Progress in the kitchen

Here are some not so great drawings of the original and the new floor plans.

Before:

After:
Before: One of the only pictures I have before we started making changes. Although I loved the huge island it was HUGE. It had no flow, blocking the other half of the kitchen and only had a small amount of storage space for its size. It was also covered in carpet, who does that anyways?! The first changes we made were to repaint the cabinet doors, paint the ceiling, and the walls were painted red.
I also faux painted the ugly backsplash, adding the "roadrunner" and fake brick.
It was at this time that we removed the built in oven (that didn't work) and got a new free standing oven. Bryan moved the laundry room door over about 2 feet and installed a new solid wood door. The other doorway (leading out back) will have a matching door.

Bryan has installed the recessed lights and electrical outlets for the new "desk". It is taller than I would like, but we have decided to leave it at that height. Which will allow us to use it as a "workspace" as well as a desk. We still need to buy the upper cabinets and decide on the shelving that I would like for baskets, mail, etc.. Countertops will be a light grey tile. The backsplash will be really cool small granite tiles, with larger tiles around the sink area and "workspace". Stainless steel hardware will be installed on all cabinetry. Since the old drawers were made of plastic, Bryan will be making new wood drawers with the existing fronts.

The floor is almost finished, I still need to grout under the stove and fridge and then seal it. That will be done in the next day or two. Bryan will be hanging the small pieces of drywall and fixing the holes in the wall that were found when we removed the paneling.

Here are a few of the distressed cabinets that I found while searching online. I haven't decided on the extent of the "damage" I will inflict on the cabinets. I plan on beating them up a little, then applying stain to the exposed areas, but I'm not sure if it will be on the edges only or all over.

We will also be leaving the new cabinetry unpainted and they will only be slightly distressed.

The ends of the island, pantry, and workspace will be cover with tongue and groove wainscotting, like the above image. I love the look of the posts on the end of the cabinets, but I didn't ask for them soon enough and will have to do without. I still need to take our existing doors to the cabinet maker so that he can make new pantry doors. The pantry will have two large doors that hinge in the middle opening up to 3 large sliding shelves. We haven't decided on moulding, although I am leaning towards a very simple moulding with either crown moulding around the top of the cabinets or some decorating trim.

New light fixtures and potrack will go above the island. I love the look of these lights, but not the price. We will also be adding beams on the opposite side of the room to balance out the already existing beams. We are still discussing what to do with the hood exhaust. Bryan would like to install a microwave/exhaust system, I would like a simple exhaust that actually vents outside. We also need to buy a new dishwasher, sink, faucet, and fridge, but those will have to wait a few months at least. I would love to install new windows and possibly patio doors, that would lead out to a deck. The deck is not in the near future so I doubt I get my new doors anytime soon. This has been a looooooong project but the end is in sight.

I need your advice

Bryan and I bought a kingsize bed last year and we have yet to buy a headboard. Well I came upon this cool bed online today and had the great idea to make one myself. How hard can it be? I plan on using an old wooden door I saw at the antique store the other day and new posts. Well Bryan hates the idea, says he will cut it in half if I make it. Should I go ahead and make it or should we live without a headboard? Our bed sits in front of a window and a couple days ago when it was really cold my pillow actually froze to the window, yeah we need new windows too. I just think it would be great to have a headboard to keep my pillow on the bed, be able to hang curtains, and have an adult bed, headboard and all. So what do you think?

Rock Stars

Little Buddy chose this Hannah Montana microphone as my Christmas gift from him, but I think he likes it even more. I love that when Bryan takes him shopping he lets him choose what ever gift he wants. Last year I received a baseball, a thomas train, and tape. This year I received the microphone and an Easter car.

Please ignore the ugly wall in the background. I am in the process of redoing the fireplace, mantle, and wall above, where the original owners had glued nasty brick panelling.

The girls jamming out! Miss Brainy still in her pajamas, takes jamming to a figurative level.

My niece has the rockstar look down, with hair in her face no wondered she had a hard time singing the right lyrics!

A few from Christmas morning

Anything with camo makes this kid smile like a fool!

Little Buddy and Badger Boy in their present forts. I really tried not to go overboard on presents this year, but again I failed miserably. If it helps about 4-5 packages contain clothes!

We had really wanted to go to Disney this year instead of buying a bunch of presents that the kids forget about in a month, but money was needed elsewhere so the trip is postponed for another year. I am really hoping that we can make it work for next year, anyone want to join us?

Hey Mom, is this what you had in mind?

My mom told me yesterday that I needed to update the blog, so is this what you had in mind?

Here's to Christmas past... Let's talk about hair, Mom, Toby, and I sporting our wonderful permed 80's hair and Dad with his sad attempt at facial hair, not to mention the full head of hair on top. Gotta love the sweater's and velour sweat shirt! Notice the doll, I had a thing with "adopting" multicultural dolls. I had a "family" of baby dolls that would put the Jolie/Pitt clan to shame.

Merry Christmas

Little Buddy on Christmas Eve waiting for "his kids" to come home so we could unwrap some presents.

" Dude you ruined Christmas!"

During one of Little Buddy's very rare meltdowns he kept telling Bryan over and over again, "Dude you ruined Christmas!". We couldn't figure out what he was talking about. Finally Bryan asked him to show him. Little Buddy took Bryan to see that part of the garland that wraps around the banister on the stairs had broken. Bryan saved the day and fixed the garland with some tape. Sawyer thanked him by telling him" Dude you fixed it bad." Little Buddy has always called Bryan, Bryan instead of Dad, probably because that is what he hears the kids and I say. Well "Bryan" has been replaced with "Dude". Now he calls him Dude all the time, even in the middle of the night when he wakes up. It takes alot to make me wake up from a dead sleep and start laughing, but hearing your 3 year old yelling "Dude, Dude!" sure does the trick!

I'm a horrible blogger.

Sorry it has been so long since I posted any current pictures or updates. Business has really taken off this fall and I have been super busy trying to meet deadlines with my customers and up to my eyeballs in creating Christmas cards. I'm not complaining, but I'm not sure I can keep my sanity at this pace.

The Chatterbox and Badger Boy had their fall program at school. The Chatterbox had a speaking part which she loved, of course. Badger Boy is content to be part of the chorus. Miss Brainy's band program is coming up in a few weeks, hopefully I can get some images on here from both programs.

The Boss had surgery again last week. She soared right through it, she even felt well enough to go the last K-state game on Saturday. She will be going to Omaha for some tests in a couple weeks to see if the results were worth it and if she needs to get on any other meds to help control things. She is not looking forward to these tests, but then again who would.

Little Buddy is loving preschool. He brings home his papers and is so proud to show off what he had done that day. My fridge is completely covered with his artwork, I don't think I remember what color it is. His new favorite television show is SuperWhy on PBS. It is great to finally see him watch something other than Cars.

Images taken by my children

I pulled these images off of my little camera awhile back and thought they were funny.

The Chatterbox and Millie, the new puppy

See they do love each other!

How sweet!
One word...Dorks!!

SBN Gala

The Boss, Miss Brainy, Bryan, and I attended the Spina Bifida Nebraska Gala held last Friday at Harrah's Casino in Council Bluffs. It was nice to get together with everyone again. The kids are so dang cute. I wish I would have gotten pictures of all of the children but that is what I get for taking my big camera the night before I have a wedding. I was so worried that something would happen to it I didn't want to get it out much, next time I will take my point and shoot.

During the gala they asked all the kids to come up front. The M.C. was suppose to "interview" all the SB kids, but unfortunately almost ALL the kids went up including siblings. The poor M.C. couldn't tell which kids had SB so he only "interviewed" the kids in wheelchairs, the others he just asked their names and ages. This really annoyed The Boss, as we run into this problem all the time, everyone sees her and assumes she is perfectly healthy. Yes, we are very grateful and know how lucky we are that she can walk and looks healthy, but when you have been through as many surgeries and illnesses as she has the "recognition" like this would have been nice.
I told you the kiddos are cute! Miss Sara, she is just the sweetest little girl.

We have known Amanda for years. We first met her when she was 4. We were staying at the Rainbow House in Omaha while Azariah was in the NICU, Amanda and her Mom were staying there too while Amanda went through a program at Children's. After talking to them we found out that they were from the same area as us and Amanda's mom has been a great support through the years. Mr. Kaden really stole the show when he decided to get up and sing for everyone. But stage fright got in the way and all he could do was giggle, the cutest little giggle ever.

On a little different note, and my husband will be very upset that I posted this...

To the lady at our table...

Yes, we were upset that you decided to choose a dessert that was meant for everyone at our table. Yes, it was rude to not share with anyone, even though we pitched in money to earn that dessert. Yes, you did hurt my daughter's feelings when she had to sit down empty handed because you decided to be selfish. And No, the overcooked cherry pie was not good and it was not enough to serve the 15 people sitting at our table!

There I said it and yes it felt good! It was very unfortunate that I let this woman's actions ruin a fun night out with my family but darn it, the kids had better manners!

Moooom, she cheated me!

This is what I hear coming from the front room. I had asked Miss Brainy to play candyland with Little Buddy while I worked. A few minutes into the game I hear Little Buddy saying you cheated me, you cheated me. Miss Brainy had gotten ahead of him and he was sure that she was cheating.

Bad Bad Blogger

I apologize for the lack of entries, life has gotten in the way. Our house is as busy as ever, I'm still trying to catch up from the time off with The Boss. She is doing great, we go to the Dr. today for a check-up and to have the catheter removed. She has done quite well after surgery, she had a set back a last week that we had to get some medications for, but other than that things have gone well at home. I have been in the studio trying to get in all the sessions before it gets cold outside so I have been plenty busy. The Chatterbox and Badger Boy had their Parent/Teacher Conferences last night, we have a few hings to work on but overall they are doing pretty good. The Boss and Miss Brainy's conferences are on Thursday so hopefully we hear nothing but good news there.

The Chatterbox and Badger Boy spent the weekend at my Mom and Scott's, where Scott taught them how to shoot with a bow. Badger Boy loved every minute of it and really took to it. Scott said it only took him a few tries before he was doing it on his own without any help. By the time we got there on Sunday he was hitting the bulls eye pretty consistently. Not bad for a lefthander using a right handed bow!

We are home

The Boss was dismissed on Saturday, but I am just now finding time to post this update. She is doing well, she has pretty much weened herself off of her pain medicine, and is up and moving around without any help. She even asked if she could possibly go to school on Friday for 1/2 day. This is the kid who never wants to go to school, I must be boring her!

Little Buddy is over what ever it was that he had, we go to the doctor on Thur., so I will be asking for a referral to a pediatric allergist so we can figure out what it is that caused his problems.

Update #4

Little Buddy is getting dismissed this morning. He was doing much better yesterday but they kept him in over night to monitor him since breathing problems can get worse at night.

The Boss could be dismissed as early as tomorrow, if she can get out of bed a little more often and can make it to the play room during one of her walks. They will be decreasing her pain meds and maybe removing the drainage tube today. I don't think she is in a big hurry to leave, once she is home she won't be able to lay around in bed watching t.v., eating, and playing on the laptop.

Update #3

The Boss is doing great, she is not having too much pain and has been able to rest all evening.

Little Buddy on the other hand is now in the hospital at home. He was having some difficulties breathing, and with his severe allergies we decided to have Bryan's mom take him into the emergency room. They did some bloodwork and a chest xray. They still don't know what is going on with him, it could possibly be pneumonia so they are keeping him in overnight for observation and to start antibiotics. Bryan is on his way down there now to stay with him and I will post updates as I find anything out.

Update #2

The Boss' surgery went well, the best case scenario. They were able to do the surgery the way they had planned. She has been sleeping all afternoon and evening, so she is not in too much

pain. She woke up from surgery and saw the candy bar bouquet her teacher, Mrs. Snurr, had sent her and asked for candy. Sorry but no candy for her for a couple days, although

I would bet that candy is gone by the time she gets home, just so she doesn't have to

share with her sisters and brother.

Update

We arrived at the Children's Hospital yesterday afternoon. All things went well and they began the pre-op procedures. She had a pretty rough night, not getting much sleep, dealing with nausea and pain from the NG tube. She was in a much better mood this morning before they took her to surgery. Last time she had surgery they gave her some vercet before surgery to relax her, she became very goofy and a little crazy. This time she became very relaxed and giggly with the medicine. She started pointing and laughing at Bryan, saying he had 2 eyes! Who knows what she was thinking, but it was quite hilarious.

I'll post more updates as we hear more on her surgery.

Big Handsome

We didn't get the second chance at a family reshoot before Jeff had to go back to Washington, but I did get to finally catch Budster. I have a couple of his sweet little grin, but most of them look like this......................
Man that kid is fast!

A Little Potty Humor

I found this on another photography blog and thought it was rather fitting since we are a family with 4 women. Enjoy!

When you have to visit a public toilet, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it’s your turn, you check for feet under the cubicle doors. Every cubicle is occupied.> Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the cubicle. You get in to find the door won’t latch. It doesn’t matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants!> The dispenser for the modern ’seat covers’ (invented by someone’s Mum, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your bag on the door hook, if there was one, so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mum would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!) down with your pants and assume ‘ The Stance.> In this position, your aging, toneless, thigh muscles begin to shake. You’d love to sit down, but having not taken time to wipe the seat or to lay toilet paper on it, you hold ‘The Stance.’> To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser.> In your mind, you can hear your mother’s voice saying, ‘Dear, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!’ Your thighs shake more.> You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that’s still in your bag (the bag around your neck, that now you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do, so you crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It’s still smaller than your thumbnail.> Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn’t work.> The door hits your bag, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest and you and your bag topple backward against the tank of the toilet.> ‘Occupied!’ you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, while losing your footing altogether and sliding down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it’s too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try.> You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because you’re certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, ‘You just don’t KNOW what kind of diseases you could get.> By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl and spraying a fine mist of water that covers your bum and runs down your legs and into your shoes.> The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force and you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.> At this point, you give up. You’re soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You’re exhausted. You try to wipe with a sweet wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.> You can’t figure out how to operate the taps with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting> You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it?)> You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman’s hand and tell her warmly, ‘Here, you just might need this.> As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used and left the men’s toilet. Annoyed, he asks, ‘What took you so long and why is your bag hanging around your neck?> This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with any public rest rooms/toilets (rest??? you’ve GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers that other commonly asked question about why women go to the toilets in pairs. It’s so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your bag and hand you Kleenex under the door.

Because he thinks I complain too much

I want to publicly announce that my husband is actually working on my kitchen floor as I type this. Looks like I will finally have a finished floor, no more shopvac"ing" the gaps between tiles, a floor I can actually mop!!! Hopefully images of the final project will be posted soon!

He is also promising to work on my new studio Sunday!! Hope he isn't coming down with something. I will go check his temperature!

News

Kids are in school! (thank goodness)

Miss Brainy got her cast off, will be in the boot for 3 weeks.

Little Buddy has a nasty eye infection.

The Chatterbox is trying out for another play.

Life is crazy!!

Willy Wonka Pictures

The Chatterbox brought home the c.d.'s with the images from the play last night so I thought I would get a few on here. I did not take these and I'm not sure who to credit them to, sorry. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the play, the choreography for this was very well done and the kids really knew what they were doing in the dark to put this giant spider together.

The chorus line.
The Chatterbox's singing solo!!
Veruca Salt and the squirrels
Here's The Chatterbox again!

The Chatterbox as part of the spider, she played many parts in this play, a squirrel, part of the river,a Candy Kid, and a spider leg.

Willy Wonka

I was able to go see the play that The Chatterbox is in, both Thursday and Friday nights. It was an awesome production. The kids really do a great job and you can tell the ones who truly love what they are doing. The Chatterbox was a Candy Kid, part of a spider, a chocolate river, a chef, and a squirrel. The little squirrel costumes were so cute, I will try to get a picture of her in it tomorrow. I was so proud of her as she had a small singing solo and a little bit of a tongue twister line. I wasn't able to get any pictures at the production, but they will be sending home a c.d. of images from the dress rehearsals and practices so I will try to get a few up here as soon as I can.

Little Buddy is 3

We had Little Buddy's Birthday Party last Sunday at Bryan's Parents house. Bryan and his Dad were in charge of the grill, so we had BBQ Ribs, shrimp-n-bacon, pepper poppers, grilled onions, and mushrooms. I decided to make his cake this year, so we didn't run the risk of an allergic reaction on at his party. As I was finishing up decorating the cake I accidentally dropped it and had to spend another hour "fixing" it. It doesn't look to bad in the pictures but I can tell where I had to fix it. The top or racetrack area actually splint in two and I had to Dr. it up as best as I could, with a ton of frosting. Ace of cakes I am not!!

He loved his pinata which was suppose to open up by pulling on the strings but all but one string fell out so we let them beat it with a bat. Badger Boy ended up breaking it open.