April Fools..the Joke's on Kate!

It was time. I knew it was. But were also gutting our kitchen so I kept putting it off to save my sanity. But when your daughter chews her pacifiers into Swiss cheese, it is time to say "ba-bye!"

April 1st, I was at my Meeting of the Elite Literary Society (book club) and Steve called me in a panic. He couldn't find a pacifier anywhere. That is when I decided that tonight would be the night to start no pacifier. And she was Daddy's to deal with because I wouldn't be home until at least midnight. (I was secretly happy about this part. shhhhh.)

Well, guess what? The girl made it. In fact, it wasn't that hard at all. The pacifiers were just gone. And life marched on. She might have been a bit extra ornery for a day or two but she was over it pretty quick.

A couple last pics to remember her with the pacifier...



And now we enjoy this little turkey grin:



And in other turkey news, when Mommy really needs to clean house and needed to keep the almost 2 year old from dumping gravel on the carpet and stop coloring herself with markers, we did this:

Kitchen part 2

I know so many of you were on the edge of your seat waiting for Part 2!! Here you go! Part 3 will come in a couple weeks, no doubt, and will include all paneling, back splash, and painted cabinets.

While the counters were off, we took advantage of one dead corner. We had decided to convert the cabinet 90 degrees to the left of the sink into a "trash drawer" so we would lose quick access to this dead space. Trying to make the most of this space, we filled it with a ton of our long term food storage cans. Beans, wheat, that sort of thing.

We installed this trash/recycling cabinet/drawer conversion kit from Lowe's. Molly and Maddy both have this and I love it so it was a great little upgrade for us.

Built up this end of the peninsula to be the same flush level for paneling that will be added.

Installation Day

Finished installation of counters, sink, faucet, and dishwasher. We went with a timeless polished edge, no bullnose, bevel, or anything. Note the raw birch panels around the peninsula/bar. We were supposed to start on our decorative paneling but...


...this took priority. This is our sprinkler/dripper valves for the backyard. We ordered some new citrus to be planted this week and went back home to make sure our watering situation was in order for the new trees. We found the valve box full of water. We dug out the box and made a bigger hole so we could figure out what is going on. It is not supposed to be full of water. Nor are you supposed to have pooling water near your foundation. The ground has been saturated under the rocks for who knows how long. We have a guy coming Wednesday...


Back to better looking things. Back splash will happen same time as paneling.


This old view...

Now looks like this. Except I have purchased a new paper towel holder. Maddy so kindly let me know it looked like a wedding gift from 12 years ago. She was probably right.

We had a plumber over to put all the plumbing back together again and installed this beautiful new Frigidaire dishwasher with hidden controls, a sleek front handle. brushed stainless finish...

But the drawer next to it wouldn't open.

So back it went to Spencer's. They were so nice to work with us on this since they had no policy on this. Notice how 2/3'rds of the dishwashers have the front handle - this is the current trend in design of dishwashers. I am afraid they are now going to have a warning clause named after us when selling dishwashers - make sure the customer does not have a U-shaped kitchen when installing this style of dishwasher!!

So now we have this Kitchen Aid, installed by Moi last Saturday.

So the very next day, this is the whole place in action for our first gathering, General Conference brunch and Easter Sunday Dinner. We had 10 kids and 6 adults. It was definitely a casual day but so much easier to entertain such a large group.

Part 3 will be back splash, paneling, and painted cabinets!