The Noblesvillain

...no, not those kind of bubbles.  I was blowing soap bubbles (the boys are both fond of soap bubbles) when I held out the stem for Adam to blow into.  He blew very gently (but insistently) and made a very nice stream of bubbles.  He took it in stride, but I was shocked!

Adam's vocabulary expands each day. His early words are still a jumble (such as tractor and train) but new ones are pretty clear (like snake and sky).  I enjoy the words yes, thank you, and please most of all!

And a trip to Conner Prairie

Jenny worked Sunday and Monday of the Memorial Day weekend.  Sunday the boys and I went to the beach for a picnic.  Monday we went to Conner Prairie for a morning's adventure.

The boys love Discovery Station where they have trains, toys, and a fake cow you can milk.

The Conner Barn also gets high billing with its variety of juvenile animals.

We then saw the carpenter turning big logs into beams.  He was working on one of the corner posts for the new carpenter shop.  Adam and Mark help clean up the debris.  We then took the wheelbarrow to Mrs. Conner (played by Jenny) who needed some chips for the walkway in her garden.

Inside the house, Adam and Mark both took a turn at checkers.

We all had a great time, even if it meant we got a late lunch.

Whew!  What a weekend!

In August of 2004 when we moved in, our kitchen looked like this:

Don't adjust your monitor--those are the real colors.  This past week we've done a number of transformations including an update of the floor, cabinets, and counters. 

The flooring is a laminate 'tile look' in 16" x 48" boards (purchased four years ago waiting a good time to install!).  The cabinets are Maple in a Chestnut color (the house woodwork is dark--the cabinets are dark as the older ones but with a more pleasing red tone replacing the eerie green cast).  The counter is a granite-look laminate.  The appliances had been updated before we arrived.

My dad and I did this all over the course of seven days.  Here was my plan:

• 1.5 days to rip out the old counters, cabinets, and prep the floor
• 2 days to put in the floor
• 2 days to install the cabinets
• 1 day to install the counter

Well, that adds to 6.5 days, so I'll book a plane ticket for dad to come for seven days.  Seems reasonable, no?  Hindsight tells me something different.   You can see some in-progress work in Jenny's post.

Given a fixed project time and the threat of not ever having running water again (the sink can't be installed until the counter is done which relies on the cabinets which sit on the flooring...you get the point), we were able to squeeze this project into our schedule.

Here we are at about 9pm the day before Dad's flight back to South Dakota.  If you look closely, you can see a bit of the sink peeking through from behind us.  An hour later the water and drain were hooked up and we were officially 'done!'

Ambitious?  Yes!  Seven long days, dozens of 'problem solving' breaks, a week of Jenny rousting the boys, lots of take-out meals, a day's help from friends Shawn and Wade, numerous sore muscles, and we're done!

Lots of minor things remain like under cabinet lighting, backsplash tile, scribe and toe kick trim, door hardware, covering the rear peninsula cabinets, final fitting of the counter, overhead lighting, and stowing of all my tools, but whew, the kitchen can be used again!

AND IT LOOKS GREAT!  (And a cheer to Dad for being a great partner in the project so it had a chance of success.)