Kitchen remodel day 2

Day 2 of the kitchen remodel was July 20, 2010. I was at work until 8 p.m. so couldn't help much. Before work Rillz and I checked out places for tile. We heard from Jeff this place called Daltile that had a "yard sale" section. Pretty much tile that was left over from projects and discontinued tile. There are stacks of tile and you have to buy the whole matching set. We lucked out and found a stack that we could live with and was at a great price. There were enough pieces to do the entire kitchen and some. It is porceline tile and was .75 cents for a 13x13 piece. And .10 cents for 6x6. Original prices for the 13x13 is $6.50 for one piece and the 6x6 pieces were originally $7.50. We paid $200 for approximately 200 square feet of tile and all the extra little pieces. If we paid full price it would have easily been over $1,500. Talk about savings.

Our stack of tile for the floors, possibly countertops/backsplash
Malu wanted to show off the tile too.

The rest of the day did NOT go so well. Ren came over to help with electrical. The electrical was old and I guess very difficult. They successfully got it done though.

Kristi, Jeff, and the boys stopped by because they were in Boise anyways. Well, Gunnar started acting kinda strange and telling Rillz the side door HAD to stay shut. Then Gunnar would lock the door. Rillz thought he was acting strange. Come to find out, Gunnar had let out Simon and didn't tell anyone. Let me tell you, when Simon (our little black dog) gets out it takes a while to get him back in. Since Gunnar didn't tell anyone that he had been out, Simon had been roaming for a while. Everyone searched the neighborhood for hours. Nobody could find him. I got off work and searched. Nothing. I posted a lost dog ad on craigslist. I was crying and could not sleep last night. I said a little prayer at 10:40 pm. to help Rillz and I sleep and pray that Simon was ok and had water. At 10:42 my phone started ringing. It was some lady who had found Simon and picked him up. She happened to find my craigslist posting! Oh and Simon didn't even have his collar on. It was such a blessing or else I would have gotten no sleep. Yesterday was a long day and I was glad when it was over!

Welcome home Simon.

The beginning of a remodel

Rillz and I had decided to do a kitchen remodel. Our kitchen is small and the layout was terribly thought out. There is no space for our fridge and we have an apartment sized oven and dishwasher. There is just no counterspace and no comfortable place for our table to be without feeling squished. We decided to finally just make a plan and get it done. We are making a little cove for our fridge. The extra space for the fridge is coming from the living room. And we are tearing down most of a wall to open up the kitchen. Jeff, Gunnar and Diesel (yes the dog came over too) came over at 7 a.m. to get started. Rillz and I were ready and waiting! We were excited to start on this project. I had to be to work at 9 so couldn't help to much. Ren also came over around 1 p.m. to help for a bit. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! When I got home from work at 6 p.m. the kitchen was looking awesome, really dirty but much brighter and I couldn't believe they got so much accomplished. We still have a long way to go. We are tileing the floor, putting the dishwasher under the counter, making a new backsplash and putting granite on the counters. Oh how I am so excited! My house is going to feel very dirty for a while though. Very much worth it in the end. I am estimating all this will cost us around $400 + some BIG thank yous to Jeff and Ren (and Kristi and Heidi too for letting us borrow their husbands for a bit). Anyways, this is only day 1 and look how much they accomplished. In my walls I have sheetrock, chicken wire, and plaster which made knocking down the wall twice as time consuming. Oh how I love it already! More to come...

Drive-in theatre

Last week Kristi and Jeff invited us to go with them to the drive-in movies in Caldwell. It sounded like fun and Rillz was up to it too so we decided to join them. I got off work at 8 that night and hurried home to get my dogs and clothes for the next couple days. We decided to stay the night at my parents. (My dad also surprised all of us by coming home for 3 days this weekend). I got to my parents, dropped off my dogs and took off to the theatre. Kristi and Jeff brought their truck and had an air mattress in the back. The movies were Shrek 4 and Prince of Persia. Shrek 4 was pretty good. We all loved it. By the time Prince of Persia was on it was midnight and I was getting a little sleepy. I got to be a baby hog for the night. We all had a great time! Thanks Millers for inviting us along.

Gunnar stayed up for both movies... until 2 a.m.!
I can never get a nice smiley picture out of Rillz

Baby Brecken!

Jeff hardly ever gives a nice smiley face either. This face is pretty goofy

Gunnar looks so cute in this one.

Baby Brecken

Wednesday July 7, 2010 little Brecken was born. I got off work at 6 and headed to the hospital to see this little guy. He is just the sweetest little thing. Kristi looked great and Jeff looked like he was about to fall asleep the whole time. Kristi informed us that Brecken did a number in his diaper. I said ok I will change it. I took off the diaper and expected him to pee so I was ready for it with a wipe. He had pood a big one. When they are newborns there poo is like a black tar. So I am wiping the load of poo off his bumb and he just starts going even more. Oh my goodness, there was sooooo much poo all over. It just kept coming out and there was no diaper on him and he pee'd twice while I was changing him. Kristi thought it was pretty darn funny. It was gross.

How could this sweet little thing have SO much doodoo in him?

He looks so little in Rillz's arms

Gunnar just loves him. Gunnar tells everyone what to do with him

I took Friday off of work so I could take Gunnar all day. Rillz and I spent the night at his house. He was so excited for us to be there. Friday morning Gunnar and I took my mom to the Griddle for breakfast and then we headed to the hospital. Friday night Gunnar wanted to spend the night at our house. He was so exhausted but just didn't want to fall asleep. He was so great the whole time!

4th of July

Saturday July 3rd I went to the Caldwell parade with Kristi, Jeff, and Gunnar. The parade was kind of lame but I really enjoyed the company. There were some pretty cool cars and a really bad wig job. So that was worth it.

After the parade we went to a park where they have a lot of family activities going on. The first thing you see is all these flags in two rows. Come to find out it was representing all the men and women from Idaho who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seeing the flag visual really puts the effects of the war into perspective.

Gunnar ran straight to the bounce house but Kristi and I spotted the baby petting area. There was a camel eating cotton candy, a zebra who didn't want to be pet, little ponies, a baby kangaroo, pigs, the cutest goat, cows, and bunnies. Kristi and I just loved them. We spent a while there and tried to convince Gunnar that the animals were way neat. He wasn't to interested. Gunnar got a pony ride which he loved! The horses weren't to happy though and then it made me think that pony rides are animal cruelty. I guess the petting zoo part is animal cruelty too but they were just so cute and I enjoyed it to much. The weather was perfect and the company was really fun! Thanks Millers for letting me tag along!

The pony kept trying to eat Kristis pants. It was cute

Doesn't it look like a stuffed fluffy horse. The little guy was so soft!

I think petting a baby camel was a first for me. One of his humps was a bit droopy. I held it up and laughed.

Gunnar riding behind Thomas train.

Pony ride!

I had to take pictures of Kristi a week before Breckin is born. She really isn't that big for being 9 months.

I am off to bed now. Peace and love everyone! And happy 4th

Bedroom chair and curtain

A couple weeks ago I finally started on the bedroom curtains. My old ones were red which did not go with what I have in the bedroom now. So, I got a big painters canvas and folded it in half and sewed it up. The brown strip was from a curtain I picked up for .50 cents at a yard sale. The brown curtain was actually the matching curtains with our bedroom suede comforter and pillows. Unfortunetly, there was only one curtain but it worked out because with the light colored canvas it brightens the room more than if we had all brown. I only have one done so far though. The other window just has the plain canvas not even sewn yet.

The curtain lets light in. I actually like it because I wake up naturally at about 6:45. So seeing the sun so early makes me smile! I like the curtains because they are nice and simple. I had a lot of other ideas like making a sparrow and branch to sew on it or making another brown strip under that one but Rillz said I should just leave it. If I wanted, I could also turn the curtain upside down so the brown is on the bottom.
See the window behind the bed... I need to make that curtain. I just stuck the canvas on the rings. Good thing it is behind the bed because I haven't cut it to the right length either so there is a bunch of extra on the floor.

Also, Rillz painted my chair for me. I didn't even ask him to. I thought it was so sweet of him. Just one more project I can cross off. Thank you Rillz for helping me out! I just decided to go with a fresh coat of flat white. Our bedroom needed something simple to open up the corner. I love how it looks. Rillz thinks the chair looks like it belongs in an old haunted hotel. Oh-well, I love it!

The finished chair. I am kinda having a hard time with just the white. I am a bold color sort of person so to have just white is different. But I do like how clean it makes that area in the bedroom. The pillow is a bit to big for it as well. Oh-well.




The whole corner.

Malu always has to be in the same room with me. She decided to just chill and let me take pictures of the chair/curtain.

Sprinkled drumsticks

Rillz and I were at Walmart and went down the ice cream aisle. Probably supposed to just be window shopping at goodies. Well, one thing caught our eyes... Sprinkled drumsticks! What! When did this amazing invention happen. We love drumsticks! So we got them. One of the flavors is even a new vanilla with cherry in the middle.

We get home and immediately rip open the box. Both of us go for the vanilla cherry. (We love trying any new foods, it's both our weakness). Anyways, we ate it and then discussed. Our mutual decision was that they weren't very amazing. The cherry in the middle was just sticky sugar that wasn't memorable. I didn't mind the sprinkles (mostly because I just like chewing the sprinkles individually between my front teeth), Rillz does not care for the sprinkles. Needless to say we will stick with other flavors of drumsticks. The Sprinkled ones were simply appealing because they were new. No need for us to purchase them again.