The List

Sometimes people ask me what all we have left to finish the house and I usually don't have a good answer. There is so much to do, but most of it is little stuff. Most of the major renovation is finally over. But all those little things often seem overwhelming to me.

Today, I made a list room by room of everything that needs to be done. There are about 55 items on the list. Some are really small and can be completed in 30 minutes or less. Some are several day projects. My goal is to work on at least one item per day. I am going to share my list with you, and hopefully I will be able to share some pictures as well as things get crossed off the list.

Okay, here goes...

MASTER BEDROOM
Finish cutting in paint around ceiling
paint closet trim
new door knob
clean air return vent
paint air return vent

MASTER BATHROOM
remove framing from old wall
patch sheetrock
stain vanity
paint walls
tile floors
paint baseboards
new door and knob
install toilet

BOYS ROOM
paint trim
new door and knob

SPARE BEDROOM
paint trim
clean/ remove tools
stage as bedroom
door knob

HALL BATH
paint trim
door knob
cabinet hardware
hang pictures
remove towel bars ??
add hooks ??

DECK/PORCH
replace roof
replace screen door
new linoleum
make curtains

KITCHEN
scrape and retexture ceilings
trim on island
trim on cabinets
paint walls
toe kick
baseboards
paint island !!DONE!!
beadboard wallpaper trim !!DONE!!
change light fixtures

LIVING ROOM
prime where needed !!DONE!!
paint fireplace wall
patch hole in ceiling
baseboards

GARAGE
touch up paint
clean
organize tools


LAUNDRY ROOM
fix leaky pipe
repair hole in ceiling
repaint walls
new door and knob

FAMILY ROOM
repaint walls
retexture ceilings
baseboards

MAN ROOM/ OFFICE
baseboards
flooring
repaint walls
new door and knob



And there you have it, "The List". Who wants to come over???

I Feel Like A Proud New Momma =)

The cabinet doors are finally on. Yay!!!


Overall, I am really pleased with the way they look. I was hoping the workers would be able to put the beadboard around the peninsula as well, but they ran out of time so they will be back on Tuesday to finish that. The will also the adding the trim to the upper cabinets and installing the baseboards on Tuesday as well. After that, the kitchen will be about 80% complete. The last few things that we need to finish up are changing out the fluorescent lights, painting the walls, and texturing the ceiling. But those are all relatively minor things.

Can you believe with all the changes we have made in the kitchen, the total for the remodel is still going to be under $4000?? Praise God for that! I am so thankful that my husband already knew how to do much of what needed to be done. What he didn't know, he either learned or got help from men in the church doing. What a tremendous blessing!!!

I am so happy to have this kitchen, which has so much counter space and is so easy to work in. Before we added the peninsula, the only counter space I had was 3 2-foot sections. That is not a lot to work with. But now there is so much room to spread out. I love it! I think I will plan a big welcome home meal for hubby whenever he gets back and invite everybody who has helped us work on the house. =)

We are getting new six panel doors all throughout the house too. I will show you those next week.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and don't forget to set you clocks forward an hour tonight.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love You, Tomorrow

This time tomorrow, Lord willing, all of my cabinet doors will be reinstalled!! YAY!!! =D

Notice my temporary food storage in the photo below.

Oh beautiful cabinet doors, how I've missed thee so.

I am so sick of looking at the "stuff" inside my cabinets. I am also excited to have the food out of sight, out of mind of the little ones.

We have been without cabinet doors for months now, and I really don't think I could be any more excited about having them back.

I'll post updated pictures tomorrow.

*squeal*

*happy dance*

Random Thoughts from My Noggin

Life seems to be flying by at whirlwind speed these days. We are finishing up the big remodel, preparing for a deployment/TDY, and generally living a busy life with two busy little boys. While this may not be exactly the things I'd like to be doing right now, I don't dare be ungrateful! God is so good to us! We truly do have a John 10:10 life. We are blessed with more than we even realize, and I am so thankful for all the Lord's mercies he bestows upon us.

Keith will be leaving soon. Much sooner than I would like, although we don't know the exact date yet. Tonight we talked, for the first time really, about things that need to be done before he leaves. It was not a conversation that I enjoyed, per se, because it made me realize just how short our time together is. But, it was good for me (the planner) to have some details on paper. If you've never had the pleasure *cough, cough* of being separated from your spouse for an extended period of time, then let me just tell you--the details that have to be arranged ahead of time in order for life to proceed as smoothly as possible for everyone involved is insane! At least for people like me, who need a plan for everything.

We still have quite a bit of things that need to be taken care of around the house before he leaves. Tonight I made a list of small tasks that could be completed in one evening, to try to make it easier to manage instead of one huge list that we are trying to tackle. However, while looking over the calendar I realized that many of the days that could be used between now and then are already filled with things like church, ministry meetings, work functions, etc. I know that if the house projects don't get done before he leaves, then it is not the end of the world. But I would really, really, really like to be back to as close to normal as possible before he leaves. Little things like not having doors on the cabinets and all the contents of my drawers being on the counters is really bothering me. I am just ready for a calm, normal day-to-day life. I think it will help my sanity while he is away. I like to have a clean, tidy, organized house and for the past 6 months we have been living in a functional-at-best house. Momma needs her pretty house back! =)

In other news, I think we have decided to try to sell the truck while Keith is away. It will help us save on maintenance, insurance, etc while he is away; and I am perfectly fine being a one vehicle family anyway. I don't need my own vehicle to run the roads in. It forces me to be at home, saving money, training my kids, and being the helpmeet that I need to be. I'll keep you posted on whether the truck sells or not. Hubby is kind of attached. I'm told it's a man thing.

To wrap up this little blog slop, I suppose I will share that I am having a very difficult time deciding if/when/and for how long to visit my family while Keith is away. While you wouldn't think that would be a terribly hard decision to make, right now it is one of my biggest obstacles in planning. I would like to go and stay several weeks so that my family can all have some real quality time with the boys. Most of our visits are only for a week, and that is split between two cities. This is a great opportunity for the boys to really bond with their extended family, which I want for them very much. But on the practical side of things, that means us living away from "our" home, and in somebody else's house all that time. You know the old saying about fish and company...So anyway, we are praying about what to do there.

We have a very busy weekend ahead of us. We have visitation tomorrow morning, then I will do the church bulletin. We are having dinner with friends at a Mennonite Buffet tomorrow night. And, we would really like to work a few h0me improvement projects in tomorrow too.

I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful weekend. Spend Sunday in a local sin-hating, Bible-preaching church worshipping the Saviour. You won't regret it!

Day 160 of the Big Remodel

We are finally making some real progress.

Last night Hubby and a man from church installed the new countertop, sink, and faucet. I love it and I can't believe how much better I feel having that done. We got a good deal on the countertops from a local home supply warehouse, which is also where we got our new cabinets. We were going to splurge and get granite, but given the cost and the amount of time we plan to be in the house we decided it wouldn't be cost effective. Granite is not standard in our neighborhood. Even most of the $300k houses that we have toured in this area don't have granite. I like our new laminate; it is the new updated kind.

I love the new sink! *Love* it! It is much wider and deeper than my old "mini-sink". It makes me want to wash dishes. =) Here's a closer look at it and the new faucet.

After much trial and error with the cabinets, we decided to paint them a really pretty white called "Statuesque" from Valspar. Neither of us wanted to paint the cabinets; we both prefer the look of wood. However, we just could not find a way to match the old cabinets and the new cabinets without staining them a really dark mahogany color. It looked almost black. I did like the look in general, and I know that dark cabinets are very in style right now, I thought a whole kitchen full of dark cabinets would make the space seem to dark. Now that the paint is one and almost done, I love it. I have been looking for inspiration pictures all over the net and have found some beautiful kitchens with white cabinets. I'm actually really excited about decorating now. Our walls will be a light blue/gray color called "Lunar Eclipse".

Just a few more finishing touches and some polyurethane on the cabinets and we will be done with the kitchen. I have lots of little projects I'd like to do down the road, but the major renovation upstairs is coming to an end. =)

Now, on to the downstairs...

House Update

I have been without a computer for several days now, and I feel like I am so out of touch with everything. We don't have TV, I don't listen to the radio, and I haven't been to church all week because Jackson was sick...so I really haven't had much contact with the outside world in a while. =D I am back now though, and I thought I would share some pictures of the updates to the house with you all.





Things have been very slow going with the repair due to Keith's work schedule, and then we had a few unexpected things come up that had to be fixed as well. On Friday, he took the whole day off to work on the house. The kids and I made sure we stayed away from the house most of the day so he could get a lot done. He was able to get a lot accomplished, for which I was very thankful. It is so hard living in chaos and construction, and we have been for 3 months now. I'm ready for it to be done, he's ready for it to be done...we need it to be over with soon so that we can regain some semblance of normal before he leaves in a few months.





I'm not sure if I ever detailed what we are doing in the kitchen, so I may be repeating myself here but this is what we have done. We took down the wall between the kitchen and dining room and added an island/peninsula of cabinets. We also got new countertops, a new sink and a new faucet. Also, all of the floors had to be replaced. We are almost 100% complete with the structural things that had to be done and are about 40% complete with the cosmetic changes. I am loving the way it is turning out and in a way I am thankful for the flood, because we never would have made these improvements otherwise.






Here are a few pictures of our work in progress.

A hole in the ceiling

The cabinets before they were installed. I was having to store all the food on the table. =)

The new island/peninsula with the wrong color of stain. Oops!

This is where the rooms used to be separated by a wall.

Complete Randomness

My life feels like complete randomness right now, so this post should fit right in with that theme. I feel like I'm in a bit of a blog rut right now, which is a bummer. I really enjoy blogging as a way to stay connected with my friends and family, and also a way to meet new people. Frankly, I just haven't had much motivation to be on here much this summer. We have been having a great time with friends and family, enjoying lots of informal fellowshipping and just general summer fun. But alas, whether I like it or not, summer is quickly on its way out and fall is coming. I'm trying to have a good attitude this year (cold weather is NOT my thing). Hopefully I will get back on track with blogging very soon. =)

Today is the one year anniversary of when my step-dad died. I'm sad today. I've had many, many sad days over the past year. Although it is never easy to lose someone you love, his death affected me like I could never have imagined. I still cannot walk through the fabric section at Wal-Mart because that is where I sat and had the last conversation with him that I will ever have on this earth. I know that he is in Heaven rejoicing before the Saviour in his new perfect body, but I still can't help but selfishly wish he were still here with us. His death has reminded me to never take relationships for granted. I believe a loving family is the closest taste of Heaven we will see here on earth.

In other news, our house is still a wreck after the Flood of 2009. Servepro came and did all the clean up and dry out, but told us it would be a month before they could have a crew out to start the repairs. We told them never mind, that we would do it ourselves. Hopefully we will make some serious progress over the weekend. Right now we are living with sub-floors, bare studs, exposed wiring, and nails everywhere. Did I mention that I have a baby and a toddler??

Well, it's almost birthday season here again. Keith's is in September and both boys' are in October. I can't believe my babies are going to be 3 and 1! Wow! I think for their birthday I am going to buy one of those inflatable bouncy houses that we can blow up in the garage this winter. They will need a way to release their energy beside driving me nuts (did I just say that?), so hopefully that will do the trick.

In Tyler and Jackson news, they are both doing great. Tyler is potty-training (oh what fun!) and we will be starting "preschool" when our house gets back in order. He is such a smart little booger, but very strong willed. It should be fun! Jack is 10 months old now and growing like a little weed. He is just a precious little baby, a little on the spoiled side though. He is definitely a momma's boy and rarely goes to anyone else, even when he is happy. It's sweet, but certainly makes cooking and cleaning a challenge. =)

I better get off here and make myself presentable. My hubby is taking me on a date to Home Depot tonight. =)

I'll leave you with some pictures.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

An Update

First of all, thank you to all of you who prayed for us when my grandmother passed away. It is never easy to lose a loved one, but it is so much more comforting to know that she was saved and is now at rest with the Saviour.

When we came back home, we walked into a mess. A pipe in our kitchen burst while we were gone and flooded our house. We are one week into clean up and the end seems to be no where in sight. We lost all the flooring in our living room, dining room, kitchen, and all the downstairs flooring. We will also have to replace 1/2 or more of all the sheetrock in the house.

I believe the Lord must have a lot more confidence in my ability to handle stress than I do. Right now I am just taking things minute by minute. This is a lot more stressful than I ever could have imagined. I am the type of person who likes things neat, orderly, and structured. Right now our lives are pretty much the exact opposite.

While this is by no means ideal, I am still trying to look on the bright side and stay positive. There were some things we wanted to remodel anyway, so this is just the jumpstart that we needed. And Praise the Lord for insurance and having an Emergency Fund set up. Otherwise we would be in serious trouble. God is still soooo good and we feel truly blessed even in the mess. =)

Here are some pictures of what is going on so far.


Kitchen wall knocked out
Carpet removed

Wood floor removed

Some of the damage

Our "new" floors