I Have a Fever and the Only Prescription is More WORK!

Watching our house come together has been painfully slow; and yet we are never idle. It has been hard to relinquish all free time. Even the precious time at night after the kids are asleep is gobbled up by unpacking, remodeling, and various handyman fixes. I never thought it would take so long to do the kitchen. In the planning stages it all sounded so simple: tear out cabinets, add a few switches and outlets, move the plumbing over, throw in a couple of can lights, move the window, lay down new floor, paint, and install cabinets. 4 weeks MAX! Voila! New Kitchen! Ah... I can hear the condescending chuckles now... And I join you... Oh naïveté! So while we are waiting for the kitchen to "happen," here are some pictures of the progress.

We painted Evie's room Pepto-Bismal Pink, then re-primed and painted it light, light pink and installed a chandelier. We suited up "Haz-Mat" style and proceeded to rip out all the flooring in the kitchen and front entryway that was potentially asbestos-ridden since there was water damage to the underlayment (and the subfloor too, once we got that far). And we decided that since the kitchen was torn apart anyway we might as well install a pocket door in the half bath since the existing door was getting caught on the door to the garage.



We've had lots of help from friends and family (the best EVER!) and REALLY could not have done it without them! Larry has done the plumbing and the electrical. Cassidy painstakingly removed all the staples and nails from our floor after tearing out the carpet. My Mom has been here everynight with Larry helping us paint, clean, frame, etc (when she isn't working overtime at work, that is). Doug's mom has provided endless babysitting and dish washing. Our awesome friends have done demolition and painting, meals and babysitting, and an occasional break from the grind of course!



And here's proof of our brush with white-trash livin':
A camp stove set up under a tarp with an old cabinet for an outdoor kitchen
A garage packed to the brim with crap
And a yard full of junk INCLUDING two old sinks, some curtains, scrap metal in the form of an old split pea-colored stove, baseboard heaters and an avocado washing machine
This is high-class livin' right here baby!



Et pour le pièce de résistance! ...My toilet ...up on blocks...

Okay, enough of the bad! Here are some of the good things that have been done!

The lovely hardwood floors under the carpet were gorgeous. They unfortunately had a little mishap and had to be refinished and now thy are even MORE gorgeous!

Our living room is fairly well put together now, though we decided to move that chandelier into the dining room instead and put in a recessed light.

I installed new light fixtures in the bathroom, changed the faucet and added towel hooks

The kids' room

A new light fixture in the entry

Evie with paint on her face, clothes and Bun-Bun


Sterling the first morning in our house


Moving Day


And now for some Halloween pictures
A Black Bat and a Black Cat (and Bun-Bun)


With rare foresight I made the kids' costumes before we closed on the house


I didn't realize until looking at the pictures today that I put Hylton's wings on backwards. Oh well. He was still a cute little owl. Even if he did refuse to wear the eye mask... He did, however, choose this day above all others to finally WALK!


Post Trick or Treating Lethargy