Party Time!

We had a pretty great afternoon yesterday - first off, we got to clean the kitchen and actually move our make shift fridge and pantry back into the actual kitchen. LOVE the fancy new fridge and all the amenities! (I think Tim is excited that this round of nursing a newborn, he won't have to have so much work keeping me hydrated, with the ice maker and the water in the door.) I also tried the oven out, with a round of lemon cupcakes. It was a dream come true! Our tiny LA apartment may not have had many nice features, but it did have a gas oven that I've often missed. Cooking with gas again was a beautiful thing, and the cupcakes came out great (even if I did spend a lot of time digging around in the office to find a cook book, and all of my spices and supplies.)

We took our cupcakes, our semi-cranky daughter (she takes wretched naps on the weekend, no matter what we do) and ourselves out to Redlands for Pari and James' holiday party. We were able to go two years ago when Ellie was barely seven weeks old, and it was such a surreal night - so good to see her family, but we had this teeny tiny baby and I just remember spending most of the party nursing her upstairs, and then sitting in the back seat holding her hand on the drive home, praying she wouldn't wake up and be upset (because it's a loooooong drive.) This time we made the journey in good time, and Ellie remained in good spirits for most of it.

And then she was an absolute CHAMP at the party. Spent most of the time asking to eat carrots or cookies (more carrots than cookies though, unbelievably) and playing with Pari's dog Jango and her brother's dog Kobe. Both dogs were remarkably good with her, and when they got a little wild they went outside for a bit (and I explained to Ellie that they were in Time Out, which she was okay with.) Everyone kept saying "oh, I can't believe how good she is an entertaining herself," and frankly, I was pretty amazed too, because that is not like her. But hey, I got to have an evening of adult conversation, Tim got to drink some beers, and we all had a great time.

Pari and I are due within two weeks of each other - she is having a girl, I am still having a boy. So yesterday I dumped off five giant garbage bags of girl clothes, which I wept going through the other day. I can only hope her baby enjoys them as much as Ellie did. To think that 14 years ago Pari and I were borrowing clothes out of each other's dorm room closets (often without asking) and here we are now, sharing clothes between our babies.

Ellie loving on Kobe

Looking longingly at Jango who, for being a puppy still, was really well behaved with her. Except for when he clearly wanted to eat one of her stuffed bunnies

Miss and her stuffed bunny prior to the car ride

Some amusing things has started saying recently:
"no problem mama!"
"are you okay?" (following one of us sneezing or coughing)

Yesterday Tim was warning her not to pet too close to Kobe's butt, and she looked at Tim, then pointed to Kobe's rear section and goes "the butt is over here, dada."

Also, the other night she was whining in the car about music, and I said "do you want to listen to Single Ladies or Call me Maybe?" and from the back seat she sniffled and said "Single Ladies."

I Am Pleased.

The cabinets are 99% done, other than a few door fixes, fixture fix, and the end of the baseboards. I love the molding they put in, and I love how it looks with the rebuilt/extended soffit.

Today the plumber was back to install the fridge and the stove, with the aid of Arnie, and also my Construction Supervisor/Father. The painter also stopped by to check out what needs to be done next week - we're really moving right along! You know what the stove means, right? POPCORN FOR DINNER! (And I guess I'll make Tim a birthday cake.)

I am just so happy with how things are turning out. I consider myself a fairly confident, decisive person, but remodeling is a nerve wracking process. It's terrifying to make such expensive, permanent choices based on seeing oh, a single 20x20 square of flooring, and a handful of cabinet doors. I've continued to be confident about our granite choice, bold as it may be, because at least I saw that as a raw slab. I have been a little concerned that when the floor went down and the cabinets went in I was going to look at them and think "oh crap, I hate it." Thankfully, the opposite has happened. I am SO PLEASED. Even though we're probably only half way functional, I feel like this remodel has been 100% worth it, even though yes, it's taken double the time budgeted and yes, we have spent more dollars than we originally thought (damn my Construction Supervisor and his suggestions! Just kidding - I'm very glad we did the plumbing project, and I think the under cabinet lighting and the new laundry sink will be very nice.)

It's also been fun to see the plumber and the painter come in and say "wow, it really looks great!"

I'm glad we made the choice to tile the dining room. Since moving in, we've been trying to think how we could do a kitchen table, or a table that would allow the kids a place to sit and work and make messes, without having to worry about the carpet. There's no REAL good place in either the kitchen or the Pretty Room to make that happen, so I think it's going to be great to have a dining room that's now approved for eating, studying, play-dohing, cookie decorating and painting. I also love that it allows me to keep the open space by the kitchen slider and the Pretty Room window. All of the light is one of my favorite features of this house, and so I'm glad that the remodel didn't include taking out or decreasing the size of the slider.

The only downside is that all of my pots, pans and baking items are BURIED in the back of the office, because they were the easiest to pack and ergo, first to go when I demolished the kitchen.

Blah blah, here's the pictures.

LOOK AT ALL THIS COUNTER SPACE! (my biggest gripe about the kitchen before was the lack of counter space.)

Command central dining room!

Also, here's my cute little cat lady

Cabinetry.

I AM IN LOVE.

Of course, there are a few tiny snafus - the one blank drawer face is because a face did not get ordered for it (oops!) And the set of four drawers by the slider is supposed to be a single drawer up top and then a cabinet for trash/recycling. Thankfully, both of those are quick fixes, and won't require us to wait on measuring for granite.

I couldn't believe how quickly it all went in yesterday, after every other job seemed to take FOREVER. The guys stayed later than normal getting the last top cabinets hung, which I definitely appreciate. I realized around 5ish that they were using flashlights because there was only one bulb in the kitchen, so I offered them the rest of the bulbs (since the ceiling is already painted and ready to go.) I definitely think that helped.

So today is granite measuring day, and I assume they will hang the last door and measure for the new one required. Glen said we should be able to slide in the fridge and stove fairly soon, and perhaps even hang the microwave. The idea of having a stove again is so exciting to me, and it's going to be so nice to not have to go out into the garage nonstop.

I'm also excited to make a birthday dinner for Tim next week. LOOK AT ALL THAT COUNTER SPACE!

I am also excited about my sweet pantry cabinet.

Floors and Mores.

Lovely dining room

Even lovelier kitchen!

AND CHECK OUT WHAT ARRIVED TODAY!

A TRUCK FULL OF BEAUTIFUL CABINETS! It was like Christmas around here.

Sorry that there's not a better picture of the cabinets, but hey, it's nap time and this is the best it's going to get until tomorrow morning.

I love everything so far, and I can't wait to see how it comes together. It's funny - Glen keeps mentioning to me that once the doors are on, we can load into the lower cabinets. I am so unconcerned about my dishes (not to mention that the office is a totally disorganized mess, and will be 100% easier to unload if I can do it all at once) but I am desperate to have an oven working, and a fridge in the house. I'm also excited about the pantry - it's smaller than our current one, but pulls out with great drawers.

More later, right now I am just basking in the joy of the job coming to completion!

My Girls.

Yet another tea party that ended when the guest bit the host.

Tiling Away.

Dining room done!

Kitchen nearly done! Grouting tomorrow. Cabinets Wednesday.

Perhaps because it is Monday. Perhaps because I am hormonal and nesting. Perhaps it is just the situation at hand, or the rainy weekend, but I am feeling like this project is neeeevvvvvvvveeeerrrr going to be done. Or that it won't be done until the 24th so we won't get a tree or have Christmas (because you can't have Christmas without a kitchen, apparently?)

As a sign of good faith though, I cleaned the house this morning. Vacuumed all of the furniture in the Pretty Room, swept up all the yuck and actually mopped it all. The floors look like they could use another swipe, but it'll have to wait for another day. This little belly only does so much. I just wish we were settled in so I could get back to regular life. And I'm having one of those weeks where I'm like "AND THE BATHROOMS ARE DIRTY AND THE LAWN NEEDS TO BE MOWED!" Even though there are cats and cat litter in the bathroom (so cleaning it with a tooth brush is sort of pointless, and again, it's raining, so probably no lawn mowing.)

Hopefully the clean floors will help me chill out a little. And soon enough, I'll be back to walking the floors of my kitchen.

Dance Routine.

In order to dance at Gigi and Grizz's house Ellie must:
1. Be wearing her two necklaces
2. Be wearing her crown
3. Have her maraca available for shaking, along with her booty
4. Listen to the music from her little toy camera, even if there is other music playing
5. Dance in the kitchen area

As you can see, trying to do all those things at once is not always the most efficient system.

And no, she does not want to bring the camera into the kitchen with her. Don't suggest such ridiculous things.