Hmm, maybe I'll start blogging more. But if I do, you'll read more mundane things about what we did today, or what we need to do. So last night, we went to dinner for our niece Danika's 15th bday. We went to Billingsley's, a steak house in West LA. My food was delicious, I got a monterey chicken with sauteed mushrooms, avocado and melted cheese on a bed of salty rice, with mashed potatoes. The bad thing is that Tony's dad got sick last night, and Tony was sick this morning. Don't know if it's from the food, or what, but you never know. We were tired, so went to bed right after we got home, before 10pm.
Maiya has been nursing a lot at night lately, seems like all night long (while I'm sleeping) and heavily during the 5:30 to 7:30 am hours. So I was awake by 6am, thinking about all the things I need to do. We got up a little after 8am this morning. Tony went to B&B Hardware and Cox Paints (we decided we didn't like the color of one of the two walls Tony painted yesterday). Tony's dad stopped by, Danny came by to do some finishing touches on the cabinets. Tony's agenda included installing the backsplash, hood, fan and stove. Maiya had toast, cereal, OJ and cream cheese for breakfast. The cream cheese was a mistake, I had left the almost empty container on the table, and when I looked at her (I was sitting right next to her), she had her face inside the container and was licking the edges, and had cream cheese in her hair and all over her face & hands.
At 10am, she nursed a bit and fell asleep for a little nap, and I hopped on the computer, tidied up, did some dishes IN THE NEW SINK (YEAH), and tried to study a bit. Unfortunately it was only a half hour nap. Then at 11am, we had some more snacks (crackers and apples), and then time for crayons, playing with yogurt containers and some dancing. Helped Tony a little with the backsplash. At about 1pm, Maiya and I took a shower, drew Elmo in the bathtub, and then got ready to go. Tony picked up some Taco Bell, so Maiya ate half a bean burrito and needed to get her clothes changed again. Right before we were leaving, I said "let's go," and she said "no," and then spread her legs wide, bending her legs and then grabbed at her pants. Oh! What's this? Sure enough, there was a little poo poo, and she practically ran to the changing table, turning around to make sure I was following her. So, at 2:15, we finally left, and went to the Giant Robot store, and GR2 on Sawtelle to pick up some bday presents. Maiya and I went to Dyami's 4th bday party, a puppet show in Santa Monica, although we were 45 minutes late, and missed the puppet show, and Maiya napped in the stroller for most of the party. It was nice to see my friends Monica and Benjamin, and Paulina and Shabaka (all from my Great Leap days). Maiya ate a little pita with hummus and chicken and a gingerbread cookie.
Then, at 4:45, we left Santa Monica, and went home to pick up Tony, who was at B&B for the 3rd time today, and then went over to my sister Gayle's house for Taco Night to celebrate me and my brother Darin's bday. We got there an hour late. Maiya had so much fun! Their house is like romper room, with toys galore. Five kiddies, makes for a lot of giggles and playing. Playdough was a big hit tonight. We stayed till 10pm, and then came home. I put Maiya to sleep and then went to help Tony with the duct and chimney cover for the hood. He sure is working hard to make this kitchen really nice.
Ok, well, this is the kind of detail you're going to get if I am blogging more often, if you are even still reading this. TMI? Interesting? Not so much? I doubt I'll keep it up. In any case, that was the day. Tomorrow Howard, my creative wood artist friend is coming over to talk about custom TV/stereo holder, and possibly a built in bench for our dinner table, and maybe some shelves? Tony's plan is to get all the appliances in and start lining the shelves. We'll see, and then maybe we'll get to Ikea, do some laundry, and I can study for Tuesday's exam. Toodle-loo!
Our old kitchen looked very much the same between 1941 and 2003 (when this picture was taken). Two years ago, we took out a few cabinets, got a new fridge, moved it into the laundry room, and created a prep space. It was a lot of work to make our kitchen work a little better for us, but it still was a small kitchen, with very little counter space or storage space. We have been talking about this kitchen remodel for at least 5 years, and decided to make the plunge this summer. It was a lot of stress, sweat and hassle--we didn't hire a general contractor, so Tony did all of the space planning, comparison shopping, heavy lifting and countless trips to the hardware store, while I did a lot of childcare. We went back and forth on the costs of doing a major kitchen remodel vs. painting the shelves, updating the drawer knobs and replacing the sink.
After:
In the end, we took out 2 walls (from the dining room to the kitchen, and from the laundry room to the kitchen), extending our kitchen by 4 feet, and merging the laundry room and kitchen into one 13 foot galley kitchen. Like you see in magazines, here is what we got (in case you're interested):
