A Night Off...

I took the night off tonight from the kitchen. Danny sanded the cabinet doors because they got really rough after the primer. They are ready for me to paint tomorrow.

Maya needed some extra love and attention tonight which was largely the reason no work was done on the kitchen. She woke up from nap at school today and went to Rachel (her teacher) and said her ear hurt and started crying. Now remember, this is from a girl who doesn't stop playing on a climber when she is bleeding from her nose and mouth. So we all packed up and went to the doctor's office and sure enough she has a "raging" ear infection in her right ear and a mild one in her left. I guess that fever of 105 ten days ago was a sign of the infection. It's too bad the amoxicilan didn't work...for whatever reason. But tonight she is on something a little more potent. Hopefully our little demon will come back to normal very soon!

Sunday Night Update

Well here we are, Sunday night and Spring Break is quickly coming to an end. I feel like I need a week to recover from the activities of this week, however I am looking forward to finishing our project as well.

This is where we stand:
-bottom level of cabinets are installed with new hardware and three coats of paint
-top level has a coat of primer on the structure
-new top cabinet doors have a coat of primer on both sides

To be done:
-sand new cabinet doors (they are really rough after the primer)
-wipe down new doors with a tack cloth
-hopefully only 2 coats of white paint for the upper level of cabinets
-install knobs on all cabinets
-get counter installation moving forward
-touch-up paint in a million places (this won't happen until new counter tops are installed because I imagine there will be a million new nicks to take care of!)
-paint window casing, bathroom door and pantry door white

We are LOVING how it looks. The bottom bank of cabinets looks so rich and wonderful...I can't wait for the finishing touch of the knobs! So perfect! The white on the top bank of cabinets is really making the red come to life and bringing out the orange rather than the purple in the red!

Maya was a trooper this weekend! We were really boring and there were a lot of rules. She also took several trips to Jerry's (some eventful in unpleasant ways and others were lots of fun).

Regardless, spring break is coming to an end. I have to get back in school mode, Maya gets to have her regular friends and teachers back at her school and Danny will be glad to have everyone back to "work" like he has been for the last week!

Here are some pictures to show you what we are looking like tonight! Happy almost-April everyone!

Air Guitaring for Danny's Birthday!

It's a subdued performance but a performance nonetheless!

Happy Birthday Danny!

Brown Paint Update

Here are the promised pics. First coat, second coat and unfortunately it appears there will be a third coat of brown paint in my future. ):



















I thought I'd add a funny picture/outfit of Maya to make things a bit more interesting!

Good News & Bad News

Well the good news is...the bottom bank of cabinets has a first coat of "cargo brown" paint! The bad news is the camera battery is dead! It is charging and hopefully I can get a picture of posted later today. Just to give you a mental picture of our kitchen (until you can see it for yourself): 2 gigantic sawhorses with a 10 ft plank of pressboard on it, 7 cupboard doors siting on it, 9 drawers sitting on the cupboard and me trying to keep my ass or belly out of the paint. Of course of piece de resistance: my laying on the floor painting the baseboard/trim. Seriously a sight for no one's eyes!

I have a meeting and errands to run at school in prep for teaching on Monday so that will give everything a bit of time to dry. I am hoping to get another coat on the everything tonight after the kid goes to sleep and then hopefully mounted tomorrow so we don't have to worry about them getting dinged up. We brought home some hardware from Jerry's yesterday to try out and see what we think. Pretty basic brushed nickel hinges and knobs. We will see what we think and then head back to get the whole supply. We are getting "cheap" ones but damn, the hardware will probably cost more than the paint and the new doors combined! Crazy! I can't imagine those folks who can buy the $5 or even the $10 pulls! CRAZY!

Here they are!

The red walls that is! It is a bit gloomy and doomy outside so the color may be a bit wonky but you will get an idea of how much it has changed the room! The color has more orange than purple in it. I think the picture that shows the color of the best is the one with the "new" bathroom door on it. The others look to wine colored. The closet and bathroom doors will all get painted white.

The cupboard above and to the left of the stove is the color of brown that will be on the bottom bank of cabinets.

The cabinet that has four splotches of paint on it has the "white" we are using. It is the one in the top left corner. The doors are coming off the bottom cupboards this afternoon and I'm off to Jerry's to match wood for the replacement cupboard doors! It's all too exciting!

We still haven't scheduled the Home Depot folks to come out and measure to get the countertops. I suppose I should do that!

No boring kitchen update here!

We have known about the secret tickle spot for some time but we have never videoed the "torture"! Enjoy!

Spring Break--Day 2--Part 2

I have the second coat up and the good news is...I think that is the final "coat" I will need. There will definitely be some touch up spots required but overall I think we have hit what we are looking for! Hooray. It's still drying so I will post pictures in the morning! I can't believe what an incredible change the paint makes on the room. It almost makes the mismatched wood cabinets and blue counter tops bearable...almost! :)

For those of you concerned that I am "overdoing" it...you should know I took time today to have a nap, have lunch with Alina and Saf and do a little shopping! I'm playing too!

Spring Break--Day 2

Well I got the entire first coat up yesterday. I haven't posted pictures because it kind of looks streaky and weird, plus the grey/blue primer bleeds through and it doesn't look at all like the real color. Today I will paint a second (and hopefully final) coat and take some pictures this afternoon.

I need to take one of the cupboard doors down and go to Jerry's and figure out what kind of "plywood" we are going to use to replace the 4 old cupboard doors so they can all be the same. Hopefully tomorrow I can start the painting of the cupboards.

I "think" it's going to look good. It's definitely quite a change.

Easter Re-cap and Day One of Spring Break

We had a pretty quiet Easter. It felt great after having a week filled with home improvement woes and triumphs, fevers and final exams and rides in stretch hummers! We started the morning by opening Easter packages from MN filled with books and play-do and bubbles and candy! We moved on to waffles for breakfast followed by a quick trip to Wal-mart (Target is closed on Easter Sunday) for some egg dye and paint brushes. Then we had naps and cleaning. Bobby and Christy came over and we colored eggs and had potato soup, salad, bread and cheese cake! Yummy!

As the pictures show...Maya left unattended blowing bubbles at the table led to a before-breakfast-bath! Egg coloring started off simple enough but she quickly discovered the fun "cracking" noise of hitting the egg to the table! It was a very good day!

The family is off to work and school and I am home updating the blog and staring at the pit of a kitchen. Perhaps I will work up the energy to sand the backsplash and finish with the nasty primer. (Don't worry I have a fume mask.) Then I can continue with a second coat of red paint and have some pictures to show!

Sound Asleep...

We survived a crazy day of Bouncing and Princessing! Maya was a trooper, it was a beautiful wedding and I am so glad everyone was healthy enough to travel! Here are a few pictures of Maya's adventures.

A Princess is Crowned

Today is Aunt Lindsey's wedding in Portland so Maya is once again crowned a princess. She is feeling much better albeit a bit snotty! We have Bounce this morning and then we will have lunch and she will nap (fingers crossed) on the drive to Portland. I will update with pictures when we get home tonight.

As far as the kitchen goes...we have some red on the walls but not enough to provide a "proper" update. It is going to look great! I have lots of work ahead of me this week!

Phase 2 and Fevers

So yesterday we got a little further on the kitchen. The "industrial blue/grey" is actually the tinted primer we have for the walls and brown cupboards. So walls first. The red should be going on today. We do have a bit more work to get the rest of the adhesive off where the back splash was. It feels so nice to have that down...a step in the right direction!

We were slowed down a little bit by a fever. We were out to supper and Maya started to feel really hot; I mean really hot. The day before (Wednesday) she crashed on the climber at school and really did a number on her top gumline. We didn't want to risk the fever being a sign of infection from that wound so off we went to the after-hours clinic. They took her temp and it was 104.9. So they dosed her with some Tylenol and gave us a prescription for penicillin just in case it was her mouth and he couldn't see it yet. She was so sad and shaky but still very coherent and lucid. She was on fire, it was kind of freaky touching her and knowing that it is ok that she feels like the top of a stove.

She is better today. She has started sneezing out gigantic boogers...seriously gigantic. So I think we are on the mend and headed for a good old-fashioned cold. Definitely a busy day!

Ceiling Fan-832 v. Us-7

Seriously this fan is going to be the end of us! The good news is we got the fan up and all put together, hanging from the ceiling and everything last night with the help of Bobby and Christy.

While Danny was rocking Maya I went and turned the breaker on. Bobby and Christy immediately hollered, "Turn it off!" That is never a good sign. Apparently there was quite a spark and upon further investigation it appears the ground came disconnected in the process!

So we grounded it again and in the process of hanging it to the ceiling plate the plaster of the ceiling keeps chipping away. We finally surrendered! After 15+ hours I'm done with it...and Danny is too, although he feels like we should be able to finish it. I called Dan Wallace this morning and he thinks he can stop by on Friday to put the finishing touches on the "(e)vil(e)" ceiling fan! So until then (and we are hoping he can actually come over on Friday) we live with the ceiling fan on the dining room table and crap EVERYWHERE!

The good news is the ceiling fan looks awesome! Even in the short time it was up we all reveled at the fact that Bobby can walk underneath it without smacking his head! It's quite modern and sleek. I can't wait until this stupid project is done! Who knew?

PS...Don't judge us on the disgustingly dirty top of that nasty ceiling fan. I had no intentions of letting it stay up for 2 1/2 years. Although now I'm wondering if it would have been easier to clean it! :)

PPS...You can see our paint swatches on our walls and cupboards! That will start up tomorrow! Hooray!

Ceiling Fan-2 v. Us-1

So we finally attacked the ceiling fan last night. We decided we needed to change it out for the new one so we could see how the light plays on the new colors. Well we got the ceiling fan down--damn it's ugly! But the new one is sitting on the dining room table! After 6 1/2 hours it beat us...we tried valiantly but it definitely kicked our ass.

Tonight we will try again...hopefully gaining a few points! I took pictures but forgot to load them on the computer. I will try and add them when I get home! Keep your eyes peeled for updates! :)

Nerds of a Feather...

Maya has a fascination with all things computer. Aunt Lindsey purchased this little laptop for her to use when mom and dad are "playing".

Maya has also been very concerned with my eyesight as well. She keeps bringing me my glasses and saying, "Mommy keep your glasses on." The next thing I knew she had found her fabulous zebra sunglasses and sported them next to me!

She is kind of a crack up.

The Kitchen...

So, as finals week and spring break approach we are trying to decide on the colors for the kitchen. We are struggling a little bit to figure out what we want to do. Right now we are thinking a "chocolate brown" for the lower cabinets, a "taupe-cream" for the upper cabinets and a "burnt red" for the walls. The trim/doors would all be white like the rest of the house. We have "decided" (I use the term loosely as Danny and I can rarely commit to anything) that the countertop will be a gray slate sort of formica. Perhaps I will load some colors on tonight when I get home so you can see.

I want to try and get this started next week. It takes about 5 weeks for them to do the countertop process (come measure, cut it and install it)...so at least we don't have to worry about preserving the old blue countertop.

On the Maya front she is obsessed with polka dots right now. The past 3 days have included polka dot dresses and last night she paired this with her snow boots for our trip to Jerry's. She definitely has a personality!

Peek-a-Boo...

We see you...do you see us? We have finally arrived in the 21st century and have succumbed to blogdom!

While we have fallen horribly behind on Maya's website we are hoping that this will be a place to collect all the not-so-juicy tidbits of our growing and evolving family! As we wrote above...a way to preserve the memories of chaos!