Before: Part 2 The Mudroom

Hmmm, I'm not really certain how much commentary these really need. I think perhaps I should only point out the really crucial details:

1. Note the door to the mudroom from the kitchen - we have an Ikea curtain acting as insulation, most likely this in part accounts in part for the heating bills...

2. Note the quality workmanship at the bottom of the door. Hell, is there anything that duct tape can't fix? 

3. Can you find my pots and pans? Yes, this really is the only place to put them.

4. And, note the fancy storage facilities for my small appliances. Those shelves were groaning under kitchen overflow not more than a couple of weeks ago. The kitchen is now fairly close to empty as we prepare for the demolition. 

5. Did I note that the mudroom is open to the out of doors, is uninsulated, and is chock-full of crap that doesn't fit in the kitchen (note the 3 cabinets we do have - all very full. 

Tomorrow the downstairs bathroom horror show, then on to the upstairs that is, if possible, worse. Then, it'll be back to blogging as usual until I have some during photos! 

Before: Part 1

Since we're just about to be in the territory of "during" photos, I thought I'd start excavating the before photos and getting them posted. 

I'll comment along the way for those of you who've a) not seem my kitchen, b) not seen my kitchen in all its glory, c) been gullible enough for me to talk out of seeing my kitchen. 

We have a four-square style home, an architectural style that equates to a roughly square home of two stories, with four rooms on each floor. Ours is no exception, but that we have a small addition on the back that contains a bathroom, a kitchen, and a mudroom. We're basically going to be gutting this entire back bump-out. We'll be keeping the bathroom where it is, but fully replacing everything. We're going to incorporate the mudroom into the kitchen, to achieve a more spacious kitchen. We'll be without kitchen and downstairs bath for more than two months. Lest you ask why we'd do such a thing, let me show you...

**Note: in the photos above, the china cabinet looks vaguely respectable at first glance. Don't let it fool you. It is as half-assed as everything else that's been remodeled in the house (the stuff that's never been touched is in remarkably good condition.) Look closely at the two photos that follow the main image of the china cabinet. It actually has exhaust plumbing running through the cabinet, and they basically just cut a chunk out of the drawers to make them accommodate the pipe - stellar engineering. 

On the Drawbacks of Wearing Panties

I just found this photo on our computer. Chad must have snagged it.

Keira alternatively hates and loves getting her picture taken, but mostly she hates it. That makes it really hard to get good candid shots of her because she's always focusing on the camera whenever it's out and won't go on with whatever she's doing. 

The result is that every photo of her looks relatively similar. It's either the top of her head or her grinning like it's a contest. But, this gem really captures her personality - for better or worse, that sinister grin sums her up really well. 

Now, on to the topic of this week's post - undies. Or, should I say, why we've now discovered that undies aren't always the schiznit. You see, sometimes when you wear panties, you get budgies. Yes, you heard me correctly. According to our daughter, if you hike up your undies too far, you end up with an avian infestation of your nether-regions. And, then you have to pull out your budgie, or ask your mommy to pull it out for you - and yes, you caught that correctly as well. I can now add to my mom resume, budgie extractor. Poor parakeets, they never saw it coming.  

Linguistic Inquisitiveness

I absolutely love being the test market for Keira's new phrases and vocabulary. She hears something new, mulls it over for a while. Then, when you're least expecting it, she gives it a test run. This past week, she came out with a real gem. 

She's just now starting to wear underwear, and even though she insists on trying to put them on without help, she usually pauses once she has her feet in the leg holes to ask me if she has them on right side front. 

This occasion being no exception, she gets her undies part way on, pauses, then looks up at me and asks, "Is this how I roll?" And yes, she really meant it as in 'yo MTV rap, bling out my crib - is this how I roll. 

Pausing for just a second I said, um yep, they're on the right way. I'm getting much better at collapsing into fits of giggles in an entirely internal fashion. tee hee - that's just how I roll. 

Misery Loves Company

*
How did I not realize that there is an entire land of people blogging about old home renovation - seriously, how could I miss that? Remedial though my search may be, I stumbled across this gem of a blog. 

The tagline for the blog reads, "We call it home IMPROVEMENT because it can't get any worse." Amen, sister. I'm going to add that to my voyeur list for the time being. 

Our little project (yes, I'm being sarcastic when I say little) is getting off the ground right about......now. So, I think that I will be having quite a bit to say about it in the coming weeks. For now, I'll start with our kitchen lighting, which I think is going to be something along the scheme shown above. 

Our first step is to apply for a Certificate of Appropriateness - which I fully intend to frame. When you read this, you must say Certificate of Appropriateness in a fashion worthy of Monty Python. Fortunately, our contractors find this just as amusing as we do - so we know that we're all playing for the same team - so to speak.  

*photo was ripped shamelessly from Rejuvenation, which will receive compensation for said use when we throw buckets of money their way for the lighting fixtures that I feel I must lust after. 

Inheritance, Part X

Ah, the wonder of budding sarcasm. Now that I know what I was like as a kid, I can see that I was  - and likely still am - a right pain in the ass. This afternoon I offered to show Keira the motif on one of our towels (Misdo boy towel from Japan). 

Her reply? "What is this, show and tell?" It was all I could do to keep a straight face. Fortunately, I thought to reply that no, show and tell was Thursday, and this was only Monday. Then - what's Thursday?

Gotta love it. We're not really sure what the days of the week are (aside from Saturday, which we like) but we have mastered the art of the smart-assed reply. 

Addiction

As if we needed another thing to add to our to-do list, we can now count ploughing through the entire Harry Potter series on audio book as yet another activity to cram into our days. 

Yet, I'm not complaining since there are a couple of clear benefits. First, this just has to be better for you than watching television. Second, by nature, it leaves your hands free, allowing me time to work on other things (which, you of course know would be crafts or re-organizing our desk.) 

For those of you who have never tried sampling any of the Harry Potter books on CD, all I can say is, try it, you'll like it. One of my coworkers has been telling me for years to give them a shot, and this Christmas I got book one on CD from Chad. It's superb - Jim Dale does an unbelievable job of bringing the stories to life without being the least bit campy, and it's a delight to listen to. 

So, if anyone has any Christmas request for next year, get them in now : ) We've just started book four, and if my math skills haven't failed me, I have approximately 90 hours of craft time ahead of me.