Lights and Wallpaper Tigers

I'm sure you've all been waiting with great anticipation for my next remodeling update. First I want to mention that the background on my page here is in honor of the amount of GLUE I have removed from my kitchen over the past two days.

The next two photos are the new lights. Behind the light in the second pic you can see the smooth new ceiling where stains and cracks used to be.

Here's a before shot of one wall. I used a wallpaper tiger, a small device with sharp teeth that you run over the wall. It scores little holes in the wall. Then, you spray the paper with a mixture of water and fabric softener which helps the paper to come off...eventually.

This photo is down to glue and paper. I had to remove 3 wallpapers total: original wallpaper, secondary wallpaper and a wallpaper border.

I'm guessing this is the original paper, circa 1959.

TA DAH! It looks a mess, but great to me because I was finished with this side. Look at that clump of paper and glue on the table.

Day Two I gained a helper! Thanks, Absie. The work went much faster with two of us.

Yay! Ready for texture and paint. Thanks to my contractor, Jeff, for fixing the hole in the wall.

What Were They Thinking? Edition: Lost Their Minds

I haven't even made it a week since my last "What Were They Thinking?" post. Remember: I warned you I would be prom dress shopping and here we are. Yes indeed, ladies, these shoes are at a party dress/prom formal store at Hulen Mall. I'd like to see someone dancing the night away in these little numbers during "Paradise Under the Stars,"or whatever silly name they'll give the prom this year.

Birthdays - Better Than the Alternative

Wow! What can I say? I am one blessed person. I had the most amazing birthday weekend, which is interesting since I had decided that I really did not want to celebrate the 6th anniversary of my 40th birthday. Jeff, Rebecca and Abigail took me to Mimi's for dinner on Friday night. Just after we started eating, someone came up behind me and put their arms around me. It was Katherine! It was absolutely the best birthday surprise! I hadn't seen her since she left for school in mid-January. Of course, do I have any photos to remind me of this blessed event? No. Grandma forgot her camera.

Rebecca had a track meet on Saturday and Jeff had a couple meetings so the remaining girls packed up and spent the day at the Modern and Kimball Art Museums. We stopped for lunch at Panera first. Isn't my salad beautiful? Love the photo of me and my girls, which has me realizing how similar Abigail and Katherine are looking these days.

This is one of the few sculptures I like at the Modern. I can't decide if I want the trees to be fighting or pulled together by storms. 

Enjoyed taking these fun pics of Abigail with a statue labeled "Etruscan." I'm actually surprised some snooty museum employee didn't come fuss at us. Those guys can be cranky! (No, Katherine Holmes, you may not set up your tripod in our lobby. We don't care if you get a bad grade on your photography assignment. This museum is not for your enjoyment!)

I will be posting more about my birthday in the coming days. I hope to not bore you, all 5 of my readers, but I do have many things to say. Important things. Noteworthy things. You'll see.

What Were They Thinking? - Edition: Glitter

For some reason I keep finding these insane shoes! I promise you I'm not out searching the world. This week's focus brings a little bling. If the insanely high heels don't do it for you, these sparklies will bring that little extra something to your next event. And they do come in a myriad of colors, so you are sure to find just the color to complete that special outfit.

Gold

Navy blue rhinestone-studded heels modeled by our own shoe model, Abigail

Black, with that special 1970's heel, for all your retro costuming needs

I don't know why these things interest me. They just do. We're about to begin prom dress shopping so you can rest assured there will be more "What Were They Thinking?" in all of our futures.

Day 2 - Ceilings and Ovens

I promise I won't be giving you a day by day by day...droning on and on... version of our remodel. But here's a few pics of today's work. The top photo won't mean much to you, but Jeff spackled the ceiling with a crow's foot brush and covered all the peeling and yucky spots over the table. Only needs paint to be finished.

Remember the hole from yesterday? Gone now.

Here it is a little further along...taped and covered.

It still needs to be sanded and spackled. Once this is done Jeff will take down all the light fixtures and paint the entire ceiling from kitchen to living area. Moving along though...

And then someone couldn't stand it and had to peel off a little of the wallpaper to see how much trouble it's going to give us. The black and white check was on the walls when we moved in, so we've got a little work and a couple layers of paper to remove. 

And the most fun of all for me today was that I bought a new oven! It's going to be great to cook with such an updated model -- convection, six burners with a warming element and a rapid boil element. The thought of it almost makes me cry. Think of the baking I can do!!!! Two weeks and it will be here. Now to wait...

Let the Demolition Begin

These are exciting times my friends, exciting times. For those of you who walked with me through the remodeling of my bedroom and living room floors, this should be about the same level of fun. I realize that on some level a blog should be about entertainment; this is not one of those times. We are starting a mammoth (in my mind) project to remodel our outdated kitchen. The first step is to repair our ceilings which sustained water damage from storms many moons ago. Tonight saw the first step in what I'm afraid is going to be a long and painful journey. What is that saying about a thousand miles and one step?....blah, blah, blah...suffice it to say I'm excited and freaked out all at the same time.

Begin scraping off ruined plaster/paint

 Cut out damaged sheetrock

Go Becca!

Day one complete.

I guess you've gotta blast before you can build? This is definitely not the fun part, but a necessary step in the journey. Here we go!

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day started out like most every other February day, with the girls sunbathing outside...Yes, you heard me correctly. They put on shorts and went outside to enjoy the 74 degree day! They both agreed it was time to start working on their tans. I guess if we're not going to have winter, why not?

Neither of our girls like the holiday much. Rebecca wanted Jeff and I to go out to dinner and "talk about love" and leave her and Abigail home to eat Ramen Noodles. Oh brother...

We decided on a family dinner of steak, baked potatoes and surprise, cupcakes for dessert. Jeff makes the best ribeyes ever!

These next two photos are for comparison. The first plate is Abigail's and the second is mine. Feel like a carnivore much, Abigail? She didn't end up eating that entire steak, but she cracks me up eating one item at a time.

We were too full for the cupcakes, so we had them later. I love the little shiny hearts (made from white chocolate and sanding sugar). They're so easy to make and very festive!

Hope your "Heart Day" was happy!

What Were They Thinking? 2.0

In this second edition of "What Were They Thinking?" I continue to discuss the crazy-ness that is high heel shoes these days. Here are two more examples, found at a local Marshall's store. Again, imagine the arch that your foot would have to remain in to wear this fancy footwear.

This edition also brings about a new concept on my blog...insanely high heels being modeled. Here we have Abigail on an after school trip to Ross. Abigail currently stands about 5 ft. 6 inches. Here she is 6 ft. 1 inches, just by adding these lovely wedge shoes. Please click on the picture to get a closer view of them. And to give you some perspective look below at a comparison photo of Abigail standing by Becca who is 5 ft. 5 inches. (I'm sorry it's blurry. I was laughing while I took it.)

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of "What Were They Thinking? 2.0" Come back soon for more excitement!