there is a fridge in our new kitchen!

Here's a drawing of the pantry cabinet design, with the fridge in the corner. This is seen from the new doorway that we are creating in the wall between the pantry and the family room.

the kitchen-family room project begins..

Yesterday Dave and I went to Lowes (it was the third session for me and Mike Sullivan, our uber-patient cabinet designer) and ordered our cabinets. We ordered Shenandoah Dominion Square, in cherry with a "spice" finish. Here's a picture of the cabinets from the manufacturer's website, along with a scan of our final floorplan and a shot of the projected project.

I went a good $2000 over budget, with all my glass doors, end panels, built-up crown molding, etc... Lots of bells and whistles but I think they will be worth it.

So, now we wait 4-8 weeks for the cabinets to arrive. In the meantime, Joe is going to start the demolition of the family room (Phase I of the project), on March 25. Phase II, the actual install of the kitchen, won't start until May. That gives me plenty of time to obsess over countertops, paint colors, and flooring.

Bathroom's done! Next!

Joe and crew finished up the bathroom on Friday and I spent the weekend painting, and shopping. I wasn't crazy about the paint color at first, but it has grown on me. Dave describes it as "pea soup a la The Exercist", but it's called Dried Palm (Behr).

Here are the pics, and check out our storage alcove that didn't exist before this remodel.

And from the "I wish I knew then what I know now" vault of wisdom, here's a tip: When the directions on the tile grout sealer bottle say "wipe off excess before it dries", they really mean it. Take them at their word.

ok so we're on to the kitchen/family room megaproject next!

Bathroom tile

Here's how far along they are on the bathroom. They got some of the floor tile down. Hopefully they'll finish the floor today and maybe even get started on the walls. Here you can see the really cool alcove that Joe built. In the old bathroom, the wall was flush with the tub and there was no alcove. It will only be 16.5" wide and about 26" deep when it's tiled, not quite wide enough to be a full "closet", but wide enough to put a few shelves for towels, extra TP, the zillion half-used bottles of conditioner and shampoo that seem to collect (though all my kids swear they aren't theirs), etc.

No more pineapples

While I wait for my little nephew to be born (any minute!), I'm going to turn my attention to the renovation of our upstairs bathroom which is starting today. The yellow stenciled pineapples have got to go. Here's a picture of Joe finding out that there are two layers of sheetrock around the tub which he's about to remove. There are also two layers of tile on the floor. I always thought that green microtile was original to the house because it matches the blue microtile in the downstairs bathroom, and the purple microtile that used to be in the master bath. Plus it screams "70's." But later today we'll find out what the original floor looked like.

A new spin on Second-Amendment rights

Yes, I know I have a dark sense of humor. But this cracked me up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Zj5XxK9ec&NR=1

Giants came through for me

Is it ironic that I, the person in our family with least (virtually no) interest in football, won the Grand Prize from our Superbowl grid last night? I was thrilled to be awarded this really cool Giants commemorative Superbowl Mug filled with candy! I'd like to thank everyone who made this achievement possible - my husband, for buying the mug and filling it with candy, and my family members, for being such bad guessers of the final score.
Here's the gang, or some of them anyway, watching the excitment as the Giants beat the Patriots in an amazing late-game turnaround!

mmm mmm... they're tastey but those sour starburst disolve the outer layer of your tongue off...

Things I plan to do in 2008

2008 is 3 weeks old already and I haven't done anything blogworthy so far, but here's a list of things I plan to do in the very near future:

1. Get my hair cut (tomorrow actually).
2. Have an invisible dog fence put in (two weeks)
3. Remodel the upstairs bathroom (end of February).
4. Remove the family room paneling (with its 13 coats of paint) and replace with sheetrock, and have the wall between the family room and kitchen taken down (maybe as soon as March).
5. Remodel the kitchen (maybe June or July).
6. Replace the garage doors (who knows when, since the above projects will leave me tapped out).
7. Take a trip to Seattle with Dave.

So the new season of Roof will have you on the edge of your seat...

I almost forgot this one:
8. Take (and pass!) the UANJ baseball umpire exam and become certified to umpire high school varsity baseball! The test is on April 24. Wish me luck!

Bring on Christmas

Here's our tree!

It's about time I posted something.. I realize my last post was right after Game 2 of the World Series. For those of you who use my blog as your primary news source and have been waiting 2 months to find out who won the World Series, the Red Sox ended up winning.

Game 2

Once again I could only stay awake through the sixth inning - I guess being a little league umpire has left me with a 6-inning attention span. And once again, I didn't miss much - the score was the same the next morning - 2-1 SOX!!

Tonight the Sox are taking a break, but there's no rest for the Rogue Warriors, who have their last double-header of the regular fall season. What? You haven't heard that the mighty Warriors have clinched first place in the league with an 11-1 record so far? Not bad for a team that went 1-12 in their first season two years ago. Oh yeah that's right. Warriors in da house. So even though I'm not on the roster this fall, I'm subbing for their catcher tonight. I'd like to think it's my Veritek-like mad-skillz that got me called. But more than likely it was because I already own the shirt.

Game 1

I stayed awake till the end of the sixth inning, and apparently didn't miss much. I was awake long enough to watch Ryan Speier walk in 3 straight runs. Not that it made much difference to the final score of 13-1.

Not sure what was going on with the Rockies. Maybe it was the altitude?

11-2!

Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe summed it up nicely: "At 11:56 last night, Casey Blake hit a towering shot toward the 420 (foot) sign in the deepest part of center field at Fenway Park. The ball descended from the October sky and settled into the outstretched mitt of a galloping Coco Crisp, who crashed into the bullpen fence and dropped to the ground holding the American League pennant in his hand."

Block Party 2007

I moved into this neighborhood in March of 2001, and in a continuation of the Dunbar Road tradition of neighborhood social events (and being Anna's daugher after all), I threw a block party a few months later. It was the first block party on our street.

On Saturday, our seventh annual block party was hosted at the home of our neighbors, Dan and Margie. Most of the neighbors came, and it was a great success (as always!). We had a Wii bowling tournament, won by Su with a score of 200 points (it was touch-and-go there while we watched the contender, Pete, rack up a second-place score of 198). Pete brought his home-made wine and there was plenty of libations for all - topped off by Gloria's amazing yellow-n-chocolate cake (replacing a home-made attempt which came from the "world's not-so-best recipies").

After dark, no one wanted to leave... the adults stayed and chatted while the kids played a highly competetive game of "manhunt." Here are some shots of the festivities..

Bravado

We spent last week in Virginia. Here's Sara, Jenna, Dan and Ethan trying to look nonchalant on the Anaconda, a roller coaster at King's Dominion.

weekend at Camp Nonni-Nonno

Here are pics from our weekend at Nonni and Nonno's....

Greatest baseball play

Maybe the greatest baseball play of all time... certainly the best one ever made on Independence day.

Click for yourself:

http://www.keepingapace.com/blogarchives/sports/baseballs_greatest_play.php

Good game, Blue

Dave kept things running smooth at the Senior World Series game yesterday afternoon.

"Guy with a bat comin' at ya!"

I was told that I have been slacking with my blog updates. I have been trying to get pictures of our baseball pursuits (me and Dave umpiring, Ethan playing), but that will have to wait. Meanwhile, here's a Youtube video which gives a look into the perilous lifestyle of the little league umpire..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXiRfBWuB9E

Mother's day

Sara and Dan made me breakfast for mother's day!

The rest of the day was spent watching Ethan's game, and then umpiring a double-header..

Yummy food followed by a day of baseball - does it get any better than that?

Dog walks Boy

Ethan and Daniel have taught Bourbon a new trick - or did he teach it to them? Bourbon pulls them along on their Heelies. For those not in the know, Heelies are sneakers with wheels on the bottom... almost like roller skates but less conspicuous.

And what about all that work we put in to training Bourbon not to pull when he's on his leash? That might have been undone. But at least he's ready for a back-up career as a sled dog, if this laying-on-the-couch-all-day career doesn't work out.