It was supposed to be done over the summer, but things kept getting put off and pushed back. Finally, I said to Mike (my husband), “We HAVE to get going on this, or we’re going to have to wait until next year.” (I said that mainly because we’re taking out the windows and reframing them, because they have a leakage issue – and it’s simply getting too ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> Well, we began demo over the weekend. Finally. We’re tearing out this nasty, old, messed-up kitchen and getting it done.

It was supposed to be done over the summer, but things kept getting put off and pushed back. Finally, I said to Mike (my husband), “We HAVE to get going on this, or we’re going to have to wait until next year.” (I said that mainly because we’re taking out the windows and reframing them, because they have a leakage issue – and it’s simply getting too cold to remove the windows!)

So. Tear it down, we did.

And Oh. My. God.

I know I’ve mentioned before how bad our kitchen was. But I didn’t cover the “more fun” issues.

See, about 2 years ago, my husband flips on the light in the garage. Over his head, he hears a pop and a sizzle, and looks up to see one of the beams on fire. He quickly shut off the light – and luckily the flame died out very quickly – and discovered that whoever wired the garage didn’t do it properly. We called in an electrician to rewire the garage, because where the fire occurred, he saw that it was just two wires joined together and wrapped in electrical tape. (No nuts or junction boxes or anything. My husband is in marketing for a major electrical company, and a former engineer – not an electrical engineer, but his work deals solely in stuff like electrical boxes and lighting, etc. – so he was freaking out.) When the electrician came in and saw the wiring in the garage, he was amazed the house hadn’t burned down yet. In fact, he opened up a wall behind a 220 outlet, and found that whoever wired the outlet just wrapped the wire around the frame of the house, and put up drywall over it – so if my husband had put a nail in that wall in just the wrong place…

Anyway, over the next couple of years, we noticed more things like this. My husbad went to talk to one of the neighbors, who gave us a nice piece of info: there was a woman who lived in this house before us (not who *we* bought the house from, but the owner before them). She apparently had a “loser boyfriend” that no one in the neighborhood liked – he was loud, drinking all the time, didn’t have a job, etc. And apparently thought he belonged on the DIY network (which is why I shall refer to him as “DIY Master” from this point on). She said our lovely kitchen was HIS handiwork (as was the garage). He’s the one who put the windows in, and did the whole kitchen remodel himself back in the early 90′s.

Now, you’ve already seen photos of the kitchen’s state last week: ugly flooring, baseboards not attached to the walls, countertops not attached to the counters, cabinets not attached to anything (I could slide them anywhere I wanted). Bad lighting. Cabinets were as cheap as you could possibly find anywhere and were falling apart. No pantry. No exhaust fan (the over-the-oven exhaust was all we had, and it was SO BAD that boiling water would set off the fire alarm.) And don’t get me started on the layout.

Although, in defense of the DIY Master, he didn’t come up with the layout. We’ve been in other neighbor’s houses and saw that this was the original layout – however DIY Master did cover over the door that was originally there – but left the lightswitch there.

So, here we go. We began demo over the weekend, and Can’t wait to share our progress (and what fun things DIY Master left for us to find!)

Cabinets on the external wall are removed, we took out the table (it is now in our living room) as well as the makeshift pantry we were using. One good thing about the crappy cabinets? Taking them out was REALLY easy.

Some of the aforementioned “rot” above the window. This window leaks A LOT. This window was my major concern – I was positive we’d find the header for the frame of the house rotted away, and we’d somehow have to replace the entire side of the house.

You can see how the window frame is coming apart due to moisture.

Mike, making the first opening…we’re holding our breath that the header is okay!

Surprise! We are happily amazed that the header is untouched – the house frame is perfectly fine! Yay!

My son wanted to get in on the action!

My oldest daughter and my son putting holes in the walls – the only time they’re ever allowed to do it!

My husband’s best friend came over to help us remove the cabinets. We took down the ones over the sink and stove, and one of the fun things we found was a metal box. Now, that box had been there for a long time, and i was always in the way, so I put my smallest plates next to it (because they would fit there). But the box was too big for the hole in the back of the cabinet, so we had to open the box to pull the cabinet down.

Holy crap, I’m surprised I’m not dead. All the times I reached into that cabinet to pull out dishes and moved or touched that box – I’m just amazed I’m still breathing. Have a look:

Yes. They were live. In a metal box.

Anyway, so we finally pulled down the cabinets – only to see more of DIY Master’s wonderful skills:

Granted, that won’t kill me – but seriously? Even my 5-year-old daughter could do a better drywall job than this. (And for the record, no – we didn’t poke holes first. That hole was there, behind the cabinet, just like that.

And here it is, at the end of the weekend, most of the demo done. It actually looks better already.

We found the door!

Basic math.

‘Cept it’s not true.

I’m living proof. I’m a NECI graduate, and a former pastry chef. I was schooled in ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> That’s what my doctor told me. He even had a chart that broke it all down and explained it to me. 3500 calories is one pound. Cut back eating 250 calories a day, and take a vigorous forty-minute walk a day (averages to 250 calories) that’s 500 calories a day you get rid of. Do that every day, and you’ll lose 1 pound a week.

Basic math.

‘Cept it’s not true.

I’m living proof. I’m a NECI graduate, and a former pastry chef. I was schooled in how to cook, and how important fresh ingredients are. Ever since I graduated, I’ve refused to cook with margarine, or use “fake” sugar in my cooking. Fake ingredients at all, for that matter. “Everything in moderation” was – and is – what I’ve always said.

When I started trying to lose weight after my third child, and nothing was happening, I talked to the doctor about it. And got the spiel above.

For 4 years, I tracked what I ate. I stuck to his advice (“eat whatever your goal weight is, with a 0 tacked on the end” – so for me, I restricted myself to 1200 calories per day), stopped drinking soda and started drinking water. Occasionally a glass of tea. I lost 25 pounds. Then I gained 15 back. Then lost it again, gained it back, lost it…over and over.

I hadn’t changed anything.

I started working out more. My husband built a desk around my treadmill, and I walked at 1.5mph while I worked – some days that would be 6 hours a day, others 16. The weight stayed on. I added to it: I’d wake up in the morning and run for 30 minutes, then walk the rest of the day. The weight stayed on.

My doctor tested my thyroid, checked me for diabetes, and when my numbers came back fine, he told me to “stop eating off your kids’ plates at dinnertime. If it passes your lips, it counts.”

As if I didn’t know that, and hadn’t been logging every single morsel that passed my lips for the last 4 years. But would he look at my logs? No. He assumed that even if I were keeping a log, I was obviously lying about what I entered, otherwise, I wouldn’t be fat.

Everyone assumed I was lying. That all i was doing was lying around, eating bon-bons by the bushel as I watched every TV show known to man. “Get off your ass and move,” or “stop eating” were common bits of advice tossed my way. Which was funny, because I can guarantee you I ate healthier than anyone who’s ever said that to me, and exercised more.

But if I were telling the truth, then I wouldn’t be fat. It’s simple math. If I were actually doing what I said I was doing, then I would weigh less. So I must be lying. End of story.

Except I was doing exactly what I said I was doing. I wanted this weight to come off, and nothing was working. I even went on Weight Watchers, but I was obsessed about food. How many points was I eating, how could I eat less but feel full? I was constantly hungry, and always feeling like a failure. And the scale still didn’t move – or when it did, it moved up.

Then I talked to my mom, who is a diabetic. She told me that a diabetic diet basically meant cutting out sugar and carbs (carbs because your internal systems see carbs as sugar anyway). The only low-carb diet I was aware of was Atkin’s. So I decided to check it out.

That was 6 weeks ago. Today, I am down 15 pounds from just 6 weeks ago, and still going. I no longer obsess about food. I simply eat when I’m hungry. I pay no attention to calories (however, I do log everything I eat, so I am well aware of how many I’m eating – I average between 1500-1700 a day – and I’m full all the time), but I do pay attention to the amount of fat, protein and carbs I’m eating. My ratio: 65% fat, 7% carbs, and 23% protein.

Yeah, I said 65% fat.

And for the record, the Atkin’s diet is not “meat and fat.” I actually have to get the majority of my carbs through foundation vegetables. Butter, cream, cheese (and other assorted saturated fat sources) all contribute to the amount of carbs I eat, so even though I eat high-fat items, I limit the intake, because I have to get my veggies in.

Apparently, my body has stopped storing the carbs I eat, and has started burning the fat stores I’ve been keeping (I can tell, because I’ve dropped about 3 pants sizes already), as well as using the fat I’ve been eating as fuel. I have no more mid-afternoon slump. I have had the best night’s sleep every night for the last 6 weeks. I wake up at 5:30-6:00 in the morning with no alarm, fully rested and refreshed (and usually take the dog for a nice, long, vigorous walk). My skin and hair look fabulous (and my hair – which I had steadily been losing – has recently made an appearance), and my overall well-being has skyrocketed.

And my migraines are gone. Totally, completely, absolutely 100% GONE.

From now on, I’m going to be journaling about this program, because I believe it works. It’s working for me, anyway. I’ve been educating myself on the food pyramid, and you could call me a paleo-convert. I’ve been watching all kinds of documentaries on food consumption in the United States, and how the obesity epedemic is spreading worldwide (and why). Through all of this, I feel I’ve made the right decision for myself.

I have a doctor’s appointment in September – it’s a physical. I’ll be getting all my blood work done – checking cholesterol and stuff. But from what I’ve seen, even with all the saturated fat I’m eating, I expect the bad stuff will be low, and the good stuff will be quite high from my last set of numbers. I honestly can’t wait, because I’d love to see the expression on his face when I tell him I’ve been doing everything he’s told me not to do, and it’s working better than the last 4 years of following his advice to the letter.

Except me.

I’ve actually gained weight.

Now, before you tell me “muscle weighs more than fat” and I should take measurements – I have. I have patiently been waiting for that miracle everyone keeps whispering in my ear – that initially, the scale might go up (see cliché ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> I really do like the P90X stuff, however, it’s tiring. Not in “well, DUH, it’s exercise” kind of tiring, but in the repetitiveness of it. That, and the fact that pretty much everyone I know who’s on it has dropped weight like crazy.

Except me.

I’ve actually gained weight.

Now, before you tell me “muscle weighs more than fat” and I should take measurements – I have. I have patiently been waiting for that miracle everyone keeps whispering in my ear – that initially, the scale might go up (see cliché above), but they’ve all told me I should see something – anything – between days 60-80.

We’re on day 70-something, and guess what? I’ve gained 5 pounds, and my measurements have not changed.

And now I have people telling me that I must be doing something wrong – not counting everything I eat, or not “bringing it” with the exercise.

Well I admit – the last couple of weeks, I’ve stopped the P90X (because I feel like I’m doing a crapload of work for nothing), but I’ve been running every day. So it’s still exercise. And still. nothing is happening. I’m still in my size 22 jeans, still have flab all over the place, still look the same.

If I have to explain to one more person that I am doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, and they tell me I must not be, I’ll punch them in the face.

I have never been more frustrated about this than I am right now. I’ve been working my ass off since mid-February, counting calories like crazy, watching everything I do, forcing myself to exercise on days I don’t want to – and NOTHING has changed. Nothing. I’m exactly like I was back in February when I started.

I now have slightly less than one year to lose the weight I want to lose. I’m using next year’s anniversary gift (a trip to Europe) as my motivation. I don’t want to be walking through the streets of Santorini looking like a “typical fat American slob” and wondering how many people I gross out just by being present. I want to go and enjoy myself.

I’m so tired of being judged.

I should be down at least 10 pounds by now, and nothing.

I just don’t understand.

And don’t get me wrong – I love my sister to death (who’s not down to a size 5 jeans), but she’s so damn perky about the whole thing. I love her, and I’m glad she’s there for me, but I don’t think she “gets” this. She tells me I need to log my food (I do – just not online) and just “push through this” – but I’m just so tired of pushing. I mean, really – if you stand there and push on the Great Wall of China for years, it’s still not going to freaking move. At what point do you give up?

I feel like giving up – this is crushing me. But I don’t want to – because something has to work. It worked before, once. I don’t understand why it’s not working now. And this is really the first time I’ve whined about it – because I feel like whining about it makes me sound exactly how I feel.

I do like P90X. I do feel great while I’m doing it. And I like feeling great. But something’s not right here. I just wish I knew what it was.

A quick note here for “transparency” purposes: I am not being compensated in any way to talk about this program. They don’t even know I’m writing this post. This is ALL ME.

Now, I’ve expressed my frustration before at the weight not ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> My sister got me started on P90X almost 3 weeks ago. I have lots of friends who have done it over the years and extoll its virtues, but no one ever actually convinced me to plop down the $$ it takes for the system and start doing it.

A quick note here for “transparency” purposes: I am not being compensated in any way to talk about this program. They don’t even know I’m writing this post. This is ALL ME.

Now, I’ve expressed my frustration before at the weight not coming off, and how I get bored with whatever I’m doing, blah blah blah. I think I’ve also mentioned that I’ve suspected – for a long time now – that I haven’t been eating enough – which is counter to what most people say: if you want to lose weight, eat less. (If I hear “calories in, calories out” one more time, I’ll kill someone.) My doctor’s only explanation to me about why I’m not losing weight is that I’m eating too much. Yet when I show him my logs of what I eat (and how much) he says I’m lying. For the last three years, I’ve stuck with a 1200-calorie diet (even on days when I exercise), which according to him, means I should be down to 120 by now. So I must be lying.

I’m not.

Sometimes I just want a new doctor.

I’ve also been suffering from migraines – nasty, filthy, dirty migraines – for the last few years. It didn’t dawn on me until today that the two had a relationship with each other.

Anyway, so my sister convinces me (and my husband) to go on P90X. We figured, it’s 90 days. It’s exercise. The worst that could happen is we pull a muscle. So we did it.

I have to say. I’m happy with it. Tony Horton (the dude who is your coach) is a TOTAL DORK. No lie. I love dorks. But I’m serious – the guy isn’t this meathead who is all into “no pain, no gain” and yelling at everyone to move, move move! And the people you see on the screen aren’t these beautiful people who look perfect and barely break a sweat (which is probably sprayed on with a water bottle) and making you feel inferior because you can’t keep up. Nope. He’s a massive dork, and his advice is simply to do the best you can. That’s really the first time I’ve ever watched ANY exercise video and the coach has said that. When he tells you to “push yourself” he’s not telling you to do it to their level he’s insisting you do it to yours.

I really like that.

I’ve noticed, just in the last couple of weeks, that even though I still can’t do the stuff they do on the screen, I’ve already improved myself. For example, the Ab exercises he has you do. The first time I did that video, I could only do from 2-8 reps each exercise. But you do them every other day, and when I did them yesterday, I found myself doing all of them at 12 reps each. A couple of them I could even do 15. It surprised me. It also tells me I’m improving.

Now, I haven’t noticed anything fitting better, nor have I dropped much weight (I’ve lost 3 pounds in the last 2 weeks), but what I have noticed is how I feel. I feel a TON better than I did 3 weeks ago. I’m usually ready for a nap at 2:30 in the afternoon, but I haven’t felt that once (except today, and I have good reason for that) since I started doing this.

My sister also insisted I eat more. She told me I needed to start eating at least 1780 calories a day (almost 600 more than I’ve been easting in the last three years), and on workout days, close to 2000. It’s been tough to actually un-train myself from eating only 1200 a day. but I’ve been doing it. And – like I said – I’ve lost 3 pounds so far. Not only that, but I haven’t had a single migraine either.

Now I’ll tell you ho this migraine revelation came about (and why I’m tired today). I got some really, really bad news on Monday night. I won’t go into details, but I will say that it involved a late-night call from my dad, and it’s he worst news you can get about someone. So even though I worked out Monday, the rest of the week is shot (especially since we have to travel for the weekend in relation to this news). Yesterday, I was so busy getting the travel plans and assorted other preparations ready that I slipped back into the old methods of not eating, and I didn’t get a chance to exercise either. This morning, I woke up with a migraine. I entered in all my food in my log (from yesterday) and found I had only eaten 1100 calories. After a discussion with my sister (also a longtime migraine-sufferer) she realized she hasn’t had any migraines, since she started in December, either.

Anyway. I know I haven’t updated this section of my site in a while, but I just wanted to share that this one seems to be working. Not only do I feel a lot better, I can feel myself getting stronger, and I feel like – in a few months – I’ll actually be looking better. And I love that I’m eating more food again. Years of eating 1200-a-day (and being told you’re doing something wrong) just doesn’t make you feel good, no matter what weight you’re at. it’s an expensive program, I think – but once you get past that barrier, it really is worth it.

I have to blame Pinterest (and houzz.com) on this. Finding Pinterest has changed how I view our home. I’m finally understanding why my mom always insisted on us cleaning up after ourselves and making our beds (aside from the fact that tripping over stuff might kill you. There ARE other reasons.)

I have a HUGE PInterest board (and a houzz.com “favorites” area) that ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> Now that you know exactly how ugly/horrible/embarrassing my current kitchen is, I’d like you to “see the pretty” that it will become.

I have to blame Pinterest (and houzz.com) on this. Finding Pinterest has changed how I view our home. I’m finally understanding why my mom always insisted on us cleaning up after ourselves and making our beds (aside from the fact that tripping over stuff might kill you. There ARE other reasons.)

I have a HUGE PInterest board (and a houzz.com “favorites” area) that has all this stuff in it, but I’m going to share just a few key items that really set off what our new kitchen will look like.

So rather than try to explain things, I’ll just let the pictures (or the inspiration) do the talking:

White cabinets, dark wood floors, dark gray countertops, copper/bronze ceiling tile.

In-cabinet storage for my "baking" area. Much better than the drawer I'm using now.

I actually drew up plans for a pantry almost exactly like this, only to find a visual example on Pinterest. Awesome!

Finally, a terrific idea for the odd kitchen eat-in space that both my husband and I love.

Green is my favorite color, and it makes kitchens look so fresh!

Love how this hood is covered (and the knick-knack display on op of it!)

These are just a few key pins that kind of tell you the idea I’m going for. We’ve really got the plans down for the layout (something i’ll discuss in another post), and we’re fine-tuning it so we can actually nail down exactly how much this kitchen will cost us, down to the last cabinet hinge.

And it’s going to be a lot of DIY work – which I think makes me giddier than getting the kitchen itself!

I have probably a better leg-up on understanding how bad it is, because I am actually a professional cook. (Well, I was anyway. I don’t get paid for it anymore, so ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> I think you should know a little bit about how this kitchen is now – mainly for posterity’s sake, but also because I think you REALLY need to understand how terrible this kitchen is. I tell you, we deserve to be on one of those DIY network shows. You have no idea how bad it is.

I have probably a better leg-up on understanding how bad it is, because I am actually a professional cook. (Well, I was anyway. I don’t get paid for it anymore, so I’m no longer a “chef”, save to my family.) I’ve worked in some pretty rockin’ kitchens, and I don’t just understand “work flow”, I understand my work flow, and how the kitchen should be for me.

Now let me make a few things clear to you. None of the cabinets are attached to anything. Of course, the wall cabinets (uppers) are attached to the wall, but that’s about it. They were obviously not measured before placement, because some are higher than others and none are within that “18-inches from the countertop” thing. They are particleboard and veneer ugly piece of builder-grade crap that were basically tossed in the kitchen. And I mean tossed. You can move the cabinets around however you like.

That includes the countertops.

Yes, I’m serious. The countertops aren’t even attached.

The only reason the cabinets next to the dishwasher, stove, and sink remain where they are is because the plumbing holds them there. If you detached the plumbing, you could 1) lift the sink out (it’s not glued down) and 2) lift off the countertop and slide those cabinets around as well.

Even the baseboards aren’t attached. No lie. They’re just tossed in there and leaning against the wall. (There were more, but we just took them out because they kept falling over.)

please pardon the grossness on this one - the floor is peeling, and most of that dirt stuff is stains that won't come off.

Don’t get me started on the floor. I clean that thing twice a day and it still looks like someone took a crap on it and smeared it everywhere. (And the fact that it’s peeling up just makes me so happy! At least we know it won’t be hard to remove!)

My children's marker wall-art is a lot nicer to look at than what was there before.

The one wall had a lot of ugly wallpaper over it when we moved in, and one day, I was talking on the phone and saw little piece of it sticking out. I pulled on it to remove it – and pretty much the entire wall came off. So we finished removing it (seriously – it was like press-n-seal wallpaper. It came down THAT EASILY.) and found a huge moldy spot next to the fridge. We moved the fridge and cleaned up the mold – and the huge snowstorm we had last year kind of told us why there was a moldy/bubbled spot there on the wall – it was like a fountain over there for almost 2 months while the snow melted and refroze over and over again.

When I put up the roman blinds I made last weekend, we discovered that basically the framing around that particular window is rotted out. I have a feeling when we redo the kitchen, we’ll be gutting – at least that wall – to the studs and probably putting some new framing and insulation in – I can almost guarantee that the wall studs over there are rotted out, too. (we also discovered that there was no flashing put around the windows when they were installed, and there’s aso no insulation – which explains why they’re always so drafty, even though my husband seals them with silicone every year. Seems like they just tossed those in, too.)

Yes, there used to be a door here.

And don’t get me started on the sink/stove placement. See that blank spot there, where our trash can is? The stove is pushed up to the corner? There used to a be a freaking door there. (If you go outside and stand on the other side of that wall, there are concrete steps leading up to…the side of the house.) Those light switches? One of them turns the overhead off and on, but the other does nothing. I think there used to be an outside light for the door, and when they removed it, they just disconnected the wiring. We’ve toyed with the idea of putting a window there, but I think we’re kind of scared of what we’ll find if we attempt it.

I HATE having that stove in the corner.

Oh, and even more fun us that microwave/fan combo over the stove is supposed to be vented outside, and no one ever did it. So when I cook, the fire alarm goes off all the time. The local fire department knows us well – especially on Monday nights, because ALL the city’s fire departments do training – along with the police. So if it goes off on Monday night, you get 5 fire trucks and 8 police cars along the street. With video cameras. (I. Am. Not. Lying.) The other night I was making spaghetti – I had all the windows open (yes, in New England, in February), the ceiling fan running on high, and the vent hood on high. The water was at a rolling boil – and the fire alarm went off.

When I say “I hate my kitchen”, it’s not because there’s a few odd things that could be improved upon. Put it this way – remember that Halloween storm up here in New England not too long ago? It made national news. The town I live in was the worst-hit town in the entire state. We were without power (and cell phone/telephone) service for nine days. We had to fight the power company for a week after the power came back on to get some branches off their wires. (They were trying to tell me it was my responsibility to get the tree limbs off their wires.) One of my neighbors down the street had three – THREE – trees squash her kitchen. She’s been living in a hotel (insurance paid for it) since October while the whole side of her house – including her kitchen – is being rebuilt from the foundation up, to her exact specifications. When she told me about it, all I could say was “I’m SO jealous! You get a new kitchen! Why can’t a tree fall on MY kitchen?!?”

I ABHOR my kitchen.

Perhaps now you understand why ‘m so excited to finally be able to do something about it. (OMG, looking at photos of it makes me realize how embarrassing this kitchen is. I cannot imagine what people think when they come in my house.)

What I want to talk about today (and hopefully with more frequent updates in the near future) is the biggest project I think I’ve ever taken on. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since we moved here to CT and bought this house, back in 2005.

See, we loved this ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> Yeah, it’s been a couple of months since I posted last. Things have been very busy around here. It’s funny, I always finish my old year quietly, and the new one always seems to start with a bang!

What I want to talk about today (and hopefully with more frequent updates in the near future) is the biggest project I think I’ve ever taken on. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since we moved here to CT and bought this house, back in 2005.

See, we loved this house when we bought it, but we knew it needed stuff done to it. Although we planned to “do a major project every year,” it never happened. Finally, last summer, I got REALLY tired of living in our house as if we were preparing to move out any day. It was always messy, and stuff was always all over the place, and we never have taken time to make this house our home. I think part of it stemmed from the fact that the last house we lived in, I loved. Pretty much as soon as we moved in, I was turning it into our home. I finally did a big project -remodeled the bathroom – and 2 weeks later my husband’s place of work shut down and we were relocated here to CT. I was so sad.

It also scared me out of trying to really do anything major to this house, because I do love it so, but I’m afraid if I take something on, it’ll trigger some unseen force and we’ll have to move again. So instead, we’ve been living like we’re college kids in a dorm (but with 2 kids, a dog and a mortgage.)

I’ve had enough.

Mike and I were talking about redoing a room in the house (the BIG one is the kitchen… Oh does it ever need it. So bad. But it’s such a HUGE project, and so expensive!) and we were going to start with our bedroom. We’ve done the kids’ rooms (mostly) and the hallway/linen closet. The bathrooms (yes, both) need help, too. But we figured doing our room might make us feel less stressed about stuff, and get us more motivated to take on other stuff.

Last year, we had a HUGE snowstorm, and discovered that the “new roof” that was put on just before we bought the house was done very, very badly. So the kitchen budget ($11,000 ::gasp::) went to a proper new roof instead. (Because insurance wouldn’t pay for it. Nice. They decided that the roof failure – and resulting damage from it – was due to “sub-standard workmanship” and “contractor error”, so if we wanted $ for repairs, we had to sue whoever did the roof just before we bought it.) I’ve been resigned to wait at least another 4 years before we could do the kitchen.

Mike surprised me by saying we didn’t.

For the last month, we’ve been planning like crazy. Today, we went on a “shopping trip” – which was more to price out what things will actually cost us than it was to actually purchase anything. We decided we were really going to DIY this puppy out, instead of buying everything and having it installed.

So it appears that this next portion (of my oh-so-frequently-updated-site) will be about our kitchen remodel. Because even though we’ve been planning for a month, I didn’t actually believe we were going to go through with it until our shopping trip today. (We actually hired a kitchen designer 4 years ago, and were about 2 steps from getting my dream kitchen when we had a financial issue, and it fell through. I’m still a bit upset by that, but now, I know better.)

I will return with more, but it’s too much (and too scattered) at the moment to put it all in here cohesively. But I think it’ll be nice to share, and it gives me something to write about

It’s my favorite holiday. Maybe it’s because it’s also my best friend’s birthday (aka my mom’s – who was also born in Bethlehem!) but I just love the holiday. It makes me happy… well at least when I avoid shopping during this time. Nothing will get rid of my Christmas spirit faster than going to Wal-Mart, I tell ya.

Anyway, this year, I decided to do some stuff to get the Christmas spirit going in this house. I made my first advent ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> I love Christmas.

It’s my favorite holiday. Maybe it’s because it’s also my best friend’s birthday (aka my mom’s – who was also born in Bethlehem!) but I just love the holiday. It makes me happy… well at least when I avoid shopping during this time. Nothing will get rid of my Christmas spirit faster than going to Wal-Mart, I tell ya.

Anyway, this year, I decided to do some stuff to get the Christmas spirit going in this house. I made my first advent calendar. It was almost free. I won’t go into a huge, in-depth tutorial, because there’s so many ways to make these, and this is my meager contribution. All I did was wrap a piece of scrap wood with some felt I had on hand, and hot-glued handmade cards to it for the kids to pull out every day. I will say if I do this next year, I’ll use colored construction paper, and I’ll print the darn things off instead of hand-lettering them! (I will say – so I remember later – that the font I used was Mardi Gras!) The card template I used (with a few edits) was the “4 and 3/4″ square envelope template” from here. I could get one card and one envelope from a single sheet of 8 1/2 x 11″ card stock paper that I have lying around.

The kids are already excited for tomorrow, so they can finally start pulling out cards and see what they say. They’ve never done an advent calendar before (heck, neither have I!) so they’re wondering what will happen. I’d explained that usually, it’s “open a door, eat a piece pf candy” sort of thing, but I wanted this to be more interesting. So instead, I made a list of one Christmas-y thing per day we can do. if you’re interested, my list looks like this:

1. Write a letter to Santa.
2. Pick 10 toys (each) to give to Goodwill.
3. Decorate the house for Christmas.
4. Make Christmas cards.
5. Make and hang up paper snowflakes.
6. Play a board game.
7. Make snow globes.
8. Shop for Fred and Fezzik. This is our goldfish and our new puppy!
9. Read a Christmas story. This one will also introduce Christopher Popinkins to the house – so that’ll be ongoing fun!
10. Go ice skating.
11. Make presents for teachers.
12. Put up the Christmas tree.
13. Roast marshmallows in the fireplace.
14. Visit Light Fanstasia.
15. Play “Christmas Pictionary.”
16. Watch “Polar Express.”
17. Camp out under the tree.
18. Make gingerbread house and cookies! I think I’ll provide a tutorial for the house, too – we make it every year!
19. Go visit Santa.
20. Drive around and look at Christmas lights.
21. Wrap Christmas presents.
22. Do a Christmas “word search” game. I think this will be more of a scavenger hunt, but we’ll see!
23. Listen to Christmas songs.
24. Prepare and set out cookies for Santa and yummies for his reindeer!

It took me a while to make up this list – hubs wasn’t much of a help at all. He couldn’t think of anything! I also had to carefully arrange what was chosen on what nights – stuff like “Camping out under the tree” and “make a gingerbread house” were relegated to weekend projects. My husband is also out of town for a week in December, so I had to carefully arrange things that I could do on my own with the kids while he was gone. And the 22nd and 23rd, we’ll be on our way to my mom’s in West Virginia, so we had to do something we could bring along in the car.

Anyway, I thought I’d share. Maybe it’ll give inspiration to others!

Now, for months, I’ve had a layout idea for the living room that required “going with it” in the “long and narrow” department. If it helps to understand, you can see and old, messy “before” shot ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> So, our house is small. And kind of laid out weird. Everything is all long and narrow, and we’re always trying to find the best furniture configurations to make things nice and maximize space. The living room is the bane of my existence… we have tons of crap and not enough room for it all.

Now, for months, I’ve had a layout idea for the living room that required “going with it” in the “long and narrow” department. If it helps to understand, you can see and old, messy “before” shot of the living room here, that I took back in the spring, before I started this insane adventure of trying to make the house look nice.

For the record, it looks different now. A lot of stuff has since been removed, a few new things added, and we’ve sort of returned to this configuration. The furniture configuration in this photo isn’t our norm, but I think it is now.

Most Googling I’ve done for layout ideas (for rooms similar to mine in the “long and narrow” department) always have differences than what we have. For instance, where our TV is now, most have a window (if we had a window there, you’d see the picturesque view of the garage)… And where our big window is, they have a fireplace an put a TV. I still have yet to find any that have it set up like ours, with the window on the long wall. Our front door is also on the long wall, and there’s an odd “what do we do with this space?” area across from the door, which also has the half-stairway to upstairs.

Seriously, have you ever seen such a weird split-level configuration?

Anyway, I finally came up with a configuration that I think works, but it’s totally different from what I was thinking before. Which kind of sucks, because I bought a lot of stuff to go with the original configuration idea, and now I phase more stuff I have to try and figure out!

One of the things I bought were some old metal pulleys from farms. The idea was to make one of those Lineberry cart coffee table knock offs (the inspiration came from this living room, which I would die for! She even has a similar partition between the living room and the kitchen, which gives me hope!)

My husband HATES them, as it turns out.

Wouldn’t you know it, he has no opinion on pretty much anything (save he wants a hideous recliner) and the one thing I REALLY want, it turns out he can’t stand. He loves me, and was willing to build it for me, but he doesn’t like them at all.

So I started thinking about the recliner thing (which I hate…) and decided to compromise. Instead, I had my husband go out on the garage and get some scrap wood together and build me a couple of boxes with lids.

They were simple boxes: just 4 sides (made of 1/2″ scrap wood we have lying around) with a bottom, held together at the corners with 1×2′s which were cut 1/2″ from the top. He made a “lid” by gluing and screwing 2 pieces of 1/2″ scrap wood together (the bottom piece a mere 1/2″ inset from the top to create a lip edge, so they would drop in and rest on the 1×2′s and be flush with the sides). The “lid” is strong and 1″ thick, so it can hold a lot of weight.

He built two of these, and was surprised when I told him they didn’t need sanded or anything. I went to Lowe’s and picked up some hanger bolts and bun feet (for the grand total of about $24), which he measured up and screwed into place for me.

I didn’t tell him what I was doing. After he built the boxes (which only took him about 2 hours), I stained the feet a nice dark color, and then gave them 2 coats of polyurethane, and let them dry overnight. I made a mess too… didn’t even try to be neat about it! When they were dry, I got some of those stick-on felt pads and put them on (we have hardwood floors, and everything scratches them up!).

As an aside, I obtained the measurements for said boxes by measuring the height of our couch from the floor to the top of the seat cushion, which is 15″. A long time ago, we had this couch and chair set that got old and had to be tossed, but before we did that, I’d removed the seat cushion foam and the batting and saved them. I knew they’d come in handy! They were 5″ tall, and 22×24. The bun feet are 1-1/2″ tall, which (after taking out measurements for the thickness of stuff) left us with a box whose sides needed to be roughly 7″ tall.

While the polyurethane dried, I washed a great big drop cloth I picked up at Ace Hardware for $24. Washed it twice, dried it thoroughly. The next morning, I went out and used some spray fabric glue (which I had on hand from a previous project) and lined the boxes with some black felt (which I also already have on hand). I used a box cutter to clean up the edges and make them nice, making sure the felt didn’t overlap the 1×2 tops. Then I glued the cushions to the lid tops.

The batting I had from the old couch was really thick, so I pulled it apart in the middle to halve the thickness (it was actually really easy, it seemed to be layered). Then I cut it to size, sprayed and glued it around the cushion and around the sides of the box. Once that was done, I just cut 2 squares from the drop cloth that were roughly 40″, and cut out 6″ squares from the corners. I unscrewed the feet, centered the drop cloth over the bottom of the box, and pulled it tight up the sides, and staple-gunned the cloth on at the edge. Then I screwed the feet back in.

I pretty much did the same thing with the “lid”, just folding and tucking the corners and stapling under the lip. Then I used needle and thread to sew the folded corners closed (just a simple basting stitch, hand-sewn. It was more to tack them shut so the folds didn’t pop out than for strength.) When I was done, this is the end result (please excuse the undie-clad girl, it’s amazing she’s wearing that much clothing!):

I still have the second one to upholster, but hubs tried out this one last night, and is happy with the result. With the two of them together, we have a coffee table. He can recline with his feet up which watching TV, the inside is big enough that we can store a couple of blankets and pillows in there (or whatever else we’d like to store); he also likes that he can set drinks (or whatever) on them, or work on his laptop. He also likes (as do the kids) that they can also be used as extra seating, if needed.

So maybe I had to give up my Lineberry knock-off idea (anyone need the wheels for that? ‘Cause now I have to figure out what to do with those…), but by doing this, we got a nice coffee table/recliner/extra seats/extra storage in our living room, for about $50 out-of-pocket. He can forego the coffee table idea he hated, AND I get to keep my living room recliner-less!

Really, for no pattern or plans, and about 4 hours of work (not counting stain-and-polyurethane drying time) they came out REALLY well, I think.

Now off to finish the second one!