Game on!

The kitchen has really begun! After getting our contracts all signed and running through the neighborhood association and city for permits, JDI Custom Remodeling is managing our project.  They have been super to work with and I really love the fact, unlike most other companies, everything including pricing is an open book with them.  I can really see where my money is being spent. We've also looked at one of their projects and it is really quality work.  Even Rex, is impressed which no easy thing.  I’ve been mostly working with Justin through the process of design and picking product.

Before

So, last week they took down the patio cover and removed the concrete from the patio.  It looks really barren out there! What is really great is how neat as a pin and clean the site is after the day is done.

After removal of the cover and concrete. Rex is doing a soil compaction test for the foundation.

 I also had the piano taken out to storage with Peasley Transfer & Storage.  I've used them before and really like their service. Their guys are really pros and carefully packed and cushioned the piano and they put it in a storage room that only varies by 5 degrees in temperature. I will keep it there until the whole remodel is completed since we will be refinishing the entire downstairs floors.

Earlier on Monday this week we had a Pod delivered and it is sitting on the driveway. I am packing up most of the kitchen into it, though I will leave the basics in the house (the living room will house the temporary kitchen).  I still have a couple of weeks until they finish the foundation and entirely frame in the addition.  Then they will break through the exterior of the present kitchen and I’ll say goodbye to the sink, stove and cupboards!  I will be using a crock pot, microwave, hotplate and  the outdoor BBQ grill.  Friends and neighbors have promised me the use of their ovens if I have a baking fit.  I’ll wait until I’m really desperate, then it will seem like a treat!

They are at this moment digging the foundation, so it really feels like we are in motion.  Hold on to your seats, it’s no longer a pipe dream!

The Kitchen Remodel

This has been a long time in coming.  Like most of our projects, it has been quite a long gestation.  However, because we take so long, we are happy with our decisions for a long time.  Since we are investing so much into this major remodel, we want to be happy. Some decisions are made.  I bought my appliances with help from my trusty salesman, Lamont, at the RC Wiley here in Boise.  After talking with a repairman and looking at rebate opportunities, I decided to go with Kitchenaid. All will be white to match with the white cabinetry except the range top which only comes in stainless. The  range top and double oven were the major concerns and I like the way they look. The ovens are a lovely cobalt blue inside, which just makes me feel happy.  But more importantly, I like the lighting as it is on the sides which help to illuminate all levels of the oven.

I also bought a dishwasher and microwave.  Sadly we will be letting go of one of the first things we purchased when we were married, a Quasar microwave, that has lasted almost 30 years.  They don’t make ‘em like they used to.  But truth be told, it isn’t nearly as powerful as the new ones and takes almost twice as long to cook things.  I am expecting many explosions and boil overs as I get used to my newfound power.  It had to go sometime.  I offered it to my daughter and she wasn’t really thrilled with its dependable though impotent character.  I guess it is going off to the landfill, sigh.

I have also been working on the design of a kitchen backsplash.  I wanted it to look like a quilt, so I bought a few different tiles from kptiles.com to work with.  These are 6X6 tiles that are printed with china patterns for mosaics.  I took the tile I liked the most and went to the local Masonry Center where Kay helped me to find some matching tiles in solid brights.  Now for the design…

I was able to copy the color swatches off of the tile manufacturer site and pasted and enlarged them on Powerpoint slides so they covered the whole page.  I scanned the printed tile and pasted several over a slide so that the pattern matched.  I wanted to make sure that the pattern was the same size on paper as would be on tile.  I trimmed the printed powerpoint slides and then cut them into shapes and glued them onto 1/16 inch graph paper trying to leave 1/16 inch between the tiles for grout.  This was a very important step because when I initially started with an 18 inch square, the patterned tile was disproportionately drowned out by the solid color tiles.

Just the wrong scale in general.  The 12 inch square is much better visually.  Unfortunately, it will require more tile cutting, but then I don’t know the meaning of the word simple…

When we get the bids back from the remodeler, we’ll decide whether we will go forward with the project.  I am excited because everything is finally coming together, I hope...

I Miss Working on Christmas

I miss working on Christmas. I know that is kind of a weird thing to say, but here it is anyway.  For about 20 years I worked as a labor and Delivery Nurse.  Since the pregnant lady bus stops  24/7  there is always a need to staff for the possibility that another babe will make its entrance into the world.  But like many random things its either feast or famine, so generally speaking someone is always working the holidays at the hospital.

In my days of working, everyone had to work holidays.  Generally, I worked every other Christmas.  I’ve worked all kinds of shifts on Christmas, but the ones I liked the best were on Christmas Eve.  Usually, people don’t like to be in the hospital on Holidays, so most women who are close to their due date around the holidays will ask for an induction of their labor so they can be home with their families on Christmas. 

Christmas Eve on the labor and Deliver unit was generally a quiet affair.  We few nurses who were working would often have a quiet evening of visiting and contemplating the unusual silence.  It often gave me pause to think how special that night long ago must have been.

 Amidst the bustling city filled with out-of-towners and anxiety about paying taxes and such, in a quiet stable a baby was born.  I know how special it is to have been part of the births of over a thousand sweet babes and what a privilege it was to be part of these wondrous events in the lives of families.  I can only wonder how much more special it would have been to be there on that sacred night and place to welcome the Savior of the World into his mother’s arms.

That is why I miss working on Christmas