Renovating with Dan

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I must say, as much as I love my job, I am happy that I have the next 2 days off.  Between a lack of sleep due to thunderstorms and a doggy that is terrified of them, and all the things that need doing around the house I could use a big kick of ambition and a couple days of sleep.  One of which is not going to happen.  It's hard to get anything done if you are sleeping and the project Dan and I started last weekend really needs to get finished before Abby graduates in July and we have a house full of  people!  What project is that you ask?  Or maybe you don't ask but I'm going to tell you anyway...we are doing a partial renovation of the kitchen.  With the appliances starting to go bad or parts on them breaking, it is time to start replacing them.  Since the flooring runs under the dishwasher, I saw no sense in replacing the dishwasher without replacing the floor which was damaged.  Did you know that laminate flooring and water do not mix?  A concept that some do not entirely grasp in this house.  I saw no sense in replacing the floor when I wanted to remove part of the cabinets and counter and move the location of the dishwasher.  I have a one butt kitchen.  By removing the "L"  part of my counters, my kitchen becomes at least a 2 butt kitchen.  But this would leave a hole in the flooring as they do not lay flooring under the cabinets.   So it only makes sense to remove the "L", change the floor, replace and move the dishwasher which is unfortunately going to involve new counter tops at some point.  Since I am replacing the dishwasher with black instead of white, the other appliances will also need to be changed sooner rather than later.  Since I am loosing 4 of the 7 drawers I have in my kitchen by chopping off the "L" I need to buy a new cabinet to replace them and so forth and so on...this is commonly referred to in these parts as The Snowball Effect.  I would love to replace all the cupboards.  I am so over orangey oak...you have no idea.  But, I cannot afford to do that.  So for right now, it will be a partial renovation and who knows, I may end up loving my orange cabinets!  NOT!

My kitchen before:

as you walk into kitchen from front of house

to the left

sharp left

from the dining room

see how tight?

another example of how tight it is

Me, on tiptoe trying to reach 2nd shelf

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Furniture Mart and chose new flooring for the kitchen.  This was not an easy decision. I knew I didn't want ceramic tile or stone, too hard on the legs, knees, hips and ankles.  I knew I didn't want hardwood.  Water + hardwood = warping.  I have already been there done that with the laminate, don't need to beat me over the head with a stick to teach me a lesson.  I knew I didn't want cork, sheet vinyl or linoleum.  Which I have to admit doesn't leave much to choose from.  And then I discovered a product called Armstrong Alterna Luxury Vinyl Tile.  Has the look of stone, but more give to it which means it is easier on the body.  You can soak it in a bathtub for a week and it won't be damaged, it can be installed over an existing vinyl floor (we have one of those lurking under our laminate) it can be installed with grout to make it look more like real stone and it comes in a ton of colors.  We chose  Mesa Stone in Chocolate.  

Got the bid back last night and are set up for installation on June 8th! Only 3 more weeks of hand washing the dishes!!!

We (and by we I really mean Dan) started the demolition by disconnecting the dishwasher and removing the "L".  I gave assistance by overseeing and telling Dan to shut the breaker off after he shocked himself.  Which he did but since he shut down the wrong breaker, he shocked himself a second time.  Hence the nickname Zap.

After a full day of demolition and clean up we now look something like this:

to the left

from dining room

Big difference already!  We've purchased a new dishwasher and the drawer base cupboard.  Dan will have to rework the drawer fronts to make them match the exiting ones.  He's gonna need a new tool for that and it's gonna cost me extra.  That's his mantra whenever I want him to do something.  I owe the man so much by now that it's not even funny!   
 
Up next is the pantry redo.  Oh, I guess I didn't mention the pantry redo before.  I have one.  It needs work. But I'll cover that in the next installment of...Kitchen Renovation starring Zapper Dan!   We should have our own show on HGTV!! :)


And now my fine stitchy friends I must bid you adieu as I need to go to Hobby Lobby to get some fabby and trim for some flat folds I am doing for customers.  Ya'll have a great weekend and...

Take Care till next time!

Julie

 

Stitching, bad hair and the tree!

Happy Saturday/Sunday!  Not sure if I will get this done today or not so thought I would cover my bases by addressing both days!  It was second Saturday Stitch at the shop today.  Our group today was a bit larger than we had anticipated!  When I had checked my email for the last time on Friday to see who was coming and who wasn't, there were only 11 that had said they were coming.  We ended up with 16!  It was great!

There was enough food to feed a small army and of course the companionship was the best!  Such a fun group of ladies, each delightful in their own way.  I used the group as guinea pigs today and tried a new recipe for crock pot macaroni and cheese.  Trying a new recipe on people outside your family is not necessarily the smartest thing to do since you never know if it is going to turn out okay or even edible! It was pretty okay and several asked for the recipe.  I still prefer my regular recipe but for a pot luck type of dish  this is something I would make again.  If you are interested you can find the recipe here.   

Since it was a stitching Saturday, I was able to take pictures of the stitch-a-long project Mary Ann, Mary and I are doing.  Mary of course is the furthest along.

I think I might be next but I'm not sure because I discovered something today.  My mind does not work like everyone else.  (Connie, quit rolling your eyes and saying you knew that already!) Mary and Mary Ann are stitching their projects a page at a time.  I am stitching mine in rows.  I thought Mary Ann was the odd one when she said she was doing it that way and now I have to come to grips with the fact that it's me that's the oddball!!!  Inconceivable!

Mary Ann  hasn't had a lot of stitching time the last 2 weeks so she hasn't made much progress.

Crap, I think I have to turn the dang furnace back on.  It's cold in here!  Hold on, I'll brb.

A couple of weeks ago I won a give away from Robin over at Robin Pich    I won this beautiful pincushion made by her own two hands!  Robin makes some wonderful hand made items that she sells on Etsy.  Head on over to her blog if you aren't familiar with it and check it out!  Thanks Robin!  I love my pin cushion!

I've got an update on the take down of the tree.  Dan has most of it down except for the trunk and a little tuft of branches at the very top.  He thinks it's cute and should stay this way.  I think he's  got another think coming!  And tell me, what person in their right mind wears their dress clothes to do this kind of thing?  Does anyone else have a husband that refuses to change into appropriate work clothes to do yard work or painting or any other kind of physical type chore?  Drives me nuts cuz he's forever getting paint on his dress slacks  or tearing holes in his shirt!  

Ewwww, I just noticed my elephant skin in the pics of the pincushion!  When did that happen?  Gross!

Guess I better wrap this up and feed the hubby.  Can't expect him to make birds on an empty stomach! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.  I'll leave you with this final image.  Please don't judge, she was having a rough time of it with the storms! LOL!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Happy Mother's Day! Pine Mold and stitchy update

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

It's a windy but warm Sunday here in the heartland.  My plan for the day is to do nothing that looks anything like work.  I think I'll stitch some, maybe do a bird or two but that's about it.  Dan got up this morning and had breakfast waiting for me when I got downstairs, he made homemade biscuits and gravy with sausage and orange juice.  Very good it was!  (said in my best Yoda voice)

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful day, whether you are a mother or not!

Yesterday, while Dan was teaching, I decided to start taking down the last of 3 dead/dying Evergreen Trees in our back yard. Pine Mold is a bad bad thing! 

I've heard it can spread to other types of trees too and there is nothing you can do for it either.  This tree should have been taken down last fall but Dan kept saying it would "come back".  Yeah, right.  I really think Dan was thinking "I don't want do all that work".  I've done it twice already.  So while the cat was away this mouse decided to take the bull by the horns and get 'er done! 

Here she is after 3 hours of work.

 And after 5 hours of work....

I found some interesting things while I was chopping away.  Garbage bags, wire, cool whip bowl, part of the shed, a golf ball and this little guy!

I think he's been out here a while!  He has an incredibly poopy butt!

Then there was the tragedy.  Now keep in mind, although I am currently not very fond of birds (see previous post) I wouldn't deliberately throw a baby bird to the dogs but sadly that is what happened.  I checked the nest before chopping that branch off and it was empty but apparently, it must have been flung out prior to that without my seeing it because when I found it, it was in Gracie's mouth and she was chomping away.  I screamed and she dropped it only to have Kallie swoop in and pick it up and start chomping.  I yelled SPIT!  (handy thing to teach a dog to do btw) She SPAT but it was too late.  Baby bird did not survive.  Rest in Peace baby bird.  Bad dogs!  Bad Bad Dogs!! 

And after another hour or so of clean-up we have this.

The rest Dan will have to do as my short little self couldn't reach that high up!  I'm hoping it will get finished today.  I must say this was one of dirtiest jobs I've had to do.  I don't even want to know what kind of creepy crawlies were in there.  That's one of the reasons I wanted this done sooner rather than later.  Later gives the creepies time to really settle in and I just can't have that!

After all that work I took a shower and sat down to stitch for the rest of the night.

Just got a Mother's Day call from Adam!  He's planning on doing some sight seeing in Alaska today.  Not much is open up there yet but he wants to see what he can while he's there.  Abby just got home, she gave me a nice card and Amy posted a really nice thing on FB so all my chicks have checked in today.  I'm lucky to have them, they turned out to be good kids.  Even if they do drive me nuts sometimes!

Snapped these pics of Abby yesterday before she headed out for the night.  She said it was her Grunge look.  WTH is a grunge look?  I didn't want her to think I didn't know what she was talking about so I just said cool but inquiring minds would really like to know!

Think I will go do something productive now.  Thanks for stopping by and leaving the great comments on the last post!  I have printed them out to show the ladies that participated!  Keep the comments coming and Welcome to my new followers!  Looks like I am approaching the 200 followers mark.  Best start thinking up a giveaway!

Take care till next time!

Julie


 

Needle Art Exhibit and a stitch a long

Oh gosh, time has slipped away from me again!  I had the best of intentions to post on Saturday but after Last Saturday Stitch at the shop I was pooped and just couldn't do it!  Stitching was tremendous fun as usual although I didn't get the opportunity to stitch at all.  We were on the go the entire day!  I didn't even get to talk to most of the gals that were there.  Saturday we announced the winner of our 3rd annual Needleart Exhibit.  This year we didn't have many entries which completely bummed me out but still it was fun to see the ones that were there.     I have made it known to all that next year I expect better participation and I followed that announcement with "the look" which according to my kids is enough to scare anyone into doing what they are told.  LOL!  I'm a bit sad and confused that none of the guild members brought any of their pieces in for the exhibit.  I know they do fabulous work and I would love to see them in the exhibit.  I don't understand why they didn't participate.   Anyway, here's a pic of the entries for this year...

I was thrilled to see that despite being up against a Lavender & Lace Angel (they always seem to win), One Nation managed to get just enough votes to take the top prize.  It's a beautiful piece, especially when you see it in person.  Congratulations to Mary H. who stitched this wonderful design from Bygone Stitches. 

Second place in case you didn't guess went to Angel of Hope by Lavender & Lace.  This beautiful piece was stitched by Shellie. 

The only Hardanger piece entered won third place.  Kasja was thrilled to hear she won when she stopped in today to pick up her framing.

Honorable mention goes to Connie who couldn't win because we don't allow employees to enter.  Her Jardin Prive Eiffel Tower deserves to be mentioned as it generated the most "do you have that chart" comments!

A little over a week ago I was eyeballing a Sampler Cove chart called Double Dutch.

I mentioned to Mary Ann that it would be cool to have it stitched up in 3 different colorways to which she immediately said she'd stitch one.  Then I wrangled Mary H. into doing a third color and Voila we have a stitch-a-long going!   I am way behind the other 2 though as I started mine and decided I didn't like the colors I'd chosen.  So I started over with new colors.

Mary Ann is doing the chart using Carrie's Creation silks in colors that mimic the called for fibers.

 
Mary H. decided to use Mardi Gras colors again using Carrie's silks.

My second choice of colors were picked to be something different from the other  two also using the Carrie's silks.

I've also stitched on Tuscan Rose some but haven't made much progress since I have had to stitch twice as much on Double Dutch than I should have! I don't care if I like the colors this time, I'm not starting over again.

Think I will stop here for the night and maybe go stitch on TR for a while.  Glee is on and I need to eat some supper yet.  Thanks for stopping in, hope you enjoyed seeing the winners work!   

Take care till next time!

 Julie
   

Squatters, stitching and a scissor fob

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend.  We were supposed to go over to my sister's for Easter but they were all sick so we just stayed home and had a relaxing day.  Ate a non-traditional dinner of steak, garlic bread, fruit salad, baked potatoes and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Easter dinner was delayed quite a bit though due to unexpected visitors.  Adam had a flight to catch and needed to head to the airport by 3:30 so I had planned dinner for 2:00.  Dan went into work and was to be home by 1:30 to start the steaks.  I put the taters in the oven at 1:00 so they would be ready by 2:00, made the fruit salad, cut up the strawberries, buttered the garlic bread and was on target to serve dinner at 2:00 sharp.  Dan arrived home, I gave him the steaks and sent him out back to start grilling.  Only he wasn't out there but a minute before he came back inside, crossed his arms over his chest and said..."You're gonna want to take a picture of this".  I'm thinking, what, a picture of you grilling?  Been there, done that.  So I replied, a picture of what exactly?  "Just get your camera and come out here".  Aw shit.  It can't be anything good and I had a sneaky suspicion I knew what was coming...and I was right.  SQUATTERS!  Damn BIRD squatters!!  Are you freaking kidding me??

First the attic and now our grill.  Between the rabbits eating my car and the birds wanting to co-habitate with us I've about had it with wildlife!  It took us, and by us I mean Dan, an hour to move the nest, clean up all the debris and scrub down the grates. I mean, who wants to eat a steak that's been cooked on a grill full of bird crap and god knows what else!  Gross!! Nasty stuff I tell ya!

Adam had to eat and run due to the delay.  He left in such a hurry that he forgot his last load of laundry in the dryer.  That's nothing new though, he did that the last time too and he wasn't running late that time!  It was wonderful having the boy home but I think he was ready to leave by Sunday. 

Not much to show in the way of progress on Tuscan Rose.  Just more of the same but I will share it anyway. 

I also want to share the beaded scissor fob that was made by Abbie.  She attended our retreat and wanted to make everyone at retreat a scissor fob.  She had us all write down our color preference and address and then shortly after retreat fobs started showing up!  I had requested black and white.  It looks so cute attached to my black and white ginghers which are resting in my black and white shabby chic scissor beak bird! Thanks again Abbie!

I going to go sit down and stitch now since I am temporarily home alone.  Took Amy back to school this morning and Dan is still working.  The puppers are here though so I'm not lonely and they will snuggle up next to me once I am off the computer.  Have a great night everyone!

Take care till next time!

Julie

So far not the best week I've ever had!

What a week and it's only Wednesday!  I started off the week by forgetting to put my car in park, exiting the vehicle and having it roll forward and hit my year old garage door.  Big dent in garage door.  Luckily, not in the car.  But really who does that?  Granted, there is a lot going on in my life right now but boy do I feel stupid!  Dan was good about it and the kids think it's hilarious.  Me?  I'm just pizzed at myself.   Then...Tuesday morning I threw a load of towels into the washer.  Thought it sounded strange, opened it up and yep, the agitator was not agitating.  Great, we stripped out the agitating dogs (that's what they're called, I'm not pulling your leg!) once again. That is twice in less than 4 years.  My old Kenmore washer lasted 27 years and never had a service call on it until it rusted through the bottom.  I miss my old washer!  Finally, last night I went to open the dishwasher and the fricking handle broke off!  Fan Freaking Tastic!  Now it matches the broken handle on the microwave!  Gotta love a matched set!    Luckily, there is enough handle left that I can still open it but I am not sure how long that will be the case.  The stove/oven has issues too so I can see new appliances looming on the horizon.  Normally that would make me happy but we also need a new a new roof.  Hmmmm what to do...at least that should be my three bad things and the rest of the week can only go up from here, right?  Okay everyone, just nod your heads and agree me.  RIGHT?  There, that's better.  Connie, I saw you back there shaking your head no.  Stop that!

Been doing a little stitching in my spare time.  Stitched up BBD's Remember me.  I'm not sure I like it.  I'll reserve judgement until I get the finishing done.  Maybe it will be better then.

Then I stitched some on Tuscan Rose too.  I'm happy to be working on it again.  The colors are so pretty!

FAMILY MATTERS

Adam arrived home last night.  He has some work conference to attend and will be home until Easter.  It'll be nice to have him home for the holiday even though he will have to leave around 3 that day.  I made spaghetti for supper, one of his favorites.  He's always so appreciative of my cooking that it almost makes it fun to cook for him.  Almost.  Dan browned the burger for me but not without supervision.  Ya gotta watch him like a hawk apparently.  At least Gracie thinks so!

 
She literally stood there like that the entire time he was cooking and the meat was frozen so it took a while to brown!  I don't know why she was watching him so intently, it's not like he gives her any bites of meat and she never does it when I cook but for an entire half hour she stayed right there!  Silly pup!

Amy has 3 weeks of school left.  I can't believe how quickly this year has gone.  Neither can she.  She's been bringing stuff home every weekend so that there is just the essentials that will have to be loaded up the last day.  Smart girl!  Her job at the new ball park has been quite the mess.  She actually has yet to work.  She got a call last Wednesday from her boss saying she was scheduled to work the opening game of the season on Friday.  The game  was cancelled due to rain but she never got a call saying not to come in.  She asked me what to do and I said call and ask but they haven't given her a contact number yet so instead she drove out there.  The secretary was snippy about her coming out there, saying she should have received a call not to come in to which Amy replied that she hadn't.  Then the secretary said, well you didn't need to come all the way out here, you could have called to which Amy replied, no one has given me a contact number yet.  Then the secretary checked the schedule and says, you weren't even scheduled to work today to which Amy said her boss had called on Wednesday and told her she was.  Can anyone say...disorganized!!!  After getting a contact number, she left a message for the boss wanting to know if she was to show up on Sunday for the makeup day and never heard from him so she called again.  Got a hold of him and explained everything to which he replied, gosh, I must have forgotten to write you in on the schedule after we talked.  We've got today covered.  I'll call you middle of next week to give you a schedule.  Wanna bet she never hears from him?  Douche bag..

Abby is doing well, she will graduate in July and is chomping at the bit.  She did get a PRN job  so she is picking up hours now and again but really needs to have a full time position so she can fulfill her dream of moving out.  I think moving out would be a great experience for her and that's all I'm saying on that subject!   

Dan has taken on a temporary part time job with his old employers and is working every evening till around 9.  This is slowing production of the birds but for those of you that ordered them, please know he is working on them a little every night.  We haven't forgotten you!

I think that catches everyone up with what is and is not happening around here.  Without going into details I would like to ask for prayers for my sister and my 5 yr. old nephew.  Both are facing serious medical issues right now and your prayers would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Thanks for stopping in and leaving those awesome comments.  Some of you are interested in when our next retreat will be.  I'll keep ya posted through the blog!

Take care till next time!

Julie