Down She Comes!

As I mentioned already, on Monday we bit the bullet and decided to just go for the kitchen. 

It produced such mixed emotions. On one hand I was all..."BOOYAH! Kitchen, here we come!" and on the other hand I was all, "What have we gotten ourselves into? So much to do and think about."

The week has been a bit of a blur. It began with signing our lives away a kitchen contract with our friend Mark from Matthew's Finishing and Woodworking, then a trip to Calgary to pick up our flooring and to go to Ikea to purchase a few things for the kitchen. (More to come on that later). 

That night we had a little fun!

Everyone got a chance to bang the wall. I got the inaugural swing and then it was Caleb's turn!

He was a madman with that hammer!

 

 

Then we forced Brooke to take a swing. It took us a while to convince her to grab the handle but after the third swing she became a pro as well! (almost breaking through the paint on the wall...yep, she's super strong! ;)

 

Then I spent Thursday and a good chunk of Friday packing up the kitchen, while fighting my ADD tendencies  I would be working on one cupboard and then something shiny would catch my eye on the other side of the room, which would force me to investigate/clean it up and then a child would ask for a snack, which would make me move to a different area and start on a complete different closet, just to decide that I should return to the original cupboard, when once again something shiny or a child screaming would send me off track. There was a lot of aimless circles and things being left in very random places. But after two days, almost everything was put away somewhere safe.

 

Whoop Whoop!

 

Don't forget the smell we were battling all day!

 

Friday Jason had a guy he works with come and help us move furniture, pull up the carpet, pull off baseboards, get the beam and build a pony wall.

In case you forgot what it looked like before. Here she is in all her glory. You can check out how seriously annoying my kitchen was before we tore her out!

Once the pony walls were up then it was my turn to break down that wall! Check out my sweet demolition gear!

 

Nailed It!

 

 

Then that night I took the kids to my parents house to spend the next few nights. The kids were beyond excited to sleep at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Brooke couldn't wait to sleep in Megan's bed, which used to be my bed as a kid.

 (The room hasn't changed since I moved out, right down to the creepy porcelain dolls that hover over the bed!)

Jason stayed at the house so he could get right to work in the morning again and be ready for my Uncle Gerry to join him for a little beaming action!

 

Anyway, I checked in at about 10:00 the next morning and this is what I found!

 

 

 No wall. (Just a temporary giant hallway!)

 

Here's the beam that we had to put in. That bad boy is a BEAST!!

 

Thanks Uncle Gerry for helping us out.

YOU ROCK!!!

He's had a little practice lately, since they just redid their kitchen a month ago and opened up their wall and added a giant beam too. Their kitchen it GORGEOUS!!!!

Jason thinks the shop vac is pretty cool.

But I think the fact that there is no wall and the hole is already closed up it AWESOME!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus, we got some of the sub floor stapled down. I was allowed to use the staple gun while Jason and Uncle Gerry had a little coffee break. I was the afternoon's entertainment because it took about 4 times as long as Uncle Gerry and I seriously sucked it. I somehow managed to double and triple shoot at almost every attempt.

 

Aaaannnnddd they laughed at me.....A LOT

 

Needless to say...I got fired from that job and relegated to pulling out staples in the hallway.

 

BTW, whoever decides to take up our flooring in the future is Going. To. Hate. Me!

That one board I stapled down is NEVER coming off!! NEVER!

And if some miracle happens and they do manage to get it off, then they will spend HOURS pulling out staples!

 

But boy are we looking forward to Sunday tomorrow. A day of rest!!!

The older I get the more I truly love and understand why God issued a day of rest for his people. We are going to take that day, not do a single work related thing and enjoy!!

What a blessing!

Time to regroup, rest those weary muscles and prepare for more DIY and kitchen prep in the coming week.

 



Have a blessed Sunday!

Love,
Kat