I think I managed to delete the most recent 25 comments in the blog when I was deleting some spam.  So, sorry for that considering I know it takes you all some time to post the comments, which I truly appreciate. *blush*

Yes, you heard me right. I know it’s shocking but it’s true!

We’re getting closer.  I actually have a kitchen that is 100% functional and is only needing the rest of the cosmetic work done.  In Hollywood we’d call it Joan Rivers.  The remainder of the work in the kitchen is trim around the doors and windows and the tile on the back splash.

I’m also playing host again this week to a grey stripped furry critter.  He’s falling down on the job though and not being a very good alarm clock.

This is a huge blow to journalists that have integrity.  Meet the Press is never going to be the same.

Farewell Tim.

 

I painted the new bedroom last night.  All that is required in there to finish is the trim work and doors.  Yippie!  I think the house is going to undergo a HUGE transformation the next couple weeks.  Everything painted nice and fresh and then call to have the carpet put down.  Woo Hoo!  Then the inside will be finished. 

Of course, there is much more trim work, etc. but I can see the end approaching on this long 2-year project.

Please don’t bury me at the hardware store.

Last weekend P and I worked on getting the underlayment on the kitchen counters installed so we can put the laminate surface on this weekend.  We also repaired the water damage in the bathroom floor and replaced the flooring there.  After that the new room at the back of the kitchen received a coat of primer and paint on the ceiling. 

After everything that’s been noted in this blog regarding the house, there is still a ton to do.  *ack*  I was hoping to have the place ready for sale by July 1, but it looks like we’re not gonna make it. :(  Maybe mid-July is more realistic?

I’ve also noticed that It seems everyone’s blogs are dying this summer save TQE.  I think we’re all either incredibly busy or depending on where you live, melting because of excessive heat/rainfall, or otherwise just not posting.

Maybe when I get the house done I’ll write more, but we’re still about a month from that.  I’ll try periodic updates until then.

The photos below are my kitchen remodel in reverse chronological order. While I’m not done, it’s very close to being done as you can see by the first photo. I can actually use it again, but I’m not going to be making any gourmet meals soon. TQE saw this place when it looked like the last photo in the set.

Grand total thus far for this remodel is about $4000 to include the cabinets and the drywall work. P and I did the rest of the work ourselves.

Ugh, three straight days of working on ye olde crap shack.  Considering that Friday afternoon I had four blank walls and nothing to really discern that this was a kitchen to having something I can use albeit not finished, is an amazing accomplishment.  My thanks and love go out to P, without whom none of this would have been possible without my buying some friends.

We spent five hours shopping for finish materials, followed by a day of uncertainty (by me, P knew it would work) that said materials would look good.  Primed and painted entire kitchen that was finished last week by the drywall crew.  Install questionable materials and realize that once I put up the cabinets, set the new vinyl on the floor, and pushed all the appliances into the partially renovated kitchen that, hot damn, I should start an HGTV show of my own.

When finished I will have an earth tone kitchen complete with tile back-splash that looks like stone, faux granite counters (read - formica that mimics granite) and a yellowy beige paint to pull it all together.  Something rather contemporary compared to the country chic that the kitchen had before (read - cabinets falling apart, crappy electric, buckling floors, etc.)

I’m actually seeing a light at the end of this kitchen remodeling tunnel.  I’ll certainly post before, during and after photos once it’s finished.  Hopefully these will all be from the same angle.  I know TQE will definitely appreciate it as he’s been to the crap shack and has seen the garbage I lived with previously.

Hopefully i’ll be able to enjoy this stuff for a bit before I sell the house, but i really do want to get out of Conservative Hell, so perhaps I won’t get to enjoy it long. *fingers crossed*

That was my weekend this week.

First up - Amusing.  I’m so going to hell for this, but I laughed really hard at a traffic accident yesterday.  Why you ask?  Because I saw a BMW 5-series that was rear-ended by a Hummer H2, that was in turn rear-ended by a Cadillac Escalade.  I had to laugh because I witnessed automobiles that had a combined value roughly that of my house, sitting in the street, totaled.

Second up - Tiring.  I’m so blasted tired today because I spent all day yesterday witnessing the above wreck, but also planting some flowers at the crap shack.  That’s right folks, I’m finally feeling good enough about the way the outside of this house looks that I put some annual flowers in.  Then today, I had to put furring strips on the wall studs in the kitchen to prep them for the drywall crew that is coming in tomorrow (Monday).  Furring strips are about 2-inch wide pieces of wood nailed to the studs to “bump-out” the drywall enough to meet the existing windows when I finally trim those out.  Essentially that take up the difference in thickness between a plaster wall and a wallboard wall.

Accomplished.  That’s how I feel right now.  Like I accomplished something this weekend.

Now it’s back to the office where I have a mountain of work waiting for me.  *ugh*

The California Supreme Court struck down the same-sex marriage ban that was enacted by the voters in 2004 saying that it did not provide equal protection of the laws for gay people.  As of today, homosexuals can now marry in California.

It’s about time this happened.  This court joins the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in using common sense in realizing that the US Supreme Court decided 50 years ago that separate but equal is anything but equal.

Thank you California.  You’ve finally done something that makes me think about moving back.