Almost Finished

We are getting really close to having the kitchen complete.  There are plenty of items on the punchlist, but the kitchen is usable again! 

We were supposed to be able to move back in to the kitchen this weekend, but that didn't happen due to many reasons.  We were able to use the oven for the first time though, and I ended up burning the food because I forgot about it.  Oops.  A great way to start off, I know.  At least it was just a toasted cheese sandwich for Sims, and it was easy to redo.

I will have to admit that I am ready for this all to be over, so I can have my house back.  Right now, we still have our pantry cabinet in our living room, and the house is just a wreck.  I'm done. 

Renovations are stressful, and I think I have quite a few new gray hairs to prove it.

Great Wolf Lodge

Last week, while the floors in the kitchen were being stained and poly-ed, we headed out of town to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of days.  It was nice to get away (especially since our dining room and temporary kitchen had to be moved to our living room during this process) and get to enjoy the water some.  We all loved the 85-degree indoor weather at the water park and spending uninterrupted time together.

The water park was pretty great with a wave pool, huge treehouse-like structure, kiddie area and the requisite slides.  We had arm bands that got us into our rooms and the water park, and we could even use them to buy food at the restaurants and vending machines.  It was brilliant!  This way we didn't have to worry about bringing money and the room key into the water park and leaving them unattended.  I will have to admit that the food there was average at best, but it was convenient.  We didn't want to waste any time at the park going somewhere else to eat.

Sims is not big on being splashed.  (Yet another trait he got from me, but I was a good sport.)  So he wasn't crazy about the treehouse, where you are constantly being splashed.  Even the kiddie area had some unexpected splashes that upset him.  But by the end of the trip, he allowed Jason to stand under the big bucket that was on top of the treehouse that drops 1000 gallons of water on you.  Let me tell you, Sims is still talking about that bucket!

As for the kitchen, we should be able to move back in this weekend, even though it is not fully completed.  We will finally get to cook in our brand new convection double oven!  We even got to use the dishwasher last night.  It was so wonderful (happy sigh).  If you are wondering how could I possibly update you on the kitchen without a photo, well, sorry about that.  We are so close to being done, that I figure you can wait a few more days.  (I can be such a meany.)

Granite

We now have granite countertops!  The kitchen is really coming along, and it finally looks like, well, a kitchen.  Wanna see?

We love this granite.  When I saw this particular slab, I knew this was it.  It's amazing how each slab can be so different, even in the same lot.  We definitely chose wisely because we love it in here!

Now it's time to pick all the details like pulls, knobs and lighting.  I think we've picked out the lighting for the kitchen.  I have fallen in love with a globe shaped chandelier that is going to be the center light for the room, and I can't wait to see it in my house!  We are still in the process of picking out the new lighting for the dining room and such.  Let me tell you - choosing all the details can be fun but hard.

Imagination

This morning, as we were all heading to our cars to leave for work and school, Sims saw some broken sticks on the ground.  He began to tell us that he had hit his head on the sticks.  He had jumped high into the tree (about 15-25 feet, it seemed) and bumped his head on the sticks, and they fell down.  He had also bumped his head on a bird nest, and the baby birds fell out.  The baby birds knew how to fly, so they flew away.  Then they flew back and hit our silver and white cars.  Sims walked over to the silver car and fixed it right away.  Then he got into the white car to fix it, as well.

What an imagination!  We couldn't believe how Sims could just see the broken sticks and come up this story so quickly.  We were truly entertained!

Valentine's Day

I know this is a day late, but I wanted to share the valentines that Sims gave to his classmates yesterday.  I hope the children enjoyed them.

It was interesting to see what Sims received, which was mainly candy and tattoos.  I couldn't help but think that was strange.  Maybe all of the other 2-year-olds are wearing temporary tattoos, but I think Sims would prefer stickers.  Or maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I had a fabulous evening with my 2 valentines.  I asked Sims if he would be my valentine, and he said yes.  And when he got mad at me (I can't remember why.  I think I must have told him he couldn't get/do something he wanted.), I asked him if he was still my valentine.  He nodded in agreement, even though he was obviously still not happy.  I just love my little valentine!  (And my big one, too.)

Luxury is...

Drawer glides.

After living for so long with drawers that dropped little wood shavings into the cabinets below, it's the small things that get you really excited.

Of course, this is pretty exciting as well:

We had one small hiccup that has turned out to work in our favor.  One of the end cabinets was slightly damaged (barely a scrape) during shipping.  The damage was on the side where it would be visible.  Instead of replacing the piece, the cabinet company is giving us fake doors for all of the ends.  For FREE!  It may sound weird to have fake doors on the cabinets, but I assure you that they will be make this into a very upscale, finished-looking kitchen.  And what's even better is that our designer took care of everything, so we didn't have to hassle with it.  We love our designer!

Let There Be Light (and floors)

We are approaching the end of our second week of the kitchen remodel, and things are going well so far.  The first week they only worked 3 days, which was a blessing, since they had planned extra days for all of the surprises they could encounter during demo.  They didn't find any!  We had not been sure about the subfloor before starting, so we didn't know whether the hardwoods could be woven into the existing hardwoods in the dining room.  We were prepared for the worst and expected their to either be an issue with the height of the subfloor in the kitchen and/or sunroom.  We were pleasantly surprised!

When they took out the floors in the sunroom, which was an addition that the previous owners had built, we found that before the sunroom, there used to be a bump out in the wall of the kitchen, similar to a bay window.

It was interesting finding out something about our house from before we bought it almost 9 years ago.

We also had new lighting by the end of the first week.  Not all of the lighting has been installed or even chosen at this point, but we have 4 fantastic recessed lights.  The lighting is already better in there than before, and it's only going to get better.

We found our first surprise when the hardwood floor installer came this Wednesday.  They found that the floor joists in the kitchen and sunroom don't run the same direction, so the hardwoods won't be able to run in the same direction throughout.  That's fine with us.  Actually, I like the look of it.  I'm just thrilled that the floors can all be the same level!

Today they should be finishing up the floors, except for the sanding and staining, which is one of the last things that will be done.  They should have the floor boards all squished together (technical term) before they leave today, so they will look more finished than they do in the photo above.

We've already gotten a preview of the finished look because they finished weaving into the dining room floors.

Let me tell you, we're excited!

As for next week, the cabinets are going to be delivered on Monday.  On Thursday, the granite people will come to take their template for the countertops, and they will be installed the Thursday after that.  Next week, the room will definitely start looking like a kitchen again!

I know that we are only 2 weeks into this long process, but so far so good.  We seem to be doing fine without our kitchen, and our temporary kitchen already feels like our norm.  Hopefully, we can stay this patient for the next month!