Kitchen Remodel part 1

When Jesse and I bought the red house we knew that a kitchen remodel was in the future. Our kitchen was in its original 1948 style... including the bright yellow counter tops. (In fact we have a matching yellow kitchen table which is now a garage table.)

Notice the high tech clamp on the fridge.

Our first step was to replace the stove and fridge. We were able to do this a couple years ago when we received new ones for a wedding present (thank you Suzie and Michael!). The old fridge was pretty classy, it even had a clamp attached to the door since the magnetic strip no longer worked properly. After we received the new one it took me quite awhile to not reach for the clamp to securely close the fridge. For the stove we ran a new gas line up to it as I was so over having an electric stove. Once you go gas you never go back. Isn't that how the saying goes?

We were sidetracked from moving forward on the kitchen for a couple years as we remodeled part of the basement (I'll probably feature that in a future post) Now that the kid isn't so much a baby anymore we were ready to update the kitchen. We started with removing part of the wall that leads into the dining room. The plan is to add a counter top with bar stools here. We also wanted to replace the yellow counter top and eventually tile the floor. Jesse started the demo one day while I was at work. I came home to this:

Yeah Jesse for starting the demo!

My dad is handy at all things so we naturally reached out to him for assistance. He helped us make sure that we were doing things correctly... and often made suggestions. Lots of suggestions. Most of which we did not follow. These were usually design suggestions and while we appreciate his point of view (sometimes this was quite important if it actually impacted the structural stability), but we had our vision and wanted to move forward with it. My dad should know by now that when I want something a certain way I'll be pretty stubborn about it, right?

Dad and Jesse

Once we had the wall framed up we selected our counter top and ordered it. One of the suggestions my dad had made was to also replace the cabinets. His reasoning was that if we are going to be changing out the counter this is the prime time to change the cabinets. I was torn about doing this as the cabinets were the original cabinets - made of solid wood. Sure they weren't the greatest. The hinges sometimes came loose. The drawers tended to stick. But they were SOLID and it would be super expensive to replace to the same quality. Even if we bought cheaper ones it just wasn't in the budget. My dad is the biggest tight wad I know so I thought he would appreciate that I considered his suggestion, but then said 'no' to save money. However, he called me up one day and was VERY upset that we were putting a new counter top on the old cabinets and "now was the time to change them!". He offered to help us with the cost (as a very early Christmas gift) so we broke down and ordered new cabinets (thanks, dad!) This was a little harder for me than for my husband who probably went to sleep dreaming about drawers that smoothly glide in and out.

First thing we had to do was reschedule the counter tops and then decide on cabinets. Overall, I think this went smoother than it could have. We bought our counter tops at Lowe's (they were on sale) and discovered they also had cabinets on sale. We set up the ordering appointment after Lowe's sent out a team to get exact measurements of our kitchen. Our appointment was the last day of the sale so we had to get the cabinets ordered. My husband picked me up from work that day and instructed me that I may want to sit in the back seat with our daughter who wasn't doing so well. I got in the back seat and proceeded to try and calm her down. She screamed for the whole 20 minutes we drove out to Lowes. We debated several times to just turn around and go home, but hoped that once we arrived something would change. She cried so hard that when she tried to stop crying she would gasp air and then get upset by that and start the screaming cycle all over again. Poor kid. Once we got to the store I nursed her in the car and that solved everything. She was an awesome kid the rest of the evening which went way past her bed time. Luckily we brought a bunch of snacks (like goldfish) and a banana because if we missed her regular bedtime you know we missed dinner. We ended up having to let her crawl around on the floor. The dirty, concrete floor, but whatev. She had fun and we were able to save $500 on our cabinets.

Then... time passes. And passes. And we finally get the date in place when the cabinets will be installed so we start tearing out the old ones.

And on the other side of the kitchen:

So now it really gets hard because we don't have a sink to wash dishes in. We have to make do with the tub, but plan to install the old sink back in once the new cabinets are in. Then when the new counter tops arrive we will put in our new shiny sink. Yeah!

Oh, where to wash you now?

In the tub, of course!

And finally the cabinets arrive at our house only take take up my car space in the garage for two weeks... which causes me to get hail damage on my car... which will probably not get fixed because I have a $500 deductible and it is an old car and it's just not worth it. And please don't think we will use the $500 we saved on the cabinets to pay for the car repair. Not gonna happen.

So finally the big day comes when Keith and his crew install the cabinets.

Once the cabinets were mostly installed we had the counter top people take measurements and make templates. Then... more time will pass and eventually the counter tops will be installed.

Some other kitchen updates that we plan are:

• A new over the range microwave which Jesse tried to talk me out of. We really don't have much counter space so this would be the optimal spot for the microwave. Jesse thinks we should get rid of it all together. Silly. 
• A dishwasher which Jesse also conceded to. I have not had a dishwasher since I lived at my parents over 20 years ago. And just to be clear, over 20 years ago means that I was in high school... not 29 and mooching off my folks. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Jesse and I decided to get a drawer dishwasher. One drawer that is. So it will be smaller than your typical dishwasher. I hope this is the right decision and not one I will regret. 
• A new sink
• A new faucet
• Tile floor
• Tile backsplash
• Pendant lights for over the sink and bar

Well, I better get back to putting our food and dishes into the new cabinets. More to come as we get closer to completing the kitchen, but one last look at the before and the current:

Before

Now

Edit: My husband put a lot of work in adding the knobs so I better post that picture!

Now... really

One more shot of the other side of the room.

Random Thoughts

This post will be about a few different things as apparently I have a lot to share. It didn't start that way. In fact, I had about 6 pictures and no words, but then it just started flowing. Hopefully, it won't seem too scattered.

1. Saturday - Riley has been moving right along developmentally, but in this last week she seems to have made some big jumps in her mobility and language skills. First off, I feel like my husband, Jesse, and I have been saying "I think she is going to walk any day now" for months. I think she first started taking steps around the 12 month mark. Most of the time she would do so when she thought we weren't looking (this is sooo something I would do). After a while it just seemed she wasn't willing to let go of crawling because she could get to her destination faster even though it was clear she could walk. It was also clear that she would get quite excited when she walked. It was like she was thinking "OMG, do you see what I am doing with these legs!". One day last week she just started walking way more than she was crawling and now I can officially say she is walking. Yeah!

She also has a number of words under her belt (and various animal noises), but this week she has started saying more. Actually, she seems to be mirroring our actions and what we say. Until this past week some of her words were: oh-oh, da (for dad), momma (which usually is momma..momma..momma) boo (which depending on how it is said can mean boom, peek-a-boo, or moo), no (which often means yes), and hello (sometimes 'hi', but she usually says this word when picking up the play phone or our cell phones). She was also really good at making the following animal noises: cat, duck. cow, dog, and my personal favorite the monkey (if we are lucky she also does monkey movements). Ooh ooh ah ah.

On Saturday she dropped something on the floor and said "oh-oh". I imitated her, but then said "oh-oh, spaghetti o", which I have never said to her before. She proceeded to pick up and drop the same item a couple times and each time I said "oh-oh, spaghetti o". Next thing I know I hear "oh-oh lalleli o". Same thing, right? I was impressed. 

We have two cats, Lucy and Diablo, and Riley is quite fascinated with them. She talks to them and kisses them... and occasionally gets a little aggressive with them in her excitement. I think they probably get more kisses than daddy and I do. Whatever. I know who she loves.

Diablo

Lucy

At any rate Diablo and Lucy each have their own cat food that they eat. The food is kept in different places and they each have their own bowl they eat out of. Obviously, Riley has seen us feed the cats plenty of times, but I hadn't really realized how much she picked up on it. Saturday I saw her open the cabinet where we keep Lucy's food. She then picked up the cat scoop, opened the cat food bucket, tried to scoop up food (it was too low in the bucket for her to reach), and then walked the scoop across the room and put the imaginary food into the appropriate cat food dish. She did this about five times in a row. Again, I was quite impressed.

2. Sunday - We spent most of Sunday outside, but had a little play time inside. Grandma Suzie and Grandpa Michael gave Riley this Adirondack chair. She loves getting into the chair and hanging out in the chair, but has not mastered the skill of getting out of the chair. She just starts screaming until someone comes over to help her. Sometimes she only lasts about two seconds before she starts screaming. I am looking forward to her figuring out how to get out of the chair. Here she is using her spoons as drumsticks to kick a little music out.

A little later in the day Grandma Suzie and Grandpa Michael came over for a visit. Riley was a little ham-bone and had us all laughing. Here she is playing with grandma. Unfortunately, my flash battery died as I took this picture so I had to crank up the exposure in Photoshop which causes all the graininess, but it was well worth it because it is such a fun picture.

I love my grandma

Ok, new battery in the flash and ready to go. As I said, Riley was having a good ol' time except for the ball/eyeball thing grandpa did. Boy, did that freak her out. No worries though grandpa, she still digs you and has gotten over the incident.

Before the incident

Helping mommy clap

3. Monday - My husband's mom has been sick recently and discovered that her illness was more serious than anyone expected. She had surgery Monday which, thankfully, went well. Jesse went to visit her once I got home from work so Riley and I were on our own. I decided I would try and capture what her bedtime ritual looks like by taking some pictures of our evening. I usually get home from work at 5:15 so the moment I walk in the door we are really on the path to bed time since she goes to sleep between 6:30 and 7:00 pm. After some food, and a little playtime she had her bath. I used to dry her off and put on a diaper while she was still in the bathroom, but she would scream like she was being tortured. We changed our ritual so I now basically do a quick dry down and I carry her upstairs wrapped in her towel. My husband thinks I am taking a big risk by not putting a diaper on her right away, but I think we don't have far to go and we'll be fine. And really, what's the big deal if she does pee. At least we don't have to deal with a crying baby, right?  And now we have a much happier post bath kid.

Lately she has been really into crawling up the stairs herself and I decided "what the heck, I'll let her crawl upstairs naked". I had the camera in one hand and snapped off a picture while following up behind her. Check out that beautiful hair.

Moments before...

Moments after I take the above picture I look up at her and hear her laugh while she pees all over the stairs... and then starts booking up the stairs... and tracking pee up with her. Quickly I put the camera down, throw the towel on the peed on stairs and grab the kid. I rush up the stairs with her, clean her up, slap a diaper on her and return to the stairs to clean up the mess. Jesse is going to be so delighted to read this as I neglected to tell him this when he returned home. To my husband: The stairs are so clean you'd never know it happened.

After cleaning up the mess I walked back upstairs to find Nick Nolte waiting for me.

We then put our jammies on, take our vitamins, and brush our teeth. Riley loves 'brushing' her teeth even if most the time she is just chomping on the toothbrush.

The best part of bedtime is getting to read books. Here she tries to select a book to read.

Hmm, I can always count on Goodnight Gorilla.

 

4. More Monday Stuff - Today I came home to a kitchen that had some new cabinets. You will learn more about this in a later post. But more importantly I came home to a late Mother's Day gift from my kid. Our daycare lady, Char, had the kids start a plant from seed. Apparently, each kid was given one type of seed, but somehow my kid planted two - chives and marigolds... it's because she's brilliant, I'm sure.

Anyhoo, I was pretty impressed and touched. Thanks Char and Riley!

Home Sweet Home

I have a lived a long time in my red house.

Originally, I lived here from baby to age 9. I loved my red house. My dad even made me my own little red house to play in. I spent hours playing here. When we moved my dad took it with and painted it to match our new house.

1974

 
We then moved out to the edge of the suburbs until I was 18. During this time my dad had been renting the house out so when I talked about moving out after graduation my dad suggested I find some roommates and rent the house. Okay, it really wasn't that simple. I actually threatened to move in with a boyfriend that my dad did not like. At all. He said I could live in the red house as long as I only lived there with other women and he offered a ridiculously cheap rent. I wasn't stupid. I took him up on the offer and lived here for another 10 years with a variety of changing roommates. When I was 28 I finally decided to move out and eventually bought a duplex of my own.

 

Not a red house

As the red house aged my dad tired of having to maintain it and decided to put vinyl siding on it. He 'claims' he ordered red vinyl only to show up and see that the siders were putting this sad peach color on it. It broke my heart, but at the time it was filled with renters and I never thought I would be living here again.

I loved my duplex and loved living in the city (oh how I miss NE Mpls restaurants, friends, walking along the river...), but I knew I would need a larger home. I never actually thought I would move back to the red house, but my dad offered to sell it to my husband and I ...and here I am.

Shortly before I purchased the house there was a bad hail storm and the siding was damaged on two sides. At first the insurance company was only willing to replace the two sides. However, we discovered that the color had been discontinued. Yes! Apparently the insurance company searched warehouses nation wide before agreeing months later to reside the whole house. By this time my husband and I were in the house and were able to pick out the color we wanted.

Red, of course!

We still have a lot to do such as put new railing on the upstairs deck, add a new screen door, move the odd gutter that cuts over the sidewalk and well, there are more projects than I can list....

So this is my red house.

Mother's Day and 15 months!

Sunday was my second official Mother's Day. The morning started with Riley and I hanging out in bed. This normally wouldn't happen, but the hubby was already downstairs. This was a fun little moment for me and hopefully for her as well.

We were going to go to lunch with the Hubby's mom, but she wasn't feeling well so we figured we would connect when she was feeling better. Instead we headed off to my step-mom's nursing home.

Off to see grandma Ann

My step-mom has Alzheimer's and lives in a memory care facility. It is always fun to bring my daughter there as the residents all 'ooh and awe' over her. When she was younger a lot of the residents thought she was a doll. I would walk down the hallway only to hear people arguing over whether she was a doll or a real baby. Currently, Riley is really into pushing grandma's walker around and gets quite upset if you try to take it away or change the direction she wants to go. Mighty stubborn that one is.

Riley had skipped her morning nap and was bit on the tired side so we headed home with a quick stop at Von Hanson's so we could BBQ. A little seasoned chicken and steak... and some other meat stick type items and we were on our way.

Once home we put Riley down for a nap, grilled up some food, and watched an old episode from 24. Exciting stuff, I know. I would have liked to spend more time outdoors, but it was a pretty gloomy day. It finally started to clear up, but by that time for kiddo to go to bed. She had a little bit of a rough time getting down to sleep, but I am sure it was because she really wanted to spend more time celebrating mom. Right?

During the afternoon I tried to get a shot of my husband and daughter together. My husband HATES having his picture taken, but he humored me and then teased me about posting it here. I actually had no intention of doing so, but since he mentioned it...

What a handsome fella

Even though it was Mother's Day there were no pictures taken of me with my kid. We will have to remember that next year. I wouldn't mind a picture commemorating the day together. Instead I will share one more picture of Riley. It's not the best picture, but she has cute little elephants on her shirt so I have to share.

I have elephants on my shirt!

So Monday, May 9th, Riley turned 15 months and had her 15 month doctor appointment.She has always been on the small size for her weight (16%ish), but super tall (90%ish). This appointment clocked her in at:

20.8 Lbs (19%)

30.75 In (61%) 

Overall she did well at her appointment and impressed the doctor with her prolific conversation abilities. Most of her 'talking' makes no sense to us, but she sure seems to talk like she has something important to say. While I certainly want her to learn more words I have to admit I will be sad when she stops making some of these noises. They are just so stinking cute.

I'm 15 months old

To commemorate her 15 months her daddy compiled a few of the videos we have taken. It's a little long, but fun to look back at the last three months.

12 - 15 months

On Tuesdays I don't have to be to work until 10:30 so the little one and myself get to hang out. I didn't plan on taking pictures, but it was the first time I actually put pigtails in her hair so pictures HAD to be taken.

Above she is blowing. That's right, blowing. She loves to blow and will even do this on command.

She is hesitantly walking and I was able to capture a moment that she was giving it a go. She will often grab onto walls and what not for stability or just dropped down and crawl if she is in a hurry. Every week she seems a little closer to walking full time, but I feel like I have been saying this for months now. It will probably be like her ability to climb the stairs. One day she wanted nothing to do with it and the next she was booking up the stairs with no fear.

I can't wait.

Spring Time

I was under the impression it would rain much of the day on Saturday so I was quite delighted with the amount of sun and warm weather we had. Monkey got to spend a fair amount of time outside, but first played inside while I pulled out some of her warm weather clothes.

She has really been spending more and more time on her feet, but will still crawl when she wants to get somewhere fast. The other day she discovered how useful the baskets in our room can be to help her get around. Here she is pushing her basket around while wearing her summer hat, of course.

I always thought of myself as pretty pasty white, but her fair skin makes me realize what age and sun can do to one's skin. Her skin just looks so pure and unblemished.

Daddy was downstairs talking to her, but the gate was in her way.

Once we were dressed we headed out for a walk and stopped at the park to play. Here is daddy and daughter walking around near the playground.

Her favorite part of the day was walking up the playground steps and then sliding down one of the two slides. I think she could have done this all day, but it only took me a few times going down the curved slide to feel like I was going to puke. Thankfully, dad was there to go down with her too.

The following picture of her is from Friday when she and daddy were at the park. He snapped off this picture with his cell phone and sent it to me at work. LOVE getting picture updates of her (which doesn't happen often), but found this picture especially funny with the distortion of her hand.

Ronald

Dream 5/4/11.

I only remember bits of this dream, but the parts I do remember are pretty vivid. I got the feeling I was dreaming well before the first part I remember. This is where I remember it starting:

I walked into an exam room at my OB/GYN office. I see my friend, J, with her husband, R sitting in chairs next to the doctor. J and I both have the same OB in real life and that is reflected in this dream. J and R already have a daughter, O. When I walk in I see that J is pregnant which surprises me since she and I have had many conversations about the number of kids we will have. Last I heard she had decided on one child. J, R and I leave the doctor's off and head towards an escalator. R leads the way, followed by J and then myself. I notice that the escalator is broken. In fact the steps are all at a very steep slant... like a slide.

I am asking all sorts of questions as I had no idea that J was pregnant and when looking at her she looks VERY pregnant. As we are holding on to the railings of the escalator I ask her how far along she is. She states that she is 38 weeks. Seriously! Why am I just finding this out now? Has it really been that long since I talked to her? As we continue to shimmy down the escalator slide I think "this really isn't the best way for a 38 week pregnant woman to get down. It is so unsafe.". When we finally get to the bottom R turns around and heads up the up escalator. We follow, but I question in my head why we are heading back up. I turn to the left and notice the down escalator is operating normally now.

At this point the dream skips to the middle of the night. I am in a bedroom that has a play room attached to it. There are two doors to the play room and while the bedroom area is dark there is a light on in the play room.There are a lot of toys in the play room, but I only really remember seeing dress up fairy/princess type clothes hanging on one wall. I am woken in the middle of the night by some noise in the next room. I go to investigate and see a really tall Ronald McDonald.

He creeps me out and I attack him. How dare he break into this room in the darkness of night.

I realize that he has come to see O, J and R's daughter, and that she is standing to our right. I pretend that I was just joking as I figure I might have scared her attacking Ronald McDonald and all. So there I am looking down at her giving Ronald a big side hug. I remember thinking that maybe R had dressed up as Ronald for his daughter, but realize that Ronald has to be a good 2 feet taller that R actually is.

Unfortunately this is all I remember of the dream. What happened to Ronald? Was O excited to see him? I will never know. Also, looking back at this dream I could make all sorts of guesses at what the first part means, but I am pretty lost by the second part. Ronald McDonald? Really?

So I was going to end the entry there, but I couldn't help myself and had to look up to see if I could find a dream interpretation for Ronald McDonald. Of course I did not find a direct hit, so I am sharing the closest to it. From http://dreammoods.com:

McDonald
To see or dream that you are at McDonalds, signifies happiness and a worry-free attitude. The dream also suggests that you are living large. Perhaps the dream is telling you to expand your thinking or horizons. Supersize it!�Alternatively, the dream may just mean you are hungry.

 I would love to think I had this dream because I am happy, worry-free, and living large, and while some of that is certainly true I am guessing that in reality it was because I was hungry.  Reality sometimes bites. 

Forced to enjoy the nice weather

I would normally be at work on a Wednesday, but daycare was closed so I got to stay home with Pumpkin. The day started pretty traumatic as she fell out of her crib. Ouch. Her crib has several settings and apparently we need to go down to the bottom now. I knew this time was coming soon, but didn't think she actually had the strength to haul herself over the crib at this time. Lesson learned. Sorry kiddo.

After recovering from that it has been a pretty great day. We have spent a lot of time outside as it is a beautiful, sunny day here in MN. Seeing it was below freezing on Monday AND I saw flurries I wasn't sure what would happen for the rest of the week. Yeah for sun and warmth!

We took a long stroller ride with a stop at a local park. My city has a ton of great parks. It seems that you only need to walk several blocks to find another park. Today I thought we would try the swing again. This has been a hit or miss experience for us in the past so I wasn't sure what to expect.

 

 

 

It's a hit!

She loved it for about 30 seconds and then decided she was terrified. Fine. We'll move on to something else. I decided to try out the slide. Every time we have been to the park recently they have been wet so it has been a long time since she tried this one out - say a year. And when I say I am going to try the slide for her I mean WE are going down the slide together. Luckily for her there were stairs up to the slide. Of course, there would be stairs... but for a child who recently mastered crawling up the stairs this is pure delight. In fact, we have gone to the park and the only thing she wants to do is walk up and down the stairs as she holds on to my hands.

So up the stairs we go to the slide. I sit down, put her on my lap, and build up the momentum by counting to three before sliding down the slide. Apparently, the slide is AWESOME! I wish I could have recorded it as she would giggle each time we slid down. I wish I would have even taken a picture of this, but obviously this was a bit difficult when I was required to go down the slide with her.

Like most kids she is fascinated by other kids. A couple little boys started playing on the slide as well and she could not keep her eyes off them. I am sure she was taking note of their super slide moves for when she tackles this skill on her own.

We played for a little longer, but needed to get home for lunch and eventual nap.

Not happy

Leaving the park did not go over well, but I was able to distract her with snacks.

My husband is the one who usually gets to take her on an afternoon stroll (while I am still at work) and he has informed me that she is all about grubbing while being pushed around town. What a little Diva.

After eating we went outside to play again. For some reason she would only crawl towards the 'Danger Zones' aka the street and the alley. It was like she knew they were off limit. "Oh, I'm not supposed to go this way?" I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.Oh, I know that she will want to assert her Independence, but I hope she isn't stubborn by nature.

I then brought her inside only to bring her out on our second story deck.We have a great deck right off our bedroom that we hope to update the railings on one day and perhaps add some source of shading. I see lots of playtime out here in the future so I not only want to make it look nice, but also make sure it is safe. This is also a haven for the cats. They love it here and can even access the roof for additional space to roam around. I am pretty sure we are known as the house with the cats on the roof. Occasionally, I will look out a window to see people pointing at my roof. Cats.

It was becoming apparent that my child was getting tired at this point so I brought her inside only to jump on the bed. Ugh, what kind of parent am I to get her all riled up before nap time? I just decided to take advantage of the moment. After more giggles ensued I tried to create a quiet time by reading before nap time. Down she went...only to sit and 'talk' in her crib for a long time. At this time the husband came home and we decided to get her up and try later with the nap.

So here I am now writing this during her nap that eventually did happen! She is currently making noise so I think she will be getting up soon.

Once she wakes I think we might have to go outside again to take full advantage of this beautiful day.