Kitchen Remodel

Lots of remodeling going on at the Boren household. Joshua's gotten the bug with the new year. You can click here to read up on some of the changes I posted in my Balancing Act Basics blog that lead up to the changes listed in this post.

Today's progress included decluttering the recyclabes that had taken over. Like my new spice rack? Hubs made it for me. The DVD player is an old one, and the under-counter TV/radio was a Christmas present. Something to keep me entertained whenever I do my monthly freezer meals. The two white bins on the bottom left are for recyclables, but they're going to go away. I'm going to take out all the cleaning supplies that are currently under the sink and store those in the laundry room cabinets. That will free up the space under the kitchen sink. My plan is to buy some plastic totes and put them under the sink, and use the totes for our recyclables. Each tote will be for something different (paper, plastic, glass, etc.). Then when it's time to take the recyclables to a transfer station, it'll be as easy as grabbing the totes from under the sink. Our house didn't come with a dishwasher when we bought it, so we bought a portable/rolling dishwasher, and it used to be located in the spot where the rolling cabinet or island you now see. This island had been in a different spot of the kitchen, but we moved it here for now. The plan is to build new cabinets in this particular spot, which will add more storage. The rolling cabinet will go back to its usual spot once it's time to build the cabinets.

Prior to Joshua building the spice rack for me, I had my spices on 3 different spice racks. Kind of made it difficult to find things. When I moved all my spices, I discovered that I had a few duplicates. It wouldn't have been an issue if they were closed, except the duplicates were open. I debated about getting rid of the one spice rack next to the breadmaker. It was one of the last things, in fact it was a wedding present, my mom gave to me before she passed away. So it has sentimental value. I decided to keep it since it reminds me of my mom and brings back a lot of happy memories. I really love the location of these new upper cabinets. They used to be directly over the counter to the left (you can barely see part of the counter under the black cords in the bottom left corner of the picture). Joshua told me that his project for this coming week is to take down the spice rack he built me so he can go ahead & tape/mud/paint the wall, then put the spice rack back up and that'll be one more project of his crossed off the list.

Here's the new location of the portable/rolling dishwaher. There used to be a cabinet and the flatware drawer here on the side closest to the fridge, and on the left was a lazy susan corner cabinet. Joshua took out the drawer and cabinets, lowered the height of the portable dishwasher and put it here. The dishwasher itself will not be permanent, so the plan is to sell it sometime this year, maybe next year, and buy a permanent dishwasher to replace it. Joshua had to cut out part of the counter to get the dishwasher to fit. Which isn't a big deal because we also plan on replacing the counter tops, or at least put down new formica.

Here's the spot where the lazy susan style corner cabinet was. There was also so much wasted space with that type of cabinet. Joshua tore out the lazy susan, plus a narrow cabinet that was next to the lazy susan, then rebuilt it and installed a shelf and new door. It's not complete yet. The "stick" like feature you see is not permanent and will get tossed. Joshua had to buy more wood and will finish that section of the cabinet. The hose you see is the water line to the fridge and ice dispenser in the freezer. The nice thing about this rebuilt cabinet is that we'll be able to utilize ALL the space. I plan to store #10 size cans of rice, beans and wheat in the far reaches of the cabinet, since I won't need to dip in them very often, and it'll be difficult to reach back there anyways so I storing something that I'll need to get to frequently wouldn't be such a good idea.

Here's what it looks like with the dishwasher pulled out.

Some of the final plans include stripping the varnish from all the cabinets and then painting them a really beautiful cream color. All the hardware will get replaced. I'm currently considering a burnished copper color, but haven't quite made up my mind. I mentioned the formica will get replaced (I really can't stand the "wood laminate" look).

We're going to put up some kind of tile above the backsplash of the cabinets, but again that's something that I haven't settled on yet. It could be a long while before Joshua is able to get to that part of the remodeling project, so no sense in getting in a hurry and buying everything up right now. The flooring is also going to get replaced. When we moved into the house, the flooring was the absolute ugliest dark brown. We tried putting down vinyl flooring over the top. But we were buying a little here, a little there because our budget was tight and we couldn't affod to buy all the material. And wouldn't you know Lowe's stopped carrying the vinyl. So all of the flooring was complete excluding 6 inches or so right in front of the cabinets. Bummer. But that's ok, we decided we didn't like the vinyl after all anyways. Lowe's had ceramic/slate type floor tiles on sale for $0.58/sq ft several months ago and we bought up enough to do the kitchen, dining room, hallway plus the bathroom. The tiles have been sitting on our back deck ever since because there hasn't been time to do anything with them. But they were a bargain and worth buying at the time, and although Lowe's still has the same tile, they haven't been on sale for as cheap as we paid for them.

I think that's it for now...until next time!

Holiday Pictures

You're probably thinking, "It's about time!" I know, it's been awhile since the last family post. Here are some pictures from our 2009 holiday happenings for you to enjoy.

Watching Voices Of The Heart perform in The Heart of Christmas Show in Fayetteville, NC.

Daniel's field trip to see The Nutcracker Ballet. We took Raelee, too. She LOVED seeing the ballerinas! She takes dance class too, and her favorite is ballet, so this was right up her alley.

Making gingerbread houses at the Arts Council Wonderland Breakfast.

Touring the Meadow Lights.

The kids with their school in the Christmas Parade.

Taking a family Christmas photo.

The kids' Christmas program. Above: Daniel in the black shirt, back row, standing next to cousin Ashley. Below: Raelee, bottom row, in the white & red top and green hair bow.

Driving around, looking at neighborhood Christmas light displays.

Annual Christmas Even family photo in front of the Christmas tree at Joshua's parents' house.

The kids' with their cousins, Meagan & Ashley, showing off Christmas decorations that they made on Christmas Eve.

Spreading special reindeer food out on the front yard on Christmas Eve right before bed. Santa's Reindeer get hungry, too!

Raelee & Daniel on Christmas morning.

The grandkids re-enacting the Nativity. The cousins were Mary and an angel. Daniel was a wise man. Raelee insisted on playing the part of Joseph...? Why...?

Camping out under the Christmas tree. A one-time special event for both kids on Christmas Day night-time.

First Blood (of the season)

Joshua debated on whether or not he was going hunting this year. Since the season started, it seems as though we've had one thing or another going on, eating away at any available time he would have to hunt.

Our house is on the edge of the woods. He has a tree stand in the woods behind our house. It's in a good spot because the trees and brush provide a lot of cover for the deer. Plus, there's several streams nearby, and deer also want to be near a source of water.

Joshua did put out some corn a few months ago, and the deer ate that right up. One morning, when Joshua opened the front door, he & Daniel both saw 5 deer right there in our front yard, munching away on acorns! We have NEVER, EVER, seen deer in our yard. We just figured they didn't come around too close because of our two big dogs out back.

So Joshua bought a hunting license a few weeks ago. I think he went "hunting" just twice, if you call spending about 30 minutes in the tree stand actually hunting.

The kids' had their school Christmas program this past Tuesday, so I took a 1/2 day vacation. That meant we all got to sleep in. Joshua took up the opportunity to get some true hunting done, and he promised himself that he would stay out until 8:30am.

And guess what? He shot himself a doe! Just in time to bring it to the house (not an easy task considering he had to cross 2 streams, 3 logs, and climb uphill on his hands and knees!).

It was a small doe, and only the 2nd deer Joshua has shot (the 1st was a 4pt buck when he was 16). But we got 30lbs of ground venison out of it. We wanted some backstrap, but Joshua wasn't sure how to field dress it, so he left that part for the processor to do. And by the time it got to the processor, it was too late for backstrap. No big deal, we can still make plenty of chili and other yummy goodies. :)

Daniel's Santa Tracker

Daniel whipped out his Lego's a couple days ago and made a really cute sculpture. I saw it was outside, and brought it back in the house. Daniel informed me that this was his Santa Tracker and it had to stay outside so it could track where Santa was.

It has a radar, just like at the airport, so it can track Santa's sleigh and reindeer during their Christmas Eve run. And there's a yellow light to help guide Santa to our house.

Can you believe this??!! Who knew that our 5-yr-old was so creative? It warms my heart!

Decorating the Tree

We put up the Christmas tree and decorations this weeked--woohoo! And I'm happy to report that I finally got into the Christmas spirit. This time of year has really snuck up on me. I just can't believe that Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is on the way. Yikes! Where did the time go?!!

Friday was a holiday for me, and I decided to not go Black Friday shopping. Instead, my goal was to get the Christmas stuff out of the attic, get the tree up and decorated, and put up some of the decorations. I wasn't in the mood to do all the decorations, but I didn't want to not put out anything.

The kids helped me get the ornaments on the tree. That was a first. Daniel has helped Joshua set the tree & lights, but I always did the ornaments. But the kids are both getting older, so I asked Daniel and Raelee if they wanted to help. Duh! Of course, Mom!

Daniel insisted that he wanted to turn the light on in the attic. He got a little nervous going up into the dark attic by himself, but with a few encouraging words, he climbed all the way up and got the light on. He is growing up so fast! He loves helping and doing things that he once was too little for.

First thing was to get the tree put together. We decided to not put the bottom rung of branches on this year. They hang so low to the ground, and it's hard to get presents under the tree.

The branches are color-coded, so the kids took turns handing me the correct branch. I say "took turns" but it was more like trying to outdo each other! They were both eager beavers and kept arguing about who was giving mommy the most branches. They finally calmed down as we got closer to finishing the tree.

Raelee loved the beaded garland! Here she is posing for the camera. What a super model!

And here's Daniel, Raelee & Joshua hooking up the lights to the tree. We added shotshell lights in addition to the white lights. Joshua thought about letting the kids sleep under the tree one night, with the lights on. We'll see. I have this picture in my mind of one or both kids waking up scared and knocking over the tree.

The final result! We had most of the ornaments up by the time the kids went to bed Friday night, and I finished up the remainder as I went through the rest of the boxes. I forgot to take a picture before going to bed, but I got one tonight so I could share it with you.

Here's Santa, who can always be found under the tree. My Great Aunt Millie made one for my mom and her sister & brother when they were very little (I think mom was about 4 years old). When I was growing up, Mom always put Santa under her Christmas tree. I inherited him when she passed away, and have carried on the same tradition of putting him under the tree. I see one of my ornaments decided to join Santa on the floor--gonna have to fix that!

The kids also got to put a tree up in their bedroom. They really got a kick out of that! I had several small ornaments that worked nicely. They decorated the tree all by themselves.

They were both so proud of their ittle tree! They've been sleeping with the Christmas lights on (it's fiber-optic), kind of like a night light. I turn it off before I go to bed.

Such big kids they are!

Daniel & _____ Sitting In A Tree

Our 5-yr-old little man has a crush on a girl in his Kindergarten class. It all started at the field trip to the county fair. Joshua and I took both kids on the field trip with their classes. Shortly after we got there, this little brunette girl ran up to Daniel, shouting his name, then gave him a huge hug after which she proceeded to run around and around and around him. It was the oddest thing. I've never seen a child get so excited about my son.

Next thing we knew, Daniel brought a note home from this particular friend, Jenna. And he decided that he needed to write a note to her--he drew a picture of both of them with a heart. So sweet, but makes me a little nervous. He's 5! But I must admit that I was 5 when I had my first crush.

The two love birds have been writing notes back and forth, and Daniel has said more than once that he is going to marry Jenna, although he has also insisted that she is NOT his girlfriend.

And then there's this picture Daniel brought home a few days ago. Jenna's mom took the picture the day of the kids' Pumpkin Festival. Oh, our little boy is growing up. I had to remind him that he could not marry Jenna until he became a grown adult--gotta keep those hormones in check!

It's Not Every Day We Have A Visitor At The House

I brought in my Summer wreath that's been hanging on the front door. I thought I had checked it really good for creepy crawlies like spiders and such. Little did I know that the lizard hiding somewhere in the wreath (which I totally did not see!!) decided to come out and pay us a visit!

Joshua spotted him climbing up the wall. We got the kids' butterfly net and managed to grab the lizard and put him outside. Talk about a few exciting minutes for the kids!