The Brenda Photo Challenge-From An Ant's View

This challenge is brought to us by Jeanne of
Life or Something Like It
I really enjoyed this one..oh, who am I kidding! I love all of the photo challenges!

Yummy!


What's this interesting-looking thing?

Uh oh! Better watch out!

Long journey.

To all my blog friends:




Try not to eat too much!

Stalled

Friday was my son Chris and his wife Marissa's anniversary. I can't believe they have been married for three years already!

Well, the kitchen is done as far as it can be for now. We are waiting for a few trim pieces to come in and a panel that goes behind the upper cabinets. Somehow they sent the wrong size so we had to reorder it. It should be here by Wednesday but I'm guessing that they won't be back until Monday. That's a bummer because we still need to have the toilet and sink installed in the 1/2 bath, the stove and microwave hooked up and some doors put back on.

We spent Saturday touching up paint; vacuuming dust and wood shavings and putting things away in the cupboards.

The configuration of my kitchen is quite different than before so it will take some getting used to. It's beautiful though.

Especially the pantry. That area used to have wood molding all around it but it looks so much better without it.




I also took a piece of the stair nosing to have the stain matched and that should be done today or tomorrow.

Sunday I had to stain some molding and finish cleaning up dust. The house is starting to almost look normal now.

I have Thursday and Friday off for the holiday. I usually decorate for Christmas on Friday but I may just put the trees up for now. It is my turn to have the family over for Christmas Eve so I figured I will wait and hopefully all will be done by the second week of December. Lord, I hope so!!

In the continuing grimmer news on the economy. This is the tax forclosure section in the paper on Sunday. 137 pages and that's just for one county. Where will it end?

Progress

Well, the floor is done and they have started putting the cabinets in. I am starting to get a inkling of how it's going to look. Pretty fabulous if I do say so myself.
I love the way the light shines on the cabinets.



I worry about the wood floor. Trying to keep it from getting dented may be a challenge being as I am clumsy and drop things alot. There will be plenty of rugs all over which should help some, but we live in our house so it will get walked on with shoes and stuff. Oh well, it will still look beautiful for a long time and even if it gets gouged or scratched badly it can be fixed.

Friday morning they are coming to measure for the countertop. Then it will be ready for installation in 2-3 weeks.

Hopefully, this weekend I can start putting stuff away in the cabinets. Everything is all over the place and covered in dust. I probably should have covered everything with sheets but that would be planning ahead of time; and planning ahead of time is rarely in my brain chemistry!

Work as been a little tense lately. No ones job is indespensible and, given the economy right now, everyone is worried that they will start making cuts and they will lose their job.

It's been pretty cold lately, I have been walking in to work every morning.

Nice and brisk!!

We Have A Floor

Well, Saturday I ended up taking the stair nosing back to the store and getting unstained. We're just going to take samples to Sh3rwin Willi@ms and let them color match a stain and do it ourselves. I could not handle the idea of the work being delayed anymore! However, it's not the last they have heard from me!

So the builder came back this morning and we have a floor!!




Well, part of the floor anyway. They still have to do the hallway, the half-bath and the foyer. Note the unstained stair nosing. Grrr.. Anyway, tomorrow they should finish the floor and maybe install the sink and toilet.

This weekend while Rich was up north hunting I busted my butt getting things ready for them to finish. I painted the ceiling and primed and painted the walls.



I really love this color. It's a very soft grey and it should pick up the grey colored flecks that are in the countertop. By the end of the week I should at least have a stove and cabinets so I can start cleaning up this mess that is all over my house! Hopefully the builder will install a temporary sink and plywood countertop for me because it will be a few weeks yet before my countertop is ready.

Just a little longer now.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday already? I am looking forward to a 4-day weekend. Woo Hoo!

The Brenda Photo Challenge-Water

This challenge is all about water thanks to Maria of Let The Good Times Roll This was a easy one and hard to keep to just four pictures.

Lake water.


Pool water.


Fountain water.

Gross water.

Kitchen Update

Well, today I got home from work and the stair nosing was on the porch. I was thrilled until I looked at it and, you guessed it, it was the WRONG COLOR! So I immediately got on the phone and I won't repeat what I said but it wasn't nice! Grrrr....They promised I will have it in the house on Monday morning so well see.

This was the kitchen two days ago before the drywall guy came and put up the drywall yesterday.



He finished sanding today and so my whole house looks like this:



Gah!

Everything is all over the place.



This is the sink I am using to do dishes.



That is a 2-quart casserole dish so you can see how dinky this sink is.

Luckily, I have tomorrow off so I can spend the next three days cleaning and trying to put things in order. Plus I want to paint the ceiling and walls before they start to put in the cabinets. We still have at least one more week until the floor is down and the cabinets are in.

I can't wait for it to be done. I try not to whine but you know, the kitchen is the hardest room in the house to live without.

Well, maybe the bathroom is harder to live without but at least you can use the backyard!

Kitchen Update and Someones Having a Giveaway!

Well, the kitchen has been gutted. It's so weird looking and the floor in the hallway used to be green and turquoise (yuck!) Pictures to be posted soon.

We had a little snafu that may delay the finish for a few day. Seems the wonderful people at Lumb3r Liquid@tors were slow in ordering stair nosing for our floor and we won't get it until Friday. They can't put the floor down until they have it which means the bottom cupboards can't go in until after that. Oh well, I am trying to stay cool but I was awake at 4:00 this morning steaming about it! They will be getting a scathing letter from me soon!

Donna at Cottage Days and Journeys is giving away a couple of cute handmade ornaments. Go visit her and try to get one, but I got first dibs!

Kitchen

The cabinets are delivered.....




The floor is waiting....



The kitchen is emptied....



They'll be here tomorrow morning to start ripping apart the kitchen.

Woo boy! It's going to be a long week!

Scenes From The Courtyard

Well, it's over and Barak Obama is our new president. Truthfully, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I guess I'm cautiously optimistic. Time will tell. And that's all you'll hear from me on this election.

It was so beautiful out today and I finally remembered to bring my camera to work. These are the trees in the courtyard.







This little playhouse was built in honor of a little girl named Maddie who died at Children's Hospital a few years ago from an aggressive form of leukemia.




Our local paper did a series of stories on her while she was being treated. Her mom had passed away a few years before she got sick so it was just her and her dad. He was so devoted to her; never leaving her side through all her treatments and stays. I remember thinking how wonderful it was that his employer kept him on the payroll with full benefits for the whole time. Anyway, their story touched the hearts so many that someone donated the funds to build this little playhouse in her memory. It's called Maddie's Storybook Cottage and it's so cute and sweet!




Today is my one-year blog anniversary!

Quick Weekend

We had a nice, although short weekend.

Friday night we did not go out to eat so we could stay home and pass out candy. I felt like crap due to the flu shot I had that day. I was surprised because last year I didn't have a reaction. It even took me a moment to figure it out. I thought I was coming down with something. Anyway, at least I got that out of the way for the year.

Saturday Marie and I went to breakfast and then to exchange a faucet that I bought for the kitchen and to look at stoves! Oh, this kitchen remodel has been taking over my weekends for the past month or so! I'm not complaining by any means but I will be glad when it's all done! Anyway, I found a stove that I really liked and Rich and I went back later and bought it. Then we went out to see his mom. All of his sisters were there and it was a nice visit.

In the evening I went to the grocery store and we watched 50 First Dates! I love that movie! Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore are so cute together! Anyway, it was a fairly early night. I tell ya, these wild weekends are killing me!!

Sunday we cleaned up outside and wrapped the grill in plastic for the winter. I cleaned out all the dead flowers from the barrels and cut back the rose bushes and the clematis. A couple of the kitties managed to get out into the backyard because I did not latch the doorwall screen. They were pretty scared though because they're really indoor kitties and never go outside. As soon as Rich walked out there they ran back inside! Poor babies. Maybe next spring we'll build some sort of enclosure for them to go outside in. I know they would love it.

We went to dinner at Don and Linda for my brother Tom's 50th birthday which is on Wednesday. That is about all for the weekend now it's back to work today! It was nice that it was light out coming in this morning.

I need to bring my camera to work because the trees in the courtyard are gorgeous right now!

LATER: I will be so freaking glad when tomorrow is over and they stop playing these political ads!!!