V-Day Cookies

The kids bought me a double heart-shaped cookie cutter from Crate & Barrel while they were at my parents house over winter break and last night we made sugar cookies and the kids decorated them.

Malia's cookie:

Malia's finished decorating & Aidan's getting a little "heavy handed" with the sugar sprinkles:

Aidan's cookie (he wrote "i heart u" on it):

Enjoying the finished product!

Kitchen pics!

I know...finally. Some more kitchen pictures. Hooray!


Installing the glass mosaic tile...the kind of tile we used were face-mounted tiles, I believe it's what they are called. They were single tiles "glued" to a paper front and once the tiles were pressed into the thin-set mortar you moistened the paper to reveal a 1' x 1' square of mosaic tiles. Adam said it was a pain in the you-know-where. The first wall he did (shown above) gave him the most grief...he cursed out that wall many times that night. It was quite entertaining if I do say so myself. Ha ha ha.



The finished product a day after Adam grouted the tile backsplash. He was so thrilled with how well it turned out. I really like the color of the glass mosaic tile...it matches with the walls in our kitchen beautifully. (I know, I know...the Gizmo can opener has GOT to go, but Adam won't part with the freakin' thing!)



A closer look at the tile. Yes, our family likes carbs...it is one of our most favorite food groups! :)



It's not professionally done -- my husband is a bricklayer by trade people, not a tile installer -- but it still is wonderful nonetheless. I'm so happy!

A view of the backsplash by the stove/micro...I love how the tile sparkles in the new under-the-cabinet lighting Adam installed yesterday. That portion of the kitchen was easy for him to wire. He's installing the remainder of the lighting under the other half of the cabinets tonight....I just heard him call something in the kitchen a "bastard." Something in the installation must not be going as he wanted...

For more kitchen pictures, check out this link: http://stutteringshell.blogspot.com/2009/01/heres-what-i-owe-youwell-sorta.html

All in all, what started out as a garbage disposal gone bad has turned into a really wonderful project. We spent some money we didn't want to spend, but I think the value of what we've done with our kitchen full outweighs the *whispering* credit card bill. Ssssh...spare me the lecture. Besides, it's 6 months no interest...how could you NOT go for it! :)

Got glass tile?

I do!

I'll share pictures later on tonight. It's all up on the wall, but nothing has been grouted yet. That's tomorrow night's project. Fun, fun, fun!

But, this just means we're one step closer to having the kitchen finished! Hooray!

Here's what I owe you...well, sorta...

Pictures of the kitchen. Stay tuned. I'll upload them either tonight or tomorrow evening.

I promise!

Updated on Monday, January 12th:

See, I made good on my promise...kitchen pictures thus far (as I'm typing & posting this Adam is in the kitchen starting on the glass mosaic tile...I'll have pictures of that soon)...

Ewww...the mess underneath the sink thanks to the ancient garbage disposal...OK, OK, it wasn't ancient, but it was just over 10 years old which, in my opinion, is old for a kitchen appliance. It was nassssssstay underneath the sink.

The kitchen counters BEFORE and minus the old sink. Don't hate me because of my sad looking butcher block wannabe laminate countertops. Come on, people, this house is almost 20 years old! I'm sure those were H-O-T looking countertops back in 1989. (if only you knew what the cabinets used to look like...they were stained a shade of brown not much darker than the countertops...Adam and I painted them back in 2005).

Laying out the granite tile to make sure that everything fits and all necessary cuts are made before Adam puts down any grout. The darker tiles are wet from being cut with the tile saw.

The granite bullnose edge just to give an idea of what it all looks like when it comes together. By this time Adam had one whole side of the kitchen countertops installed, re-did the plumbing underneath the sink, installed the new garbage disposal, new sink and new faucet.

Tweaking the plumbing underneath the sink...it's still a mess in that cabinet. I refuse to clean unless I can get the whole kitchen cleaned...looks like it's not happening any time soon considering that Adam is still laying tile. Oh, darn.

Adam is wrasslin' with something up under the sink. Don't ask me what it was or why he was doing it. I was just taking pictures like I was on vacation. :-)

One side done! Well, not quite...the grout and granite still needs to be sealed. The only appliance Adam has allowed on the countertop so far is the Keurig coffeemaker. I think he loves it more than he loves me. *sigh*

Grouting the other countertop...we debated quite a bit on whether or not we should have lowered that bar area that Adam is standing next to. Adam now wishes that we lowered it. It's bad enough that we have a small kitchen...what makes it even worse is that there is so much wasted space (as was evident when we ripped out the old counters) and that bar area does not get used at all..........but now that it's "new & improved" it just might. Adam's gonna need to raise the pot rack, too.

The only "tacky" portion of the tile job thus far as far as I'm concerned is the very end of the bar. We were short ONE (yes, one) bullnose edge. Rather than pay another $25 for one (yep...they were $25/each...ouch) Adam decided to make the cut pieces work. Thankfully, all of the pieces he had were the same size and it fit perfectly. You don't really notice it when you're in the kitchen.

Laying out the glass mosaic tile was tonight's project...I think the color I chose was spot on and I cannot wait to see it on the wall and finished. Adam chose a grout color to match the new countertop.

The color of the glass tile is "Glass Sky." I think it's so darned pretty. As for an update on the current happenings in the kitchen, Adam has one wall of glass tile up and he's removing the paper backing. I'll snap a few photos and add them momentarily.
So, now that the new countertops are installed and the backsplash is going up, Adam and I are now rethinking our cabinet color. The sandy color worked with the old countertops, but we're thinking a really light gray would be best for the cabinets now. It wouldn't clash with our beachy themed kitchen and it would coordinate well with the granite counters. That's gonna be another weekend project in a few weeks.......I think.

Honey, I just found out...

I don't know about you, but those are famous last words in our household. It doesn't matter who says it, Adam and I both know that when those five words are spoken the news following is either going to be absolutely wonderful or really, really crappy. I guess in this case the news is wonderful for Adam and semi-crappy for me.

Adam found out today that he's fishing in the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout this weekend. Adam and I would both like to take this opportunity to thank his father for NOT telling Adam that he was entered into a fishing tournament. Adam only found out because the girl handling the registration and such called him today to confirm. Well, golly gee...I guess I know what is NOT going to happen this weekend...yep, that's right...the kitchen won't get finished.

Of course, Adam says to me today that the kitchen would not have gotten finished this weekend even if he wasn't fishing. Here I was thinking Rockfish season was over and done with...well, that was fishing in the bay and not the freakin' ocean.

Ah, well...I suppose the good news is that Adam is fishing on Friday which means that he'll be able to work on the kitchen Saturday. BUT, knowing my dear, sweet husband there will be some other fishing related excuse come Saturday. This is why, my friends, I find this news to be semi-crappy.

Kitchen progress

So, it's now been four whole days since I've had a working kitchen sink. It's starting to get kind of annoying. While I'm thankful that everything else in our kitchen is still accessible and working, it really is difficult to work in a kitchen without a sink. Before, we were still able to at least run the dishwasher but Adam turned off the water supply to the kitchen last night because he had to redo the plumbing underneath the sink in order to accomodate the deeper sink and the new garbage disposal. *sigh*

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I just want my kitchen back!

I suppose, however, that this kitchen renovation is going a lot smoother than originally planned. And, just knowing that we can get this done and NOT have to worry about the kids (since they are with my parents) has been quite a big help, too. I couldn't even imagine taking on such a project if the kids were at home. They practically live in our kitchen!

Anyway, Adam and I went to The Tile Shop yesterday at Lynnhaven. We brought a piece of our existing granite tile in order to find a suitable match for it. Also, we needed to find three 12"x12" tiles to closely match the granite tile because Adam found out that he was 3 tiles short to complete the job in the kitchen. We had agreed that our "bar" area would just have ceramic tile since there wasn't enough granite to cover it as well. Well, upon entering the store, we were greeted by Jason who helped us out with everything. The best thing we heard yesterday was, "We have that exact tile here in the store!" Adam and I couldn't believe our ears! Seriously?! The Tile Store had our tile? Sure enough...they did! It wasn't from the same run number (duh!) but Jason told us that the granite we had was probably some of the most popular...or was it the most common (I dunno)...but, irregardless...they had our tile! This meant that we didn't have to use ceramic for our bar area...hooray! And, to make things better, they also had matching end-pieces and corners! Hot diggity dog!

While at the store, we also chose our glass mosaic tile for the backsplash. It wasn't the color I had originally fallen in love with online, but I think it's going to look beautiful just the same. The color worries me just slightly since our kitchen walls are painted a turquoise blue color (it's "Embellished Blue" by Behr), but the eat-in portion of our kitchen has a darker blue colored ragged onto the walls (a la moi!) called "Surfer" (also, by Behr). So, I think it will be fine. The glass tile I saw online was actually MUCH, MUCH lighter in person and would not have worked at all. Adam chose a coordinating mortar color (something to go with the granite and also the mosaic tile) and then Jason totalled up our purchase. A good portion of our purchase will be shipped to the store on Wednesday so our kitchen will be complete by next weekend!

I've taken a few pictures here and there and I'll get those posted soon. I'm just excited that we're actually doing something substantial to our tiny kitchen. Maybe I'll even spend more time cooking in it once it's finished....ha ha ha, yeah right, who am I kidding?!

Another year...another dollar...

So, what big plans do I have today with my sweetie? Well, let's see...last night before we headed out for dinner (we had Mexican...mmm) we ran the dishwasher. As Adam went to get the dishwasher detergent out of the cabinet he noticed that there was a leak underneath our sink. Grrrrreat. The garbage disposal had a hole in it and, well, I think you can imagine what the cabinet space beneath our kitchen sink looked like. Ew.

Thank goodness New Year's day isn't like Christmas day and stores are all open and ready for shoppers. We made a trip to the Home Depot and bought a new garbage disposal. We upgraded from 1/2 HP to 3/4 HP...don't ask me what that means. I'm just excited about getting a new garbage disposal. I don't know the life span of one, but the one we're replacing is original to the house and our house was built in the late 1980s, so.....

Well, while at the Home Depot we also bought a new sink and a new fixture for the sink. Adam had his eye on a very pretty black enamel sink, but I talked him out of it and we settled on a $99 stainless steel sink that gives us a bit more room since it's 8" deep (our current sink is only 6" deep).

So, Adam's in the kitchen as I type this. He already took out the bottom of the cabinet...MDF and water don't have the best of relationships...and he's replacing it with some plywood. If the "OW!" I just heard means anything, then he must be wresting with the garbage disposal right now...you know, getting the old one off. I'm supposed to be helping. Ha ha ha.

This is all quite exciting although it was money that neither of us really wanted to spend, but I think this has motivated us now to replace our kitchen countertops and I think we may start that project this weekend and take advantage of the time since our children will not be at home (allowing us more time to spend working and getting the project done faster). We have some granite tile in the garage...or maybe it's marble...that we plan on using as our new countertop. I am envisioning a glass tile backsplash that runs from the counter to the bottom of the upper cabinets, but we'll see about that. After all, this kitchen renovation is on a tight budget...a really tight budget.