Up and Running

The electrician put in our new outlets and switches this week and Bob the Builder came by to put on the last piece of cabinet trim, so we are officially remodel:complete! Now I want to repaint, but that's another story.

Let me tell you, I haven't yet grown numb to the beauties of having a dishwasher. I swear, the first time I used it I almost wrote an entire post dedicated to its perfection. But I realize that most of you know how great your dishwasher really is (hint: if you don't fully appreciate it, I encourage you to carry all your dishes upstairs and wash them in a small sink for a few days. That'll give you a hint into my current appliance worship.)

Before and after photos for your amusement (or not - feel free to skip) and because I had a direct request to "take them from exactly the same angle", I tried to do just that. No promises!

from the eating area, before and after (sorry, lighting's different and our kitchen isn't really that dark)

stove/sink wall before and after

desk wall before (as in, it was a desk) and after (now houses the fridge and counter)

pantry wall before (with fridge) and after (no fridge, now an extra-deep workspace)

So you're probably figuring out that we didn't change the footprint of the kitchen. Remember when I mentioned back in February that we had new wood floors put in before the closing? Well, we didn't anticipate changing the kitchen so we didn't factor in the floors. It turns out that patching new wood floors was not on our agenda nor in our budget, so we really needed to leave the cabinets in the same spots. FYI, not the order of events I'd recommend! We did move the refrigerator which got us some more usable counter space and shortened our "work triangle" (which I've been told is an antiquated notion. Whatever. I noticed when I had a work rhombus and not a triangle. I like my new triangle!) Moving the refrigerator has made me really happy. Simple pleasures, you know?

Oh, and in case you need further proof that we're truly enjoying the increased functionality around here, some proof:

Wyatt asked to make cookies MANY times while we were kitchenless, so he was thrilled to have this be our post-nap, pre-dinner activity the other day. Gingersnaps were concocted, the mess was confined to our new work area next to the pantry, Wyatt helped an extra special amount with the flour and guess who got to lick a beater for the first time?

Yep, life around here is pretty good.

Housekeeping

Due to a few comments, I guess I should explain the status here a little better. See, I sent out an email but failed to account for people with whom I keep in contact via blog. I originally had a very clever way of "breaking the news" to blog readers (all about how we decided to add two feet to the house during the remodeling process. Har har har) but then push came to shove and I think I didn't have the energy or something.

So here's the scoop: we are expecting a baby in mid-March. I'm about that certain of the due date and my family has a history of babies arriving late, so we'll leave it at that. That makes me about 16 weeks along. I'm getting quite pudgy in the middle, though it's still more things-getting-pushed-around-in-there than baby. My pants don't really fit anymore so I've started in on the maternity wear and am discovering that my due-in-June Okinawa baby and a due-in-March Virginia baby require fairly different wardrobes. I'm not upset about having to get a few new things. We will not be finding out if it's a Rocko or a Rockette and I can honestly say I'll be happy either way, and maybe a little sad either way. Really, though, we both just want a healthy, happy little baby to add to our family!

There. Now you know.

Can You Tell How We Spend Our Days?

Wyatt just pointed out to me that the cookie container says, "Trader Joe's". Which it does, in miniscule type, above the part where it says Way More Chocolate Chips Cookies (thanks, Joe, for our soup and cookies tonight). And this reminded me that while we were driving to the park today - to spend quality time away from retail and tv! - he pointed to CareALot Pet Store and informed me it was a Blue's Clue. If you could see their logo, you would see that they've replaced a letter with a pawprint. Yep, kid, it looks like Blue's been over there and has left you a clue.

Too bad he doesn't pay attention to details.

Indeed.

I have been singing this to Wyatt since day one. Today he showed me he knows all the words and that carrying a tune is maybe a little challenging. But I think it's perfect. There is such pleasure in the small things!


Untitled from Stephanie Rock on Vimeo.

Weekend Recap

I had so much fun with my girlfriends and one lone baby boy. We all got lots of chances to snuggle him and jiggle him and change him and love on him, which is exactly what we hoped for. We did a whole lot of catching up, cracking up and not much sleeping (by our own cause, not to be blamed on this infant who is lightyears easier than I recall my own son being) and it makes me both excited and nervous about having another baby in our own house. But hey, I still have months to prepare so I'm sure it'll be fine. Please roll with me on that and don't remind me that I'm slightly delusional.

As for my own men, I was worried about what could be taught in four days and it seems that was slightly justified. I mean, when I left Wyatt didn't know the phrase "rockin' out", how to play the air guitar, or own any real hockey sticks. Suffice it to say, they had a good time. Daddy squeezed as much fun as he could think of into every day and it sounds like they were go, go, go the whole time. When I arrived at the airport yesterday, Wyatt was waiting with Jeff and started yelling, "YAY! Yay Mommy!" as I crossed the street. And I think I got about a hundred and twenty nine Hi Mommy's in the car. That's a nice welcome home.

Jeff and I high-fived on the kid, as he left last night for a few days. Wyatt is asking for him as usual and I think it will be nice to have us all together again this weekend. I really needed a little time away and now I really look forward to some time for all of us together. See? I guess the grass is always greener.

Incidentally, as Heather and I sat in the Atlanta airport yesterday a door alarm went off at one of the nearby gates. No one seemed bothered and we just kept chatting. Finally, slowly, an airport employee who was, apparently, just taking a break in the gate area managed to hoist herself out of her seat and amble toward the noise. Heather looked at me and said, "you know in Japan everyone would be running." We laughed at the comparison of a good Japanese scurry with what we were witnessing. Just another reason a little chunk of me will always miss Japan!

Things.

1. This baby in my belly wants carbs. Specifically, bread. I don't remember craving bread with Wyatt. I do remember craving Subway sandwiches (haven't had one in ages), frosting (haven't had any in, like, two months) and quesadillas. Yeah, I still like those.

2. When asked, Wyatt almost always replies that he's having a sister, but then is just as likely to say that means it's a boy. He might be confused. And he says we're naming it Isaac, no matter what.

3. Speaking of names, this one's going to be tricky. While we won't be finding out the gender, nor will we actually share potential names, I'm happy to receive suggestions so fire at will.

4. We had our exersaucer out last night for the Rifes visit and Wyatt pitched a complete fit when I put it away because he had a great time playing in it after they left. Shades of things to come?

5. Wyatt's newest trick is to tell himself what he's doing. It's like this: he'll go to a mirror, look at it and say, "hi, I'm Wyatt and I going dinner with Isaac" (this was from Friday night) or, this morning, it was, "hi, I'm Wyatt and I going outside help Mommy plant." When I ask him who he's telling, he says, "'flection." Of course!

6. We were eating breakfast this morning and he told me "Bob work in kitchen. We no play in kitchen." So I said, "that's right, Bob put in our cabinets and we couldn't come in here when he was working. But now he's finished, so we can be in our kitchen." He then looked and said, "new frig-rator." I explained that the refrigerator isn't new, but is in a different place. I asked him if he liked it's new spot and he said, "yes." I'm so glad he concurs.

7. We moved our oversized coffee table into the garage yesterday and it's a significant life improvement. I'm all about small changes with giant rewards. Oh, and we also moved every toy off the hearth and they're now (slightly) more out of sight which must be good feng shui because it's fabulously calming.

8. I rearranged our bedroom furniture (yes, a slightly rash decision and something I shouldn't have done on my own, but whatever. I'm fine and it's finished) and that, TOO, is a big improvement. Awesome - 6 months in and we're starting to actually get settled.

9. Wyatt loves any sport that involves a racket, a bat or a stick. And no, he doesn't actually need any of the actual equipment because he has all the cardboard tubes from the shelf liner and each can be used as any of those items. Incidentally, when Daddy is a willing opponent, they can also be used for fencing.

10. I'm leaving town for a long weekend with friends (one of whom just had a much-anticipated baby and I cannot wait to meet him!) and Jeff is taking a couple days off to be with Wyatt. Please re-read number nine and then confirm for me that no bad habits can form in four days.

Get a Load of This

I have empty cabinets right now! And no, not because we're moved out of the kitchen. We actually got the go-ahead to move back in on Thursday. The countertop and backsplash won't be going in for a couple more weeks, but we found out we could start using our new spacious cabinets right away. Our electrician/drywall/demo guy came by yesterday to put a skimcoat on for the tile and offered to move our stove back into place so we could use it. Life is good! I spent a couple of naptimes lining the shelves (and Mom, I felt just a twinge guilty throwing away that lazy susan liner you slaved over back in March) and we've slowly moved stuff back in. We still have a couple of loads of random extra stuff - and yes, it might be true that I have too many kitchen things, but still need white dishes - from upstairs, but the renovation has proven to be worth it.

The only really big change we made was to move the refrigerator because I strongly disliked the flow of the workspace. Even without countertops, I can say it was a great decision. The kitchen just feels better. I can only imagine how great it will be when we can actually put things down on a counter, have a sink in the kitchen (doing dishes in the upstairs bathroom is a little annoying) and use the dishwasher again. Oh! And we now have an over-range microwave which seems to be a pretty significant life improvement. To each their own, right?

P.S. The most recent pics will be in the flickr stream.

Aaaaahhh.

Well, after completely freaking out Jeff before he got home last night and staring in wonder at my kitchen walls, it turns out I'm breathing easier today. You knew that would happen, didn't you? I have such smart readers. Anyway, it turns out big upper cabinets look much more proportional when the lower cabinets are put in place. Yay! Huge sigh of relief. Carry on.

Now I Get It.

You know how on those HGTV shows, most of them make the homeowner leave during the whole remodel/redecorate/renovate phase? It's not just for the big surprise look on their face. It's also so the homeowner doesn't go, "Aaaaah! What did I do? Let's change a few things."

Yeah, I shouldn't have been so freewheeling in my big, empty kitchen all weekend. Bob (the builder, as Wyatt likes to call him) is down there installing my new massive cabinets and I should've changed a couple of things. This is kind of an icky feeling. Especially since one of the changes was suggested by the kitchen lady and I was so fixated on more storage, more storage, more storage that I didn't listen. I keep telling myself, "It's done and it will not make or break the rental or sale of this house." And then I sneak another peek and feel all, "aaaaah! What have I done?" again. Bummer.

The upside? There is DEFINITELY room down there for another set of dishes. That'd be the white ones I've been wanting for about five years now. So I'm officially accepting Crate & Barrel gift cards to soothe my pains.

Project: Controlled Chaos

So remember that whole kitchen debate we were having way back when? We finally made a decision and you can probably guess how it went. Yeah, everything's ripped out. It's been okay so far - the demo went smoothly (after they started a day late) - and the ceiling/drywall repair has been completed with minimal dust. That, unfortunately, means I cannot blame the dusty state of my house on construction! No one was working today, but the cabinet install begins on Monday. I've seen one new cabinet out of its box and I still like them, which is a huge relief. (It also just so happens to be my new lazy susan corner cabinet and I am in awe of its cavernous insides.) Yay!

Of course all of this means that we have no stove, no dishwasher, no kitchen sink and weird access to the refrigerator (it's almost blocking the entrance to the family room so we have to think really skinny to get by, then stand on the steps to access it which puts me face to face with the crisper drawers). I have stocked up on electric skillet-friendly recipes and have fed Wyatt Chik-fil-a with no regret, despite the fact that we're only days into this. We're also unlikely to turn down a dinner invitation at your house. Dishes are being done upstairs in Wyatt's bathroom, both the dining table and the kitchen table are in the dining room, and my pretty hutch is now a very functional pantry with china and glassware stacked on top. It's pretty classy in these parts. Strangely, our military life has completely prepared us for this! Thank you, Uncle Sam. Jeff went through some training back in 2000 that put us in a glorified hotel room for four months, during which we functioned with an electric skillet, our George Foreman grill, a refrigerator and a bar sink. So now we've just added a dog and a two-year old. No big deal, right? Incidentally, Wyatt wakes up every morning asking if the kitchen is all better and Isaac was over last night, very concerned that our kitchen is broken.

The neighbors have been in to observe the empty kitchen - it looks so different with no cabinets that it's easier to envision other potential remodels, if that makes sense. Since our neighborhood is not entirely different than living on base in Okinawa (only three floorplans in here, all designed to look slightly different from the outside), they're in here plotting their own future kitchen overhauls. I figure we're kind of taking one for the cul-de-sac since they'll probably walk in when it's over and say, "well, there's a plan we won't do! ha ha! I'm so glad they messed it up first!"
There are already some design points that I would modify, but hindsight is really kind that way. We're taking this as a learning lesson and know that we won't own this house forever, so it's like a practice remodel or something (lesson one: don't put in new floors before you gut your kitchen since it kind of limits your options). Really, it's a great big, fun adventure whose one month time-frame will be just long enough to make us appreciate whatever the kitchen turns out to be, flaws and all. And hopefully it will be just enough to make our house more rentable and/or sellable when the time comes. If not, we'll just refer to this as the great financial folly of '08.

By the way, I'll be uploading some pics of this process to Flickr in the next day or so, and will attempt to keep updating it so check there if you're interested.

I Guess I'm Not Really a Dog Person

We're taking care of a Shih-tzu right now for a couple in the squadron. At first request, I told Jeff to say "no" (for various reasons, all of which were valid thankyouverymuch) but he took that as "we'll do it if they can't find someone else." Well, you guessed it, they couldn't find anyone else. Don't get me wrong, she's darling to look at, all cute and little and perfectly groomed with her little hot pink Coach collar.

But she's not my dog so it has been a long week. Let's see, she's wet in the house twice and pooped in here once (all of which was done while we were present), she pooped on the back doormat once and I told Jeff about it while he was out working in the garage. He, apparently, thought that meant I cleaned it up but I meant it as "you got us into this, please go pick up the steaming pile" and he didn't see it in the dark that night before he stepped in it. Barefoot. I felt bad about not having clarified the fact that I wasn't cleaning it so I took him an anti-bacterial wet wipe for his foot. Big of me, right?

She has awakened every morning before my two-year old, barks at anything that moves (including us if we come in from a different room) and doesn't stop when you say her name; she has slept on every piece of our new furniture (something even Millie hasn't dared to do), and just puked on my living room carpet. Did I mention the carpet was new when we purchased the house? Six months ago, in case you're keeping track. Am I painting a picture for you? This little Shih-tzu (and oh, how I'd rather call her S*%t Sue) is not on my favorable list.

And that collar? I took it off of her a few nights ago so she would stop. the. freaking. jingling. and she came all the way back downstairs to sit and look at it, whining. As if she knows its value! Wow. That's a no-win. Wyatt thinks she's fantastic and is actually more interactive with her than he is with our own low-maintenance, high-on-my-list sweet Millie. Jeff keeps threatening that she's "four minutes away from a trip through the microwave" and I'm just here, cleaning up all the messes.

Tomorrow's Friday, though, which means she'll return to her own loving parents for whom, I'm sure, she's a great dog. It cannot come soon enough. And as a side benefit, Jeff & I are now clear that for me, "no, I'd rather not watch another dog this week" means "no, I'd rather not watch another dog this week." Yay! At least we all learned something.