The Destruction of Our Kitchen

For those of you who have been to my house before, you know how icky my kitchen looked. Here are some before and now pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Paul checking out electric before making any changes to the kitchen cabinets. Here is the view from the dining room looking into the kitchen, complete with the bar and the overhead fan for the stove. Paul had previously removed the two-tiered shelf that hung over the bar. We LOVE the openess that was created from the shelf's removal.
One more view before it's gone!

Here is Lauren in her Home Depot smock. She's helping Daddy with the kitchen remodel. She has screw drivers and cabinet locks for the cabinets.

"Is that Phillips Head or a flat head that you need, Daddy?"

"Yep, I found the flat head! Here you go!"

The kitchen on Saturday, March 28, before demolition of the sink...

Paul ripping into the pots and pan cabinet.

My dining room as of 9:00 pm Sunday night. Paul had the new wire run, insulation installed, and part of the wall hung. He even laid down some of our new bamboo hardwoods to help with the installation of the kitchen cabinets. (It makes sense when you see the entire room.)

Where my new sink will be located. Paul and I ran plumbing in this area.

A view from the dining room into the kitchen. Talk about empty! Yes, that's my stove, still useable, on the left of the picture. It stands in the middle of the room. It will be moving close to where Paul sits.

Paul has worked tremendously hard on this project. He's had some help from my brother, Tony, and our neighbor, Bob. It's going to continue to look great. Paul's plan for tonight was to finish the electric and insulation. He wants to try to get walls up so that he can get the mudding and finish work done. His goal is to have the cabinets in place by Wednesday.

Our Wonderfully Hectic Week

Paul had a set-back this week with falling ill. He was out of work one day and left work early twice. However, he made up for it all on Saturday when he completely plunged into the kitchen! We're talking, I lost ALL of my cupboards as well as my sink and dishwasher! Yikes! So in spite of the mess, I was able to get some cute pictures of our little one this week. I'll post more kitchen pictures later this week.
March 22--Lauren surveys the demolition her daddy began. You can see where the left side of the picture has walls down to the studs and the right side has the icky plaster board with peeled paint. She wasn't sure what to think of the mess!

March 24--Lauren wanted to ride her bike. She has the idea how the pedals move, but she does not like how the pedals force her feet to turn when she is pushed from behind. She'd rather sit and try to move on her own. My assistant, Michelle, passed the bike down to us from her son, Kaleb.

March 24--Lauren decided that she wanted to try to swing again...and LOVED it! Look at the grin on her face! I have a video of her saying, "WHEEEE!" as she swings back and forth.

March 24--The Neigh-Neigh's have a coy pond next to their driveway. Lauren loves to see the "feesh" and uses it as an excuse to visit. What she likes better than the fish is the little fountain that sprays water. Mark my words, I'll have a picture before the end of the summer of Lauren swimming with the fishies when she tries to play in the fountain.

March 27--My blooming artist has her own art pad. She has fallen in love with scribbling. She prefers markers over crayons, but she lost the privilege of markers when she drew on her clothes and tried to do the same to the hardwoods. She lost her crayons on the 28th for a day when she colored on the hardwoods instead of her paper, with a devilish look on her face.

March 28--Lauren discovered pliers. She liked the way that they opened and closed.

Look out, little fingers!

March 28--I FINALLY got Lauren to wear her Cat in the Hat hat from Dr. Seuss's birthday at the beginning of the month. Then she promptly removed the hat from her head and the band that went around her head tore.

March 29--Here's our little cutie, sporting her little pony tail, reading a book before going to church. I couldn't resist!

March 29--Isn't she cute?!

March 9--Lauren enjoying her snack and juice outside in the afternoon sun.

March 13--Wrestling with Dada. However, Lauren was really grumpy and whined.

March 15--Yes, that's my bra Lauren had just taken off. I was in the middle of doing laundry and Lauren wanted to "help".

March 16--Lauren officially turned 19 months old. I was trying to share my Happy Hour slushy from Sonic, but Lauren wanted to play with Catlyn.

And then she saw the slushy and I didn't get any more out of the cup!

March 16--I was cleaning up the kitchen and Lauren disappeared. When I turned around, I saw a tiny hand on the side of the pantry door. Lauren opened up the door, climbed inside, and closed the door the best she could. She kept herself entertained this way for about 15 minutes. Of course, it helped that I would say, "Lauren, where are you?" and then cry out in surprise when she'd open the door.

March 17--Happy St. Patrick's Day. Lauren was NOT impressed.

March 19--I baked a cake and Lauren wanted to help. And help she did! Here she is helping me pour in water...

...and stirring all by herself! While it wasn't a clean production, we had fun. Lauren is going to be a little baker, I can see it now!

March 20--When we got home from school, Lauren went straight to her books to read.

She did not like being disturbed. However, her teachers played beauty shop with the girls, so Lauren had a little pony tail on top of her head! I was trying to get her picture because it was so cute!

March 21--Lauren has been in a "baby" mode lately, so if she isn't saying no, juice, or whining, she says, 'Baby...baby...baby..." This is her Madame Alexander doll. The hat doesn't stay on her head, but she expects me to put it on all of the time...

March 22--Paul continued demolishing the kitchen and dining areas. Here is what my dining room looks like without walls or the bar. It's opened it up tremendously.

This is what is left of the kitchen. Paul's trying to keep the sink and dishwasher in as long as possible. We need to get insulation and drywall and figure out what we're doing in a few places. That will be our next venture.

Here's Catlyn in the window (forget the doggy!). This is the part of the kitchen that Josh and Paul demolished, insulated, and then drywalled back. I can't show a picture of the section of kitchen that's finished because Paul says it's off limits for now...actually, even if I tried to take a picture, the counter top is laden with cookbooks and tools so you can't see what it looks like! However, Paul is working exceptionally hard. I try to help when I can. It's going to look so incredibly different when it's all said and done!

It's been a quick, busy week, so I don't have too much to share! After getting the snow melted, we've had temperatures in the 70's! It's been insane! Paul and I worked on the kitchen cabinets outside yesterday, wearing shorts and T-shirts! With the good weather, we've had good luck with the kitchen cabinets. The next step is to put the fronts on the cabinets and stain them. Then we're ready to demolish the other half of the kitchen, put up new dry wall, paint, and put the cabinets in place! Paul's thinking this should be done in the next two weeks (or when my brother has another weekend off of work!). Paul won't allow me to post pictures yet, so once we get it looking great, I'll post before and after pictures. Until then, enjoy my daughter!

March 2--Lauren has watched my example too closely when it comes to sitting by the fire. I often prop up against the screen to suck up as much heat as I can. She's smart enough to know when things are hot, including the oven, stove, or food, because she says, "Hot," kind of in a whisper, almost as though she's blowing on the hot thing to cool down! It's cute.

March 3--Little one posing before school in her "Catch Me" ("if you can" should be added for her!) shirt I picked up in PA. I took about 4 pictures, and she refused to look at me each time. I guess she was going for the coy look.

March 4--As Lauren's daycare celebrated Dr. Seuss week, the kids made Cat in the Hat hats. Lauren wouldn't let me get her picture in the hat (yet), so I had Catlyn model.

March 6--After work, I took Lauren to the park to play. She loved running around, having me chase her. She added the words "stick" and "tree" to her repertiore.

March 7--Yes, Saturday, and I had to TEACH SCHOOL! We had had 2 snow days and we can make one up on a half day if we go Saturdays. Suzy and Chris kept Lauren for me. Suzy confirmed that Nick and Lauren bring out the worst in each other. Lauren threw a toy at Harris and hit him in the head, so she had to go to time out. Then Harris did the same, so they were together...Later that afternoon, we went back to Suzy's and made pizza pies and s'mores in the fire. Yum! Nick was with his grandparent's, so Lauren was the one into everything. Bless her!

March 8--Daddy and Lauren, ready to head to church. I bought Lauren's outfit at Dollar General for $5! The shirt fits her nicely, but the pants are enormous, so she had to have them rolled up! The little beret stayed quite well, after the tugging off and on got old. The blue in the shirt really magnified her eyes today.

Lauren played at the neighbors, sharing her Teddy Grahams with Buster, the dog. We checked out the fish in the pond, and Lauren said, "Fish!" When the Teddy Grahams were gone, Lauren looked at Buster, said, "All gone!" and threw her cup on the ground. "Uh-oh!" was the response.

We worked outside a little more today and Paul continued work on the cabinets. We had wind today, but it was still warm. The latest weather forecast says more warmth! Have a great week!

Snowed In!!

I'm sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I don't have pictures from the 19th until March 1. My grandma in PA passed away, so I left Paul and Lauren at home to fend for themselves while my brother, Josh, and I were with our family. Josh and I got to PA, and about an hour from home, we hit a snow storm. (Typical.) We cussed the weather. We got 8-12 inches the week we were up there. Just before we drove back to the Carolinas, it started to rain and we returned home to rain.

The good news is that Lauren wasn't broken, she was fed and happy, and Paul was able to build the cabinets for the other side of the kitchen while we were gone! The day after we got back, Josh and Paul demolished the east kitchen wall, insulated, and hung new dry wall. It feels warmer already, and it looks great!

Snow started to fall Sunday night. What should have taken Josh an hour and a half took him over 15 hours to drive home! He was stuck in 23 miles of stopped traffic on I-85 South due to a jack-knifed tractor trailer and some other accidents. He left our house around 6:15 pm last night and made it to his home at 9:15 am this morning. We never imagined the mess!

Here is a picture I took around 11:00 PM Sunday night. We had a tree or a large branch fall in the middle of the road, so Paul hooked up his plow to the tractor and plowed the road. (Redneck!) I tried to get him plowing, but all I could capture was the snow falling!
March 1--Here was the snow falling Sunday night! We got about 4-6 inches of snow over night. We lost some big branches due to the snow.

March 2--Lauren wanted to get out to play. She dragged her boots around the house until I gave in. She finally got to wear her snow pants!! However, Lauren refused to walk down the stairs or move off of the steps. I had to pick her up when she wanted to move. She didn't like the snow. She cried when I put snow on her gloved hand, but she laughed when I launched snow balls at the cupboard on the front lawn.

March 2--Our house blanketed in snow. If you were to see it now that the sun has come out and warmed everything, you'd see big blotches of mud with sprigs of grass here and there. Our bushes are bent over with the weight of the snow. We can drive, but I'm happy and cozy at home with the logs going. This picture was taken around 7:30 am.

Lauren likes to mimic me, and getting warmed by the logs is the latest thing. I was trying to change her diaper and get her dressed, but the stinker would run away from me then stop to warm up in front of the fire. She's learned that the screen can get hot and doesn't rest upon it too heavily.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I'm sure we will face another mess. School was cancelled for staff and students in our area for today. We're expecting a delay at least tomorrow since the snow is melting and we're supposed to have freezing temps tonight. We're supposed to be at 60 on Thursday and almost 70 by the weekend!