In memory

I just came home from the funeral of dear friend who passed away suddenly and very unexpectedly on Tuesday. She was the mother of five incredible sons, the youngest of which is still in high school. She was such a great example to me of what a good mother is. I have been thinking so much about her and her family this week. As sad as it is, I think events like this can help us to focus on what is truly important in our lives. (I stole this picture from Becca, the incredible photographer's, blog.)

Loreen has done my hair for the past three years. She was the first one I let touch my head after I had skin cancer and the horrific surgery that followed. She always had a smile and was ready with advice when I asked--and not just about hair. I really, really admired her. I loved the relationship she had with her boys. I want that with my boys. Today at the funeral one of her sons said she was his best friend. It was so touching. She was truly one of the great ones. I am so sad and my heart aches for her family. She will be missed.

Almost there

With the new kitchen floor at least. We still have lighting, counters, backsplash, painting and decorating before I can say the kitchen is done. But with the cabinets and floor done I feel like the end is in sight. Sort of.

We started tiling the kitchen floor on Friday morning. Since Ryan had the day off, we felt certain we would be able to get it done by Saturday night. Ha. Ha.

Here are my new thoughts on home improvement projects.

1. Calculate the number of hours you think the project will take you. Be generous. Allow for mistakes, extra trips to the store, random, unexpected snags. Got a number in your head? Okay--multiply that number by 10. Then you have a pretty good estimate of how long it will really take you. You're thinking 10 hours? Try 100.

2. Do the same thing with the cost in dollars.

Anyway--we had a LONG, LONG, LONG weekend. We worked until about 12:30 in the morning on Friday (well technically Saturday morning.) Then we started working at about 6:30 in the morning on Saturday. I finally went to bed just after midnight. Ryan, on the other hand, worked until 12:45 on Sunday afternoon. (Yes, that would be over 30 hours of installing a tile floor without sleep.) Then he went to bed. At that point we had the tile laid, but nothing more. I have spent the last three days grouting. And finally we are getting close. Ryan has to put the baseboards back in, but at least our kitchen is functional again.

Before..

I got to do the wet saw! I really liked that. And no, I am not pregnant--it was cold and I was wearing Ryan's oversized sweatshirt. Wow, what an unattractive angle.

Right before we started laying the tile we had a dance/graffiti party and let the kids decorate the old floor. A lot of people have questioned why we replaced the floor. The old one was old, dirty, holey linoleum. It needed to be replaced. Even though we pretty much replaced it with tile in the same color.


After...
I never thought this project would end. I still have some touching up to do, but I'm happy with the result!

Weird, weird week

I don't even think I could get into all that has gone on this week but I'll do a fun little re-cap so I don't ever forget the insanity...

--Monday morning I'm still not feeling great, but I have leftover stain, plenty of sandpaper and a free schedule in the week ahead, so I decide to start refinishing the kitchen cabinets. I tear the kitchen apart, finally figure out how to load the sandpaper into the hand sander and get going! Before...

--Monday afternoon I find out that school is canceled on Tuesday due to cold weather. Remember I mentioned that I had torn my kitchen apart and was planning on a free schedule... Scramble time! I organized a large child swap/playdate to keep the kids occupied.

--Tuesday morning it's -18 degrees outside when we get up (-31 with wind chill.) We swap the kids around and I end up with 4 three year olds. They play all day long while I continue to work on my kitchen. It is exhausting work. And extraordinarily dusty. Here are some of the 3 year olds playing...

And here we have a very strange dust pattern on the tv.
--Tuesday afternoon...the kids are all having a blast. I get another call from the school district--school is closed again on Wednesday. Isaac plays in boy's heaven all day. The girls spend the morning at a friend's house playing American Girls and then get to go to a museum and sleepover with another friend.

--Tuesday evening I get a phone call from Ryan--with a high of -2 it is too cold and his car won't start. I load up the boys and we brave the freezing cold to go rescue him. We leave the car and hope that it will start on Wednesday.

--Wednesday morning we load up again and drive Ryan to work. The kids have a low key day while I continue to work on the kitchen.

--Wednesday evening we get the call--Ryan's car still won't start even though it's a whopping 9 degrees! I bundle and load up all 4 kids and make the trek again. We get Ryan and then go and buy a tow rope. I get the exciting new experience of towing him home. Oh, I can say for a fact that I never want to do that again. (That little trip took us almost 2 1/2 hours...ugh.) Ryan sets up a heater tent on the car engine to warm it up.


--Thursday morning the kids go back to school and Ryan's car starts!! Yay! Kirby has his first puppy playdate with his sister, Sugar.


I continue to work on the kitchen. My house is slowly being overtaken by dust. I finish a round of sanding and as I turn off the sander I hear water running. I wonder why Lincoln has turned on a bathtub and I investigate. No, it's not a bathtub. I go into the basement and discover water cascading from the ceiling into the workout room and pouring out of the light fixture. Frozen pipes. Gulp. I frantically call Ryan who explains how to turn off the water and the power and says he is coming home.

--Thursday Ryan spends the day on the phone with the Homeowner's Insurance Company, six different plumbing companies (it took that many phone calls for him to find one that could come that day), and a water clean up crew. The plumber has to tear out walls and part of the ceiling to get to the leaky pipe. The cleaning crew does more damage by removing more drywall and insulation. I keep on working on the kitchen.

--Today. The kids go to school. Ryan goes to work. I FINISH the kitchen and clean up all the dust. (This picture is dark--I'll have to take another tomorrow in the daytime.)

Weird, weird week.

By the way--refinishing the kitchen cabinets was a long, dusty, labor-intensive process, but the whole project only cost me a whopping $15!!! Not too shabby. But I never want to do it again...