Cabinets

Luckily we bought sample sizes of the paint. Pete tried the cabinets both ways -- blue frames with cream doors and cream frames with blue doors. Both are just a bit over the top. Pete thinks they look "country". I think they look a little like they belong in a dollhouse. Pete has a good solution. We are going to keep the cream and try a tan or a brown. It will go with the floor tiles and we are thinking of a greenish countertop so that may look really nice. We'll see....

Painting....

The house is painted! Well, mostly. After weeks of priming, Pete and I sat down to pick out colors. I spent last weekend in Kenosha with the kids so that gave Pete the entire weekend to paint. The House looks great. As you can see, we picked a yellow for the walls and hall leading up to the bedrooms. The bedrooms are a wheat color, both bathrooms are light green and the kitchen is grey. We still have the cabinets to paint -- they will be cream frames with blue/grey doors. Pete bought samples of the paint and is putting it on the cabinets/frames so we can try it out. We'll see how it looks.

Pete is spending this weekend still working on trim, priming the doors (cabinet and regular) and cutting in the corners.

We also decided that we really should add a dishwasher. We've been researching similar homes for rent in the area and many have dishwashers. We figure as long as we are making a mess, we might as well do it now. The configuration of the kitchen requires us to put it next to the sink, which will only give us a small kitchen sink, but I know I would trade a small sink for a dishwasher -- hoping others will too.

We still have to tile the kitchen floor, carpet or repair the hardwood and some detail work. And now that the weather is nicer, it is almost time to seed the yard, as there are many patches without grass. We also should add some bushes to the front of the house. The list keeps growing. Some of the outside stuff can wait until we get a renter.

Pete is hoping to get another week off of work soon as he thinks he can knock out a lot of the remaining work if he can plow through for several days straight.

Conversations with Wynne

We were driving home from preschool today. She told me Mrs. Schroeder moved her away from Jake at naptime because he was talking too much. I asked her what he was talking about. There was a pause and she said "Mom -- don't tell Mrs. Schroeder. I was the one who was talking. I just couldn't stop...."

A few weeks ago she woke up in the middle of night and wanted to play. I told her that we both needed to go back to sleep so that she would not be crabby at school and I would not be crabby at work.

Me: I NEED to sleep. What will happen if I am crabby at work
Wynne (in a cheerful voice): You will get FIRED!
Me: that is not good. Then we will have no where to live

Wynne: (with the saddest look of shock on her face) how can they take our house?

(So now I am feeling bad. The kid is going to have nightmares now. I am a jerk.)

Me: Mom and dad need to work so we can pay our bills. We are fine and no one is going to take our house.

So I spent some time backtracking. As I was walking out of her room, in the softest, sweetest voice she says

Wynne: Mom
Me: yea
Wynne: What do turtles eat?

Must be nice to be four. You can go from tragedy to turtles in two minutes.

Back on Track

So I'm back on track. Not that the house was ever off track. But I've obviously been off track with the blog. No way I can catch up from the whole month+ that I have been on hiatus, but here is what I have for now:

I took the day off work to do some painting. Used oil-based primer for the kitchen cabinets and several hours later my head is still a little numb. But the cabinets look great. Will be off tomorrow to paint some trim.

Pete and I hammered out a timeline/to-do list. I felt a lot better having it on paper. If all the stars align, we'll be done late April/early May. Much longer than we originally thought, but still OK.

Will do a separate update of the latest Wynne-isms, but this morning was a doozey. I decided to wear Pete's work jacket so I would not get paint on any of my coats. It is too big and very dirty. I was going to drop Wynne at school before I headed to the house and she asked if I could wear a nice coat when I dropped her off at school. Age 4 and she is already embarrassed of her mother.....