I'm dreaming of a white.... Kitchen!

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We seem to be at a standstill on the house remodel... so close, yet so far. They just need to finish the drywall, paint, floors and trim. Not very much or a WHOLE lotta work! Depends on your perspective (and patience level). Meanwhile, we are trying to make decisions on the kitchen so at the exact point in time when they finish the addition, we can start over and make another mess. It wasn't part of the "original" plan (whatever that was) but it became fairly obvious as we got in the middle of it. As usual, it was spend a little less now and re-do later or just bite the proverbial bullet and get it over with all at once. In the long run, it will be more cost effective and I know we'll love it, but jeesh.... we are about decisioned out. At any rate, in the course of racking my brain for kitchen ideas, I discovered the joy of bing.com image searches. Type in "dream _______ " (insert your favorite room here) and be prepared to be impressed. Granted, our budget and space restrictions might factor in here, but they sure are fun to look at! Bottomline... it's not the design or the budget that makes it a dream. It's the family hustle and bustle, the tiny feet & giggles from riding imaginary horses thru the hall, the precious 45 minutes or so we get when all four of us are sitting at the same table at the same time without distraction for a meal; these are the requirements of my dream kitchen!

Okay... back to reality. Here's what our mess is looking like as of right now:

Laundry Room

Mudroom / Storage / Commons Area

Upstairs - Arch to bathroom

Upstairs - bedroom

Hopefully I will have some "after" pictures in the VERY NEAR FUTURE. Keep your fingers crossed... or better yet, come over and help!

My thankful three:

1) I'm thankful for healthy kids. I can handle ear infections and strep throat all day and night when I think of all the other horrible things out there in this world that other parents are dealing with at any point in time.

2) I'm thankful for farm life....calving season is lurking around the corner!

3) I'm thankful for my amazing husband who does laundry & dishes, cooks, takes kids to the doctor and heifers to the vet all on his day off!

Have a great day!!!

500 mile club

Since this blog is supposed to be about things that inspire me, I can't help but give a shout out to my new blogger friends and fellow members of the "Pay if Forward 500 Mile Club". I have been in severe need of some motivation to get me out of the house and back to running these past few months. Although I just took up the sport last year, I am amazed at how much I've enjoyed it. Maybe it's the stress relief, the health benefits, the 30 minutes of peace and quiet I get, or just knowing that I accomplished something I never thought possible. Whatever it is, I really miss it. So when I stumbled across Robin and her 500 mile club, I thought why not?? Basically, you make a committment to run X number of miles in 2010, and for every mile you run, you donate X amount of money to a cause of your choice. Since I'm on the Southwest Nebraksa Relay for Life Committee, I picked that for my cause, and like several of the other runners, it's a dime for every mile. A little at a time, but how fun to see it add up over time for a great cause.

Needless to say, this new goal coupled with the beautiful weather we've had this week has gotten me back on the road again. After 4 months off, it's a slow start but I can see and feel the progress. Stay tuned for weekly mileage updates!!!

Progress you can see...

As exciting as it may be, one can only take so many photos of new plumbing, electrical, and drywall. They pretty much all look the same. I know it's crucial to the project and all, but seriously... I WANT TO SEE PROGRESS!

So progress is what I got yesterday. LOTS of progress. Walls were missing, floors were ripped out, trim was up, plastic was taken down. Yikes. Get the camera folks... now we're talking! So enough rambling.... I'll get right to the good stuff!

Here are a couple of before shots of the old entry / tiny bathroom / laundry / junk area that was conveniently located right when you walk in the door.

We've never known why this sink/cabinet arrangement was here. It's part bathroom / part laundry but it's lost between the two spaces sitting in the middle of the hallway. However, I must admit it sure was handy having an extra sink nearby the kitchen.

And here are the deconstruction photos. Notice I'm cautious about using the word "after". That would inidicate we are done with something. I've learned things are NEVER really done. Just closer to the end result than before. The wall around the old bathroom is torn out to reveal the stairs coming from the new master bedroom and part of the old exterior house wall is removed to open up between the new mudroom addition and the kitchen. This first picture shows looking into the new addition facing west.

The old sink base is still there but is coming out today along with the old water lines from the shower and toilet. I am standing in the addition taking this picture looking east into the old house.

And here is one looking down the stairs. You can still see where the old shower was with the drain right at the bottom of the stairs.

Here is a shot of the master bedroom looking thru the archway into the bathroom.

When they told us they were ready to tear down the wall, we thought it would be fun to let the kids draw a mural on the wall. It was only supposed to be for a few days but it turned into several weeks. They had a great time but I felt the urge to explain to everyone that came in the house that we don't really let our kids draw on the walls and they really aren't as naughty as it might look!

The finished beauty...

Stay tuned... more changes coming soon!

Fun Family Activity?!?!?!

I'm not sure you can call it "fun" but it certainly was a "family" activity that we all participated in. We've got three rooms down but the big one is still to go. I told Gail to shoot me if I ever mentioned the word "wall paper" anytime in the next 50 years or so.

Nate was in charge of electrical. Don't worry... he's actually very good (and supervised).

Ally did a super job and stuck with it for quite a while before she got tired of scraping.

The bedrooms are painted now but my pictures don't show the colors very well. This is our current room that Ally is moving into when we move upstairs. She chose pale blue walls with a purple accent wall. It actually turned out pretty good and I can't wait to get her moved in so we can start accessorizing (and we can stop sleeping in a purple room).

We are currently in cleaning mode, trying to get as much done as possible before we turn everything upside down. Nothing is safe right now....