Productive Day

While I was upset that Opening Day was cancelled (well, at least the AM games that included Coby's) I was also relieved because we had much to do today. I even asked my mom to come down from PA (3 hour drive!) to watch the kids for the day so we can get this stuff done.

I'm pleased to announce....it's done!

Wanna see what we did?!?!

First, we finished the deck:

Then, we Jon replaced SIX windows! Yup..... by himself. (He has even painted the outside and caulked the inside. Now just the inside needs to be painted!):

While he did that I was painting some panels that go to our crawlspaces on the 2nd floor (they were the original brown material) and I sanded, primed, and did two coats of red on our side door and front door (you can see in the first pic the mud room door was already this color...The front and side doors used to be but we had to replace them....long story....):

I also had to take Coby to a first communion party. When the little boy asked me when Coby's was going to be I explained to him that we do not do that in our church. I told him that we were not Catholic. He said, "What's Catholic?" I read in Time last week that Catholicism is not the #1 world-wide religion anymore. For the first time ever.

Anyway...before I drop I wanted to say how wonderful it is to be able to open all of my windows now!! None of the six that were replaced could open before. WOO HOO!!!

Multiplication Clarification....

Here is the explanation I got from his teacher...

For #12, the problem was to write a repeated addition sentence for 3x9=27. 3x9 is read as 3 groups of 9, therefore 9+9+9. 3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3+3 would represent 9 groups of 3, or 9x3.

Makes sense....

Have a great weekend!

Confused...

So Coby brought home his Multiplication and Division Post test yesterday. He got one wrong that is confusing me. I have emailed the teacher, but would love thoughts on it. This is 2nd grade math, BTW.

Here is the question: Write an addition sentence to represent 3 X 9 = 27.

Coby answer (and I agree!) was: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 27.

The teacher marked it wrong and said it should be: 9 + 9 + 9 = 27.

To me, that looks like 9 X 3! Nine, three times.

Hmmmmm......thoughts?

Have a good Friday! I'm off to the hospital all day with my grandmom.

Random Fact of the Day: To answer some of the questions I've been given....We are looking in the Finksburg/Hampstead/South Eastern Westminster area. We would like more land and would also like to be closer to where Jon works and our church. And we have not ruled out the lot next to the church to build on!! Wouldn't that be fun?!?! Plus, there's a farmette up for grabs next to it as well. I don't think I could live on a farmette, though....

AI Tonight

I think Syesha, Michael, and Brooke will be in the bottom three tonight with Syesha going home.

How about you?

Ode to my Kitchen

I love my kitchen. I've said it before. I've decided to document a tribute to it so when we move I'll have a memory here. That sounds corny, but you have to understand how much thought and hours of time went into designing this one. A few years ago we added on to the back of our house. Here is a before and after: (The brick you see to the right of the addition is the next-door neighbors house)

The kitchen was just one of many things that we changed. Here are some old photos of our kitchen. Take note of my lack of counter space and storage. There were only three drawers in the whole kitchen (to the left of the stove)! Also, those big white double doors did not open to a pantry. That was my washer and dryer!

Now, I have a TON of space. Here is what my kitchen looks like...




These first two pictures are of where the original "run" was (with my sink and stove) to give you an idea of the space we have now. The current sink is about where the stove and three drawers were before. You can kind of see the bulkhead above where the addition starts:






The window in this next picture was to the right of my sink in the old kitchen:




Next up is the addition part. We added an eat-in area as well as extra cabinets and countertops. I'm in heaven!!



That door in the left corner behind Ella goes to the broom closet that also houses our receiver for the whole-house surround sound. We have speakers in the ceiling in every large room, including my master bath and the loft upstairs. It's awesome...I always have music playing!

Up against the wall where the old countertop came out for a breakfast bar (the phone is on it in the old pictures above) we added another line of cabinets that also includes a double oven:



And last, (but certainly not least!) is my most favoritist (!!) part of the whole kitchen!! My island!!




When the cabinet maker brought this thing in my jaw dropped. I had no idea it was going to be that big! I mean, I did, but you don't realize it until you really see it.

And so here is a pic of the space that used to be the old kitchen:




Because I had the cabinets custom built I was able to add all sorts of cool things to them. I have built-ins in most of the drawers (like the silverware one you see below to the right) and pull-out shelves in most of the cabinets.The drawers are also the full-extending kind so there is no wasted space! My trash can is also a pull-out. Then you can see above the bookcases and I also made a spot for my bread and onions (you can see that in the 2nd pic...under the Pampered Chef carousel). Then, there is my pantry. That is down to the left here.....

So, that's it. My kitchen. My pride and joy. And probably what is going to sell this house

Too soon, God?

So, my plan was to have the house on the market by the end of next week, beginning of the following at the latest. Apparently God has other plans. The majority of our work we need to do is outside and we were planning on having this Saturday (except for a well placed - can you feel the sarcasm? - baseball game at 11:45) to do it. It's supposed to rain. All day. How am I supposed to paint two exterior doors in the rain? Huh? And how is Jon supposed to finish the deck? Tell me?

In time it will get done, I know.

It's hard, but I have this verse to lean on:

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…."

Psalm 37:7 NIV

I'm horrible at patience. Maybe this is God teaching me a lesson!

Random Fact of the Day: My favorite summer drink is a Skinny Caramel Mocha Frappuccino with Whip (that's why I get skinny!) from Starbucks.

Deck pics and an extra

Coby and I at his "Jump-Rope-Athon" Thursday!



Don't have much time. I'm trying make this mess house presentable for my Make-N-Take thing tonight. The upstairs is soooo close! I'll have to get some pictures, although I think it looked better when I had the kids pictures up. One of the houses we looked at yesterday has made it to the list. I'll be looking at more tomorrow (with Ella...pray for me!) and decided if it's worth a trip back with Jon.

Here is the deck so far:

You can see in this picture below where we had started demolishing the concrete a few years ago (in the corner). This was the reason for the deck....

Have a good, rainy monday!