11 weeks and 1 day

Well, it's been 1 week since the construction crews left us and my house is still an utter disaster! haha 

BUT I did grab some pics before we started moving back into our space.  So here is pic overload and I promise to update room by room as we get things moved back into place.

This is the dry bar area- it's hard to see the glass shelves but I do have that area almost finished so you'll get to see the better pics soon.

The microwave area.  We have the toaster over here and so far it's working perfectly. 

Pendant lights over the island and the can lights in the ceilings have dimmers on them.  Everyone knows how much I hate the bright can lights.  

A closer view of the pendant lights.

Reggie's little feeding station, he loves it already and knows it's just for him.

Filling his water bowl is so easy with that water spigot.

I must have taken another pic further back.  It seems like so long ago now.

We opted not to move the location of our refrigerator and it's taking a bit used to how the flow works in the kitchen but Hubster is in love with his ginormous refrigerator and freezer.

I took this pic from beside the refrigerator looking to the other side of the kitchen.  You can see Reggie is very happy to have full run of the whole house again. 

My big, beautiful stove.   I really wanted that yellow range but this is giving me all the feels and I'm glad i compromised on the range and kept the tile backsplash.

Looking down the long island to the den area.

You can see most of the kitchen from this view.  My island is big and I'm ready to get all my things put away and off the island. 

This faucet gave everyone fits, it's a no-touch faucet but it runs on electricity, not batteries and it took some finagling to get it to work but it's awesome.  Of course, there is my beloved cup wash too.   That's the cheapest upgrade you can make to your kitchen that will pay huge dividends.

You can see my big, gorgeous apron front sink a little bit better here. 

I love the built-in drainboard on the left side. 

The quietest dishwasher I've ever owned.   You can never tell it's running.

Some close up action of the kitchen hardware.  

Another peek at my stove.  I've used it several times and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

Before the cabinet doors went on, I had mixed feelings about the hood vent but after it was all complete, I was satisfied.   That was one of the harder parts of not having a designer to work with, I had to make all the decisions and I second and third, and fourth-guessed my choices many times!

This is a close-up of the controversial water spigot in the coffee bar area.  I personally love this and use it multiple times a day.  My one regret is that I did not make this a hot/cold dispenser.  Of course, that's something we can add later on if we decide to but it is so handy for filling Reggie's water bowl, making our "vitamin" drinks every day, and also for filling up the coffee pot.   We did put a water filter on it so it's good filtered water.   

I've got lots more to show you but that's all for tonight, I've got a neighborhood 4th of July parade bright and early in the morning so I need to hit the hay.  

Let me do a super quick gratitude because I'm indeed most grateful for so many things. 

1) My new kitchen: this was a long, expensive project and I'm forever grateful that we were able to do this.

2) This project being complete- I mean I do miss chatting with the construction crew every day but man, I'm glad to use my whole house and sleep late and not have to decide whose car needs to be moved to the street.

3) Great neighbors- so many of our incredible neighbors invited us over to have dinner with them or pick us up to join them for dinner out.  Almost 3 months of not cooking can take a toll on you and they helped keep us sane.

4) My amazing Hubster who let me run with this project and didn't question too many of my decisions.

5) UPS, FedEx, USPS, and all delivery folks, and my garbage pick-up crew.  I've ordered, returned, and kept so many things these past three months.   My poor trash guys had to pick up a SOFA box filled with broken-down boxes last week.  I'm sure I'm not their favorite stop, I just hope they know their hard work in this ridiculous heat is much appreciated!

More to come!

Peace, Love & Fireworks!

We're rounding the last corner

Hi Dee Ho Peeps!

Well, last night we got you guys mostly caught up with the shenanigans around here in a rather lengthy post.  We'll try to keep it down today but no promises, I tend to ramble!

The ginormous refrigerator/freezer is in and we are using it! Woohoo!!!

(There she goes with those ding dang exclamation marks again!)

The stairwell is all done and all those little blue tape scratches have been repaired now.

Our new sofa got delivered....in a box!  Who knew??!!

Hubster got the new light fixture installed in the garage entry area.

It's so much brighter than the "boob" light it replaced.

It's reading yellow in this pic but it was getting dark so the lighting was wonky.

I had another fixture to put here outside the Merebear and Abogg's rooms but it didn't work so we just added a can light.  It's still brighter so that's good. 

We have cabinet doors here too!!

We got cabinet doors on Monday!  Woohoo and my stove is just still so lovely. 

Now I just need to figure out how to use it!

The microwave station is all set up and waiting on knobs/pulls.  That's what is in that box by the way.

Dry bar just needs the glass shelves installed.

New furniture!  We moved the furniture in and put it all together last night.

You'll see the full pics tomorrow...hopefully!  We covered it up before they arrived this morning just in case any painting got done in that area today. 

That was the State of Union on Monday evening.  Today has been hardware installation, final paint touch-ups, and attempting to fix my precious stove that the propane company messed up when they came to do a leak check.  grrrrrrrr   Hector is on it and is bound and determined to find a way to repair the leg they messed up.   

Alright, let's finish out dinner and such from the past weekend

Friday evening:  We headed out to dinner with our amazing neighbors at BoomerJacks

I'm telling you, our neighbors always call just when we need them to!

Saturday:  Hubster and I tried to obtain heat stroke levels while working in the yard all day long.  He mowed and trimmed, and I weeded the entire garden.   We cleaned up and headed to Costco to replenish the depleted stock around here.   Roberto wandered over and we had Salad w/ Sirloin beef strips for dinner.     Costco pound cake with berries finished off the meal then we waited on Court and MattC to arrive.   They got in at about 11 and we fell exhausted into bed. 

Sunday:  We had some breakfast then hung out in the pool with them for a bit.  PennPenn is scheduled for surgery in mid-July so she and Reggie Roni didn't get to play.   Reggie was not happy about that at all. 

After they headed out we installed light fixtures, moved stuff into the refrigerator and freezer, and all around pretended we could continue to live in that part of the house.  We had chips & salsa for dinner with some ice cream.   We were tired!

Monday evening:  After everyone left we headed to Lowe's to pick up a few things we needed so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Braum's.   We keep saying it's the last time we have to eat out in the middle of the week, and then there we go again! haha 

Let's do some gratitude and get you people out of here for the day!

1) Light at the end of the tunnel- I can see it, it's coming!

2) Air conditioning - people it's hot here in Texas, like really hot

3) Contractors who care and don't say "That's not my problem".  Hector is doing everything he can to fix something the gas company broke.

4) A sofa to sit on and watch TV- those camping chairs were getting to be hard on the back.  I ain't no spring chicken no more!

5)  Seeing all the kids in the past 3 weeks!  Plus my niece, it fills my heart to see all of them and get that visual that they are all good!

See ya tomorrow and here's to hoping an end date is set!

 

Peace, Love, & Stay Cool

Still here....Still chugging along

Well, Hellooooo Peeps!!! I've been away for far too long but don't worry, you haven't missed much!

Yes, tomorrow, June 25 will indeed mark the beginning of Week 11 of this never-ending kitchen renovation.  However, the next few days should be the end but shhhhhh, we're trying not to get our hopes up.

Let's go back 10 days and get you guys all caught up shall we?

Thursday, June 13 and this is what it looked like, not much had changed in the last few weeks.

Painters tape up, so they must have been painting the crown molding.

Yep, it was time to paint the trim work. 

And a taller ladder was in order. 

The next day was the day Hubster and I left for Chicago.  Leaving with the hopes, dreams, and promises of a completed kitchen when we return the following Tuesday evening.  

Friday evening our flight was delayed so we had plenty of time for a bite to eat at Shake Shack.

I had a burger & fries and I cannot complain, it was tasty.

We arrived quite late in Chicago and Abogg so graciously picked us up at the airport.  We finally got in bed after midnight so we could hit the ground running Saturday morning. 

We headed out for an early lunch at Minghin and then shopped the afternoon away.  I picked myself up a little something, something at the LV store at Nordstrom.  We had some delightful afternoon cocktails and the Starbucks Reserve.   Abogg and AprilMayJune were surprised there wasn't a line waiting to get in.  It was still packed but we wandered through the entire 4 stories and grabbed drinks at the top floor.  More shopping before we headed back home.   It was a long, tiring day so we munched on leftovers and watched some comedians on TV before we turned in early.     

Sunday, Father's Day, got us up bright and early.  Hopped on the bus to Wrigleyville.  Grabbed a late breakfast at Chicago Bagel Authority.   We all had something different and they were all absolutely delicious!      We walked towards the stadium and made a pit stop for some pre-game drinks at a little bar called Sheffield's   We didn't eat but the food looked amazing.  Time to head over to Wrigley Field, game time 12:05 p.m.  

The Cubbies didn't win but they were playing St. Louis so I was secretly happy.

Seeing a game at those old stadiums is really what baseball is all about!  However, it was H_O_T, Hot!

After the game, we made our way home, grabbed showers, and a little power nap.  My sweet princess of a niece came over and we all walked to dinner at a lovely place called Gretel.  E, AprilMayJune, and I all had the Lobster roll served hot with butter and we were not disappointed.  We left stuffed and had leftovers aplenty for Hubster to nosh on the next day.   On our walk back we went to E's fave bar and then called it a night.  

On Monday, AprilMayJune had to work so Abogg walked us all over Chicago!  We had a great time even with it being warmer there than Texas!   

We made it down to the Riverwalk

Hubster taking all the pictures.

This time we got to see Buckingham Fountain. 

Grabbed some lunch at Luke's and then picked up some incredible doughnuts over at Do-Rite Donuts in Willis Tower.  We tried to go to a couple of different museums and other tourist things but lots of things are closed on Monday.  It was ridiculously hot so we headed home for another mid-day shower and to get ready for an early dinner.     We strolled over to Thattu hoping to snag a table.  It's been named on several best restaurant lists and we arrived just after they opened for dinner.  Opted to sit at the bar but a reservation that was booked didn't show so they kindly allowed us to take the table.   This food is from the Southwest region of India called Kerala.  This was very different than any Indian food we'd eaten before but it was DIVINE.   I highly recommend attempting a reservation if you are in the area.  It's a small restaurant but worth it.   We left with full bellies for a slow walk home.   Princess E. came over to see us one last time before we had to head home the next day.       On Tuesday morning, Abogg had to leave at 7 am for a required jump seat flight so we spent the morning with AprilMayJune in between her work meetings.  We ordered a favorite delivery from Ramen-San for lunch before Hubster and I rolled our little luggage down to the train station and hopped on for a quick trip to the airport.  Of course, I had to grab a bag of Garrett mix popcorn at  Garrett Popcorn just after getting through security.   After a bit of a delay waiting for the plane to be fueled, we were on our way home.  Our amazing neighbors had chicken kabobs waiting on us when we got home.......to our not-finished kitchen! 

This is getting long so we're gonna speed through the pics!

They did get the lights in the bar installed but the shelves still haven't gone in.

New carpet on the stairs and they rehung our really, heavy clock.

Wednesday, Big Leo came over and hung the ginormous television over the fireplace.

Little bit better pic of the stairs in the daylight.

Bar area lights and new wine refrigerator installed. 

Apparently I'm like super in love with the stairs. haha

And you can see, no cabinet doors still.

Hubster's ginormous refrigerator and freezer are installed and working!

Reggie's station is ready for him.

Microwave is in as well.

I'm so ready to add my new toaster to this section and actully use my kitchen!

The ice gods cometh and have blessed us with a working ice machine again.  The dishwasher is all hooked up and working too.

My stove!!!!💕

She's beautiful !!!  

All the trim has been painted too!

That brings us to Friday of last week and we're gonna put the brakes on for tonight.  It's after midnight and the workers will be back bright and early in the morning so I should hit the sack.

Let's finish up with food and gratitude.   

Wednesday evening our neighbors brought over some Mama's pizza and we all 4 sat out on the porch and ate pizza straight out of the box.   Good pizza, good friends!

Thursday evening Hubster and I worked around the house very late and we ended up eating Chicken strips for dinner.  Nothing else, just air-fried some chicken strips and we were both exhausted still from the trip, didn't sleep well Wednesday night so it was an early to-bed night.  

Let's get our gratitude on now!

1) Getting to see my baby boy and his sweet wife - it was an excellent trip

2) Friends who feed us time and time again, we owe these guys so many dinners.

3) Getting to see Princess E. - I don't get to see my niece often but now that she's also in Chicago I'll get to see her more.  Maybe one day, she'll finally come visit us!

4) New appliances installed, the kitchen isn't done but I can pretend it is and I'm grateful.

5) Airplanes, they allow us to visit our family, employ our son, and give us so much more time to visit instead of driving.    Air travel can be frustrating but not nearly as frustrating as 13+ hours in a car. 

Bonus:

My neglected garden, it always blesses me even when I neglect to give it proper care.

Time for bed peeps, back tomorrow to fully catch you up!

Peace, Love, & Tomatoes