KISS THE COOK

Ok, so I am slow, but I have a good excuse!! We have a kitchen, yes, you heard right! We need only to put up the crown molding on the cabinets and the handles and backsplash, but it is a functioning, working kitchen. Next, the living room!!

KNOCK ON WOOD

Okay, Okay so I missed posting the ceiling when it was put up and all nice and textured and sealed up so we could use our heater, but I will share our next step....KITCHEN CABINETS!!! We are finally getting them out of the living room and in the kitchen where they belong. Allen is doing such a great job and being SO meticulous. We have had a few hiccups and found out that some things were not done as ordered, but they are beautiful. Allen has always been a HUGE fan of oak, oak this and oak that, everything has had to be oak! When we walked into the showroom of the cabinet place, I was drawn to some cabinets that looked awesome, Allen looked and moved on, but I kept coming back and he would follow. He ACTUALLY said that he liked these cabinets. We asked our contractor about them and he said they were Hickory, well we fell in love with them. So we are now doing Hickory wood in the kitchen, we have ordered the Hickory hard wood flooring for the Living Room. Our fireplace mantle and the railing and posts on the steps will also be Hickory! I am SO glad that they aren't oak! We should have all of them put in this weekend and get the countertops ordered. We are debating between granite, or Corian which is a solid surface top. I am hopeful to have a kitchen by Christmas---KNOCK ON WOOD!

I added some more pictures since our first post that include the top cabinets! ALSO we are soooo lucky, they are going to put our countertops in on Thursday!! I will have a kitchen for Christmas!!!

THE SKY IS FALLING.....THE SKY IS FALLING....

Well we have finally come to one of the major parts of this renovation. Saturday, November 7th, We tore down the ceiling that goes from the entryway through the upstairs family room and kitchen, to the mudroom and garage door. We moved everything either in the living room (with our new cabinets that arrived a week early :)) or downstairs. We are again holed up in the basement with our fridge and microwave in the living room. We are choosing not to use the kitchen area for reasons I am sure you can guess. I am so grateful that the basement has a furnace because we cannot use the furnace upstairs as it would spread all those fiberglass particles even more through the house. We were hoping that the sheetrocker could come this week and do the sheetrock, but he will not be able to come until Monday, the 16th. So alas, we will live like this for another full week. I was telling Allen the other night, 6 months ago, it seems that my life spiraled out of control and so many things were spinning and I couldn't grab onto them. I think that Heavenly Father did this so that when we decided to take on this adventure, I would be numb. Attached are the pictures of the teardown with the insulation, the teardown after we had cleaned up the insulation, and living room. I am so grateful for our friends and family that showed up to help. We were worried as everyone who said they would come, one by one were backing out.

SLOW GOING.......

Ok so I know this isn't a post about the house and I do need to update all on that adventure. We are FINALLY in our bedroom. It is so nice. Allen is right now taking the subfloor out of Jayson's room so we can replace it. It is amazing at the water damage that has taken place on the floor. Our plan is to finsish is room this weekend. Allen then leaves for Canada again on Monday. I am crossing my fingers that no diasters happen as it will be a very busy week for me also. Once he returns we will be tearing down the ceiling in the great room area through the entry way and the mudroom, fixing the electrical int he ceiling redoing the lights and then we have a gentleman coming in to resheet rock that area. Our cabinets are to arrive here in the next week. We have some of the major projects starting to happen now. I am jsut hoping that we will have some peace so we can decorate for Christmas. I am not sure that we are going to make it. Well we did have some fun the other night cleaning up the leaves in the backyard. Here are some of the latest family photos....

SPLISH SPLASH I WAS TAKING A???????

Ok we knew that things were going to be tough, but I think that I have surpassed tough these last three days. Here is a quick update. Friday we signed papers and we spent the weekend, with my wonderful family, moving out of our old home. We worked until the wee morning hours of Saturday morning, most of Saturday, took time off to see the pathetic BYU game, came back worked until the wee hours of Sunday morning, and then worked all day Sunday. We finally got out at 11:30 Sunday night. Allen, my sweet husband, got on an airplane headed for Canada Monday morning for a week. My wonderful mother stayed until today, Wednesday, to help. She worked her tail off!!! Anyway, Monday night I decided to head to bed about 11:30 and walked downstairs, because that is where we are sleeping, and ran into a flooded basement. My mom and I investigated and discovered that the line was plugged and coming up through the toilet hole in the 1/2 bath, but nothing from the other toilet in the main bathroom downstairs. The water that came up was from the kitchen sink from the dishes that I had just finished doing. I called my Father-in-law and he came early the next morning to look at it. We had several conversations with Allen and the decision was made to call a plumber the plumber couldn't come until he next day at 4. They also wanted me to run a load of laundry to see if that line was connect and would back up, sure enough water again out of the half bath. A few hours later, my mom went into a back bedroom in the basement to start painting and was overwhelmed by a nice aroma. The back bathroom had also flooded, but this wasn't simply water, but was a nice think layer of raw sewage. I called the plumber back and said it was now an emergency I had raw sewage. The plumber came about 7, but didn't have the proper equipment to check the lines. So we sparingly used the bathroom and waited until this morning when he returned. He augered the line and found what looked to be a full container of baby wipes that had been in the line clogging it. He removed it and after a hefty bill, we now can bath and flush the toilet--oh and do the laundry to wash the yucky towels we used to clean up the water. It has been very emotional and to have Allen gone hasn't helped. I was standing on the back porch crying and yelling at him asking him what he wanted me to do, I was swimming in raw sewage. He was patient knowing that I had reached my end. Our living situation is less than desirable, but I hope this will change soon. We have had the first owners of the house come and tell us that they are so happy that we have their home and they know we will take care of it. Some positives, I have cable, Internet, power, natural gas, and my front lights work. My boys have been so patient and so good and it has been fun to watch them run around the back yard and climb the trees. My mother was a painting fool and painted so much so that we can put the carpet back in and move upstairs--hopefully this next week. My dear friends (Shirley and Margaret) have been so willing to help with anything and my co-workers have been so patient! Thanks to all who have helped over the last few days, physically, emotional, and spiritually. I do have some pictures of the move and how things look now, but I can't upload them until Allen sets up our other computer.