Alive?

Yes it's me and No I'm not dead. Though I have felt that way more times than I can count over these last several weeks. I quickly found out with the kitchen being remodeled and having a house that looked like a tornado had blown through that I could not keep up with blogging and you know me-when I can't keep up with it I stress about it so I just gave up the fight for a while. You'd figure since I'm back that must mean our kitchen is complete,right? NOT - nope - no way - no how. We're still utilizing plywood with a cheap redneck $5 tablecloth tacked down as our countertop. The countertop people obviously don't feel that it is as important to get them down as we do so we're still waiting. It's been delayed several times, this latest one because of the Easter holiday and shipping so we're now waiting on next Monday to come.

For now here's current kitchen pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

This is the way my living room looked for about 2 weeks while we were in the thick of the remodel. Imagine 7 people trying to get around in here. It was INSANE!

New cabinets up and things beginning to take shape. Old countertop still up with sink but everything else gone.

Love how much more room it gave us by pushing cabinets out 2 feet!!!! Such a difference bc now people can actually walk in the kitchen now while I'm cooking without me feeling like they're right on top of me.

New paint color.

And finally, the tile. We had to take every single one of these stickers off and the goo. Lord what a mess what was!

I'm bound and determined to get back into the blogging world though. I've missed everyone so much! Seems like over the past few months it's always been something. I take a break - get back into it - take a break - get back into it again so now my ultimate goal is to not have to take a break again :) I'll probably never catch up completely but I'll be browsing around and slowly catching up with everyone. Spring break is over today and it's the kids first day back at school. I'm surprisingly sad to see them leave again - I got used to having them home and especially loved not having to worry about the 8 pm bedtime every night. I found things were so much easier when we didn't have that time looming over our heads. It is only a short 30 something days before summer though I should probably enjoy them being gone while I can because once June gets here I'm sure they'll be driving me crazy!

Kitchen Remodel of 2010 Part 1

Bright and early Monday morning we started remodeling the kitchen. I knew from the very beginning things were going to be hectic yet I don't think I realized just how insane it was going to be. We started out thinking it was going to take a week and a half or so and now we're at probably at least 2 1/2 to 3. The babies are at home with me during the day so we of course had to leave in order to be able to function and for the men to work. Bless my parents hearts they have opened their house up to me and allowed me to come to their house during the days and even offered for us to stay at night.

Every morning at 8 am I pack up Caleb and Allie and our car and head down the interstate to Greer for the day. At 215 everyday I make the trip again back home to get Lucas and Jacob off the bus and then come back to Greer for homework and the rest of the afternoon. About 430 or 5 we head back down the interstate one final time and head somewhere to eat(eating out every night is interesting enough in and of itself) and take baths in time for bed. All to start again the next day.

You will see-the house is completely unfunctional! It's insane and I can't believe I didn't picture it this way. We are staying at my dad's this weekend because long term during the day the kids can't be in the house. You can't even move in my living room right now. The kitchen table is currently in the middle of the living room floor with things that were in the cabinets stacked on top of it. The old cabinets were in the middle of the floor yesterday and everything is piled wherever we can possibly find a spot.

It's going to be worth it in the end- I just can't wait for that to get here!!!!

Here's the before picture: One of the big things we wanted done was for all the brown beams on the top to come out. They were purely decoration but magnet dust catchers and impossible to keep clean!

Here's at the end of the first day. Brown beams are gone and wow there was almost an echo. So happy to not see beams everywhere!!!!

View from the living room. Everything is piled everywhere possible!!!

End of day 2: floor beginning to come up.

Many more remodel pictures to come soon.