Remodeling

So I am in the middle of remodeling the kitchen and bath. Yes...at the same time. LOL For some reason I do life like that. I think I do that so if I get bored I can go do something else for awhile. (like I don't have enough to do with laundry, dishes, teaching, cooking, cleaning...LOL)
It is fun to picture what they could and hopefully look like one day. Fresh, clean and bright.
The kitchen wallpaper is down. Looks better already. The wallpaper was SO busy. The top part had birdhouses all over it and the lower part was stripped! They were darker colors as well so it made the kitchen look small and cluttered. The next thing I need to do is finish washing the glue off the walls. I will then tackle the tiles that run the full length under the cupboards. I wouldn't mind them being there but some of them are broken and the grout is discolored. It would look better to take them down and paint that area as well.

We have been given wood for our kitchen flooring!! Thanks to some amazing friends! It will look WONDERFUL. I am SO excited about that. We don't have enough to go into the family room yet but that OK for now.

The bathroom will be fun, I think. :-) The carpet is already halfway torn loose. We found that the cement underneath is sealed already so we just need to get the glue off and paint it. The rest of the bathroom is mostly painting...walls, trim, medicine cabinet, sink cabinet, ceiling. I would also like to put up a different mirror as the other ones are WAY outdated. That will happen before I paint. The counter top and sink will have to wait.

A White Christmas in Colorado

We took a train from South Bend, In to Grand Junction, CO to have Christmas with family. It was a neat trip. Thanks to my family with help for train fare!

Hubby took some wonderful pictures of the train, tracks and tunnels on the way there. Thanks to Facebook we can share them with friends and family.

Ethan and I were very excited that "Dad" could come along. Ethan and I have taken the train four times before and Hubby couldn't come with as he had to work. This was his first train trip. He said he really enjoyed it!

So...after 32 hours on the train we got off in Grand Junction to be greeted by family! It was so nice to see them and hug them. Even Gramma came out in the cold to see us! Brave lady. It was a little hard to walk after being on the train for so long...sea legs "Train legs" I guess you would call it. The train is always swaying back and forth so you get used to it after so long and to get off and walk on earth that is still...LOL...doesnt feel quite right.

We had a wonderful two weeks in Colorado. Christmas was nice with a yummy ham and homemade rolls and cheesy mashed potatoes. The table was stretched to the max (eight leaves?) and sat 18(?) people! It was fun.

We had our evening gift exchange. We exchange names so that it is cheaper on us poor folks...I guess that would be all of us...LOL. It was alot of fun seeing who had whos name and what everyone got.

New Year's Eve was great too. We had a White elephant gift exchange which was a blast. Someone, not going to name any names, Christi, said we had to wear oven mitts to open up our gifts. That added an interesting factor! It was so fun seeing everyone else trying to open theirs, but when it came to me....well, the funny level went down. LOL Everyone else sure thought it was funny though!
A soup/chili cookoff was also one of the evenings big events. Everyone brought one or the other and after you taste test you had to vote for your favorite. My Dad does a good job with mixing up the pots and crockpots so we don't know whos is whos. I won this year with White Creamy Chicken Chili. I still think it was rigged so that the trophy would have to come all the way to Indiana with us! LOL

So we brought in 2009 with fun, good food, games and best of all FAMILY! It was great.