The kitchen is slowly humming along and we’re now starting to build it back up. Rough construction includes framing, utility installation and other things that will get covered up by the “finished construction” phase. To get all this done on the weekend, we’ve been spending every Friday night at Home Depot.
As we get into this phase, the trade knowledge necessary to keep things moving is increasing. This means sometimes its easier for The Boyfriend to do things either by himself or with a friend who is also skilled. I’m a quick learner but we’ve realized where I can be most helpful is to be the “Logistics Officer” (we’ve definilty taken too many incident command classes). I’ve been picking up and dropping off rentals, making phone calls, running errands and making sure everyone gets fed and takes breaks. I’ve also been the lead sweeper/cleaner-uper, and hander-of things (especially into the attic or crawlspace). Of course i’m still assisting with the physical work a lot too, but dividing the work this way seems to be working out pretty well. Continue reading
Author Archives: Sarah
Weekly Planner Printable
Do you have weeks where life is just too busy and chaotic to keep everything straight? A lot of my weeks have been like that lately! With the kitchen remodel, and a new assignment at work my normal routine has disappeared. While things will be calming down eventually, in the meantime we’ve had to bring a little extra organization to our house in order to keep things moving along.
The Kitchen Remodel – Part 2 Demolition
I hear from a lot of people that demo is fun. And The Boyfriend was the only one I knew that hated demo, and I mean HATES it. I thought it was just because he did construction for a living and was just tired of it. I mean, who doesn’t love breaking things? However, after our own demo I have come to agree with The Boyfriend. I think people that love demo either, 1. really just love the IDEA of demo (and maybe have never done it), or 2. have done smash demo and haven’t had to clean it up. Our kitchen demolition took four full days of work and resulted in sore muscles, a few minor injuries, and frustration. But at least it’s done!
Kitchen Remodel Part 1 – The BEFORE
I have a great house. When I bought it, at first I was surprised that a family hadn’t swooped it up right away. And then I tried to cook something, and I understood!
Our kitchen has an insane layout. I have a good sized living and family room and then a teeny tiny kitchen shoved into the back dark corner of the house. Opening the dishwasher means you can’t open the fridge or oven. Plus you’ll block someone in if they are at the stove or sink. It just didn’t make sense. So, I immediatly started a remodel fund so I could one day fix the tiny inconvenient disaster that is my kitchen. Well, the day for the kitchen remodel has arrived!
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We have plans, we have a binder, we’ve ordered materials, and we’re ready to go. We plan on doing most of the work ourselves (The Boyfriend used to be a contractor, so really HE will be doing a lot of the work… love you babe!). Since we both have full time jobs (and have been working long hours recently), most of this work will be on the weekend.
For reference, here’s a drawing of our floorplan (with the old layout).
Remodel Organization in a Binder
Binders are my favorite way to organize. As The Boyfriend and I really started working on our kitchen remodel project I quickly realized we would need a way to keep all our paperwork and brochures straight. A binder, some dividers, and done!
Christmas Update – Are You Ready?
Yes, the star is supposed to be crooked. The top branch hangs a sharp left. So, we named our tree “Ol’ Crooked Top”
I think I’ve done it! I’ve managed to de-stress our Christmas preparations as much as possible. Oh wait…. while I de-stressed Christmas we also decided to start our kitchen remodel (more on that soon).
However, we would never have been able to really start our big remodel project if it weren’t for me taking the Christmas Pledge.
I pledged to be done preparing for Christmas by December 8th. Really, I did a couple things on December 9th, but who’s counting! Ok, yes I was counting and all of you were counting but what’s a day between friends? (maybe I’m not as de-stressed as I thought…) Continue reading
Map Coasters
I love gift giving, and I especially like making gifts for people. Last year I decided to make personalized map coasters for my uncles and grandpa. Adding maps personalized to important places to the reciever is easy and fun. Plus they all had a challange figuring out the pattern! For my grandpa, I covered coasters with maps of the places where his grandkids live. There are tons of options, plus maps can be easily printed from the internet, or free from AAA if you are a member. I originally found this idea on Martha Stewart’s craft site.
How to Clean a Hairbrush
After cleaning. Shiny and new!
Like most people with longer hair, I shed a LOT. This results in clogged up hair brushes, drains and messy floors. Drains are too gross to post pictures, and floors are easy to sweep up, so I wanted to talk about hair brushes. Keeping my hairbrush clean and free(ish) of hair really makes a difference in my hair’s shine (who knew?). Now, because I was waiting to do a post on how to clean a hairbrush, I did wait longer than normal to clean my brush out. I don’t usually let it get this bad! The process is pretty straightforward…
Christmas Gift List – Organized Shopping
One of the biggest parts of the Christmas preparation is getting gifts purchased. So, organizing this task makes the entire season so much more enjoyable. There are a few things I do to make christmas gift shopping as painless (and fun!) as possible. A electronic and printable christmas gift list is step one!
Quick Detail: Squeeze that Make-Up
I HATE wasting things, and so I always try to get the very last drop out of bottles, tubes and other disposable containers. One of the very best ways I’ve found to get all the product I can out of tubes is to use a toothpaste squeezer. Beside toothpaste (obviously), I also use them on make-up. If I’m going to splurge a bit on make-up I’m going to use it all!