What a blessing

I still don't have any pictures today but I did want to post a little thought. I was reminded during my prayer/study time today how blessed our life is. We had a fire that could have destroyed but was caught early and stayed small (a blessing), Even though the fire was small, we had to rebuild and now (almost) have a beautiful dream kitchen (a blessing). The process has been pleasant ~ our builder & project manager have been FABULOUS to work with. All of the contractors that have come into our home have been wonderful. (A blessing) Ev and I have gotten along really well through all the decisioning and we're still together :) This minor/major project has been a reminder in how good God is. I need to count my blessings more than focus on negative.

I have a peaceful, loving marriage.
I have safe, healthy children.
I have a home.
Ev has a job.
We make enough money.
I have people that love me immensely and without judgment.
I am blessed.

The kitchen cabinets are in!!!

And they are GORGEOUS!! I love the appliance garage, the crown molding on the top, and the soft close drawers. Even when you try to slam the drawers they WON'T!!!! I've had so much playing with those. It looks like we have another week and a half to two weeks left so we are in the home stretch. We still have to do tile on the floor and backsplash (2-3 days), countertops (1 day), paint the cabinets & walls (3-4 days), finish electrical (1 day) and trim everything out. So we are in the home stretch, baby!

I would love to post pictures of what the kitchen looks like now, but by special request of my husband I can not. We are going to have a kitchen party once it's done with all of our friends and family and Ev really wants everyone to be surprised by the finished project. For those of you that are far away or can't make it here, once the kitchen is done and it's been revealed (oooohhh, ahhhhhh) I'll post pictures :)

I will post a picture of the cabinets as they brought them in for assembly . . .

Riding Shotgun

Paper:
Just a hint 2 paper pack by Lynn Grieveson (designerdigitals.com)

Brushes:
Sloppy Alpha Brushes by Katie Pertiet (designerdigitals.com)
Dripped Stains 5 by Anna Aspnes (designerdigitals.com)

Mask:
Fotoblendz 11 by Anna Aspnes (designerdigitals.com)

Font:
2 peas sandbox

Border:
Doodle Frames and Masks by Jenna Desai (the-lilypad.com)

Journaling:
You love riding on the back of dad’s bike. You love your
specialized helmet with the little monkeys on it, and I love how it matches your eyes. You laugh and laugh when Daddy makes the bike hop. You just love bike rides.

Quick update

Well as of late last week we had walls and a ceiling again! Last Wednesday we had the drywall installed and then Thursday they textured the walls & ceiling. It looks like a real room again. Today is the last day that this room will be this empty ~ got word this morning that the cabinets are coming TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! I'M BEYOND WORDS EXCITED!!!! Can you tell???


In prep for the new cabinets (including a new bank of cabinets in the dining area) we ripped out the railing that divides the family room from the kitchen area. It looks SOOOOO different.

Alorah Layout

Papers
Vinnie Pearce ~ Romance me kit (Red) Safari Street (white) CATSCRAP.COM


Flowers
Vinnie Pearce & Kitty Chen ~ wishes and dreams kit CATSCRAP.COM


Stitches
Julia Makotinsky ~ Happy Kit LITTLEDREAMERDESIGNS.COM
Scarletheels ~ She's so sophisticated kit CATSCRAP.COM
Jen WIlson ~ Canada Eh


Staples
Anna Aspnes ~ Mama kit DESIGNERDIGITALS.COM


Frame
Creashens ~ Afternoon Cha kit CATSCRAP.COM


Background
Vinnie Pearce ~ Romance me kit CATSCRAP.COM

A kitchen update

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been too busy living life to blog about it :)

Here's a bit about where we are on the kitchen. We made all of our decisions and I picked out everything I wanted in a kitchen with no ideas on what the pricing was. When the pricing finally came back from Matt our builder ~ it was a little high (chuckle, chuckle no it was ah . . . way out of the budget.) So we had to make some modifications! I sacrificed a few things (the granite I REALLY wanted) we made a few adjustments and tweaks and picked out some new materials. That process took a bit. But all the decisions were made and I'm THRILLED with all our choices.

This week a lot of progress was made.

Ev tore out the old linoleum flooring to make way for our new tile:


Before he could tear it out we let the kids have a marker party on the floor:


Ev tore it out this past weekend 1/7 & 1/8
Then they came in this week Mon - Wed and redid the electrical. They put in the recessed lighting (one of the things I was praying would fit in the budget ~ and it DID!) and rewired & positioned all the switches and brought everything up to code. The inspector came on Wed and all was well!

My new switches are GFI (don't know what that means) and have cool lights on them :)

Recessed lighting and the ceiling all ripped out:

The whole kitchen is sealed off with plastic and then zippers at all the doors so we can zip it open when there's no construction and then they can zip it closed while they're working. We were getting sick of the plastic look so the kids and I took a whole afternoon to die cut snowflakes and decorate one of the sheets of plastic:

We continued on with the marker party and decorated another doorway :)

the A-1 asbestos guys chipped in when we weren't looking and left us a smiley!

With the open ceiling and no walls it got pretty cold in the house. They just came out today and put in insulation ~ it's much warmer now! I'll post those pics later.

Goofy Girl LO

Paper:
Creashens Rewind kit (catscrap.com)
Anna Aspnes ~ weathered neutrals (designer digitals.com)

Stitches:
Natalie Braxton ~ ice cream sundae toppers (the-lilypad.com)
Jackie Eckles ~ Quirky Stitches V1 (littledreamerdesigns.com)

Flowers
Vinnie Pearce ~ purple phase (catscrap.com)

Leaves
Vinnie Pearce ~ my pet elephant (catscrap.com)

Buttons:
Vinnie Pearce ~ pieces of me kit (catscrap.com)

Alpha
Vinnie Pearce ~ purple phase (catscrap.com)

Journaling:
What a goofball you are. Always joking, always giggling your goofy giggle. All who meet you fall in love with you. You just capture hearts with the way you are. I love you my angel girl, goofy and all