The Kitchen is Done (almost)!

Today I probably should have gone outside and mowed, and maybe worked on some landscaping. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining. However, I am really tired today, so I walked to the post office to get the mail, then spent the rest of the day inside (with the windows open). Throughout the course of the day, I finished up the kitchen! I hung up the lovely coffee curtains from Sarah Williams, then began putting decorations back up, and putting the stuff back on the counters. It will be nice to be able to use the counters, cook, and basically move around in the kitchen again.

Here is the window above the sink:Here is the entrance to the kitchen from the living room:
And finally, the wall by the table:

I need to sweep and mop the floor now--it is still a little sticky from taking down wallpaper, as I didn't really see much point in cleaning it before I was done. And Sara Statema is going to come over some time soon and do some coffee cup artwork on the tiles above the stove.
So both former roommates named Sara/Sarah are contributing to the new kitchen. Thanks, Sarahs!

Kitchen Update no. 286

I painted the tiles behind the stove red to match the one wall. This is after the first coat, and I must admit it looks much nicer after the second coat. I'm planning to put some sort of coffee cup design or stencil or stamp or something on a couple of the tiles in brown...let me know if you have any creative suggestions. I can paint well, but I'm not so good at the artsy stuff.Some friends had given us wall art at a briday shower, and I have finally had a place to put it up. I even got out the tape measure and made sure I centered it on the wall and leveled it and everything (I heard my father's voice in my ear saying "don't eyeball it, do it RIGHT!"). On second look, I am still debating whether the little triangles are actually supposed to be on the wall, or if they were just for measuring purposes. The triangles on the top and bottom are the actual middle of the entire word art. The medallion thing is between the two phrases, which isn't the center of the art. I centered the entire phrase, but with the medallion off-center next to the triangles (which are centered), it looks a little weird. Do I remove the triangles and just go with the words and the medallion? Do I leave the end triangles? Help!

Working on the house

This past weekend I spent a lot of time working on the house, and also cooking for for the church picnic and baptism at Lake Red Rock on Sunday. The picnic was fun, although it would have been nice if Scott was there also.
Dad and Mom came over for a few hours on Saturday afternoon to help out. Volleyball season is starting, so this is really the last chance Dad will have for a while. Plus, Dad will use any excuse to come to Osky and have lunch at Wendy's. Dad put down some more landscaping brick on the other side of the front door. He stopped at the point where he would have to move dirt--he just wasn't in the mood to haul dirt. i totally understand.

Mom helped out by taking a nap on the couch while I painted in the living room. Thanks for all your hard work, Mom!! :)By Sunday evening, I have competed both coats of brown paint, and also 2 coats of red paint! I only put the red paint on one wall, and I'm starting the process of painting the 9 tiles behind the oven red as well. Here is the wall:
I was a little concerned when I opened the red can, as in the can, the paint looks bright Magenta with pink tones! I reminded myself that the dried drop looked okay, and just started painting. I looked darker after 2 coats were dried.

And I see in this picture that I dripped a big splotch of brown on the trim. Oops...I am normally a neat painter, and I don't know when that happened! Good thing i'm painting the trim next.

Abby's 7th Birthday

Last Friday night, the Cutlers, Carrie & Tim, Mom, and I all met at the Texas Roadhouse in Des Moines to celebrate Abby's birthday. They sit you on a saddle on your birthday...and they give you a big, Texas-style, birthday Yee-haw! (and i have just learned that my camera doesn't flip videos when you hold the camera sideways, so you will just have to tip your head...)

Olivia telling me who her mommy was, and asking me over and over where "Uncle Pot" is. Yes, Olivia, I miss Scott also.

And we have (some) color!

Last night I finished priming all the walls in the kitchen, and in the process decided that I really needed to do a second coat on the ceiling. So I quickly rolled a second coat before I put any color on the walls, to prevent spraying on my new paint job.

Then I started the color in the corner where the fridge goes. My goal was to finish that corner so I can get the fridge out of the middle of the kitchen!

I think it looks like delicious, creamy coffee:Now, when I bought the paint, the salesperson at Lowe's persuaded me to buy the more expensive Valspar paint because they say it's a guaranteed one coat finish. I put on the paint pretty thick, and this morning looked at it closely. From a distance, it looks ok, but when you get close, you can see that it definitely needs a second coat. So much for the time savings making up for the higher cost of the paint. I wish I'd gotten that guarantee in writing!

Scott is gone for the next three weeks for Army annual training. I decided this would be a good time for me to paint the kitchen because:

1) I have some free time in the evenings with not much else to do, so I can do it a little at a time,

2) The kitchen is in utter chaos throughout the process, and that doesn't bother me as much as it would bother Scott,

3) It's hard to cook while redoing the kitchen, and I am perfectly content to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast and supper every day, and

4) I like painting and the sense of accomplishment it brings.

Here is a shot of the sink and window before. Lovely striped wall paper with apple border. Lace curtains (the bane of my existance).I spent the first evening pulling off wallpaper and border. It fortunately came off pretty easily--what didn't peel right off came off in chunks when I sprayed it with warm water. I did discover that they applied the wallpaper directly to the dry wall. Good thing I was planning to primer everything, because it needs it! I also like how you can see how dirty the side wall is where there wasn't any wall paper or border.
Monday night I painted the ceiling (white), and had a little time before bed, but not enough to do a big project. I am painting most of the walls brown, with one small highlight wall of red below the chair rail. I put primer on that wall, and it took just the right amount of time.

Last night I got home from work a little early, so I went to the gym and lifted weights, then make some corn and chicken chowder to bring to work for lunch. Then i showered, got into my "I'm painting and don't care what I look like" gear, and started the primer.

It already looks much brighter! I finished priming everything last night except for the wall with the chair rail. It was already 11:30pm when I got there, and I was tired. Tonight is church, so I'm going to take the evening off from painting and go grocery shopping instead. Thursday I'll finish priming, then first priority is to paint behind the fridge so I can push it back into place and get it out of the middle of the kitchen.

Sweet Corn Serenade!

Yesterday was the annual Sweet Corn Serenade in Oskaloosa. They have some rides for the kids on the square, the Celebration Iowa singers and dancers performed, the city band performed, and they served sweet corn and pork burgers. Here is the Roast-O-Matic where they cooked the sweet corn in the husk. Yum!In celebration, Scott and I both wore corn themed shirts.

Visit to Council Bluffs

Last weekend Scott and I went to Council Bluffs on Friday night. Melanie was in a play and we planned to attend the Saturday afternoon performance, so we decided we would rather go straight from Des Moines on Friday and stay for one night than drive both directions on Saturday. We stayed in the Settle Inn (which was a little expensive for the room we got), but we did enjoy the knight on his steed in front of the hotel.

Scott and his fascination with a horse's hind end...
We met Melanie at the mall on Saturday morning and had lunch with her. We also raided the gum machines.

We had about 2 hours to kill between when Melanie had to be there, and when the show started. Scott and I decided to go to the Lewis & Clark Monument and get some nice views of the river, and learn a little of the local history. We had a fairly decent view...

...but didn't actually get to see the monument because there was a wedding going on there! Guess we'll have to come back to the monument some other time. We hope that Lewis & September (the couple getting married) have a long and happy life together. They sure had beautiful weather on their wedding day.