Update

We're still at it.  Just thought I would post a few pics so you guys can see what we've done so far.  To make sure you remember, here is a pic of the kitchen before...

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And here is the kitchen so far!  As you can see, there is still much to be done.  The backsplash still needs grout, the outlet covers need to be replaced, and of course, the cabinet doors and drawers finished.  But at least it looks like a kitchen again!

And here's a hint of what the bathroom will look like.  We still have alot to go, but the new tub is in and the tile is up around the tub.  Here's a pic.
I think it's going to look really nice!  That's all for now!

Progress!!!

The countertops are down and the tile backsplash is going in!  Hooray!

Regression

When deciding on whether or not to get a new dog, my concerns were things like: Will she like us? Will she be sad to leave her first family? Will Maggie like her? Will Maggie be sad that she's no longer the only child? 

After having Lexie with us for a little over a week, I now realize that my concerns were a bit dramatic. What I should have been asking myself was: Will they EVER stop playing? Will they give me any attention and stop playing with each other? Will Maggie become more independent and not really care as much about coming inside to see me?

Turns out that Lexie was a great addition. They are really fun to watch and they look so much alike! Sometimes I call them by the wrong name. Maggie, however, has regressed. She is back to that wiggle-sideways-giddy-snorty-puppy-dance. She has almost totally forgotten how to sit. The girls have to sit before they get their treats, and Lexie ALWAYS sits first. Maggie has lost it. I'm so disappointed. I thought she would be a good role model for our new dog, but turns out she needs to take some lessons from her new sister.

Lexie

I can't get them to sit still long enough to get a good pic.

This is the best we could do. (After throwing the 

ball a million times to get them to calm down)

Yuck

I worked this afternoon/evening on removing the tile in the entryway.  I had no idea how hard this would be.  I took me 2 hours to go from this:

to this:

I gave up at this point.  

Awwwwww....

I came home to find this in my disaster of a kitchen.  Hooray!  Tile!  And a really sweet husband.  :)

Remodeling Day #572

Well we're still at it. I think we've finally rounded a corner. We are no longer in demo mode, we are now in fix it all back mode. We were originally going to get new countertops for the bathrooms, but they didn't have the right sizes. So we decided to get new counters with new tops and sinks in them. We were looking at prices for the custom sized countertops, and we realized that it would be cheaper just to get a whole new cabinet with sink. So we went for that. This morning when Jeff opened the box, he informed me that the cabinets did not come with the top and sink like we thought. DOH! So, hi-ho, hi-ho, back to Home Depot we go. Turns out that all but about 2 of the styles came with tops, and of course the ones I picked did not. So we bought new tops and returned home.

Well, started to return home. So I was driving, and we were about to pull out of the parking lot when I saw a momma duck and about 10 little fluffy tiny duckling following her. The momma duck had a very broken leg and could hardly walk. It broke my heart. So I pulled over. What exactly was I going to do? Catch this duck and her ducklings that were waddling down 71st? Yup. That was my plan. My husband quickly informed me that I had lost it and reminded me that I have a mounted duck in my house. He also reminded me of the disaster of a house that was waiting for us. So, I decided to take him back to the house, get a box, and come back to rescue the poor little duckies.

So. I called my sister to see if she had any suggestions and she said that Jake and Autumn would be over to help. By the time I got back, several other people had stopped and they had already gotten all the baby ducks into a box. They couldn't catch the mother duck though. :( So I decided that I probably couldn't help her considering that she could still fly just fine, which would make her tricky to catch.

So I went home. We took out the old cabinets and installed the new ones with the help of Jake! Thanks Jake! I had to make one more quick run to Home Depot to get a pipe fitting for the sink. I asked Autumn if she wanted to go, and she said, "isn't that where you just came from?"

So for the next project, the tile. Of course, we were needing something else for that also. So I made a third trip to Home Depot. After that, Jeff got the tile down in the small bathroom. Hooray! Tomorrow we will put down the grout and the small bathroom will be kinda almost sorta done!

The other bathroom and the kitchen are a different story. We decided to replace the tub. So when we took out the old one, we decided to go ahead and put new sheetrock up. So all that has come down. So now, it's pretty much a disaster. Autumn was over and looked around. She said that the kitchen wasn't so bad, but the bathroom looked like a tornado hit.

Jeff is working on installing the tub right now. We started shifting our attention the tub about 2 hours ago, but of course, we found something else we needed from Home Depot. So we went back and guess what we saw! That's right! Momma ducky! Made me so sad all over again. I just knew she was looking for her babies and had little ducky tears running down her beak. Jeff wasn't so touched. He looked at me and asked what exactly I expected him to do. "Well catch her!" Silly boy. So he went after her with a towel, but she again flew away. So we came back home to get back to work.

And as I type Jeff is still in there working. It's almost 11 on Saturday night, but here's the deal. The tile in our bathroom can't be walked on, and the bathtub to the other bathroom is currently sitting in our guest room. We've both been working all day and we are a sight to see. We must shower! So Jeff's working on getting that done, and if we can't get it running tonight, we may end up having a slumber party in the living room floor and going to my sister's first thing in the morning to shower before church. What a mess! BUT, I'm getting really excited because I think it's going to look really nice once it's all done.

I'm sure one day when we're old and gray, we will look back on these crazy remodeling projects with fond memories. At least that's what I keep telling myself each weekend as I find myself totally exhausted, sore, and with paint STILL in my hair even after I've washed it a zillion times.

Lexie

Maggie has a new friend! We finally caved in and decided to get another dog. Her name is Lexie. She is a 3 year old yellow lab. Here are a few videos from their first evening together. The videos are pretty hard to see because it was almost dark.

Look who's getting big!!!

Kitchen Update

Well Jeff wanted to tile the countertops and I felt a bit differently.  So Jeff began asking around to everyone we ran into and ALL of them said to not tile the countertops.  I tried not to smile.  Finally, he called our real estate agent and asked him what he thought about tile countertops.  "Hate 'em" he told Jeff.  So finally, without having to talk him into it, Jeff decided all on his own that it would be best to not tile the countertops.  We are still doing a tile backsplash which I think will look very nice.  

I have started painting the kitchen cabinets.  I had no idea how much work would have to go into this.  I painted 2 coats on the shelves inside, and so far, 2 coats on the outside.  The outside it going to have to have at least 1 more coat.  The doors all have either 1 or 2 coats, but just on one side.    

I worked on Friday from 5 until midnight, and today so far from 8 until 3, with about an hour break to run over to my sisters.  I'm friggin exhausted.  I really thought I could get this done much faster.  Hopefully, I can get it all done by tomorrow evening.  I would love to have at least part of my kitchen back for next week.

I would post pics, but I'm in my lazyboy and am not getting up to get my camera.  

And a special thanks to my dear friend Megan for coming over to help me paint today!