merry (belated) christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did, which might explain the silence around here. We had some wonderful days (and really late nights!) with family. I wish there were more hours to spread around, but we're glad we could cram in as much as we did. 

The dogs were just glad when we finally came home late Sunday night.

On Monday we took down the tree (Christmas clean up is easy when you only have a tree....) and cleaned our much-neglected house.

This week we're back at it! I'm working all week but Nick took the week off to make as much progress as possible on the kitchen. Apparently we decided that throwing a party on New Year's Eve is a great idea in a completely torn apart house, so we figured we should at least get our table out of the middle of the living room.

(Wish us luck!)

Things always take longer than we want them to, but we're chipping away at the kitchen. Nick whipped up a new base cabinet on Tuesday. Or at least a darn good start on the new cabinet.

 And then yesterday he and Tim started re-building our breakfast bar. Naturally, we ran into a couple snafus along the way, but we're hoping all the planning, re-planning and contemplating will help us knock it out today.

And the boys cut the granite down to size for the new bar, so as soon as the supports are in place we'll be ready to rock and roll!

After that we just need to move a pipe, paint all the cabinets, mud and sand, raise the backsplash, find/make/install trim, re-do the floor, find matching (discontinued) tile.....

Ok, so we still have a long way to go. But the cabinets are up, have I mentioned that??

How are you guys doing? Anybody else working this week? Or working on the house? Or maybe just trying to recover from too much fun over the weekend??

cupboard cleats

So we installed cabinets this weekend, right?

(Do you want to guess how many times I’m going to mention that fact? Hint: MANY)

If you’ve spent much time hanging cabinets on walls you probably know they’re not super light. I think modern cabinets come in single-box units. We had entire walls to hang at one time (meaning, they’re all connected). So while juggling heavy cabinets we also have to get them straight and level and screw them into the wall. I’m pretty sure that’s a recipe for disaster.

Unless your husband is a genius. Then you don’t actually have to do that at all.

Nick installed cleats (like what you use when roofing a steep roof) on the wall first. We spent our time leveling off a single 2x4 instead of the cabinets. Once the 2x4 was perfectly level we screwed it into the wall.

Then we hoisted the cabinets up and set them on top of the cleat. BAM. Level cabinets.

Bonus points because the cleat also held up the bulk of the cabinet’s weight while we attached them to the wall.

Maybe this is common practice in the cabinet-installing world. I’ve never actually installed cabinets before, so it was new to me. And it honestly worked really well, so I’d definitely recommend it if you have a bunch of cabinets to install.

At least if you want them to be level, which is kind of overrated.

(ok not really)

puppy

Nick: What would you do if I got you a puppy for Christmas?

Cindy: We cannot get another dog.

Nick: I know, but what would you do?

pause


Cindy: Snuggle it.

cabinets ON THE WALL

It was a good weekend. A really really good weekend. As in, a weekend that made us feel like the end might, in fact, finally be in sight.

Saturday morning the kitchen looked like this:

Mission: Kitchen Cabinets was officially on. But first we a few small pieces of drywall to install and some wiring to run.

Fortunately, Shalai is a really good helper when it comes to drywall. Especially if you're looking for someone to chew on drywall. She's an all-star drywall chomper.

Before we could get the upper cabinets installed we needed to finish the drywall on the ceiling. This took a little longer than we wanted it to, and involved a couple more cuts than we would've liked, but in the end it's up and it's done, so we'll call it good.

And here we are, Sunday afternoon. All the drywall is installed. The wiring for the new lights is installed. There's nothing left to do but install those cabinets!

My dad gave up his Sunday afternoon to install our cabinets. Dad, we love you. We'd still be arguing about how to fix that corner cabinet if you hadn't been here. (Long story. Don't ask. It worked out in the end.)

I think I started laughing compulsively when the first cabinet went up. It's been a long time since we've seen cabinets up on the walls. And by long time I think I mean something along the lines of 10 months.

To be completely honest, I was actually worried about re-installing these babies. I was afraid the kitchen would feel really closed in again. It doesn't. At all. I'm totally amazed and so relieved.

I think the preserved "open" feel is mostly due to three factors - moving them 6" up higher on the wall, painting them white and installing the lights above. Well, and permanently removing those huge soffits definitely helped, too.

After 10 months of having our dishes scattered all over the house I wasted no time moving them back into their proper home. The fact that I can now grab a dish out of the kitchen cabinets (instead of somewhere in the dining room, living room or basement) feels so good. 

It doesn't look too shabby either.

All those fun and games are now making us feel something liked this:

But it was completely worth it.

How was your weekend? Christmas shopping done? (Mine isn't) Christmas parties attended? Anyone else knocking out DIY projects instead of wrapping presents?

drying fail

Once upon a time, we had a dryer….that worked.

When we moved in three years ago we bought a brand spankin’ new washer and dryer. They were shiny. They were new. They worked beautifully.

Over the past 6 months our dryer has started acting up. Phantom beeping, we had to have all the settings “just so” or it wouldn’t start…odd,  annoying, concerning, but in the end our clothes still got dry and we have other things to worry about so we ignored it.

Until the night before Thanksgiving when the dryer refused to turn on. Push start, it beeps 3 times, nothing happens.

sorry about the crappy iPhone picture

So we brought our laundry to Mom and Dad’s on Thanksgiving. (We really just wanted to create a flashback to our college days)

Then we googled. We discovered it was most likely one of two problems. One problem had a $20 fix, the other had a $280 fix. We crossed our fingers and ordered the $20 part.

(can you guess how the story goes?)

Nothing. Nada. No work-y.

$20 part that didn't work

So we admitted defeat and called a repair man. He came out, put the dryer back together, and it worked perfectly. He had it running for about 30 minutes, started and stopped it many MANY times, everything worked great.

Confused but happy, we paid the nice man and I immediately threw a load of laundry in the wash because 2.5 weeks later we had a lot of laundry to do.

We washed it. We put it in the dryer. We pushed start. It beeped three times. Nothing happened.

(cue sad music)

We kept turning it on and off, changing settings, plugging and unplugging the machine. Nothing.

We tried again the next day and voila! It worked. One load of dry clothes! We tried it again with the next load, and….no luck.

So, we’re currently debating purchasing the $280 part or purchasing a brand new dryer. Stories, advice and magical solutions all welcome.

We’re also going to be headed back to Mom and Dad’s soon, because, well….I’m running out of back-of-the-closet outfits to wear.

oh, christmas tree

We’re definitely upping our Scrooge factor this year. Not even intentionally, but we are.

We headed out on Saturday, December 3^rd, with our good friends Josh and Mikalah for a Christmas-tree-hunting adventure. The day was perfect, we traipsed through the farm and both located our perfectly imperfect trees (check out Mikalah’s story here), we sipped hot cider, munched on cookies and definitely got in the Christmas spirit.

Then it started snowing.

So Nick headed into work at about 6 that night and didn’t get home until 2:45 the next morning (and left again at 5:30am, but that’s neither here nor there). Our poor little Christmas tree got thrown on the garage floor, where it stayed until Tuesday night. (Sorry, tree, you deserved better)

We finally got it set up on Tuesday night (yaaaaay!) and then discovered that one of our two strands of lights didn’t light up. It was too late to get a new string that night, so we left our tree as-is. Bare. And sad. (Sorry, tree)

Wednesday night Nick snagged a new strand of lights and got them up on the tree (yaaaaaaay!) but I was booked until 10:00 that night, so it remained ornament-less until Sunday. (Sorry, tree)

Finally, after a jam-packed, go-go-go weekend we found ourselves home on Sunday night. So while Nick worked at the dining room table I hung ornaments on the tree. Beemer helped. He’s a good helper, as long as snuggling counts as helping (it totally does).

Right now it just has silver ornaments. We usually put up a combo of red and silver along with some favorite ornaments from our childhood. On Sunday night I was just feeling the sparkly silver. I can’t decide if it looks classy or pathetic. (Votes are welcome)

And that poor neglected tree is the extent of our Christmas decorations. No bowls of ornaments,  no stockings, no garlands, no lights. I’m hoping to work a few more Christmas decorations into the house, but at the moment it’s still so chaotic and torn apart that adding more “stuff” to the mix would feel hectic, not festive.

So we’re loving the (rather simple) tree, instead. And the holiday tunes. And the eggnog. And the moments together, like Saturday at the tree farm and Sunday at home. Life cranked up the crazy a little bit this year, so instead of trying to cram it all in we’re trying to keep things as simple and streamlined as possible. Kinda like our tree.

ps - votes? Is silver too "blah?" Or is it classy? Or do I need to take a better picture so you can even see the tree?

diy-er wishlist

If you're anything like me, you probably still have some people left to shop for. And if you're reading this blog, chances are you have someone on your Christmas list who is a handyman (or woman). If that's the case we have some gift ideas for your beloved DIYer.

These are Nick's picks, all stamped with his approval. And trust me, when it comes to tools, that can be hard to get.

Everybody needs a hammer, but chances are the person on your list may already have a standard hammer. Crank it up a notch with a 24 oz framing hammer. This $29.98 version of the Dead On is the exact hammer Nick uses.

Nick is a hardcore DeWalt fan. And by hardcore we mean every single power tool he owns is a DeWalt. If you want to enable your loved one to get hooked on DeWalt, the hubs recommends this circular saw. But, we know this $129 saw doesn't fit every budget. So if you're looking for something more budget friendly Nick would recommend this version, at a very reasonable $49.99.

If you have a hardcore DIYer on your list you probably have no idea how excited they can get about something like screwdrivers. Really. And if it's a handtool, Nick swears by Craftsman. He recommends the 8 piece set for only $14.99 or the set pictured below for $19.99.

Nick has a small collection of drills/drivers/hammers drill. I asked him what his number 1 pick would be and he said it would be DeWalt's 18V Hammer Drill/Driver. 

But if $139 isn't in your budget range, Nick's budget pick would be the $64 corded version.

Every weekend warrior needs a socket set. Nick recommends this Craftsman 20 piece starter set for $39.99.

We use our speed square constantly. It never leaves Nick's toolbelt. Great gift and one that will be used a lot! Plus, at just $10 it's a great deal.

Until I married Nick I had no idea how different tape measures could be. You guys, my husband has a favorite tape measure. NERD ALERT. But this is it, and it might be the perfect stocking stuffer for someone on your list! The Stanley FatMax for $19.97.

There you have it - a DIY gift list. Any of these pop up on your list this year? Or have they found their way under your tree before?

So, how many of you have all your shopping done? We've made a good dent in our list but we definitely still have some work to do!

cone of shame

A number of you have asked about our adorable little invalid, so I figured it was time for an update.

Shalai is still wearing her cone of shame. We're actually on cone #3. Girl's a little tough on cones. We've been duct-taping them for as long as possible and then replacing them when there's nothing left to duct tape. And then last week Shalai finally figured out how to lick her wound while wearing her cone. We had to go up a size, which as been miserable for everyone.

Shalai runs into absolutely EV.ER.Y.THING with that cone. Our legs, walls, stair treads, Beemer, chair legs, tables, drawers, beds....everything. And she doesn't care. At all.

Her leg is healing up ok. Since she took the stitches out on her own it's taking a lot longer to heal than any of us would like, but so far we're infection free.

At this point we're going on week 4 of our adventure, and our biggest battle now is keeping her from running around too much. Poor girl is going absolutely stir crazy.

But, we've really glad it's starting to heal. We're thankful we didn't need to do a second surgery. And we're really really thankful she's been kind enough to leave the cone on so the wound can heal.

And yes - we are making progress on the house. Kind of. Nick ended up working a big chunk of the weekend (thanks to a little snowstorm) and wasn't up for any projects by the time we got home on Sunday. Apparently 2.5 hours of sleep won't inspire you to re-do some plumbing on a Sunday night. Updates soon!