'Wordless' Wednesday - Lows and Highs

(Yes, Costco is still EVIL ...)

(But let there be LIGHT... angels singing??!!)

(Finally! We came to an agreement on this, after I wouldn't shut up about it for the last year and a half. Seriously, check my posts from that period. And I actually wanted it to be a hanging pendant, but when hubs opened the packaging - it only had a short rod. I just wanted him to get it up. Ahem, no further comments from the peanut gallery.

And yes, I really, really, really need to get a life. Or at least back to the gym.)

For more Wordless, visit here and here.

Super Random Saturday

This post is going to go all over the place. Because we're now officially on...





so my brain doesn't have to work so hard. Not that it ever does, most days, at least it feels that way. Should be interesting when I start to do some work in the fall...

Hubby is off for a few weeks; we'll see if he can stick to it and not check his crackberry overly much in the next little while. Perhaps if I just keep the kids after him round-the-clock that might do the trick.

I'm not great at these random thingy's, usually trying to carefully craft each post with brilliant precision (stop laughing), but it's Saturday morning, and this is what I feel like.

For breakfast:



Yes, Japanese pound cake from a Chinese bakery, likely made with pure lard.

Perfectly healthy, while I make my girl eat this:



Let's hope she manages to get a few flakes down without acting like I'm force feeding her fish food (but I suppose that's what they sort of look like). We don't want the drama of "Constipation the Miniseries" that happened earlier this week to go into reruns.

Other news on the girl front, well, here's her new sleeping buddy. (Never understood why anyone would think a RAT would be good stuffed animal material, but then I suppose my daughter is just that market...)



Hopefully her taste in sleeping partners improves with age.

This is the worst time for me to be having that type of breakfast, but I'm hangover free after a night imbibing 4 mojitos and fistfuls of Lays potato chips. I suppose this is what happens when I'm suffering from Bodyjam withdrawal. Not going to gym = pig out on all the junk in the house.

Yes folks, because I went a bit overboard on the last couple of sessions at the gym, my back feels like I've been playing...

24/7 for about a week. I'm forgetting that I don't have a 20-year old body anymore. It's fun to play with the 20 year olds, but the body is good at reminding me that it ain't all that any longer. Oy.

What will we be doing on vacay? Not a whole heck of a lot. A few day trips with the kids, stuff around the house, we still need to get the kitchen finally, finally finished because in addition to more Cowbell, we need a light in here....



And a garage sale is likely in order ... ugh...

I'll still be around, but likely posting sporadically (I know you don't believe me, but I'll give it a try, honestly I will!)

Have a great Saturday!

Stool Redux

(I don't even want to know what Google searches this title will bring here...)

After lugging the three counter stools and sample kitchen chair home on Sunday, Ian opened up the box, pulled out the first stool and and plunked it by the island. We knew right away that it didn't work. The espresso wood on the stool was still not dark enough, and the overall size seemed to overwhelm our space. Sigh.

We called the store immediately and asked if we could switch them with the other model we had also looked at. In black leather. We were fortunate that they have a couple in stock. So by mid week we will have these in our kitchen:

Of course, I had shown my sister a photo of the ones we originally purchased, as she thought we had ordered these. She was very diplomatic on the weekend, but when I told her we were exchanging them for the Lem model, she fessed up and said that she thought these were better anyway. The mechanism on the other one was too bulky. I guess that's why she's a designer and I'm not.

The funniest thing was, when Ian returned the chairs yesterday and explained why it didn't work in our kitchen, the fellow said to him that he understood -- he knows that designer types like IAN can be very discriminating, so it was no surprise that we returned them.

DESIGNER Ian?!!!! Guffaw! Hubs didn't say anything. And he wasn't even wearing head-to-toe black. He couldn't get over the hilarity of it.

So that was my joke of the day. Colin and Justin better watch their backs!

The Long and Winding Post

Now that I'm not blogging on a daily basis I've found that my posts have lengthened in order to make up for the days in between. My subconscious need to complete a blognovel of silly thoughts seems to surface in between days. So in my ever-increasing compulsion to multi-task, I combine this post with my regular "Weekly Winners" post (thanks to the ever-awesome and ever-hilarious Sarcastic Mom for starting this fun photo meme).

I think I shared with you the monumental milestone that G is now potty-trained. Every so often in the car, she'll utter "I've got to go pee-pee.". We've been very proud of her letting us know so diligently, but during the long drive that we recently did to and from the ski hills of Quebec, she said that a few times. To which her parents replied, "That's great G, thanks for telling us. Do you think you can hold it?"

And she said "No, I can't hold it!" Her brother repeated that he was holding it until the next gas station, and she got further frustrated, screaming again "I CAN'T hold it."

Then it dawned on me... she has nothing to "hold". Unlike her brother. Because she now knows the anatomical parts that make her and her brother different. Boys have "peanuts" which they can hold. Girls have "butts called the China", which they can't really hold. So we re-phrased the question: "Can you wait until we stop to find a washroom G?". And she replied: "Okay." It's all in how you ask the question, isn't it?

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In order to capture so many precious (blog) moments of my life, I decided to pull out this lovely journal that I've had for a while and populate it with fabulously lucid nuggets to further embellish on my online journal.

I brought it down to breakfast with me yesterday, and shared this with my partner as he was perusing the weekend paper.

Me: I think I'll start journalling.
The Man: Gerbilling? What?
Me: Journalling. I promise not to involve you in any of my gerbilling activities from here on in, though.

And since this blog shall remain PG rated, I won't get into other words that came up in our further conversation. I guess I did leave a fairly sheltered life prior to meeting hubs, thank goodness I have Ian to share his extensive knowledge of choice vocabulary with me. Courtesy of his obsession with Howard Stern perhaps?

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I borrowed the following CD from the library because there is no way I would ever consider buying it.
I usually consider his work overly schmaltzy, sentimental, and YEARNING. But I've been really enjoying the single "Somebody's Me" everytime it comes on the radio lately.

Guess what? I actually LIKE the rest of the CD. Especially all the songs sung in Spanish... whooo, get me a fan and some water. Hot.

Boy, I must be getting schmaltzy, sentimental and yearning in my horny old age. Even Ian would love to be able to sing like him... would the legions of women falling at Enrique's feet have anything to do with it? Hmmmmm.

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What happens when previously sheltered toys are evicted from their premises...


My associate publisher holding the aforementioned journal:



A Friday flyer find

(Honestly, even if you LOVE wolves, even if you DANCE with them, this is a bodyless wolf head perched on a stick. Doesn't belong anywhere in your household let alone your shelf, even if it is wondrously sale-priced.)

And we have island closure of sorts! We finally bought some counter stools for the kitchen. Lurve...

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

BAD

MUCH BETTER

CAN YOU HEAR THE ANGELS SINGING?

Should it stay or should it go?

Okay, so I've been holding out on publishing more posts about the reno because:

1/ I thought my blog was starting to get lopsided content, boring myself with the ongoing saga of the progress or lack thereof;

2/ I was waiting to get everything in place for a final reveal. But the fact of the matter is that with two kids, the start of school, adjustment to a new schedule and the reality of back to work for hubster, the kitchen remains a work-in-progress. We're about 85% there, but the final 15% may take the next few months.

So gentle, patient readers [(but I use that term loosely, because I suspect my reading community is not necessarily so gentle or old-fashioned :)]here is an update, sans backsplash or much needed- pendant over the table:

Remember this?

And this?

And this?

Now we have this:



And this:

And this:


Here's a close-up of my beloved sink where I spend countless hours wiping away the droplets, as heaven forbid any watermarks make themselves permanent. Who'd ever thought I would get this particular over a stainless steel box?


For the backsplash, I'm thinking glass tiles, the mini-subway tiles, perhaps in an aqua/blue/green colour. Hubster, on the other hand, is thinking mosaics. In either case, we need a backsplash quickly, as just yesterday I somehow managed to get sticky rib sauce not only on the top of my head and my lower back, but also the island cupboard and the frickin' ceiling, when I was trying to baste the darn ribs. Don't ask. Needless to say, I need more practice in my stellar kitchen.

For the light fixture, we're leaning toward something along these lines:



So, the question of the day: We have a beautiful harvest table that we inherited from Ian's parents. I think it was used as a schoolhouse table at one point. It's an antique piece, and used to be his table growing up. And it's quite rare, especially the fact that it's made from two solid planks. Here it is a bit closer up, check out the square nails:




We're not so sure it goes with our new kitchen. We're thinking of getting dark espresso bar stools for the island, and espresso kitchen chairs. This may or may not go with the harvest table. Alternatively we could refinish the table in a darker stain. Which would be more kid-friendly too.

Anyway, what do YOU think we should do? Should it stay or should it go?

While we were at it...

With little G toilet training, we figured it wasn't a bad idea to finally get rid of the carpet in the family room. The room that up until now, we only permitted to be lit with the low-level dimmers. Because you really don't need to see stains of questionable origin glaring at you every day.

Therefore, this...



Became this...



Just ignore the furniture, as it's on its way outta here. And the cheap blinds, yuck.

It's all going. At some point, anyway. It's funny how tastes change over the years. Or maybe we're just sick of the sofa springs digging into our backs. After all, couches in a house of children = trampoline.

Of course now that they're so shiny and new, we have to get a rug to protect them. G's already taken to running her toy school buses along the floor... uh, when did she ever play with her toy school buses before? Only NEVER!

Wood floors. I heart them, truly, madly and deeply.

Stung not once, but twice

... serves me right for getting the kids McDonalds for lunch.

It was such a gorgeous day out yesterday, the last Friday before school starts, that I decided to forego my usual morning workout at the gym to take my kids to Canada's Wonderland. We had bought season tickets, and L is such a tall boy this year he was charged the adult rate. So in total our passes plus parking came out to about $250, not exactly chump change. To make it worth our while we would have to visit the park at least twice. Including this visit, it would be 3 times, but the second visit without the Dad. L was disappointed because he can only go on the big rides if Ian or I can accompany him.

I had warned L (yeah, fancy that, WARNING him) that I was going to take them to Wonderland if the weather wasn't too steamy. To be fair, Wonderland isn't his favourite place when we have to stick to Kidsville and Nickelodeon Central. He'd rather be hanging out with his friends on the street. But I promised we'd only go for a few hours because our granite counter tops would be coming in later that afternoon.

The big dilemma was what to eat for lunch. We didn't want to eat inside the park, where the food is so overpriced and service usually superslow. Our kitchen still isn't fully functional, so I was trying to think of healthier drive-through options. I suggested a subway sandwich, pizza (although I am sick of it); tacos, sandwiches from Tim Horton's etc... Nothing was striking his fancy, and we were running out of options as we got closer to the park.

L is quite good when it comes to McD's - we try not to have it more than once a month, for special treats only. And if the Happy Meal Toy is not up to snuff, then we don't bother. But it seemed unavoidable as I ran out of ideas as we came to the last McDonald's before Wonderland; and from the way the cars were snaked around through the parking lot into the drive-through line-up it was the last McDonald's on earth. At this point, L thought he might try the Fish-burger; a change from his usual. It was decided that we would both get fish, and the little one was good getting her nuggets.

As I pulled up to the end of the line, it was the most inopportune spot - at a stop sign in the parking lot. I didn't want to block this mini-intersection, so as cars pulled up I backed up to let them through, not wanting to miss my place in line. Well, wouldn't you know it, the second car who I back up for promptly took my place in the line up in front of me. You know how patient I am with those kinds of things, so I threw up my hands in the air and did a "WHAT?" in my meanest krump fashion. Body language is obviously universal, as the woman put her hands up, shrugs her shoulders and did a "Oh, sorry," but did nothing to show she would move.

That was the first sting, and it really gets my goat. I don't like drive-throughs much for the obvious environmental issues, but G had just passed out in the back, and Liam was hungry by this time. I think there should be reserve lines for people who have more than one person in the car, like those High Occupancy Lanes on the highways. Single drivers should not be allowed through drive-throughs because they can get their lazy butts out of the car and walk .... anyway, I digress. By now, the line was so long I decided to park and plop G in the stroller, and walk with my boy into the restaurant to order.

Well, wouldn't you know it, as I set the stroller up, and put my arms up to pick up the still-slumbering girl, I hear this yell "Mom, there's a ..." and I feel this sharp pinch just beneath my armpit. Yes, you know that tender point of flabby flesh that's a reasonable facsimile to a bicep when flexed? Yeah, right there, I SWAT at this annoying yellow-jacket out of pure reflex, while simultaneously a foul stream of unmentionable phrases spews out from between my snarling lips. I think you get the picture.

Second sting. And I feel the venom spreading throughout my upper arm.

Now more annoyed than ever, I grinned and bore it, and we went inside and stood through the shortest but of course slowest line. And got our lunch. Gotta be brave for the kids after all.

L wanted to ask the guy for a band-aid (so cute) but I said it was OK. Now people are staring at my bicep not because it's so firm and toned, but because it looks so red and nasty.

Despite this early setback, we had a couple of great hours at the park. We saw a diving/trampoline show, then each child got a couple of rides...

L on the bumper cars.

G all on her own in an airplane ride.

And then a cute visit with Dora, Diego and Pablo!



Oh, and a few new (and not so new, apparently) words have unfortunately been added to my son's vocabulary. He didn't miss a beat. Asked me about them later that evening - from his point of view, these bad words can be only uttered to himself. I had to correct him - they are not to be uttered by him at ALL (after all, his mother was in severe duress, pain etc...). I think he got it. But he's probably wondering where I got those in the first place. Mmmmmmm.

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On a totally unrelated note, here we have my newest island destination complete with the shiny black pearl on top:



Can you hear the angels sing?

Over and out.

Clear, Transparent Danger- and a saga

You've probably noticed that I've been making the time to blog on a daily basis. This despite having a house that is a wreck, and a million things to do. "How does she do it?" you may ask. Well, I do it while I'm taking significant breaks from my tedious, sweat-generating wrestling matches with the clear, sticky shelf-liner I purchased from Wal-Mart. Can you think of anything more taxing on your nerves than wiping down the shelves, measuring and cutting along the gridlines just so, and then sealing these pristine surfaces with nary a bubble in sight? Bubble-less? Impossible even after a half a dozen tries per shelf. Gawd!

And of course, hubby hasn't been in sight either, hence more face time on the computer for me. Muah-ha-ha!

***

The Saga

As I was trying to get the kids to bed last night at the early hour of 9:30 PM, the phone rings. Thinking it's the hubster giving me his nightly check-in call, I pick it up ready to be all cheery. Well, it wasn't the hubby, but my contractor. The one we hired to do everything for our reno except a) the floor (because we saw some of his work and it SUCKED) and b) the kitchen cabinetry which was custom. So we asked him to do all the electricals, plumbing, paint, and family room floor.

He wanted to come and complete the job today. We had told him we would call once the kitchen cabinets and floors were in; which was just completed this week. But I hadn't because our counter tops won't be installed until next week, so there was no point for him to come because we don't have sink, faucet, etc....and we hadn't finalized the colour for the paint yet or the family room wood floor choice for that matter. I said if he wanted to come and had time then he could do what he could, but it wasn't much at this point until we were further along.

That set him off. He said he couldn't just come for a few hours here and there, he had other jobs he had to do. It was a "waste of his time" to keep bringing his tools to set up, then leave, only to come back again. Which I could understand, but that's why I hadn't called him in the first place because there wasn't a huge chunk to do yet. He wondered why the paint choice was taking so long - I said we needed to have the cabinets and floors, and granite chosen to be sure of the colour (obviously, aesthetics aren't a huge concern for him). He said most people are in a hurry for their renos - laughed a bit sarcastically, then said that my mother had told him we were slow, but this was too slow for him. Yeah, basically he was saying he didn't know what our problem was and we were taking too long. Told me I should call him in OCTOBER to finish the job.

Well that set ME off. Who's the client in this scenario again? Can you believe this? I was livid. I said that I couldn't NOT have a kitchen for another month, and that I understood that he didn't like to be pulled in only every so often, which is why we hadn't called to confirm with him until we had everything set. I could have also (but didn't) mentioned that cutting two chunks out of my dining room wall wasn't part of the contract either (although they did patch them and I'm assuming will paint over it -if I can find the original paint).

Anyway, we left it that I'd go over everything with Ian and get back to him with our plans this week - that he should be prepared to come after Labour Day.

Now I don't know whether I should give him the benefit of the doubt that English isn't his first language; but his language skills are a lot better than he's ever let on to my mother (who referred us to him several times) or my siblings. Actually, she sends him a lot of work. I know he's given attitude to my brother and sister before, but he's always been OK with me, and he's always chuckling with Ian. I should have taken the paint job he did for my brother as a warning (he got the wrong hue of paint for them, only slightly off so they could live with it, but that wasn't the point - he never apologized or offered to get the original paint they had chosen).

I don't mind him asking about scheduling etc. and I fully understand that he needs to keep his jobs going and it is his busy season. But really, there's no need for him to raise his voice and say things which I found personally insulting. And we have already booked the job with him, as opposed to other jobs which he is still seeking.

So then I called Ian. Who agreed that Mr. C. was being a p#&ck (trying to keep this PG folks) but that he figured he was annoyed because we didn't hire him for more work. Told me to let him call him back and he'd straighten him out. Said if he ever gave me that type of call again, I should just say "Talk to Ian". Yeah, my knight in shining armour.

So you know where I'm going now... let's call in my henchwoman ... MAMA!

Well, no, I didn't do that. But mom coincidentally called me about an hour later about baby stuff. And then I mentioned my conversation with the contractor briefly. To which Mom jumped through the phone and said ... "Let me tell him off tomorrow". She's so funny!

I told Mom it wasn't necessary for her to contact him. I just want him to finish the job so I can get my kitchen completed, and completed nicely. THEN she can call and tell him off!!

I don't think she'll be sending any more work his way, though. And although I had initially considered him to do our next reno (basement), based on this conversation I'm not so sure. But maybe I'm just a hothead and too sensitive. Or maybe not.

Well, now that it's off my chest, maybe I'll get over it. Whatever -- just get this thing off my head!

In the Land of Marble and Granite

I think I can safely say that we're starting to have fun. We can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Three weeks into our major kitchen and first floor renovation, our marriage is still quite intact and our kids haven't totally turned into video addicts as we've let them languish in front of the TV, DVD player and/or video game consoles.

We made our decision on the granite counter top today. This is after about half a dozen trips to the fabricator and the wholesale supplier of the granite slabs. We were back and forth to the flooring suppliers more than a dozen times, so we're finally getting the hang of it.

Fascinating world, so foreign to us, we who are used to the sterile, fluorescent-lighted "Office Space" environment. The fabricator's premises almost looked like a junkyard - we passed by it the first time as the signage was up on a chain-linked fence. We were looking for the Rottweilers to come charging out at us any moment, but once we went into the office we met fancy, bubbly Maggie with the funky redstreaks in her hair, cute wedgie sandals and a perma-smile on her face. She loved the kids. When she took us around back we were amazed at the size of the slabs. We reserved a slab called "Nero Angola". Then she suggested we check out a couple of other wholesale suppliers, who actually supply her business as well. This whole process was so new to us, so we happily (after negotiating with Liam a few times, and also arranging impromptu playdates for him) ventured to the wholesale spots.

Who knew that driving along the highways and past the industrial plazas in Concord and Woodbridge areas, there was this hidden land of Granite and Marble. Huge warehouses full of giant stones from India, Italy and various other countries. Huge trucks on the roads in the vicinity as well...presumably lugging around slabs of granite and marble.

The process goes something like this - we tag a piece that we like, give our fabricator a call for her price, she chats with the wholesaler and gives us a price, then this piece is reserved for us for about 10 days, giving us the opportunity to look around before we finalize our decision. We reserved another slab, "Nero Impala", and kept an eye on "Black Pearl", as our third choice. And then Ian proceeded to get very confused as to which stone we had reserved, and which we were still contemplating. The one thing in common was Nero/Black in the name of the stone. And that women were the ones in charge of all the showrooms and administration. Very interesting, as I've always thought of these industries to be so male-dominated.

When all was said and done, and the cabinets were taking shape with the installed floors, we decided we needed a bit more warmth in the granite. The differences among the stones we were choosing were so subtle, microscopic. This one was too "flecky", the other one too "veiny", yet another too "sparkly". I almost started losing patience again. Almost. But now I'm just happy.

The Chosen One: Black Pearl

Really Gotta Get a Life

Remember these?



Well, they're gone, gonzo, disparu, arrivederci, outta-here, 2(nah-nah-nah-nah)-hey,hey,hey-good-bye!

Because now we've got these:




Ahhhhh...slo-mo cabinetry. So smooooooth. Love. It.

I'm Floored!

Corny, corny title, but I'm so thrilled that the tile we chose is looking absolutely, fantastically smashing!!! Because it is going to have to live up to its porcelain name and be so durable to withstand the shenanigans of a growing 2 year old monkey chasing her superhero-inspired big brother and all his bigger friends.



Who knew one could get so excited about porcelain tiles. Gotta get a life, I know.

The fun is just beginning as we have to go over the whole house with our shop-vac - dust-city! My pal Bec warned me about not using the central vac for too much dust after a reno. Her basement reno cleanup ended up clogging her central vac motor and resulted in her having to purchase a new motor for it. Don't want any added expenses as that's happening on its own, thank you very much.

Ordered the sink and faucets and soap dispenser finally. Next we've got to finalize the countertops, paint colours, backsplash. But cabinets being delivered tomorrow - Yee-haw!!!


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CSI: ZABOO-LAND





Speaking of monkeys, missing Rainforest Cafe Lemur has yet to be found. Latest evidence located in the corner behind our study door. Must have been spooked and lurked here during the tiling job. Kids are working on the case as we speak. Will keep you posted.

PS - yes, that's DUST!!! Maybe lemur suffocated!

That sinking feeling...

Okay, another mundane post about my intensifying renovation. I feel so disorganized, or really, like a chicken with its head cut off.

We've still got so much to do in terms of choosing countertop$, faucet$, the $$$ink, back$pla$h, paint colour$. Poor Ian is driving crazily around town mostly on his own on vacation time, because the kids are just totally hating coming with us on these shopping expeditions. The smart thing to do would have been to put the Liamster into a daycamp for these few weeks, but I'm always so torn about doing that because it's nice not to be so scheduled throughout the summer. Especially when the Dad has booked the time off. We were intending to do more stuff with the kids, but reality of the renovations has really hit us so we're in a bit of a hypermode, as we scramble to get things ordered taking into account any leadtimes that might delay the project.

I feel like I've been sitting on my ass blogging all the time instead of conducting more research and sourcing products... ummmm, oh, well, that might explain things a bit!

On a milestone note, little Ms. G made it across the pool yesterday wearing just her waterwings, not letting me touch her or come within a foot of her while she did her "lap" next to big brother. It was quite amazing as she huffed, puffed and sort of puppy-paddled her way across. We've got the Olympics 2024 in mind for her now.

Living the Suite Life

We're sleeping over at my parents' condo for a couple of nights during the demolition of our floors, and it's basically the equivalent of two tickets to paradise for the rugrats. So far they've had takeout pizza, pop, a lovely swim in pool water as warm as a bath, and now, just after 11 PM, are enjoying a classic movie with the grandparents. Classic as in 1952 movie "Macao" starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The kids are totally enthralled, listening intently to Grandpa's explanations of the plotline, while munching on their favourite Chinese dinner rolls which are in abundance.

To be honest, we're not doing too badly ourselves. It is such a lovely apartment, I'm so glad my parents chose this type of accomodation when they downsized. They've worked so hard it's nice that they can enjoy this at this stage of their lives. There's security, an onsite gym with the latest equipment, a sauna, anything you really need. No lawns to mow, beautiful gardens that are taken care of, a lush waterfall that you can see from the hot tub. They have 3 bathrooms (same number we have in our house!), so while the room all 4 of us are staying in is slightly cramped, it's perfect with the ensuite. And the most important item of all, an additional room mate in the form of a COMPUTER is also residing in my bedroom. All the better to indulge my daily blogging addiction. Even my kids can tell how ecstatic I am.

It's better than being in a hotel. So we may never leave.

R.I.P.........

...PED OUT!!!!!





Well, not the most becoming pictures of our kitchen as we know it, but we did want to capture the "Before" and "In Between" shots before everything came tumbling down.

Hubby was here to supervise or "help"; they tried salvaging for Restore, but it got too difficult, and the cabinets are almost 20 years old anyway, more than past their prime. Ian loves this stuff; a great time for me to visit with one of my new nieces for the day as well.

There's no turning back now! But you know what? I am so pumped about this ... a brand spankin' new kitchen is on its way! When we were first married I loved to cook, all the time, trying out new recipes. My coworkers were always wondering what leftovers I would bring for lunch the next day! But since we've had kids, it's been tough to be creative, I tend to stick to a lot of the staples (ie. things THEY will eat). It's not the same as being able to crack open a bottle of wine, turn on some soothing Diana Krall, and leisurely cook up a lovely candlelit dinner. No cooking for the next few weeks, which doesn't sound so bad about now. We're hoping that a new kitchen will inspire me.

And I don't have to be here for a lot of it! Kids are the best excuse to vacate a construction site. Whoot!!