Day Two: Building the cabinets

Too tired to write much.

We got all but three cabinets built, we laid out the island to see the spacing, and the granite looks GREAT! It is more peach than yellow, with black, red and crystal specks in it. I think it will be the perfect soft tone the kitchen needs. And the cabinets are on the redder side, but we like them, nice contrast. ISSB and I are all excited to have so much space to put stuff!!!

They are not flush to the wall yet because once they go in, they are never coming out.
The cooktop will be in the island closest to the living room.
It is beautiful! I may not feel that way after I spend a day polishing it...that will be Monday. I guess that's why they call it "labor day."
Here is my youngest brother "working hard" he has spent the majority of the last 36 hours on the computer.

Day One: Victory!

TA-DA!
ISSB is made of steel!

Day One: Take it apart

For Micah...

Really – they are crunchier that way!

Hasta luego!

The Devil’s in the Details…

I am the devil. Not really, but "detail" is my middle name.

Today was the start of my "vacation" – really the start of our kitchen remodeling project.

I stayed home to get some stuff ready the day before. Some detailing stuff.

The line where the brown paint meets the ceiling has been driving me nuts since we put the paint cans away to lay the hardwood. So I have been staring at the uneven line. Today, I was able to go in with a fine artist’s brush and make it more defined.

I also, thanks to my mom, painted all the outlet covers. My mom suggested using a metallic spray paint. I picked it up for $4, and it changed the look of the covers dramatically! I love it. ISSB likes it too because replacing all of them would have cost roughly $300.
Here they are hung up.
In fact I am thinking of using the spray to do all the heating/AC vents. What do you think? Either that or we need to replace all of them (about $80-100). More tomorrow and the next day, and the next day!

Happy Birthday to Dave!

30, wow! That's like 210 in Sarge Years!

Flug What? Flugtag!

Yesterday Ian and I went to Flugtag 2007. This is the second time it has come to Austin, TX and boy does it draw a huge crowd – this year it brought in 60,000 people. But what is it? (Remember to rally see the photos click on them and they will open up much bigger.)

Flugtag is "is an event in which competitors attempt to fly in homemade flying machines." The first Flugtag was held in Austria in 1991. It has become very popular. And the teams enter because (1) they actually think their contraption will fly, (2) they want to do a dance rendition in front of 60K people, or (3) they want to get hammered and jump off a 30t pier in to the water.

The event opened with sky-diving-acrobats! It was sooooooo cool!


Our friend, French, sponsored the Congress Bridge Bats Team. The team was made up of a bunch of engineers and was there to remind everyone that next week is the annual Bat Fest. Here is the bridge going up the launch...
About to take off...
And then in the water...
Teams come from all around; this one "Karl Sucks" is a team of five Minnesotan women who tried to fly a vacuum.
It is important to note, no offense to the Minnesotans, but if you really want it to fly, wings are necessary.
But, not a guarantee:
Overall, the day was wonderful (even if it was 100F). There was a great breeze and beautiful sun set.
The Bat Bridge won the People’s Choice Award.

And it was a great people watching event. Here are a few more shots:

A triple story stacker to get the best view!

To tell the teams that the water was all clear a funny little dude waved the Rastafarian flag which apparently means: "smoke um if you got um!"
Some teams were just in it to have fun, these three guys "Rock, Paper and Scissors" played the game to see who would jump first and then they just ran off the edge.
The pirates were awesome!
But, nothing topped the Irish "Get Lucky" team. They used a rope tied around the base to make the shamrock spin and then pushed it off the pier while it was going round and round (it was like an Irish spaceship!)
The judges loved it.
There was even a special appearance by Leslie (you all remember him!!!).
Here is Leslie going overboard!
Seriously, this is a flying fish taco. Fish tacos are VERY popular in Austin. (They are normally served with a cabbage slaw and mango salsa).
Next time Flugtag comes to town I am going to convince ISSB to rent a canoe and watch from the water.

Looking back at the kitchen:

These two photos are how we have had the kitchen since we moved in, things on wire shelves, not a lot of storage space, crappy laminate counters, etc.

To see the remodel plan click here.


After ripping out all the cabinets.
Under the kitchen.
This is when we used the kitchen as the Grand Central Tool Station (only place in the house where you could set anything down).
These 3 are from the day we took ownership of the house in April.


These 3 are from before we took ownership when the place was a rental.