sounds like camping in the rain

According to the local weather dudes we've gotten about 7 inches of rain in the last few days.  When you don't have sheet rock or insulation in the kitchen it sounds just like you're stuck in the tent on a rainy camping trip.  Quite the relaxing sound actually, but I don't want to live with it forever.  :-)

nothing like feeling loved!

My 45th birthday....

The celebration of my birth began at work with TWO cakes on Thursday...and I got to take home the leftovers!  For those of you who don't know me, I LOVE cake - especially white, with raspberry filling and butter cream icing from my favorite local bakery, anything chocolate, lemon, coconut, banana, well let's just say I generally go to showers and weddings for the cake. Just sayin'. 

that chocolate cake is made with Guinness Beer and it is AWESOME!  Maybe someday Candice will share her recipe with me. hint, hint. The other is the aforementioned white with raspberry filling and butter cream icing.  Unfortunately I had to share with my guys.  Especially since when I got home I saw some signs of progress in the kitchen...

 

I got cards, texts, phone calls, and facebook posts from many loved ones....

Mom made me a really cool bag!

 my picture taking skills don't do it justice!

I went shopping with the birthday money Dad sent me - got a new dress for Easter, a pair of slacks and two tops.  Fastest shopping trip ever!  I called a friend that I knew would be honest with me, you know the kind that will say "you have GOT to be kidding me girl! Here, try this.", and will bring you clothes to the dressing room so you don't have to keep getting dressed and undressed?  We went to Macy's, caught a sale and were in and out of there in 30 minutes!  That's my kind of shopping! 

For shopping at Promenade on Earth Day, which was the day before my birthday, I got a bag - which I'll put with the other "green" bags I have and will then forget to take 'em with me when I go get groceries.  Oh well, I try....

Dear hubby took me out last night for dinner and a night on the town and today, THE Day, I got to sleep in and do whatever I wanted - within reason, while hubby installed wiring and lighting in the kitchen...I feel so loved!  Thank you to everyone who made me feel special!  I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside - and no, that's not tequila I feel!  :-)

Free Dump Day!

This weekend is free dump for Tulsa residents.  I got up at 5 a.m. on my day off, which is something I generally only do for a) an early morning flight, b) an early football game or c) Black Friday.  We finally started loading the truck at 6:30, which gave me time to get some laundry started while I waited for dear hubby to get his morning Tulsa World fix.  I got up so early because I understood that we were going to get with it as soon as we could and I heard the truck start up so I figured I couldn't play opossum for long.  Come to find out dear hubby had gone to gas up the truck and was then going to read the paper.  Oh well, I'm not a morning person so I had time to wake up before I started dealing with boards that have nails in 'em.

 This is the pile we started with.

guess I should've had more coffee before I started.

Max is so excited to have part of her yard back...here she is helping while Bonnie dog looks on.

Max immediately starts digging.  Lovin' that fresh dirt, it's like a whole new unexplored world.  Also note that the pile is MUCH smaller.  The biggest part of the pile now is wood that dear hubby hopes to reclaim.

note the freshly dug holes...

tying it down..

we're about to head out, can hardly wait for the aroma of the dump.

it's a party at the dump!

I don't feel so bad about having building materials in the back yard...these people must have been hoarding the trash for awhile....

it's all off the truck...yea!  Time for breakfast!

knocking down walls

I got home from work Tuesday and found that a wall (THE WALL) had been taken out.  The house was still standing and it looks like it's almost ready for sheet rock to start going back up.

 

 

 

see the new wood going across the old wood? I understand that is a stiff back, this is what keeps the house from falling down and going boom when the wall comes out.  Also note in this pic that there are no nails sticking out of the old wood (or the new for that matter).  

old wires, some plaster and iggy stuff

                             

  all cleaned up and no iggy stuff !

 this will be the new entrance to the kitchen, the closet to the middle room is gone and the stiff back is in...The Boy makes it look fun doesn't he? 

 

 

 

 

 dealing with that floor doesn't look like too much fun, but I have faith in Dear Hubby. 

the old door way....

the new bar area! 

Where the stove is, is where my peninsula will be and that white door you see will be a wall - that used to be the closet door and hubby is going to use it as the bathroom door.  

The wall was successfully knocked down and this little piggies house didn't fall in during the storm this evening so I think all is good!

It's the little things

Ummmmmm, honey, I don't think the trusses should be able to move like that.  Almost all of them in the kitchen do this too.  So, before the next wall can be moved, dear hubby gets to spend a day in the attic putting in stiff backs (or something like that) - which I'm sure is going to make his back even stiffer than it is right now. I heard him say to a friend "right now I'm not so sure the house isn't standing up on that one wall." Ummm, the one we want to take out?!  Tornado season is upon us, I don't really want to hear stuff like that.  But then again the brick on the outside got a bit of a re-mortar job last year so hopefully this little piggies house won't blow down.  Anyway, back to the story.  So before dear hubby gets to sit in the sauna he had to sweet talk a friend to come over and help with the wiring.  

No more of the can lights, or any fixtures that mount to the studs for that matter, can be mounted until the aforementioned truss problem is remedied.  On the plus side, all the knob and tube wiring is gone - or that's what I think I overheard the men say.  I know there's less old looking stuff and more new looking stuff up there and that makes me smile.

as of yesterday morning this was going to be where the fridge will go and a small 3/4 bath. After having coffee over the whole kitchen plan (the computer program I bought has been long forgotten by the way), we decided to scrap the island (for those of you who know me, you know this was HUGE for me, I've always wanted an island but alas, space and functionality got the best of me).  I now will have a penisula. The double oven will go where the fridge was going to go and the fridge will go over by the sink where the double oven was going to be.  Are you following me here?  What did this mean, besides I don't get an island? It meant that dear hubby had to move a wall he just started putting up...10 inches to the south....

I came home from work earlier this week and almost all the plaster was gone from the kitchen...

what a difference a day makes...and he took all the plaster that has come out of the house to his sister's land!

Right now it's all about the little things!

Baby steps

Dear hubby has had work outside of the house this last week (praise God we can eat this month!), so about all the work that has been accomplished is that he found the little black rope thingy that came with the great big zippers and installed the rope so the visqueen doorway can be rolled up - I think he's tired of me saying "Ta Da!". 

Oh and notice the old fridge is pulled out?  I got the iggy stuff cleaned out of it yesterday, where does that stuff come from?, and hubby pulled it out so that our friends' daughter can come pick it up and give it a home.  Even baby steps are progress, right?