Week 4 progress....

Well, this seems to be dragging a little. Trim work on the cabinets was put in place, electricians in and out, still waiting for some of their work to be completed before cabinets can be finished. Painters have been in and out too, tons of SANDING. Then, this morning (Friday) around 8:00 am a TEAM of painters "blew in" and began taping everything up, they covered and taped EVERYTHING except the walls. Within minutes I did not have access to a refrigerator or the laundry room. I managed to get the dogs outside really quick (much to the dogs dismay) and once the painters finished their prep-work there was no access to that part of the house, or the backyard. The yard gates were locked and I could not get to them from the alley either!

After their prep-work (which only took minutes it seemed) they began sanding and sanding and sanding. Fortunately this time the sand did not filter through as much with all the prep work. After lunch they came back and "blew in" the texture. Took about 2.5 hours. When I got home around 4 all the plastic cover and tape was gone, and dogs were HAPPY to see me......and thirsty....





This photo is of the dogs, OUTSIDE without food and water, and me not able to get to them! The Gates were locked so couldn't get there from the alley either!


Hardware is being put in place, and I HOPE HOPE the counter tops are installed next week!

Cabinet Progress and OTHER Celebrations

As Week four begins a great deal of the cabinet work is complete. The Granite Counter guy came today to measure...he wasn't sure when they would be back to install the counters, and when they do come it will take about 3 days to complete.

These photos are from Friday night, Richard doing his "inspection"








In less than 2 weeks, May 8, we will have another HUGE celebration as we celebrate (DRUMROLL..........) Casey Lorelle Roger's Graduation with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Graphic Design from ACU! And on that same day we celebrate (more drumroll) Matthew Marchbanks graduation from HSU with a degree in Communications and minor in Art (photography) AND (yes there is MORE) Matt's 24th birthday! We will celebrate with a small gathering at our house, hamburgers in the back yard - kitchen or NOT......


AND I'd also like to celebrate Hawley JV Baseball team in their undefeated baseball season. Todd Rogers had a great batting average and gets stronger every year!

New Cabinets Arrive!

The day after we return from vacation I take Todd to school....I return to an 18-wheeler in my street and a sign in my yard saying "Cabinet Solutions" the Cabinets have arrived!!!!!!

Before the day was done our expert cabinet guy had made great progress....

Kitchen Update - Week 4 Begins

So I last left off kitchen update on Day 2. We are actually now on Day 15, beginning day 16 and week 4. What has been going on you ask?

There has not been a single day of "no work" being done. It's been a steady process. Demo went smoothly....

I set up a "kitchen" in a bathroom and my office.

Next the framing work began.







and I wasn't happy with part of the wall.....so we spent the evening studying and figuring out the "problem"






Discussed with the framer the next day. His comment was "I knew that wasn't staying that way". And our problems were fixed.

Richard and I took 8 days off for a vacation...we left with details and information of things to happen, and a great contact at Rich's office in case a decision needed to be made. Thankfully things went very smoothly while we were gone, they finished the framing, scraped the POPCORN CEILINGS and removed the florescent lighting!!!

The Electricians spent several days getting all the electrical in place, sheet rock went up, ceiling got patched and is being prepped.

We returned from our vacation, rested and happy.....

How Many Dresses do I need?

So, there are 3 weddings coming up. My first thought is "I need three Mother-of-the-Bride" dresses. HAHAH if only!

There are 3 rehearsal dinners
3 (at minimum) showers
3 "day of" the Wedding Outfits

And that's just for me. Doesn't include what the girls need. Oh yes, and then there will be shoes to go with everything.....and jewelry...and then I need to figure out what the husband and son will wear......

Two More Engagements

DISCLAIMER: NO BRIDE DRESSES SHOWN IN THIS BLOG ARE "THE" DRESS. UNTIL THE WEDDINGS ARE OVER.......








While daughter #3 was the first to get engaged, daughter #2 had been dating the same guy for 3 years....going on 4, they met in August 2006. Daughter #2 was suspicious that an engagement ring had been purchased for her, but FSIL #2 (Future Son-in-law #2) seemed to be dragging his feet (or he had his own ideas of a schedule that the rest of us were CLUELESS about). As EVERY holiday and/or special event came and went we held our breath in anticipation. Of course, he had yet to talk to Dad, so permission had not been granted. Kind of a "red flag" nothing was going to happen.

Over New Years weekend 2010, We were BLESSED to have all three daughters and their boyfriends (OK, at this point one fiance and 2 boyfriends) visit our home. Dad suggested FSIL #2 go with him to feed the pig. HA. Dad also made a bet, which he knew he’d loose, with son (owner of pig) and if son won the bet he didn’t have to go feed the pig, therefore Dad and FSIL #2 would be alone for the 15 mile each-way trip. So while on this trip alone with FSIL #2 Dad calmly suggested that if FSIL#2 had any ideas of a wedding anytime in the near future that we really needed to know so we could plan for it financially. At which time FSIL #2 wanted to know if he had our blessing. duh. And Dad encouraged FSIL #2 to hurry up because if Daughter #3 got engaged before Daughter #2 then FSIL #2 would be living with that for a long time. He agreed.

Valentines day came. Another special event holiday. We stayed very close to the phone. Surely this would be the day. Then finally around 9pm it rang, Daughter #2 was on the phone and she has a ring on her finger!




Now for Daughter #1. While Daughter #3 was getting engaged we were concerned about Daughter #1 - her relationship was not what we’d hoped for...she realized when Daughter #3 got engaged that she too wanted more and was ready to break up with the guy. In the meantime she was invited to a Destination wedding in early November. She arrived and met the “man of her dreams”.....sometime in March FSIL #3 asked if Dad and I could meet him and his parents in a town halfway between us to have a “chat” We met at a DQ and visited, FSIL #1 pulled a box out of his pocket and handed to me. Inside a beautiful ring, he was going to “pop” the question the next evening. So on Friday, March 12, Daughter #1 became engaged also.

Here is the Order:
Daughter #3 will have Wedding #1 on July 17, 2010
Daughter #2 will have Wedding #2 on August 20. 2010
Daughter #1 will have Wedding #3 on October 9, 2010

(The number of the daughter is NOT which is favorite, it is by age, #1 being the oldest #3 being the youngest. We love them all equally!)

There are approximately 6 weeks in between each wedding. I have my hair appointments made through the 3rd wedding. Priorities.

And ANOTHER THING.......for each Bride I have two Bridesmaids. So I have 3 brides and 6 bridesmaids. Life is good.

Kitchen Remodel: Day two

Today they removed the rest of the kitchen cabinets and walls, and the main wall between the kitchen and Den. Tomorrow they will continue demo and get the framing done......

Where it began

Around November 2008 I told my Architect Husband that we needed to start on the new kitchen renovation we've always dreamed of. Thinking we could do the renovation in the summer of 2009.





That didn't happen. Architectural plans were never completed. Husband told me sometime in the Fall of 2009 he wanted the two of us to take a trip to St. Maarten during the summer of 2010. I told him I would book the trip if he drew up the plans for the Kitchen. Success! Met with Contractor and picked out all the colors and everything is good to go. Demolition began today, April 5, 2010.

In the Meantime.........

We have 3 grown daughters and at the time, two were happily dating, one was not so happily dating. Youngest daughter and boyfriend will be graduating in May 2010 and wanted to go to Nashville in October to check out job options and just check the city out. (They think they want to live there) What my daughter did not know, and I did, was that she was going to be proposed to on the trip. So the 3 of us spend 5 days together, 3 of us side-by-side, it was a beautiful trip, however I had no clue when the proposal was going to actually take place. Turns out it was going to happen on the last full day of the trip, at the Nashville Centennial Garden at sunset....




So Youngest Daughter is now engaged. Middle Daughter has had a long=term relationship going on and feeling like a wedding should be in the planning stage, however she was yet to be asked. AkWARD...

OH and Oldest daughter had a relationship with a person that most of us are not crazy about. A concern was that as soon as youngest got engaged she'd "push" that relationship, especially since shes the oldest. But NO NO NO, she was smarter than that.

SOOOOO Now one wedding set for July 2010. One Remodel set for now spring 2010......

At this point of the story....it is before Christmas 2009....
#2 daughter expecting to be engaged, but not yet......#3 daughter in an unhappy relationship.....(as we saw it!)

Oh AND BY THE WAY, we have a 14 year old son during this process, which we moved to a new small school and decided to partipate in FFA and buy a Pig. A great decision on our part, more to follow.....