Life Snippets

Several months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I read this blog. I didn't, so of course, I headed over to check it out.  Her photographs portray a life of happiness and gratitude in every little thing.  I'm too angry and bitter to relate (I know, it's shocking), but every time I look at one of her posts, it makes me view things differently, at least for a few hours.  I'm officially obsessed with her photography style.  The lighting, the angles, the subjects, all of it.  The point of my story is, I read one of her posts yesterday, and then proceeded to grab my camera every time I looked at something and really saw it.

Amid the chaos of three kids, school, chores, yard work, dinners, and remodels, I have a ton of things to be thankful for, and her photography reminds me to pause and appreciate them.

Here's a look at some daily moments in a, metaphorical and literal, different light.

If you look close, past all the stuff that isn't "pretty", there are blessings waiting to be noticed.

The Kitchen Remodel: Phase 12

We got another weekend of work crossed off the list.

We have a tentative appointment on Friday for the counter guys to come out and make a template.  I say tentative, because in order for them to do that, all the lower cabinets need to be installed.  In a perfect world, the uppers should be installed first, but sometimes time frames don't involve a perfect world.

So after sanding more sheetrock on Saturday, we got to work building the left corner cabinet and hauled in the dishwasher from the garage.  We needed that bank set up, in order to build the peninsula wall.  The wall had to be exact, since the counter will sit on it.  It took a loooong time to get it all figured out, but once we did, it went up without a hitch.

Once the wall was standing, The Dad finished the electrical for the dishwasher and moved the old outlet to the dining room side of the wall.

The green board sheetrock went up on the kitchen side.

We said, screw it, to mudding the seams.

Next up, the first run of board that the back of the lower cabinets rest on was installed.

Once that was up, we could install the first lower corner cabinet.

Woot, woot.

Oh wait, first we had to kick out the helper.

Proof that kids don't need toys.

So once that first cabinet was in, we built the sink cabinet and the one to the left of it.

Then he stood back, looked, and decided that installing uppers with the lowers in, sounded like a nightmare.

I may have said, I told ya so.

So he built two uppers and by then, it was late and the poor guy was ready for bed, so they're just sitting next to the stove at this point.

So here's what it looks like as of Monday mornin'. 

Photo bomber alert.

The plan of action is, figure out where the upper rails need to go and get them installed after dinner tonight.

Build the rest of the uppers and hang them on the rail.

Build the rest of the lowers and get them installed.

Install any fillers between lower cabinet gaps.

Attach appliance panel to peninsula wall and floor next to dishwasher.

Have all of that done by Thursday night so the cabinet guys have something to actually measure on Friday.

(Volunteers during the evenings this week are welcome.)

Once they have the goods for a template, the counter installation is two weeks out.

Getting clooooser.

Please see my sidebar for the parties I link up to.

Back To School: A Silly Kid Lunch

I know.  It's been a really long time since I've posted a Fun Food Friday lunch.  It was summer, I got lazy. Plus, it's kinda hard to get inspired when you don't have a kitchen.

So, when The Girl requested peanut butter and jelly for her next school lunch, I figured I could surprise her with something a little more fun than just a square sandwich.

Nothing fancy or complicated here.  I used a butterfly cookie cutter for the sandwich.  Strawberries and a carrot to decorate it. Orange slices around.  The flowers are just sliced carrots with cucumber leaves, stuck on a toothpick for the stem.  Homemade ranch dip on the side for dunkin'.  Easy peasy.

Here's The Girl's surprise school lunch:

In other news, it's FRIDAY!

Annnnnd, it's girls' night.

I get to go hang with some moms from school on a patio with wine, and gossip about kids, husbands, school and life.

It will not suck at all.

Have a good weekend!

You can see all our Fun Food Friday lunches here: Our Silly Kid Lunches

You can see where I go for inspiration here:  Kid Lunch Ideas

Please see my sidebar for the parties I link up to.