Humpty Dumpty...

This year for my birthday present the hubs did some remolding for me!! It was all very exciting. We planned it for months. We spend many a date night at the Home Depot and Lowes planning and figuring. We even drew up the plans on a napkin from a date night dinner. What is the project you ask?

I wanted to rearrange the kitchen so the space plan was more usable and flowed better, and I wanted to take down the wall between the kitchen and the family room. The idea came when I was thinking, "I wish I could see what Ruthie was doing while I'm in here cooking." And then I thought, "What in the world am I going to do when I have two little munchins running around?" From that the plan was born.

Don't ask me what the title of this post has to do with kitchen reno- but it does have to do with a wall. Although it was Humpty Dumpty who sat on the wall, and then took the fall. Whereas with this project the wall itself took a fall... Anyway, I digress!

Well, a week before thanksgiving my birthday present became a reality. I really didn't believe that it would really happen... as it took A LOT of coordination. My brother came in from another city, two friends from Church took off of work (one an electrician and one a carpenter) and my father in law saved the date. My mom and I provide the nourishment for the hard working guys. I had cooked for a couple of weeks before getting ready for meals to serve (heated up in a crock pot or microwave- my only two working appliances all weekend!)

The really amazing thing was that I didn't just want all this work done, but I wanted it all done in one weekend. My only (ok, well not the ONLY) stipulation was that I could cook breakfast for Ruthie come Monday morning!! Tony kept reminding me of how long everything would take. And I, being the forman of the project would refer him to my time management plan for the execution of this project. If all went as planned... we'd have plenty of time.

Let me tell you those guys really put it into high gear. On Sunday night, we had a very near finished product. Want to see?

Before:




During:
These cabinets are getting taken apart and the refrigerator will come in the place of one of these cabinets...








After:
The cabinets that were above the stove and fridge before are now in my laundry room...so I didn't loose any storage. I actually gained USABLE storage where I needed it!


From the kitchen side (we added the one cabinet and another small new cabinet next to the stove and the pendent lights) scroll up to see the before pic of the stove and fridge. WHAT a difference!


From the family room side-


Ruthie helping daddy build the small new cabinet


This is were the 2 cabinets used to be- now it's the new spot for our fridge!


Me- the Foreman


Uncle Matt and Ruthie the night before the demo took place!

Sea World!

On Thursday, Aunt Holly, Ruthie and I enjoyed some time at Sea World!! We got to watch "Mu" which is Ruthie's way of saying Shamu! We got a little bit of a late start, and Preggo girl got tuckered out quickly, but while we were there we had a blast!!

Aunt Holly and Ruthie on our way in... Check out the parking lot... it's pretty empty!! :)


Mommy and Ruthie!


Ruthie playing "peek-a-boo" with the map as we wait for Shamu!

Palin Power!

Ruthie, Aunt Holly, and I went to a Palin Rally today and had a blast!! :) We were up by 4:45 and out the door at 5:30AM- and if you know me slightly in real life then you know that is a small feat accomplished.

Let me pause here to interject... This post will have political views and opinions expressed...and while I don't want to intentionally offend someone, this is my blog and if you disagree you don't have to keep reading!! :) If you agree or want to know more about the issues I raise then please contact me so we can have a healthy conversation of fact! :)

Ok, now on to the fun stuff... details!! It was early, completely dark, and Ruthie woke up (my plan was to put a sleeping child in her pj's in her car-seat so she could SLEEP all the way across the bay to the city just west of me- that didn't happen!) As I was saying, she woke up and stayed up for a very long time! She was pleasant, even enjoyable, such a good girl! We arrived at the location of the rally, right on the water- beautiful- at about 6:10 (doors opened at 6:00am) But didn't find a LEGAL parking spot until about 7:00!!!

Once we got through security- they even patted down Ruthie's "Baby"- we found our perfect seats. We brought a blanket to this outdoor rally and sat it on the wet - it rained last night- ground!! And waited. We fed Ruthie breakfast, changed her out of her PJ's, and played a while (I was supposed to be grading papers... I'm so behind!)

There were several really important people who were there to help us all get excited! They passed out red and blue pom-poms and McCain*Palin signs and really pumped up the crowd. Once Sarah Palin was introduced by Sen. Joe Liberman (!?) she talked for about 30-40 minutes. She was personable, down to earth, well spoken, and RIGHT ON all the issues!! :)

She even read the sign that Tony made last night and liked it! She nodded and smiled. The sign said:
P-arents
A-agains
L-iberal
I-diotic
N-onsence

The other sign Tony made... "Wailin' for Palin"


Mommy and Ruthie


Aunt Holly and Ruthie playing peek-a-boo w/ the signs


The stands behind the stage... the people were dressed in Red, White, and Blue and arranged like the flag!



This is Gus Billarakus... a conservative in Washington!


Gov. Charlie Crist


Mel Martinez


Sen. Joe Lieberman


Gov. Palin


Ruthie finally went to sleep about 15 minutes before Gov. Palin spoke!



Gov. Palin talked about energy independence, lower taxes, support of the Military. She even talked about keeping the SNL comedians busy and giving them job security! Most importantly, she talked about the type of people her opponent thinks is "good people" one of which is a convicted domestic terrorist, who blew up many buildings and threatened to blow up the pentagon- a man who Obama says- "just lives in the same neighborhood"- but in truth is the same man who hosted Obama first campaign meeting... in HIS LIVING ROOM. Is that National Security? Today is the last day to sign up to vote in the Nov. elections- which I plead with you to do... that is our right/privilege that many have fought to give us. I also plead with you to look beyond what smooth words are said to the real facts that tell about a person and his beliefs. That tells alot about character.



I like Sarah Palin. She's beautiful. She's a mom, wife, and the only person w/ real executive experience!!!