Not To Complain

But have I ever mentioned that sanding is really hard work? 

LOL. 

I’m thankful for all my cabinet space.  But when it comes down to sanding them all….YIKES.

And that’s where I’ve been for the last few days.

Hopefully will be ordering the counter in the next couple of days (we’ve spent ages getting quotes and I think we’ve finally decided who and what)…and we’re still looking for the paint and primer, but I still have to finish all the sanding and we gotta wipe everything down, so we’re not even ready for that part yet anyway. 

Whew.  I want my kitchen back. 

Not complaining…much.  LOL. 

After These Messages….

Pardon, while I pause for a few moments from the home remodeling business to talk about some digi-goodness that has recently been released…

(Image is linked to kit)

As for what I did with this kit: Well…I’m short on time this year and decided to try this idea I saw on Pinterest for valentines.  I’m going to get 4x6 pictures printed, then in their hand, you cut a slit right above their fist and a slit right below their fist and then you stick something through it (a sucker, pixie stick, etc.)  For Munchkin, I have pencils from valentines day last year that I bought at like 75% off after the holiday and I’m going to let her stick those in hers. 

I don’t know yet which one she will want, so I haven’t ordered them yet, but Walgreens has 50 prints for $5 through tomorrow so I will be ordering as soon as the kids get home from school. 

I did one for K-man, too (a red and black one, and ixed-nay on the flowers) but that kit hasn’t been released yet, so I’ll be ordering it with the Munchkin’s but not posting it on here.  =) 

I used OldeChicago font. 

So both kids valentines for $5 (not including the steal I got on the pencils and I will still need to buy a bag of suckers for the K-man’s)…these days that’s a pretty good deal.  I’ve noticed that very few of the kids do those cheap boxed valentines anymore…it’s always something with a goody attached…and I don’t know if you’ve seen the prices on those goody ones lately, but…yikes.  I prefer to do it myself.  =)

And now…back to your regularly scheduled programming.  (LOL) 

I need to go get ready to go so that when everyone gets home, we can go pick out (and hopefully order) our countertop!  And then it’s a friend’s birthday party (after a stop at the store for a gift), and then to meet the in-laws because they want the kids tonight, and then back home to get busy sanding…

And I’m pretty sure I am going to find a Dr. Pepper SOMEWHERE in that afternoon…I need one DESPERATELY.  I haven’t had one since….

uh…

*squeaky tiny voice* ……….yesterday………..

Who said quitting (again) would be a good idea anyway?

A Quick Pic Update…

Or…maybe quick.  We’ll see how wordy I get.  I have both dogs and a computer in my lap, and typing is a challenge…so quick is a DEFINITE possibility. 

Okay…one dog moved.   

So to recap….if you haven’t seen our kitchen, it used to look like this:

And honestly, the tile was likeable…but not in this kitchen and not for a countertop and food prep area.  The whole kitchen had the same color going on…cabinets, counters, floor…all honey colored.  And the counters were discust-o.  No matter how much you scrub and disinfect and wipe, they always felt nasty.  I am SO ready for smooth, easy clean, countertops. 

By the way, both dogs moved.  This post just got longer.  Haha. 

Anyway, now we’ve got the first stage of ripping off the backsplash (which took the sheetrock, too).

Then the picture I put on the other post….yow city.  By the way, the counter here, we took off with the tile still on it.  KC and I carried them out to his truck.  They were so light, I really didn’t even need KC’s help to get them on the truck…hahaha…I’m totally being sarcastic!  In reality, we nearly broke our backs…and various other pretty important body parts (fingers, necks…come to think of it, they are all pretty important when it’s a question of which one you’d want to be broken…lol).

Dogs are back.  Anyway…here’s after we started putting new sheetrock back in…

Here’s the room next to the kitchen….aka…the room the kitchen threw up into….

And the dogs who are currently in the recliner with me…

And finally…

No, it’s not an after.  It’s just where we are now…sheetrock is back up on this side of the room and first layer of tape and putty is on…yippee. 

Next stop, the desk area on the other side of the kitchen which still needs sheetrock…

And then counters.

And then paint (ugh)

And then backsplash….

Dear heavenly father, help us. 

Run, Run, Rudolf (or Faith)

Yes, I know…wrong season.  But on the run, I am…

So I get online to blog really quick before running out again, and I decide to check all my favorite places first…next thing I know, whoa…better hurry if I want to blog before our afternoon appointment.  LOL. 

But first, I have to grab those pics off my camera…and web-size them.  Oh no…only two minutes left now. 

As the dust on my stove so appropriately states:

YIKES!!!!!! 

And as I say that, my time is up…I HAVE to go…the kids bus will be here in about 5 minutes and then straight from the bus stop to the next appointment.  MUST GO NOW.  SO….I will try to come back later tonight with the rest of those pictures and an update on our disaster zone.  =) 

Please come back later.   =)

ACK!

I don’t care too much for this phase of construction.  I much prefer the final product. 

Cooking has been a little challenging lately.  The stove DOES work in the middle of the floor, but all the food these days has a bit of a drywall flavoring.  Not to mention it’s been difficult to find basic cooking utensils (where did we put that stack of pans again?).  Yeah…it’s kind of crazy around here. 

We started replacing that sheetrock on the backsplash last night…we got one piece cut and placed and then the drill battery died so it’s not screwed in yet.  I have to go up in a few minutes and finish straightening the edges on the other side of the sink so we can continue with the drywall tonight.  I will probably be cleaning up sheetrock dust for at least the next six months.  =)  Oh well.  No pain, no gain. 

KC is still convinced that the cabinets are going to need to be white.  At this point, I don’t care…as long as I get my sink and countertops back in the next week.  Painting cabinets can’t be worse than not having water or counters….

A New Day

Well, my thumb knuckle is only slightly sore now….time to go bust some more tile and hopefully not my knuckles again.  =)  I am READY for my kitchen back and it’s only been a few days!! 

We were going to paint the cabinets white, but after going to look at the countertop options last night, and checking out the different sample kitchens, we decided that if we just yank out the tile and backsplash (and fix the wall behind the backsplash) that MAYBE just a new countertop will make the kitchen really nice.  And then if that doesn’t cut it….THEN we’ll paint. 

I would just love not to paint them…that’s the downside of a large kitchen…so….*fingers crossed*

BUT…regardless of paint, that tile has got to go…and then we got to put up new sheetrock on the backsplash area because the tile ain’t going without a fight…and the current sheetrock is DEFINITELY the loser of that battle. 

And that’s the agenda for today.  Time to get started. 

LOL

And this is what happens when I need something to blog about and don’t want to talk about what I’m REALLY thinking about these days.  LOL! 

But…I gotta say that laughter is the best medicine. 

Go Homeschools…lol….

And I’ve also heard that running is another good medicine…I’m considering it.  So far I haven’t gotten off the couch.  LOL.  Wait…I take that back…I did jog a little bit yesterday…all the way to the pantry for another cookie.  ROFL. 

Food…is NOT a good medicine.  Just saying.

I haven’t had a Dr. Pepper in 2 days.  This is why I need medicine. 

Also, the Anonymous commenter on my last post…I’m so sorry you didn’t care for my humor…I’m assuming--because you care more about my finger than my humor--you must be a parent…probably one of mine.  And um…yesterday I hammered my thumb knuckle instead of the chisel about 5 good times when I was demo-ing the tile in the kitchen.  Just thought you should know, since you care about my fingers. 

And I’m not kidding this time. 

Did you know that if you hit your thumb knuckle with a hammer about 5 times (I lost count, honestly) it turns black and purple almost instantly and gets a knot on it and you can’t use your hand very well for a couple of days? 

And…um…can you come kiss it better?   

Now I’m kidding.  But JUST about the “kiss it” part.  LOL

Goodnight.  =) 

Brrrr…

Evidently Winter decided to get into character.  I have been SO cold today.  I can’t find anywhere in this house that’s warm and cozy except my lovely, lovely bed with the two furry bed-warmers otherwise known as my puppies.  

Unfortunately, it’s pretty difficult to accomplish anything (other than snoozing) from that warm and cozy spot, so I’ve just resigned myself to freezing. 

I still didn’t get a whole lot done today, but I did get one of the garments on my “to be fixed” pile fixed and moved into the closet.  It wasn’t anything major, just one of those awkward length skirts (you know, the kind that are supposed to be floor length, but due to my height, stopped about 4 inches above my ankles…YUCK).  It was an Aeropostale skirt that I ran across at the thrift store and it fit so nicely everywhere else…so I cut it off, sewed up the weird side splits, and then hemmed it up (the right way, not just sewing a line of stitching across the bottom raw edge to keep it from raveling too far….lol).  It’s cute now. 

The nice thing about being so cold today is that it was natural numbing for when I sewed through my index finger…didn’t even feel it….ROFL. 

I’m kidding.  I didn’t sew through my finger. 

I’m not kidding about it being cold though.  LOL. 

Maybe if this continues, going snow tubing up in the mountains might actually be a reasonable possibility… I mean…some recent days the weather would seem to be more in favor of tanning in a pool float rather than riding it down a snow-covered mountain.  ;-)

Imperfect

It’s a tough life for a perfectionist…seriously!  But I finally got my craft room pretty much finished.  Yeah, it’s not perfect…the chairs don’t match, I still have a few things that there isn’t enough shelf space for, there’s an imperfect cardboard painting over a very imperfect hole in the wall, but it’s good enough for me.  I love my room.  It makes me happy.  =) 

Enough of the blah blah, right?  Just show the pictures….

Before:                                               After:

Ah yes, and I didn’t do so hot on taking the after pictures from the same angle, so just use the open door as a reference point. 

Before:

After:

And here’s a much better quality shot of my lovely, handpainted, imperfect, highly motivating, cardboard hole cover-up-er. 

In other news, the blog has made the leap to 2012.  And only 14 days in, too!  LOL. 

Well, I have a bad headache which is making me a little queasy so I think I’m going to go see if I can find some crackers or something to nibble on….

Night.  =)

Motivating Myself

I was so annoyed by this hole in the wall in my craft room, that I decided to make it better.  Inspiring even.  So I cut a piece of cardboard to fit it and painted it with some of my acrylic paints.  Then I put about 4 staples into it around the edges and black duct tape to clean up the edges and now it looks like a piece of art on my craft room wall. 

Granted, it’s not a PERFECT piece of art, but it sure beats having to pile up my scrapbooking bags in front of it to hold up the other piece of cardboard that was covering the hole.  =)

Now I hope KC doesn’t decide to fix it anytime soon…because I like it.  HAHA! 

Please excuse the terrible pictures from my ipod.  =) 

And now, I’m off to clean this impossible mess because I know it only seems impossible and once I am done, I will feel better.  =) =) =) 

Ba Da Bing

MMM….hubby wins major points.  =)  And they cost him nothing (right place, right time…woohoo…lol) …BONUS points!  *GRIN*  I’m typically not a fan of the hubby bringing me flowers…because even though they’re gorgeous, I can always think of more lasting ways to spend that money, but if they don’t COST anything?  Hey….WIN WIN.  =) 

Anyway…they’re beautiful…and I’ve totally enjoyed them. 

Speaking of enjoying….I created something I think I might turn into a t-shirt…..a spin-off of those keep calm posters…

Suits me….don’t ya think?  =)

This Day

So I have been trying to get back into being a good creative team member since I was such a slacker in December on the digi-scrap stuff….and this new kit came out today at Funky Playground:

And when I looked at it, it seriously reminded me of my grandma who recently passed away…those were some of her favorite colors and it has a little bit of a retro feel, so I thought I’d do a page about some of my memories of her. 

(Images are linked to the kit.  Fonts: Chopin Script, Myriad Pro.  Page Inspiration: Ali Edwards.  Picture of Grandma’s house was painted by Grandma many years ago, and I took a picture of her painting.)

Scrapbooking stuff like that is healing I think.  Anyway.  I need to scrapbook how annoying ADHD is….maybe that would help me not be so annoyed with people who have it.  LOL.  Because at the moment I can hear upstairs, a child who is supposed to be playing the computer and all she is doing is rolling around in the computer chair…..  I have such a low tolerance for some things.  Stupid things bug me.  Particularly on days when I am…um…needing Midol.  But I am way off topic now.  LOL. 

All the banging and rolling around on the floor above my head is removing all my (already limited) ability to think coherently (although it isn’t hindering me from using large words…hahaha)….however, with that lack of coherent thought, I’m going to leave now….I need a Dr. Pepper.l 

Random….out.

On My List

Image is linked to kit.  Font is HaloHandletter.  =)

Anyway, not that I’m really one for New Year’s Resolutions, but I figure there’s always things we could work on…these are some of mine.  =) 

In case you didn’t notice, “stop drinking Dr. Pepper” didn’t make it on the list.  And now I’m going to go put one in the fridge for later.  *GRIN*

Welcome 2012

I’m not so sure how it happened, but it’s another new year…insane.  I have totally fallen off of everything since the craziness of December wiped me out.  I didn’t even open my computer for the last few days.  Not that I was doing anything more productive…like housework either…nope…I was totally just bumming around.  The kids out of school and under my feet, the hubby with a few days off….my groove was just O.F.F.  S’okay though…tomorrow the kids go back to school and Monday the hubby goes back to work…then I can clean up the house and get back on top of this mess.  =) 

And then I had things in my head I wanted to get on here and say and now that I’m here, I have no idea what it was. 

I hate it with a PASSION when that happens. 

So that’s how the first blog post of the year goes….hopefully it’s not a sign of the rest of this year for the ol’ blog.  LOL. 

New Year’s Blog Resolution: Blog more frequently and remember what you were going to say when you get on to blog….

lol…

Happy New Year!