When it rains it pours...

It's been a while since I've updated last and all things baby are going great! All things non baby...not so good.

I'll start with the bad stuff. It's official, I got my "pink" slip at work. No it's not actually pink. My last day of work will be Dec 31. 38 social workers out of the 48 or so in my office also got laid off. I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously not having a paycheck is going to be a big issue. But being left behind to do the work of all the people who leave will be horrible. There is also a rumor going around that there will be another round of layoffs in February. So I'm glad I know where I stand and won't be anxiously waiting to find out my fate. I don't plan on looking for work much. Being pregnant and competing with so many of my well qualified colleagues for the limited number of jobs will be next to impossible. So, my plan is to sit home and collect unemployment, enjoy my pregnancy and get ready for baby. Leaving behind my work will be difficult. I've worked hard to be where I am; in a career that I planned to continue indefinitely. I've met wonderful friends and hope to remain in contact with them.

So, you'd think that would be the sum of the bad stuff? Nope. Let's see..in the last few weeks I've learned of several family and friend who are having health issues, a close family pet passed away after 16 years of life, learning a friend is getting divorced and sleeping through the night has been difficult which only compounds all the above listed issues.

On a much lighter and more positive note, the pregnancy is going very well. We had our 20 week ultrasound last week and everything looks good. The doctor said things like "beautiful brain" and "strong heart". At 20 weeks and 2 days the baby weighed in at 12 oz; slightly above what some of the books say about average weight. Guess I'll be having a big baby! Heartbeat was a strong 142.

Now, onto the good stuff that comes out from the 20 week ultrasound. Also known as the "big ultrasound". The sex. We decided not to find out, yet. With all the bad stuff going on we decided to have the doctor write down the sex and put it in an envelope to open on Christmas day. So they wrapped up some of the "crotch shots" in an envelope to be opened on Christmas day in the presence of family. I can't wait!

I'm 19 weeks pregnant today. Spent the day doing my normal Saturday stuff...reading up, grocery shopping and chores. I also got to visit with one of my friends who is 13 weeks pregnant. It was fun to compare our experience so far and it was also interesting to learn how we each get told different things by our doctors. Guess there is no such thing as a perfect science. It's crazy to think that not only in just a little over a week we will find out the sex of the baby but that also I will be half way done. It sure has gone by fast and I suppose it is evident of how fast life goes.

On another note, I'm feeling a little more hopeful about the job situation. I am counting on getting laid off and I'm okay with that. I know that at some point I will get rehired and in the mean time, I am just going to enjoy my time off and being pregnant. I will probably pick up some part time work and will enjoy the break from the fast paced life of child welfare.

the good with the bad

Well it's been over three months since my last post and I guess it's time I get back to it. I'm not loving the new format options and I was at a loss of a new title..so I'll call it my blog in progress.

Anyway, I've got good news and crappy news. I'll start with the crap because I prefer to end things on a positive note.

I very well might be losing my job. To make a long story short...the county sucks ass at budgeting and have relied on money from other counties to pay their bills and now the money isn't there. They are predicting that there will be around 70 layoffs and I think that might still be a conservative figure. In any case, I got my official warning of layoff notice today. All that means is that I might get laid off come December 17. Which I didn't need a letter telling me that, but whatever. There is still a possibility I won't get laid off but the not knowing is the hardest part.

And on to the good news, which most of you know already, is that I'm pregnant! I should have probably been writing about my experience up until now, but well, what can I say? I procrastinate. So right now I'm 18 1/2 weeks along and due on May 2. We find out the sex on December 15, which we are both very excited about. I've been feeling good overall. The first trimester I did have some trouble eating but never got sick. Fatigue is what was my biggest problem, so I can't really complain about having to take extra naps! The past few weeks I've been eating better and having more energy which is good. I first felt the baby move on week 17 exactly. It was like 3 little thumps from the inside...weird!

Now here's where I'm conflicted...I'm very excited to be pregnant, but what I'm not excited about it being pregnant and being laid off trying to look for work. Oh well...I do have faith that something will work out. Until next time...

Days 26-30 It's finished!

So sorry I haven't updated before now. We have been working hard this past week and wanted the kitchen to be totally (well less a couple little things that aren't noticeable to you) done before giving an update and posting pictures. Oh the drama. Anyhow...here's how the final days went down...

Day 26: This was a long day for Randy and my uncle. They worked until about 9pm and then my uncle had to take the 90 minute drive home. Anyway, this was the day they put the granite countertop in. I can't remember if the sink was also put in this day or the day before. But all I can say is it's awesome! Randy brushed up on his granite installation skills and I have no doubt is now a pro. We also ended up having to run out to get a new faucet because something was broke on our old one. There have been lots of unanticipated expenses, which I will say more about later. We also ended up having enough granite to do a full blacksplash behind the stove and also added a shelf behind the sink, we love it!

Day 27: Hmmmm...I don't recall what we did on this day. But I do know that Randy went back to work (he took Tues-Thurs off) and I'm pretty sure we did some stuff that night after work, but I can't remember! Oh wait, yes...we did do a few things, but we had our Fantasy Football draft this night.

Day 28: Hmmm..again, let's see, what did we do? Moved in and hooked up the dishwasher and range. I know there were LOTS of trips back and forth to Lowe's. We are SO done there! But overall, it worked well for us. Oh yes, back to what we did. I think I organized and painted the pantry. Randy has spent the better of this day and the next 2 on plumbing. Plumbing takes a long time and seems to be pretty frustrating, especially since we don't really know what the heck we are doing :) Well, I don't, Randy seems to know what he's doing, or at least he sure does act like it and there is no water leaking!

Day 29: Clean the fridge and move stuff in day! Also included was sealing the grout in the laundry room. All I can say is EWE about the fridge. It had been sitting since we did the demo and ewe ewe ewe! My lovely husband took on the role of cleaning this out, and boy did he! It sparkles like a new (white) fridge. Yes, as you can see, the white fridge doesn't exactly match, but it really doesn't look that bad...right? Maybe I'm just distracted by all the other new prettiness of the kitchen! There was also a lot of time spent trying to hook up the water line to the fridge. Apparently the previous owners used a copper pipe...not that good. After lots of trial and error, Randy called it quits for the day with the water line. But I cooked my first meal in my new kitchen this night!! WooHoo! It was our favorite yummy chicken! The smell of home cooked food in this house after a month of eating out, was just delicious! I spent the day putting stuff back in the cupboards, lots of organizing and cleaning. Oh, I had to wash every dish and utensil that was either covered in construction dust from inside the house or from the garage. That was fun. Although, I must admit that doing dishes in a new sink is a bit less painful than before :)

Day 30: This was today's work, our final big day of work. Randy spent again, the better part of today on the damn (can I say that?) water line to the fridge. He must have gone back and forth to Lowe's 3 or 4 times to get the right tools. After a couple hours of trying to work with the copper pipe, he got a better idea. He used some flexible braided stainless steel supply line thingy. Yes, that's the official title. The problem was that we had to get it from the fridge, behind the stove, behind the ROUND cabinet, behind the dishwasher and to the water line under the sink. We tried many different techniques before finally...um..threading the needle, so to speak. He actually had to take out the Lazy Susan to get the line back there and then put it back in. I'm getting tired again just thinking about it. He was the brains, I just did what I was told. But, we have the best tasting water ever!

Let's see...we also moved in the laundry facilities! Yay! Before doing this, Randy had to cut, paint and install the baseboards. There was also some minor repair that needed to be done on the dryer. Has Randy ever worked on a dryer? Not that I'm aware..but he figured it out! I finished organizing the kitchen, cleaned the granite, and just did what I was told. Oh and Randy also did the trim for the pantry door area as well.

So..in conclusion...um..we are done! And we have a kick ass new kitchen for less than $5000. There were lots of unexpected trips to Lowe's. Not that we thought we had all the tools we needed, we expected to have to go back and forth, but jeez! This weekend, we went probably 7 times. But it is all worth it in the end.

We did all the work ourselves with some expert granite and cabinets help from my uncle. And...we are still married! I must really hand it to Randy..you know what they say...that handy Randy! He really is amazing. His focus, determination, thoroughness and overall awesomeness really is what got this done. Yes, there were ups and downs and a few disagreements, but overall we are very proud that we did this together and now have a beautiful kitchen.

Not sure when I will update this blog next, but we are already thinking about our next DIY project, so stay tuned....

Day 25

We have lower cabinets installed! We also have the granite which will go in tomorrow. It's all moving so fast now. We love it!

Day 24-We have cabinets installed!

I came home from work today to upper cabinets installed! They look awesome! My uncle came out to lend a hand in light of a pending deadline. He will be installing the granite and is leaving town this weekend and we wanted to get the counter top in before rather than after he gets back. He is coming out tomorrow with the granite, they will finish installing the lower cabinets and whatever else they can do!

After my uncle left, Randy and I installed the cabinet doors. Randy also installed the hood for over the range. As I type, he is out purchasing the sink which we need to have so that my uncle can cut out the counter top. We decided on a stainless steel, single, undermount sink.

So, I'm hoping that we will be able to move back into the kitchen this weekend! Yay!

Oh, and I'd like to add that we plan to also paint the dining room the same color as the kitchen, so there won't always be that bold line of color that you see now between the dining room and kitchen.

Days 19-22

We have a kitchen floor AND a new pantry door! Randy was very busy while I was away this weekend! I wanted him to write this since he is the one that did all the work, but I guess he is too tired..can't imagine why?? Randy took Thursday and Friday off work. Thursday he spent installing a new pantry door. Remember the other ugly one? Well, we have a new pretty white door! We still have to paint it and add trim around the door. Randy said he spent Friday cutting the tile. He initially was able to borrow one from someone, but it was too small, so he had to rent one instead. Saturday was spent tiling the kitchen and laundry room and today he did the grout. I was a little hesitant about the grout color choice (even though the color made my list) because I thought it might be a little too light and it would stand out too much. But it looks awesome!!! We are so happy with the look of it.

So this week we have to get our cabinets installed because my Uncle is hopefully coming out this weekend to install the granite countertop. So, now I've got to go pick out a sink. It's all coming together now and I could possibly, hopefully, have a new kitchen in the next 10 days or so. WooHoo!!

I'd also like to take this time to remind you all that we still have a lovely, working white fridge which will not match in our new kitchen. The accountant (BofA) says that we can't afford a new black fridge (which will match), so we are still taking donations to put toward our new, donated, working, black fridge :)

Oh, and did I mention....that Randy has never done any of this before? Um, yeah. He rocks.

Day 17

Wow, I can't believe I've been without a kitchen and laundry facilities for this long. I think it's starting to get a little hard, especially the laundry part.

So, I came home from work today to find that Randy had finished setting all the backer board and screwing it in. He learned not to follow the directions on the bag of thin set and used his "gut". The process was much easier for him today than it was on Sunday. He said it took 4 hours to lay the thin set and screw all the boards in. Might I add, that when I got home from work, not only did he have the kitchen stuff done, but he also had mowed the lawns in the front and back and pulled out a dead tree! Wow!

Then we spent the rest of the evening dry laying the tile to decide on a good pattern. Not so easy but it sure looks pretty! We had to shift it around several times and still haven't found the exact right spot. We decided on a diagonal pattern because, well it looks better! But we then ran into problems transitioning from the kitchen to the laundry room and also around the edges. So we still have some modifying to do, but it definitely feels like it's coming together a bit more.

I probably won't update again until I get back from Oregon on Sunday. Randy plans to set the tile this weekend while me and the dogs are gone.

Day 15

Another productive weekend is behind us. Although, we both did take it a bit easier this weekend. The next step for us is the floor, which we have decided to do next weekend (well, Randy decided) because I will be out of town and can take the dogs with me. I guess you aren't supposed to have anyone/dog walk on the floor for 72 hours. So being gone allows the time to do the floor with out an extra 8 feet in the house.

Anyhoo-over the week Randy cut and laid out the backer board (HardyBacker) so it was ready to go today. He mixed up the thin set, which the first batch turned out to be pretty thick, thin set, despite following directions. We managed to lay the backer board in the laundry room and just a bit into the kitchen before we ran out of thin set. We then had to put screws in it as well, which earned us both some blisters on our hands.

Also did some touch up painting. Last week when the tape was pulled down, it took some of the paint with it. So we had to fix that up as well. Hopefully no more painting!

I included pictures of the kitchen from the usual vantage point as well as a close up of the laundry room floor. Sure doesn't look that exciting, but boy was it a lot of work!

Day 9

I came home from work to find a painted kitchen! Randy put 2 coats on the kitchen and in the laundry room. WooHoo!

I have the hardest time choosing paint color. We chose this color together and even held it up to bright white to make sure it was different enough and it was. But, the color is very light, lighter than I anticipated. You can barely tell a difference from the white ceiling. I included a picture of the corner and you can see a slight variation, but not much. I just hope it's not too bright of a contrast for the rest of the kitchen. But yay! One more step done!

Days 5-8

Well, not much happened during the week as we were just too tired after work to then work on the kitchen.
<----------------is the hardwood floor that Randy did an awesome job at cutting out.

And yes...the picture of the washer and dryer w/the drumset is my current kitchen. But we started working again this past Friday and worked consistently through Sunday evening. We did a lot! Let's see what I can remember...

Friday during the day and into the evening, Randy worked on wall patches, took off some tile, went shopping for some supplies, experimented with wall texture and some other stuff that I'm too tired to remember at the moment.

Saturday we took another trip to Lowe's to get more stuff. We really did a lot of work. Randy finished pulling up the hardwood floors where we are extending the kitchen. We prepped the walls by using joint compound to even everything out. We did lots of sanding, got some drywall patches fixed, some more sanding, scraping and overall prep of the walls. That night we textured the walls. We used a hopper (new word for me-my how my vocabulary is increasing!) and boy did it come out crazy! Now, this was the first time either of us have done it so we had NO basis for comparison, but we think it turned out pretty good. I think our initial thought was to do a knockdown texture, but we ended up with a LOT of product on the wall...so I'm not sure what you would call what we ended up with, but it works! I think we finished up around 10:30 p.m.

Sunday we went out to breakfast because, well um...we don't have a kitchen and cereal is getting old. Then back to Lowe's to get some paint, primer and a sprayer to use for paint. We've never used one of these either, but thought it might be easier..um NOT. Apparently, it was pretty slow in the application. So our lesson we learned was just paint the old fashioned way with the rollers, works much better. We spent the rest of the day priming the walls and ceiling of the kitchen. Then Randy painted the ceiling (2 coats) and the line of demarcation where the cabinets were attached to the ceiling are gone! You'd never even know there were cabinets up there. Then after we were done with that we remembered that we need to still paint the laundry room. So we took down the cabinet and cleaned the walls up. So our walls are primed and ready for paint. Hopefully we will get that done this week sometime.

And now for our current dilemma...our fridge is white and the rest of our appliances are black. The fridge is fairly new and works great...but c'mon...it will not look pretty!! So I've seen on the home shows where the fridge is spray painted but Randy shut that one down. So I think we are on the hunt for a new fridge too and would like to let you know that we are open to donations so that we can buy this fridge...


Fridge

Days 3 & 4

Nothing to report! Haven't done a darn thing since being back at work. The plan for the weekend is to deal with the walls. We have to do some repairs, some texturing and some other stuff I probably have no idea about so we can paint. I must say I'm enjoying not having to cook or do dishes.

Day 2

Day 2 complete. I didn't do a whole heck of a lot. I did stop and get some paint chips and finally went grocery shopping. Oh and wait...I finished the laundry. Randy did most of the hard work and I just helped out as I could. He tore out the floors in the kitchen and laundry room and I made trips out to the truck to dump all the debris. Oh my the dust!! Ugh. Got dust all over everything! I tried to work in my new..what shall I call it??? Food prep area? I guess that is what it is. We set it up to be in the dining room, but that got covered in dust, so I set up shop in the garage. All in all, sounds like a pretty gender role specific day.








We decided on a counter top today too. It's a granite called Tropical Brown. We narrowed down our paint choices to 3 from the 695,239 paint chips I brought home. Our cabinets are cherry stained birch. And, well, that's about it I think! No wait..and I washed a dish in the bathroom, weird!

Day 1

We made it through the first day of our kitchen remodel. I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog about it. I'm new at this blogging, so still trying to figure out the formats and stuff. A little background info....

We bought our house just over 4 years ago and have been wanting to remodel our kitchen since laying eyes on it. We've been dancing around the project for lots of reasons, but finally decided to take the plunge. Last weekend we went to Lowe's with Randy's excellent drawings and bought some prefab birch cabinets and some tile. Just me and Randy doing this project!

So this weekend started our project. Our goal is to have it done in a month, so we'll see where we are then. Friday most of the kitchen was packed up and today was officially day 1. Here's what our kitchen looked like before...


We spent about 10 hours total. We started off by moving out the refrigerator. But when the water line was disconnected, apparently we forgot to shut off the water at the main valve, so we had a little water problem. No big deal. Handled it and moved on.

Getting the cabinets out was another story. Apparently they were built in cabinets which made things a bit more difficult, but we got it done too! Is it weird that I'm looking forward to going to work tomorrow?

Here is the finished product at the end of day 1...



And, here's a picture of our pantry which we still need to figure out what to do with it. Any ideas?