Constructing Cookies

No hard work today - just some baking.
These are the Chocolate Sugar Mint Cookies my family (and a few school teachers)

have drooled over for years.

Enjoy!

All the Ladders Are Gone!

That's right. There is not a ladder in sight!  We've finally got our living room back and we are enjoying it already.  Here's what's been happening around here over the last several weeks.

Our granite counter tops were installed and they look just great. It's so nice to get rid of that plywood!  

Then, we had Doug back for one day last week to finish off the staircase.  I just love how it came out.

  We got all the major stuff completed just in time for Thanksgiving and they day went off without a hitch.  There is still a ton of stuff to be done, but we're almost there. 

 Here are some before and after shots of the transformation.

That's all folks! 

Quick Update

Just a quick update to let everyone know that I've found the loaf pans!!

What Started It All

The last few weeks have been quite crazy around here.  After working our jobs by day, Mark and I have been coming home, putting on the 'ole working clothes and clocking in a few more hours on the 'home' job. It's really paid off.

We've finally got everything painted, well, everything so far. I'm sure there will be more somewhere in the not too distant future. It's great to have most of the ladders back in the barn where they belong. They take up so much room! This picture isn't the greatest, but the neutral walls are gray and the big wall is mauve. (just don't call it pink!)

And, after last weekend,

we finally have wood floors!

Some of the corners and edges were a challenge for Mark, 

but he did a wonderful job and they look beautiful!

The cabinets are all set now and our table has a frame.
Big, huge, enormous thanks to Gary for helping us out with that!

You're the best, bro!

 We can even cook a real meal in here now.

That is if I can find all the tools I need!

I'm hoping to find my loaf pans before the next batch of bananas

are ready for bread!  We don't like the muffins as much.

We'll give the granite guy a call tomorrow and we may just have counter tops in time for Thanksgiving!

We're moving along, but there are things to do at every turn.

More later....

Busy Day

Another busy day working on the house. Doug finished all of his work today, so the rest is up to us. 

Here are today's developments.

Living Room Beam:

More staining that needs to be done...

 This is the beam in the old sunroom:

Gee, that probably needs a coat or two of stain as well.

Doug also trimmed out the new window.

Did I mention we have some staining to do??

We also had to replace our front door because the one we put in two years ago had split and warped :(

This is what we went with:

OMG! It needs to be stained!

(Note: if anyone is looking to purchase stock, I recommend looking into Minwax. Their sales are about to skyrocket!!)

It also got a bit more crowded in here today.  In the middle of the new door going in, the nice guys from Express Kitchens stopped by with our cabinets.  This is just how I envisioned my living room looking when we started this project.  Don't you love the classy curtains?

(Oh yeah. Doug also took the handrail off the stairs yesterday.  THAT was fun at 4 am!)

Well, that's pretty much what went on here today.  Except that I also primed and painted the new exterior siding that resulted from the smaller window in the sunroom.  It's nice to have that done before the bad weather hits.

The plan is to start cabinet installation in the next few days.  Stay tuned!