The Kitchen is Finished....Finally.

Okay, I know I've been procrastinating on putting up photos of the new kitchen but, hey, the place was a wreck. Pictures were NOT an option, folks.

So, I just ran in the kitchen and snapped a few quick pics.

Dining area....and David hiding from the camera. The rescued mantle is finally in its new home. I'm looking forward to hanging Christmas pretties on it in a few days.

This is the view from the dining area into the kitchen. It's been rearranged so that we have more counter space and (drumroll please) a functional working triangle. The fridge is to the right where the new pantry cabinet is.

We also had new sliding doors installed because the old ones were no longer keeping the out, um, out and the in...in.

Anyway, thanks to the wonderful workers and some great sales people at the local home improvement stores we were able to get a kitchen that works beautifully and that we can entertain in with ease and in comfort.

Special shout out to the Hubs who helped me keep the finances/my nerves straight and to Dad for taking us out to eat and cooking Sunday dinners.

P.S. Before and after pics of the 70's hot tub room turned art nook are coming soon....no, really!

More artful ventures...and a kitchen tease

I haven't drawn or painted faces in so long that I was nervy about how to do this piece.

While she isn't perfect, I like her quirkiness....and her paper flower barret.

Um, forgive the mess in the background.

This piece has become one of my faves and was inspired by....well, by Family. I've had this floating around in my noggin for a while and I finally figured out a way to to it. Pressed, dried leaves from our yard were used to get those leaf shapes in the background. By painting around the edges, the shape of the leaf came to life on the canvas.

I know. I used nature to cheat......but it was sooo much fun!

And now a little Kitchen Remodel Tease~

I took that mantle that my In-Laws so graciously helped me save from the side of the road and used a pickling technique on it. The pickling lightened it up while letting the wood show through. Hubs had the brilliant idea of using it in the dining area of our kitchen like a shelf since there'll be no room for a buffet, etc.

This is the light fixture that will hang over the table. It took me a while to find a fixture that wouldn't break the bank but didn't look "chinchy"....well, I don't think it looks cheap, anyway.

Chinchy? Another way of saying cheap.

Southerners and their funny ways of talkin'.

The light at the end of the tunnel....

I can definitely see that light at the end of the home repair/remodel tunnel. Cabinets are going up, flooring is going down and the final coats of paint are being rolled on. Our appliances are being delivered this afternoon...hopefully the weather has calmed down by then. We've been having squall like conditions for three days (thanks Ida).

I promise to share pics of the progress asap. I was going to snap a few pics this morning, but I got caught up doing silly things like making a grocery store run, doing laundry, taking care of the boys, etc. I know, that's just CRAZY.

Speaking of taking care of the boys, the Bubs has more congestion, another earache and possibly pink eye. *sigh* It's already been interesting trying to keep him from touching as little as possible while in an enclosed space as the work on the house continues. We're all in the master bedroom/home office. (The previous homeowner took two smaller bedrooms and made one big room.)

I think the worst thing for the Bubs is that he can't love on his little bro. I'm hoping that we can get him in to see a doc soon. It's always the same thing when I'm trying to get an appointment at the base clinics- too many people and not enough docs.

Anyway, we're all looking forward to getting the house back to some semblance of normality, whatever that may be, and enjoying our new space.

This and that...

I finally got my new power cord for my laptop yesterday. *doing my happy dance* Of course, the first thing I do is hop on Blogger! The old one had frayed to the point of being useless a few days ago. I LOOOVE my Dell laptop, but putting the power cord on the side of the unit instead of the back is my only pet peeve with the design.

I don't have a cohesive post in mind, just a bit of this and that floating around in my noggin...keep the jokes down to a minimum, y'all!

Little E-man is getting longer and more mobile everyday. He now has 6 teeth at various stages of coming in. He's had his cranky moments (um, hours) lately, but we figure if we had that many teeth coming in at one time, we'd be cranky too. In between his more uncomfortable moments, I've been experimenting with my camera and light in preparations for my little photo session with the boys. I'm hoping to get some fun and nice portraits of the boys. Here's a sample of some of my "playing" as I call it~

The work on the house continues in all its dusty, messy glory. We go to purchase countertops and appliances this weekend...may the budget juggling commence! Fortunately, we talked to a very lovely sales associate last weekend who filled us in on all the upcoming sales/discounts. I coulda kissed her feet. But I didn't. Cause that woulda been weird.

The Bubs got his first report card of the year yesterday. He's doing great! I was concerned because he's already missed more time out of school than I would like, but he seems to be doing fine despite his sick days.

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to catch up on what's been goin' on in your worlds!

Female Hysteria (Temporarily) Averted...Male Nirvana Created

Soooooooo. We got a phone call yesterday afternoon from the cabinet company saying that they'd had a fire in the warehouse and that our cabinets would be, at best, a week later in arriving.

Um, yikes!

We talked with the contractor to let him know what was going on. I think he heard the note of hysteria in my voice over the phone (the Hubs had the phone, but I was involved in the conversation, too) because he said that he'd leave my major appliances in place as long as possible. They'd just start on other things that need to be done in the room (walls, ceiling, etc.).

Why, thank you Mr. Contractor Man...and thank you to your sense of self-preservation. That man can sure sense a woman on the edge!

So we get an extra day to get things packed and moved around in the house. I have a microwave in my living room right next to the couch......I may have inadvertently created a male nirvana with that arrangement!

"Pack it up, Pack it in, Let me begin...."

That's right, y'all! It's movin' day....um, so to speak. The workmen show up bright and early tomorrow to start the demo on our kitchen. Everything's going, right down to the studs.

And not a moment too soon. The goal is to have everything finished before Thanksgiving. For now, the microwave, the toaster and the coffeemaker are all in my living room on the kitchen table.

How many more days are there 'til the middle of November?

**My title contains the beginning lyrics of Jump Around from House of Pain.