The work has begun!

Monday the contractors came to make their plans for the week. There have been a few changes now that we tore our kitchen down to the bare bones. The kitchen ceiling slats had some bowing so they had to be replaced to be even with the dining room ceiling (now that it will be just one big ceiling).

Then they installed the first of the light fixtures...

tore many little holes in the wall to run some new electric lines....

...and made some personal notes on our dining room wall!! Aack!! They will not be doing that any longer. Pete assures me he had words with the contractors.
And then when I got home today there was a brand new ceiling!!
Unfortunately, they apparently forgot to install the insulation or leave a hole for the vent hood!!
So tomorrow they will be TEARING DOWN the nice new ceiling, replacing it after they've installed the insulation and the hood, and working on Saturday to make up for the the work time lost.

All Done!

with the demo at least....


Karen came over this afternoon and said the original floors were great! And that she loved the job the boys did. I arrived home and again was amazed at all the progress -- and apparently they were finished by 11:30am!!

Our cabinets might be ready a week earlier than expected, so the work leading up to cabinet installation will need to start fairly quickly. **SO EXCITED!!**

Kitchen Demolition: Days 1, 2, and 3

Well. We are certainly in the thick of things now. There is a giant tarp nailed to the walkway that goes between our dining room and the rest of the house, and another one taped to the doorway down to the basement. Carl and Pete have been working since 8:30a.m. and are still going at it. I just heard the shower start so hopefully that means they have stopped for the night. I got home from work a little after six and ordered pizza for dinner. We ate in the backyard and then they went back to pulling tiny little staples out of the floor. Staples that lie between the last layer of linoleum and original hardwood flooring!! Yay! We can just sand and refinish the floor rather than having hardwood floors installed!!

Saturday Pete and I got started on the demo by taking all the food out of the pantry and down into the basement. Then Pete thought we should go ahead and take out what cabinets we could. While he unscrewed the pantry cabinets, I pulled up the quarter-round and baseboards along the floor.

Along the way we discovered some *lovely* old wallpaper that seemed to feature roosters and arrangements of fruit.
We didn't work too late Saturday night - Jen came over for dinner (our last in the dining room for a while!) and then the three of us went to Light the Night.

Sunday afternoon Mike came over to help us and we really got to work. The boys took out all the cabinets and I removed the backsplash. Tile. by. stinking. tile.
They were seriously hard core when it came to getting the countertop and sink out!!
Yesterday we only worked for about three hours. Carl drove in for today's work. I was gone by the time he arrived, but they worked from about 8:30am to 8:30pm. Carl and Pete ripped down the wall between the dining room and kitchen, ripped out the ceiling, and tore up the tile floor, the first layer of linoleum, a layer of plywood, and started to tear out the second layer of linoleum. When I came home both Carl and Pete were pulling out these tiny staples that are every few inches along the floor. I am amazed at how much they got done.

Tomorrow Carl has to leave by mid-afternoon so I suppose they'll spend the morning finishing up with the staples. Karen our designer/contractor is coming by in the morning to tell us if the wood floor is worth refinishing and to give her opinion regarding some cement board on the outside walls. Carl thinks it would be just as cost-effective to rip it out and put in new boards rather than sanding and patching the existing boards.

So that's all for now. I'll keep posting as more action occurs!!

The other big summer event:

Our kitchen renovation!!

No, it hasn't happened yet, but we finished the design, and this weekend we started emptying out the cabinets. We'll finish emptying out the cabinets by the end of this week. Mike is coming over on Saturday or Sunday to take the cabinets off the walls with Pete and then he and I will start prying off the crown molding, baseboards, etc. Carl arrives on Monday and then the real action will begin!! By the time he leaves we will have knocked down a wall, torn out the ceiling, and ripped up the floor. I will be at work while most of this happens, but hopefully it will go well.

Then it will be time for the professionals to get to work. I can't post the plans online (they're not my images to post), but we're knocking down the wall between the dining room and kitchen, replacing the current tile with hardwood floor to make it seem like one continuous room, adding a peninsula, changing the location of the stove and refrigerator, etc, etc, etc.

I will post step-by-step before and after pictures as the project progresses. Fingers crossed that it doesn't take more than 3 months!!

The [unofficial] end of summer

I meant to write this post last night, but Pete and I got sucked into a marathon of Hoarders on A&E and before I knew it, it was time for bed. If you haven't seen the show - it will change they way you look at 'stuff'.

Since summer is over, I figured I should finally sit down and blog about our big summer events. The first of which - even though it happened in August - was our week long trip to South Carolina! We rented a house on Sullivan's Island with our dear friends Matt, Jenn, Mike, Adam, and Sarah and just had the *best* time!!

Here's the view from our back deck:
and the house from the front and back:
We got into a routine pretty quickly of ...
breakfast - beach - lunch - beach - shower - dinner
When the tide was low we could walk out to a giant sandbar where there were HUNDREDS of starfish! It was the coolest thing I have ever seen - it was impossible to walk on the sand without stepping on some (but we were careful and didn't hurt any). There were also many, many sand dollars and Matt and I came home with at least 8-10 sand dollars each!
On a few days we altered the routine just a little. One such day was Tuesday, August the 17th - dunh, dunh, dunh - my 30th birthday!! We were all finishing up lunch on the porch and Pete came out carrying a cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me!! It's been so long since it's been more than just me and Pete on my birthday and it was really nice - I teared up a little when they were singing. Then there were a few presents for me to open :) Matt and Jen got me some FABU South Carolina flippy floppies, and Pete got me a few things including the Glee music book for Easy Piano (and the promise of lessons!) and the most gorgeous dress from Anthropologie! He had ZERO help on the dress - I was totally stunned - and it even fit perfectly :)

Naturally, we went back to the beach after lunch but did go to an amazing dinner at Magnolia's to conclude what ended up being the best birthday ever and a great start to my next decade!!


The other different day was what Jen and I dubbed "Nerd Day". The great thing about going on vacation with a group is that when your husband wants to go see Patriot's Point (again) and tour Fort Moultrie, he can go do with with his friends and you are free to go shopping with your friends :) We also walked over this in the morning. It was pretty exciting for us!
The rest of the week was just more beach and more eating at great restaurants. For a different perspective on the week head over to Jen's blog to see her favorite things from the week!

I'm just so glad these guys lived together in college and have remained such good friends!! It was so much fun!! Trololololo!!!

Next Saturday

...will be our second Light the Night walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma. It falls on the 2nd anniversary of the death of my mother from this disease. I can't believe it's only been two years, it seems like she's been gone forever. But I know that she would be proud of me and Pete and the way we have lived our lives in her absence. I hope she would be happy that I am almost finished with my master's program in school, but know she would rather be helping me pick out granite and backsplash tiles for our kitchen renovation. :)

Last year I formed a team for the walk, but this year I'm just encouraging everyone to register for the walk closest to them, or to come join us on the 11th at the courthouse!

TBLTAs!!!!

These sandwiches are pretty much the reason we grow our own tomatoes. The recipe was featured in Cooking Light a few years ago and we've loved them ever since. Turkey-Bacon Lettuce Tomato and Avocado sandwiches (they also have thinly sliced purple onion). Matches made in heaven.

Day 4 of Tomato Week

Anyone else getting tired of tomatoes?!?! MAN, I know we're starting to....

Thursday night we had dinner at a friend's house - so no tomato entree then, but I gave another 10 tomatoes away that day!

Friday night I made Chunky Gazpacho with Sauteed Shrimp from the August edition of Cooking Light.

It was okay, a little bland. Maybe next time I'll try the recipe my Aunt Susie sent me (but I already had all the ingredients for this one!!)

Last night we went to the Cubs vs. Reds game in Cincinnati - and THE CUBS WON!!!! YAY!!!
Tonight we had a night off from tomatoes - I made turkey chili with cornbread muffins.

Tomorrow is the last night I have a tomato dish planned - but we still have over a dozen tomatoes to go!!

Tomato week day 3 wasn't too exciting. Not even picture-worthy, I'm afraid. I had about an hour between work and choir practice so we ate salmon-lobster pinwheels and salad. I used two tomatoes on our salad, that's all. :(

In worse news, the other eater of the tomato week food has a GIANT canker sore on his lip and is limiting his tomato intake - I'm still hoping to make chunky gazpacho with sauteed shrimp this week though, so I'll keep you posted.

Tomato Week: Day 2

Today I made Baked Eggs in Tomatoes - from the latest issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. That used two tomatoes. And then, because it seemed like we'd need a little more than just that for dinner, I made Black Bean Corn Salsa to go with it. That used three tomatoes. Plus I ate a tomato with my lunch and gave four to Bob when I saw him over the fence this morning!! 10 tomatoes down!!

So dinner was pretty easy - scoop out two tomatoes, put some corn in the bottom of each one, then whisk an egg and some chives, pour that in each tomato, sprinkle the top with parmesan, and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. They're REALLY hot when they come out - so I'd let them sit for 5 min or so before eating.

Scooped out tomatoes -- I used two of our Mr. Stripeys - they're our faves from what we've grown.

Out of the oven - oops! one tipped over! I bet it will still taste the same.

Mmm, the finished product. It tasted REALLY good. I pretty much ate my black bean corn salsa as a salad, but I'm sure Pete will eat his salsa with Tostitos when he gets home...which he hasn't yet...and I have to go to bed soon...

Back to life tomorrow - work at 8am, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with tomato week!

L.O.V.E.

I'm wearing this necklace today - with a teal tank top and khaki skirt (and some turquoise dangle earrings). I owe it all to Stephanie Ulmer, who, some five or so years ago, showed me I COULD be one of those girls who wears big jewerly!! --Thanks Steph!!

Tomato Week!

Hi there! We're back! Vacation was great - and I'll post about it and my birthday celebration as soon as I download some of our friends' images from our shared Picasa. In the meanwhile, almost ALL of our tomatoes ripened while we were gone. Aside from sharing them with our neighbors, giving some to our church's food program, and making salsa, pesto, and bruschetta, we STILL have a ton of tomatoes to eat. So today before I headed to the grocery store, I planned a week's worth of tomato-centered (or heavy on the tomato) dishes.


Today was day one: Margherita Pizza made with tomatoes AND basil from our garden. We make this all the time with jarred tomato sauce, but I thought we could try it with diced tomatoes instead. Usually Pete makes our pizza crust, but we tried out a mix today. It was okay. It seemed a little doughy to me, and not thin enough. But it only took 30min, so beggars can't be choosers.

We do a 2 minute pre-bake that I learned from my friend Joanne. Roll the dough out into the crust, and bake it for 2 min, then roll it back out popping any bubbles that may have formed. THEN add the toppings.

I cubed the mozzarella instead of slicing it because we had pizza at Cosi the other day and that's how they did it. And we don't put the basil on until the very end so it doesn't burn.

The finished product:


It was delicious! Stay tuned to see what we have tomorrow night :)