Kitchen Renovations 1

There seems to be some special curse associated with home improvements, that whatever you try to accomplish keeps multiplying.

Today we are having the dishwasher delivered between 4:30 and 6:30pm. This is a monumental experience for us.

So, this morning and afternoon we are making some preparations for the rest of the new kitchen plan. We have to have the cabinets and dishwasher in place when they come and make the measurements for the new countertop on Thursday.

David is sick with a cold and still working very hard at this.

In attempting to remove the cabinet between the sink and the fridge (this is where the dw will go) we had to move the fridge and take off some baseboard. Surprise! The drywall and insulation are rotted away at the base of the wall, probably from the numerous water backups we have had over the decades.

This is what happened when we took the baseboard off.

This is when David started removing the damaged drywall.

Off to the store to get supplies: drywall, concrete (might as well fix the cracks at the front and back door outside thresholds with the extra), insulation, assorted tools and the wood to make new endwalls to the kitchen base cabinet area - the areas between the sink and dw, and the dw and fridge.

This has taken all day. Now we are at a stopping point waiting for the dishwasher! We have to make a path to the laundry room to store the dw in there until we have its new home properly prepared.

Water!

We have had a lot of rain the past couple of weeks, but that wasn't the most troublesome water.

I went to NC with Bethany on Friday, October 2, for a visit. Bethany went home all by herself on Sunday. Thanks, sweetie, for the ride! David came to NC Wednesday afternoon to visit grandbabies and go to the county fair. On beautiful, clear, Thursday we had a great, long afternoon at the Dixie Classic Fair and then we started home in the evening. Friday morning after class, David was off to northern VA for a conference. I had considered going to "Time Out for Women" in Richmond for the weekend, but it looked like it was going to be too hectic. Friday night Bethany and I went to "La Boheme" my favorite opera.

Saturday morning I woke up way before my alarm for a very busy day of church and social obligations. That all changed when I went into the kitchen and noticed a puddle in the laundry room.

Yep, it was the water heater. David was at his conference with his cell phone off (surprise!) and our home teacher didn't answer his phone either. Well, I went up the chain of command and called the Stake President! He came right over. Long story short, he and another brother had the old water heater to the dump and the new one installed by mid afternoon. It is really nice. We are especially grateful for the expertise and unselfish service of friends! David missed all the work -- and excitement.

Spending all that time in the home improvement store started me really thinking about the state of our kitchen, but that will be for another post.

It is still raining.

Kitchen

Tonight was very frustrating. After our excited anticipation about making some changes in our kitchen, we had our first meeting with designers/contractors. Everything they said was much more expensive than what we had figured by the store posted costs and estimates. Even the measurements for our kitchen countertop was somehow much larger and more $$$ than what our tape measure indicated. We were hoping to have the major part of the changes done by Thanksgiving or at least Christmas, but now we will have to rethink and talk to a lot of other estimators/salespeople. Not good. It is hard enough to get a night when we will both be home, let alone one when we actually want to tolerate salespeople!

Sigh,

I have so much catching up to do, I don't know where to start. This summer was filled with wonderful visits to children and grandchildren. I feel like I should post all sorts of pictures, I know the few people who follow my blog are the parents of those very same beautiful babies. The pictures would probably be their own!

Ariana on her blessing day!

Kevin in the bathtub!

Elena making friends at Old Navy!

Okay, so I couldn't resist!


This summer I also finished a few quilts, thanks to incentive deadlines by my favorite quilt store. Maybe I will put up pictures of those, too.

This is David's Astronomy quilt. The pattern is called "Turning Twenty Again."

I bought the fabric for this one about four years ago and just started it this spring. It's called "Mosaic Garden" and is for the guest room bed (as soon as we get the mattress!)

This is a baby quilt made from scraps left over from the Mosaic Garden, so I guess it is for baby guests.



This was from a class I took at my favorite quilt store. It is called "Belgian Waffle."

I didn't even know when I got this kit that it had pigs all over it!

This is a quilt using the technique of English Paper Piecing. It is my first attempt at it and I worked on it off and on for about the last 4 years!

So, it was quite a summer!

Grandbabies

This post is going to take a while to compose. I am holding my 12 day old grandson, Kevin, and trying to type with one hand. Kevin is sound asleep, as is his mother on the couch.

This is heaven - a warm, snuggly baby cuddling up with me.

We have 3 grandchildren now. Elena is a marvel and adjusting to her new brother well.

Kevin seems to be growing and developing overnight. He already looks different than he did at birth; and is making marvelous attempts to hold his head up. I moved the mobile over his portacrib around slowly yesterday, and he followed the motions with his eyes.

Ariana is a beauty that we cannot wait to see in person. That will happen in just a week. We are very grateful for all the pictures!

We have been so blessed with wonderful, loving, honorable children and their perfect, happy, healthy offspring.

Yes, this is heaven!

Chain of Love

My daughter posted this on her blog and I participated with the promise that I would keep the chain going. So here it goes...

The first five people to comment on this post will get something in the mail from me. My daughter promised something homemade so I'll make the same promise.

The catch is that if you are one of the five to comment, you have to make a similar post on your blog. This keeps us all busy and thinking of others for a while. A chain of LOVE connecting blog after blog! Hope you can participate.

I'm glad there are no deadlines established for this little experiment -- I already have a busy summer planned! And I am obviously a procrastinating blogger.

New things

Today our new washing machine was delivered. We were excited, and as part of the preparation we cleaned under and behind the old machine. That inspired Dad and he also cleaned under and behind the fridge as well. Well ... that became a push to actually buy the $18 kit and connect the ice maker!! It took about 30 minutes -- after about 10 years!! I am listening to ice drop all evening. We are supposed to throw away the first 3 batches. Then, ICE! Party Time!