - Day 13

Repair technicians who actually show up somewhat close to the given window... or show up at all. Today we are 1-1 on that count.

Thankful - Day 12

For having a 100% involved co-parent in my Hubby because sometimes being a parent just sucks.

Thankful - Day 11

Holidays off from work when the kids are still in school.

Also for those who have or do serve our country so that we may enjoy the freedoms we do every day of our lives.

Thankful - Day 10

That there are women in this world who are okay with having more than two children -- especially my sister-in-law, because in a month I will have another gorgeous niece. Having more than two children is not anything I wanted, but I'm thrilled to have many nieces and nephews and godchildren!

Thankful - Day 9

Our new kitchen, which is so much more functional and way more beautiful than our old one. :)

Thankful - Day 8

A short, relatively painless commute to work (most days).

Thankful - Day 7

Diet coke.

Thankful - Day 6

My mom. She's awesome. And today is her birthday. :)

Thankful - Day 5

Our pediatrician. She's a-maz-ing. I guess she's not technically a pediatrician. She's a physician's assistant. But she can prescribe meds, so she's the only person we see at the doctor's office. Keeper Boy has only two more years that he can see her. :(

Thankful - Day 4

My hubby... he took today and tomorrow off because he has time he has to use or lose before the end of the year. He didn't realize when he chose these two days that the kids are off school, too. I loaded him up on service calls and doctor appointments for the boys. He didn't complain [too much].

Thankful - Day 3

The annual extra hour of sleep.

Thankful - Day 2

Design and computer knowledge I can use to help my parents now and again... today we finally finished a photo book from their trip to Australia. We've been working on it for over a year when they visit.

Thankful - Day 1

Back-dating the first couple of days of "Thankful month" because I forgot... doh!

Day 1
Warm weather for Trick-or-Treat... made the rain tolerable. :)

And they're off!

My parents are off again on another amazing journey... a 16-day viking passage with the following itinerary.

Set Sail:  Tuesday
Wednesday - at sea
Thursday - Stavanger,, Norway
Friday - Bergen, Norway
Saturday and Sunday - at sea
Monday - Reykjavik, Iceland  overnight and leave there Tuesday
Wednesday - at sea
Thursday -  Cruising Prince Christian Sound
Friday -  Nanortalik, Greenland / Cruising Julianehabsfjord
Saturday - at sea
Sunday -  St. John's, Newfoundland
Monday -  at sea
Tuesday -  Halifax, Nova Scotia
Wednesday - at sea
Thursday - NYC  Arrival

Kitchen Renovation: The Reveal!!

Well, everything is finally put back together and the curtain rods came in, so Hubby hung the curtains today. The only thing we don't have yet is stools for the island. But that could be awhile, so I went ahead and took pictures tonight. So without further ado, here it is! We love it!!!

 

Kitchen (with pendants on)

Kitchen (with pendants off)

Close-up of the pendants... J-Mav said they make him hungry...

Tile work behind the oven

Island

Artsy shot of the kitchen

Sitting area (was previously the Dining Room) -- new rug

Sitting area

New artwork in the sitting area

New door panels (we used to have white ones; these are brown)

Dining Room (used to be Living Room) -- New rug and cabinet

Dining Room

New cabinet in the Dining Room (Kirkland's in my new favorite store)

Close-up of new curtains

Down the hallway

Kitchen Renovation is complete!

The kitchen is done... really has been for a bit. We have basically gotten everything put back together, but our curtain rods are on back order, and I want to wait to take pictures until the curtains are up. So that's the delay.

But, rest assured, we LOVE it! Even with the new perspective of flip-flopping the living room and dining room. :)

Hopefully the curtain rods will come in and we can install them before we leave for the lake. If not, pictures will be delayed until mid-August. They were supposed to be in yesterday, so I'm not sure what the holdup is.

The annual room clean-up

Every year, I go through the boys' rooms while they are at camp or with grandparents and purge and clean. This year, I didn't get to it while J-Mav was gone, so he helped me go through his room. Even with his help, we got a huge box of stuff to get rid of, a big bag of stuff to give to J-Mav's cousin, and a large trash bag of stuff to throw away. We cleaned real good, and I even washed the window! Then J-Mav went around with the Magic Eraser and touched up his walls. Tonight we finally hung the wall decal he got for his birthday.

And I've spent about five hours in Keeper Boy's room... sorting, purging, cleaning... I also have a big box of stuff to get rid of from his room, as well as a bag of trash... mostly papers from the last school year that he no longer needs. I cleaned his windows, too. And I hung some stuff on his closet door where there were holes from things being thrown when he was mad. Tonight we finally hung the wall decal his godmother gave him for HIS birthday (it's him!), as well as his Rookie of the Year award for his high school hockey team and his varsity letter and team photo in a shadow box.

Nah... the boys don't like hockey at all! ;-P

Kitchen Renovation: Pics coming soon!

I hope to get some pictures tomorrow... we bought rugs today and hope to have furniture back in the living room and dining room by tomorrow afternoon. Stayed tuned!

Kitchen renovation: "Done"

I haven't posted in awhile because there really hasn't been anything significant going on. The stairs were stripped and stained to match the floor while we were away last weekend; however, the risers need to be touched up so I'm going to wait to post photos. The stairs themselves look awesome, though!

Except for a few items, the list from my last post has been completed. They fixed the downstairs toilet and installed a threshold/sweeper for the door from the house to the garage (these were holdovers from the last project). They replaced that cracked door panel. And a few other odds and ends.

We have been using the kitchen since July 11. I have cooked three meals in it so far (stuffed shells, meatloaf, and breaded chicken tenders, if anyone cares). I *think* I have figured the oven out now. ;-P We LOVE it. It's so beautiful. Of course, as with every renovation project, we have found a couple odds and ends (already) that we would've done differently, but it's nothing huge. :)

The custom pantry was installed on Wednesday and it is beautiful! The remaining trim work and pendant installation happened yesterday. (Yes, we finally picked pendants! J-Mav says they look like drizzled chocolate... he's right!)

There are a couple odds and ends going on today, and the paint touch-ups will happen next week. And then we will really be done and the lock-box that's been on our house since March so the contractors can get in while we aren't here will go away!

Still to do:
- Put the knobs on the pantry cabinet (happening today)
- Finish caulking around the pantry cabinet/counter (happening today)
- Fix/replace cracked/damaged pieces in the floor throughout the upstairs (happening today)
- Various paint touch-ups (happening next week)

Yay!

Kitchen renovation: Skreeeeeeech

Everything has basically come to a skreeching halt, and it's pretty frustrating knowing how close we are to being done.

The stairs were scheduled to be stripped and re-stained to match the floor while we were gone over the holiday weekend. However, there was some sort of mis-communication, and the subcontractor had it on the schedule for this coming weekend instead.

The replacement pantry cabinet is just being shipped from somewhere in middle America today and won't arrive until Friday or Monday.

So they are looking to do the stairs on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with the cabinet install on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully we will have our pendants picked and here by that time, as well, and they can be installed, too.

We will be gone from Saturday to Tuesday, so the timing of the stairs is no problem. However, Mom and Dad will be back with J-Mav on Tuesday sometime and will be here until Thursday. So I'm really going to push for the cabinet install on Tuesday so they aren't banging around on Wednesday while Mom, Dad, and J-Mav are all at the house.

All of this aside, they have scheduled the "completion" walk-through for tomorrow morning. This means we will be able to use the kitchen and start moving things back in. (This will be pretty inconvenient since we have no where to put the food until the pantry cabinet is installed.) It also means there will be a lengthy punch list of things they need to finish after the walk-through, even though they will deem it "complete."
- Install pantry cabinet
- Finish trim work after cabinet is installed
- Replace cracked drawer front on trash/recycling door
- Have floor company replace/repair damaged floor boards
- Shave Justin's bedroom door so it will close
- Strip/re-finish stairs

And holdovers from the downstairs project include:
- Replace toilet innards so toilet stops running
- Install threshold and sweeper on door from hall to garage

I'm sure what tomorrow's walk-through ultimately means is that they want their final payment for project completion...

Kitchen renovation: almost done!

Oven's in! Electrical rough-in is done for the pendants (just need to choose them). Some of the flooring is uncovered from it's protective cardboard... Just need to get the new pantry installed and do the stairs. The stairs start tomorrow. Hopefully it'll all be done (except the pendants since we still need to pick, order, and then receive them) by the end of the weekend.

7/2 dinner: Dogfish Head Ale House... J-Mav was at his friend's house.

Kitchen renovation: APPLIANCES!!!

Today we came home to an installed refrigerator, dishwasher, garbage disposal, faucet, and microwave. The oven will go in tomorrow. We are in the home stretch now!

7/1 dinner: hamburgers on the grill; mac & cheese on the grill burner; Sweet Frog for Jack's bday

Kitchen renovation: under cabinet lights

We were off at King's Dominion on Friday, but when we got home at the end of the weekend, the under-cabinet lights were installed, and a few other odds and ends.

6/28 dinner: Ponderosa (not as good as we remember...)
6/29 dinner: Applebee's (the only non-mom & pop or scary sounding restaurant within 30 minutes of where we were staying)
6/30 dinner: Olive Garden (J-Mav's choice for his birthday)

Kitchen renovation: Day of rest

No work today. :-(

6/27 dinner: fridge foraging...

Kitchen renovation: Stair case

Today we got new balusters, posts, and railings. Beautiful! Can't wait until the stairs are stained to match!!

6/26 dinner: Cheesecake Factory (the boys needed hair cuts, so it was easier just to eat at the mall)

Kitchen renovation: Tile day!

Today, tile appeared on the walls! I'm not sure what's up with the rectangle of no tile in the accent area... maybe they ran out? Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

They also ripped the carpet off the stairs in preparation for the rail technician to come tomorrow to install the new railing and balusters. Nice that there was wood under there already. It just needs to be stripped down and re-stained.

Maybe, just maybe, tomorrow we'll get some appliances installed. Not sure. At the least, we'll have a new railing. :)

6/25 dinner: Pasta cooked on the grill burner. It was just me, Hubby, and J-Mav as Keeper Boy is at his friend's house until sometime tomorrow.

Kitchen renovation: GRANITE!!!

Very exciting day today... came home to counter tops!!

And to catch up on the last several dinners:
6/22: various food from the food court at the Leesburg Outlets
6/23: steak on the grill, baked potatoes and veggie in the microwave
6/24: fajitas

Kitchen renovation: Day of rest

I believe today was a day of rest... I don't see that anything was done today other than the Project Manager leaving stain samples for us to look at and choose which we want for the railing.

6/21 dinner: Texas Roadhouse

Kitchen renovation: some finishing

Looks like they did a lot of finishing stuff on the cabinets today (along the floor, and the panels around the island). It looks more and more finished every day!

Lots of outlets on the island! This is good, because there were four outlets on the walls that are no longer there. So these four replace those four. :)

The painter was also back today finishing up the knee wall and do some patching from when the appliances were brought in.

6/20 dinner: Keeper Boy, J-Mav and I went to Red Robin. Yummm! Hubby is at the Nats game. He probably had a hot dog.

Kujo?

Last night K-dog decided to taste J-Mav's eyebrow. :-(  Hubby and I weren't here, so we aren't sure what exactly happened, but from what Keeper Boy, J-Mav, and JE (J-Mav's BFF) told us, it sounds like K-dog got startled and acted on instinct. The boys were playing hide and seek and J-Mav was going to hide behind K-Dog's crate, in which she was sleeping. We are guessing that she didn't hear J-Mav coming and either felt his presence or heard him when he was right at the opening in her crate (it wasn't closed) and just reacted.

Facial wounds bleed a lot. Keeper Boy freaked out a little. He couldn't get ahold of us because we were in a meeting and we both had our phones on mute. So he ended up calling JE's parents. It was a little party when we got home a half hour later.

We cleaned it up and it didn't look deep or gaping, so we put a bandaid and some Neosporin on it. He was more freaked out than hurt.

It was swollen this morning, but he still wanted to go play in his flag football tournament. All good. Tonight it looks better... not as swollen. Scabby though.

As for K-Dog, she hung her head when we walked in the door, seemingly knowing she had messed up. It is not like her. Though we have noticed a snarl when people get in her vicinity while she's eating. She's always been that way about her food.

That said, there will be no strike three for her... if she shows aggression toward anyone again, we will need to find her a new home. We hope it doesn't come to that.

Kitchen renovation: knobs and finish and appliances, oh my!

Our appliances were delivered this morning! (There's a microwave, too... it's off to the left.)

And our cabinets now have knobs and more trim!

6/18 dinner: chicken on the grill, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies... and Sweet Frog for dessert

Kitchen renovation: more on cabinets

The cabinets are looking really good!

 Today, they also put the cap on the knee wall. It will be painted white, ultimately, to match the trim.

And! We got the approval picture for our granite to make sure we are okay with where the seam is on the island and where some of the unique parts of the granite are placed (like the large swaths of cream on the island). Love it! [Click on the picture to see the whole thing... I placed it as extra large so you probably won't see it all on your screen in the blog.]

6/18 dinner: hamburgers on the grill; mac& cheese on the grill burner

Kitchen renovation: good news!

Good news! The company that made our cabinetry is going to replace the 30" pantry cabinet with a custom built 28.5" pantry cabinet. This is the best possible outcome to the cabinet snafu that surfaced on Friday. Very happy. It will take two weeks. The contractor says we are still on track; however, I don't see how that's possible since they are scheduled to finish next Thursday and that's less than two weeks from now. So we'll see. We're probably into July now before we will have a finished kitchen...

In the meantime, we have cabinets (except the pantry)!!!

I was downtown all day at a corporate meeting. Hubby worked at home this afternoon to be there when the granite guy came to make the template. I got a flurry of texts toward the end of my meeting... center the faucet to on the sink, or in light with the divider in the sink? garbage disposal on the left sink well or right? garbage disposal button placement? decorative trim on the bottom of the cabinets or no? outlets on the island horizontal or vertical? white or brown? Hubby just finally made a list and we made all of the decisions in about five minutes after I got home. I'm tired of making decisions!!!

Speaking of the sink... it's still shrink-wrapped, but you can get an idea... big, stainless steel farmhouse sink. Love it!

We're getting there...

6/15 dinner: leftover pizza and cupcakes from J-Mav's birthday party
6/16 dinner: The Melting Pot (in celebration of Father's Day, but kinda also for Justin's birthday... we had promised to take him and it never worked out.. and for J-Mav's birthday)
6/17 dinner: Subway (me, Hubby, and Keeper Boy); J-Mav ate at "his other house"