Kitchen Tour!

It's done! Okay, almost done... But we are using it to cook and store food in, so I'm calling it done!  To celebrate I burned my finger making roast chicken tonight. Mommy is BACK! And my family can attest, mommy is in a MUCH better mood than she has been for oh, about 6 months.

So, here it is! Our almost done kitchen. My iPad photos don't really do it justice. The kitchen is kind of an L shape, which makes it hard to photograph. It's not really dark and cramped! It's actually perfectly lovely and spacious. 

My little helper! There she is cutting up a whole box of mushrooms with a butter knife. That gray backsplash does not look nearly so dark in real life. The blue tape is there to help us open the cabinets, which are still missing knobs. Also we are still in the "Where is the...?" " Where can we fit the....?" phase. So fun. We are not fighting at all. ;) 

Just squint and imagine the microwave above the stove. And also my finger out of the way. And oh my God, is that a dishwasher?! Yes, oh, yes it is!! 

View of the snow out one of the windows. To the left are the stairs to the basement (which is definitely not finished yet.)

That window over the sink ( I looooove that sink!) will one day look out over our garden. Which is what I like to imagine, instead of looking at what is there now: a broken toilet and other construction debris. 

Clearly I am not one of those bloggers with a fancy camera (and camera skills).  Thanks for your patience in reading all the trials and tribulations of our little house renovations and for looking at all my fuzzy photos. I promise to stop whining now about construction problems, and if I could I would bake you all a pile of cookies. I can't wait to show you the amazing kids play room that is being completed next!

Life in the Dreamhouse

Nope, our kitchen is not finished. Just in case you were wondering..

I think I'm getting a taste of what it is like for pregnant women as they near the end of their term and get lots of questions and comments like; "You look ready to pop!"

Yes, construction is almost finished. No, I don't want to talk about it. (I have a friend who did not answer her phone for the last 2 weeks of pregnancy.)

I don't want to talk about it, and I doubt you want to listen to me, anyway. Because there would probably be lots of curses, and you'd probably walk away thinking, "wow, she used to be just a nice person."  Ask me about our ongoing, seemingly endless home re-construction and you will be talking to a bitter, frustrated woman who has lost perspective and empathy. Our contractor had a death in the family and I could barely muster the "I'm so sorry to hear that".  Yup.  Couldn't muster it, because inside I was screaming YOU SAID THIS WOULD ALL BE DONE BY CHRISTMAS AND IT'S $%&*ING JANUARY!!!

Lots of curses. Sigh.

So, I'm choosing the practice the art of Zen. Zen Denial. When I'm not at home, I just pretend that our  house is all finished and beautiful and artfully decorated. When I'm home, I pretend that it's just one or two more days and then the house will be all finished and beautiful and artfully decorated. If I just squint, it's almost true.

I'm also learning to ignore the carpet of toys in our living room. Specifically, Barbies.  Oh, my goodness, we are in the BARBIE phase.  Lily has somehow acquired a dozen dolls and their shoes, clothing, cars and accessories. They are all she plays with. Morning: Barbie. Noon: Barbie. Night: Barbie. In the car, in the bath, in her bed: Barbie. The sight of all these dolls without their tiny pink clothes on all over the house has led to a "Barbie must be dressed when not in the bath" rule.  And ohmygoodness the Gender and Racial Stereotypes that are doing bandied about during her Barbie play. Wow. She sure picked up those tropes quickly. "Ken to the rescue!"  "I like the blond Barbie the best."  "I don't like brown Ken." "Want to go shopping Barbie?"

UGH! ACK! What is happening here!? We try, we do. We sit down to play with her and say things like, "Well, how was work today Barbie?" "Did you finish cooking dinner Ken?" Her dad bought her a new, super cool "brown" Ken. She's not really buying it. We are going to have to step up our game.

Living in the Dreamhouse. Oh yeah.

A week in photos

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday