Ho! Ho! Ho!

I think this speaks for itself.  Santa and his helper.

UPDATE: Chrissie would like to add that she does not look SO pregnant in person. It's a bad angle.

Pardon the interruption

Sorry for the long delay between our postings... it's been a crazy few weeks. Where to begin?

While its no longer breaking news generally, there's exciting news in the blogosphere. Our kitchen is renovated, we've cooked up a storm, but now... there's a very different sort of bun in the oven. That's right! On or about May 24, 2009 -- our blog will be getting a new staff writer. The writing skills may take some time to develop -- but we're convinced that we're making a good new addition to the blog. Photos are below.


Above, you can see the baby waving! The other photos show other angles of the little tyke.

As for other developments from the past few weeks -- stay tuned! There's more to come. But no more babies!

Reflections from Our Election Day in "Real" America

We spent election day volunteering at a precinct in Manassas, VA. We'll keep the exact location between us so as not to further embarrass the folks we're about to mock, but suffice to say that while Mark Warner was elected to the Senate with about 63 percent of the statewide vote, his opponent, Jim Gilmore, beat him 51-49 in our precinct. McCain also won 63ish to 35 percent over Obama in our precinct, compared to 51-48 statewide, so there's the context.

The Background
Several weeks ago, Dan volunteered to do voter protection anywhere he was needed in VA. Once he got assigned, Chrissie arranged to be at the same place as well to hand out sample ballots and the like. Our experience in real America started Monday night, when it took us about 3 times as long as it should have to get out there due to Obama's rally (which we did not attend). At 9:15, VERY hungry, and somewhat in the middle of no where, we put our liberal, moral compasses aside (not to mention our culinary judgment) and ate at Cracker Barrel. It was nasty. But we checked into our hotel in time to see Obama's rally on tv and then went to sleep so that we could get up to be at our polling place at 5:45.

The day's best quotes:

"Which would you rather get hit in the face with - a coconut or a pineapple?"
This from a 17ish year old boy who looked liked he might bring a bomb to a school and who Chrissie really thought was going to throw one or the other at Dan or the other lawyer that was stationed with us. (Turns out, he was just a kid with issues...)

"So I just vote for the dark one?"
We were giving out Democratic sample ballots, which like their Republican counterparts, list all the names on the ballot, but bolds the candidate that is the member of that party and should be voted for. Totally innocently, someone looked at the ballot and said the above quote. Once he went inside, we had a little laugh between us.

"Only to use it as toilet paper."
We offered a woman a Democratic sample ballot, and our Republican counterpart offered her theirs. When she looked at what we were offering, she said she'd only take one to use it as toilet paper. To her credit, when she came out of the polling place, she didn't quite apologize, but had clearly realized she had been rude and started on a rant about how she was a fiscally conservative Republican and that the religious right had ruined her party. Regardless of how she may have voted, Democrats and Republicans alike could agree that using these sample ballots as toilet paper may not be the smartest move (that is, it would not be very comfy for one's rear end).


"I hope the Bradley effect is strong"
This was said by a Republican voter to our Republican counterpart. No further explanation needed.

"No, we're part of the silent minority."

A middle aged white woman said this after being offered a Democratic sample ballot. We spent the day trying to figure out what she meant...

"If you don't pay taxes, own property, (fill in other ridiculous, possible racist comment here), you shouldn't be allowed to vote."
This was said by our last Republican counterpart at the end of the day. Note that this man was also one of those "excited" by the pick of Sarah Palin.

Early Voting - Vegas Style

How cool is this? If only we could all vote early.



I borrowed this picture from the NY Times. It was taken by Isaac Brekken (for The New York Times).

If you can't see the picture well enough, it's a bank of slot machines, voting machines, and routine groceries in a store in Henderson.


See the accompanying article.

Powell: "This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

General Colin Powell was excellent on "Meet the Press" yesterday. To both Dan and I, the most phenomenal moment was not when Powell endorsed Obama, but when he said what few have been willing to say about the whole Muslim rumor (emphasis below added):

"And it is permitted to be said such things as, 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

"I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life."

Read the full transcript, from which this was taken, or watch the interview.

Hockey Mom Bingo

Thanks to a friend of Ashley's for this link. I know it's late in the day, but if you get the chance, play a little Sarah Palin Bingo during tonight's debate. And in the interest of bi-partisanship, if someone finds Biden bingo, I'll add it to the post.

Hypocrisy Abounds

This message is approved only by Chrissie, not Dan, who is tired of my ranting about the Presidential election and Republican hypocrisy (Yes - both parties do it, but the R's do it worse!).

I don't have a source for this, but it is making the rounds on the internet (thank you, Court, for forwarding it to me!). Those of you reading our blog probably already know this, but maybe you can use it to point it out to others who don't. We're looking at a long four years (and then perhaps another 8 with President Palin - YIKES!).

* If you're a minority and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "token hire."
* If you're a conservative and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "game changer."

* Black teen pregnancies? A "crisis" in black America .
* White teen pregnancies? A "blessed event."

* If you grow up in Hawaii you're "exotic."
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential "American story."

* Similarly, if you name you kid Barack you're "unpatriotic."
* Name your kid Track, you're "colorful."

* If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're "reckless."
* A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a "maverick."

* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.
* If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

* If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an "arrogant celebrity."
* If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are "energizing the base."

* If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are "presumptuous."
* If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a "shoot from the hip" maverick.

* If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are "an elitist-out of touch" with the real America .
* If you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.

* If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an "empty suit."
* If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an "experienced executive."

* If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are "extremist."
* If you believe in creationism and don't believe global warming is man made, you are "strongly principled."

* If you have been married to the same woman with whom you've been wed to for 19 years and raising 2 beautiful daughters with, you're "risky.
*If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a
Christian.

* If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.
* But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.

* If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you "First dog."
* If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you "beautiful" and "courageous."

* If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.

Pick Your President Contest

The Washington Post is hosting a "Pick Your President" contest where you predict who will win what state, and thus, the entire election. Chrissie's picks - entitled "Who Needs Florida!?" - are below. Note that Dan does not approve this message (though the competitive side of him might have to do his own map now!).

<p><strong>><a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/">2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election and enter to win a $500 prize.</p>

Poor Jeb.

(It's been an unusually busy day for the staff of Just Bloggin'. To put this post into context, see the posts below.)

Jeb speaks on school-voucher ruling.
(http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/09/jeb-speaks-on-s.html)

Former Gov. Jeb Bush has ended his long silence Wednesday over the school-voucher amendments the Florida Supreme Court struck from the November ballot.

"It is extremely disappointing the Florida Supreme Court ruled today to deny millions of Florida voters the right to make their voices heard on improving the quality of education in our state," Bush said in a statement released by his foundation.

"Florida is facing serious challenges. Our economy experienced its first quarter of negative growth in 16 years. Tax revenues are declining.

“Now, more than ever, Floridians should have a voice in determining – not just how much they are taxed – but how their tax dollars are spent."

Bush suffered one of his greatest political defeats in January 2006 when the high court ruled his Opportunity Scholarship voucher program ran afoul of the state Constitution's requirement for creating a high-quality free public school system.

Amendments 7 and 9 were designed to erode that constitutional underpinning of the court's action ,as well as striking language prohibiting state funding for "sectarian institutions" that a lower court had also used to rule against the vouhcer program.

Supporters have argued the amendments were needed to protect other specialized voucher programs for disabled children or those sponsored by the private sector.

But although the amendments were drafted by former Bush staffers, the former governor himself has kept mostly mum on the subject.

"Amendment 9 would have empowered Floridians with the ability to ensure their tax dollars were spent in the classroom on people and programs that make a difference in student achievement – a principled fiscal policy that becomes increasingly important during these tough budget years," Bush continued.

"Perhaps even more heartbreaking is the realization that Floridians will not have the opportunity to protect important programs, including the McKay Scholarship for students with developmental disabilities and Corporate Tax Credit Scholarships for students in low-income families. These programs, as well as 350 charter schools in our great state, will remain in limbo, under the real threat of litigation from individuals who want to centralize all education decisions within government bureaucracies."

Victory in Florida!

An update from Florida. (See below for an earlier posting on the subject).

This afternoon, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Ballot Initiatives Nos. 7 and 9 (which would allowed the voters to approve changes to the religion and education clauses of the Florida Constitution) were unconstitutionally proposed by Florida's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.

For a copy of the order, click here.

Florida Happenings

On September 3rd, the Florida Supreme Court heard oral argument in Ford, et. al. v. Browning, a case which seeks to remove 2 ballot initiatives from the November 2008 ballot. The proposed initiatives would amend the Florida Constitution to allow public funds to be used for religious purposes and to allow private/religious school voucher programs. Dan has been working with the National Education Association and the Florida Education Association to try and get these ballot initiatives kicked off the ballot. For copies of the briefs -- click here.

Hopefully, we'll have a decision soon! And a video link to the oral argument should follow as well...

UPDATE: While I'm having trouble posting the video directly, click here to see the argument in windows media player, or click here to see it in real video. Don't expect to see Dan, though. He was in DC watching it online.

The Julianos Take D.C.

Last week, the Julianos made the trek to D.C. to drop Chrissie's sister, Marissa, off at GW! Wednesday night we had a bbq with Jim, Rhonda, Ali, and special guest Ezra Zibel (who we were watching while his parents shopped at Ikea). Thursday night, we took in a Washington Nationals game! See pics below.


Ali, with Chrissie and Ezra



Ezra just waking up from a nap on Uncle Dan




Once Ezra was awake, we let him watch Bill Clinton's speech with her (tv isn't all bad, is it?), he wasn't nearly as bored as he looks in this pic.


Thursday night at the game


(Rhonda, if you haven't figured it out yet, took all the pictures)

Rewind....

More pictures of Ezra from Rehoboth Beach. You know, this kid just does NOT get enough attention...

A Few Pictures from Grady's Birthday Party!

Courtney and Travis's son turned one last week! While we did not get to attend the party in person, we did get some pictures of what looked like a very fun event. See below.

This is the card we sent Grady (Grady's mom knows how to make Chrissie feel good by including it in the pictures!)



Early in the party, Grady is all about the balloons!



But now that he gets to open presents, the balloons are not as important. As many parents, aunts/uncles, grandparents, etc. have learned, sometimes the gift of paper is best!



Finally, Grady digs into his first ever birthday cake.

Beach Weekend Part II

This past weekend (and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), we were in New York for Carol's (Chrissie's mom) 60th birthday. We had fabulous weather for all but one day out in Southold, which as you can see from the map is on the north fork of Long Island (the tab on the map is where we stayed).


D

To celebrate the big 60, we had an excellent meal at the North Fork Table and Inn. The food was out of this world, as was the dessert. Below are the pictures we took before and at dinner.







We also toured some Long Island wineries (which are not as bad as you may think) and did a nice little kayak in the marshes of Orient Beach State Park. Sorry to report we did not take any pictures in the kayak (we were in a double so it would have been hard).

That's all we got for now. Dan is off to lovely Fayetteville, NC for work next week, but I doubt he'll take any pictures!

Beach Weekend Part I

The first weekend in August we did a beach weekend in Dewey with the Zibel/Kolb clan. Check out the pics (mostly of our nephew Ezra)!

Coming soon: Pics from our most recent beach weekend in NY for Carol's (Chrissie's mom) 60th birthday.

And Then There Was Color!

So the kitchen is painted!!!! They need to come back and do a little touch up, but it's mostly done. And go us, we like the color.

It's hard to tell from the pics below, but we tried to capture the color. We also had the upstairs bath painted, which we will share when it is done (other stuff needs to be finalized, the paint is done).

We're off to the beach on Friday morning (with Ezra and the rest of the Zibel/Kolb clan), so enjoy your respective heat wave weekends!

Tried to do a close up here:



Under the bar (stools to come):



And in the context of the kitchen:

Granite? Who Needs Granite!

Many months ago, while just in the planning stages for the kitchen, we picked out the world's most expensive granite (we didn't know it at the time). As we were trying to reduce the price tag on the kitchen, we opted to go with silestone, a quartz composite that is more environmentally friendly and allegedly better than granite (even though it does not have the chi-chi value that granite does). It was also the original counter material we wanted (before falling in love with the previously mentioned granite).

NOW, we look wise beyond our years! Yesterday's New York Times article about radon seems to have started a firestorm of granite warnings (maybe it wasn't the NYT article that started, but that's what started it for me!). If you haven't heard about the granite-cancer connection, check out the Times story and this Washington Post blog.

While I am totally using this to make us look smart, this will probably get filed in the same category as "saccharin and Nutrasweet might give you cancer," but we all drink it anyway. In the meantime, however, lots of soccer moms are going to be very stressed!

Let There Be Light!

So the kitchen folks were back yesterday to put in 2 of the 3 pendant lights - the last one is backordered. The light by the back door (which might have been the worse specimen of everything that has been removed) was also replaced.

Today we had a different electrician come to put in the new chandelier.

Now that the electrical work is done the painting can commence! On Monday, the kitchen, upstairs bath, and various touch up work downstairs will begin.

We have decided we live in a totally different house than the one we bought 2 years ago!

See pics below.

Wall-E (And EVE)

Wall-E is the cutest movie I've seen in a long time. It's a love story with a healthy dose of social commentary - they earth is SO polluted that all the humans had to leave and go to space. And in space, they have all become slovenly. But the humans aren't the main characters. Wall-E is a robot left behind to clean up and EVE is a droid sent.. oh wait, don't want to ruin it for you. SEE IT!

Coming up soon: My review of the Dark Knight (hopefully we will see it this weekend!).

Changes to our blog...

In case anyone out there is reading... wanted to highlight the changes to our blog. I am trying to make it a little more dynamic, adding links to our friends sites, barackobama.com, and pandemicfluandyou.com (my organization's micro-site on pan flu information). Really, I am just trying to compete with Dan's new facebook obsession. So I'm working on making it an interesting site. Let us know if you have suggestions!

FINALLY... some new pics!

Sorry for the long delay in posting... we meant to update over the holiday weekend, but getting the house back together seemed a bit more important.

SO, the pics below illustrate and almost done kitchen. The pendant lights are still on back order and painting won't be done until the end of the month, but it looks pretty much what it is going to look like and we love it! And most of our stuff has found it's new home in the cabinets.

The plumber was here again yesterday so we finally have working ice maker/filtered water to drink.




The hood went in early last week and the exhaust fan nearly blew us away as it is really powerful.

Our afternoon with Ezra

On Saturday afternoon, we got to spend a wonderful afternoon w/ our favorite nephew.  Click here for photos of our fun day with Ezra.

For those of you who are simply interested in our kitchen, the latest update is below (including photos).

What a week!

So we apologize for the lack of photographic updates to the blog.  It's been quite a week.  We survived the Great Israeli Countertop Scandal of 2008 and have suddenly found ourselves with a functioning kitchen!

The counters went in last Thursday.  The backsplash tile also went in last Thursday.  On Friday the plumber came to hook up the appliances. (Sadly, he had to come back on Saturday -- but that's neither here nor there.)  The plumber should be coming back on Monday to hook the water/ice line up for the fridge and to put our much-needed heat in.   At some point, the electrician needs to come back to finish the lights.  The hood also needs to be put up. We assume that's happening in the very near future.

But as you can see -- we've got a kitchen!  The pictures don't quite do it justice.

We have counters!

We apologize for the lack of pictures, but we are happy to report that we do in fact have countertops!

And, we love the last minute substitution more than the original one we picked out.

Fingers crossed that our appliances go in today. We will post pictures over the weekend!

Countergate

So hopefully, countergate is coming to an end. We met with Joe on Tuesday morning, to select new counters. Needless to say, we're sticking with non-Israeli counters, as apparently the counter top industry in Israel is in the middle of a crisis. Oy vey.

Anyhow -- we've moved onward to a coffee brown silestone, a material which which should match the kitchen quite well. Apparently, it's somewhat environmentally friendly quartz. The current plan is for the counters to be installed on Thursday, with the plumber coming on Friday to get us functional.

Why you should always buy American...

So if you've been keeping track, things have gone very smoothly with the kitchen, except for the countertops. The plot thickened today when we found out that the replacement for the original material had a similar streak in it as the first. Turns out, the material is fabricated in Israel. So if we want to wait for a fresh piece, we're talking 6 to 9 months. Thus, tomorrow we will pick out a new countertop.

Schlueter Strips

In an effort to avoid our continued posting about nothing in light of the delays... we can proudly report that we have received our schlueter strips. Yup. That's right. We have a set of schlueter strips in our living room, waiting to be installed.

What, you ask, are schlueter strips? They are apparently strips that will be the edge of the backsplash tile. Not very exciting. But we've got 'em!

Joe (the designer) was at the house this morning. Counters are now supposed to be installed either Monday or Tuesday, and then -- as soon as the plumber comes -- we'll hopefully have a functioning, though not finished, kitchen.

Not to sound like a broken record...

But we are really at a stand still now. The material for our counters was not up to snuff when the company received it so they are not going to fabricate the counters with it. Which means about another week. SO sad. But it's still been less stressful than we thought so we can't complain that much (Dan, who was the messenger of this news this morning, however, might disagree with the concept of me not complaining about it!).

Second in a series of...

...movie reviews.

Dan indulged my need to see Sex and the City this weekend and didn't even make fun of me for crying through the ENTIRE movie - through happy and sad, hysterical and dark. It was quite an emotional roller coaster if you had invested 5 or so years of your life (as had I) with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. And I think that is what made it fabulous. If you hadn't invested those years, been through everything with them like they were your own best girlfriends, then it will probably fall short for you. But it is important to note that it is pretty dark - at one point Dan turned to me and used the word "depressing." They rally though, like only those girls can!

A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of saying that the bond between women goes "deeper" than the men they love - I am still atoning for that I think. And that's not what I meant... A movie like Sex and the City though does illustrate that very special bond between women and their friends that goes beyond the men they love. It's a different bond, but a powerful one nonetheless. (Hopefully, I won't get in trouble for that adjective!)

The acting was pretty good, the fashion was to die for (and I don't even like fashion), and the story a little long. All in all, worth it if you love Sex and the City. If you don't, you might want to skip it.

Update... Sort of.

So we've hit our first set back - the counters, which were supposed to go in yesterday (Monday), are delayed until Thursday, so we are really at a stand still now. That said, we are hoping the plumber can hook everything up Friday so that we are at least functional while other finish work takes place. There is a little more electrical to do, but we are close on that front as well.

Sorry for the lack of pics, but there really isn't much noticeable change to photograph. (BRAND NEW MOLDING just doesn't really come through the computer!) Stay tuned, but probably no updates until Thursday night.

Now no pictures... and no progress

We seem to have hit a standstill.

There is no news. We do not think anyone was here today. Except for Mr. or Ms. Verizon -- who fixed our phone service. Phew. If only Mr./Ms. Verizon could install countertops and finish the plumbing/electrical. Then we'd be golden.

Progress Without Pictures...

So in the sty that is our house right now we can't find our camera... and due - we think - to the storms that swept through the area yesterday, we don't have phone or internet.

Thus, we thought we'd pass along the progress the old fashion way... by word of mouth :-)

Our new refrigerator is plugged in (albeit without the water hooked up) and the old one has been taken away (may it rest in peace). The new microwave we bought over the weekend is sitting on it's own personal shelf, and both the dishwasher and range are in place, though not hooked up, as the plumber needs to do that. The new radiator is sitting in front of its assigned wall also awaiting the plumber.

Additionally, the dust wall and all the dust mats that were covering the floors are gone so cleaning can happen soon. The contractor thinks we may be done (with the exception of some minor fixes) by the end of next week (for those keeping track, that would be the end of week 4).

Hopefully, we will find our camera and Verizon will fix our service today (I think the former is more likely than the latter).

We're absolutely floored!!!!

Literally.

It truly is a historic day in America. The great divide has been bridged. It's amazing. No longer will anyone be able to look at our floor and see plywood. It's been tiled.

Actually, the kitchen really looks a lot like a kitchen. We've got the new flooring, the dishwasher is in place (though not hooked up), and most of the molding has been finished. The counters are in progress, and are supposed to be installed next Monday. There's still a lot to be done, but they seem to think we could be nearing completion by the end of next week!







But we still have 2 fridges in the living room... which should we use?!?!??!?!

Housing Crisis?!?!?!

Despite the fact that the WCPHD Honorary Kitchen Project continues, that doesn't hide the fact that there is still a crunch in the housing market these days. For an in-depth, hard-nosed interview with the CEO of Freddie Mac that aired on C-SPAN this weekend, click here. See if anyone looks familiar.

But back to our kitchen...
As of last night we had hardware on the cabinets, and we have been told that they measured for the counter yesterday (which takes about a week to fabricate).

And, we learned this morning that it's not a bunch of house elves that do the work, as we met one of the carpenters. We might have a floor later today!!

non sequitors

So it's been a quiet weekend on the kitchen front. But that doesn't mean we don't have lots of other news and exciting tidbits to share!

On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled (and correctly so) in the voting case Dan worked on at Wilmer. Click here to read the story from Saturday's Washington Post about the case. Or, if you're really brave -- click here for the opinion. It's a bit of a long read!

On Saturday, we went to visit little Ezra. He's getting big! And after our visit with Ezra, well... it was just Manny being Manny. We went to the Sox/Orioles game, and saw Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run.

Stay tuned... we're hoping for more excitement this week!

No news is good news?

Ok, maybe not when you're without a kitchen. No change today (Friday). Hopefully we will have something to share on Monday night. Enjoy your weekend!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

A KITCHEN!

So we've been a little delinquent on posting. But what a few days it's been!

The pictures don't really do it justice -- but the cabinets are all up and look great. It's really opening up the room -- and looks quite nice.



Above is the view from the living room through to the kitchen (yes, we are going to get a new chandelier and move it too!).



The empty space between the cabinets is where the range will go, and the empty box on the back wall where the microwave will go.



Newly framed out windows and real sills - we may not have real window sills anywhere in this house!



Dan is playing the role of the fridge here. There's been a slight glitch in the color of the side panels, but they'll fix it. No biggie!

Preview: We have appliances sitting in our dining room...

One more day this week -- who knows what sort of fun tomorrow will bring!!

We interrupt this kichen renovation....

...for a movie review! We went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night so got home too late to update the blog. All in all, it was fun to see Indy back on the big screen. The plot was fairly weak - think Temple of Doom, not Last Crusade - but the way they brought the story full circle worked. The stunts were still outrageous and proved that Harrison Ford still has it! And bringing back Marian - played fabulously by Karen Allen, who also still has it - was quite possible the best part of the movie. Like I said, fun, but no Oscar for this movie, which is fine. Beware - really gross bug scene (and don't think it's just the scorpions... there's more).

Back to our previously scheduled blog, a preview for this evening: The cabinets are in!

Walls DO Make a Kitchen!

Sorry for the delay in posting... Dan was off visiting law school friends in NYC this weekend, and I was in Michigan/Chicago for a little girls' weekend with Courtney and Ann (and some quality time with 9 month old Grady - see pics at right). Each of us - and the camera battery - were out of gas Monday night so the blog did not get updated.

But, very exciting progress has been made! The drywall is hung, electrical is pretty much finished (including in the ceiling), and the half wall that will be the bar is up. See below.









Additionally - looks like most of our cabinets were delivered today!

Taking the weekend off...

Both us and the workers are checking out for the weekend (albeit all to different places)... Look for an update Tuesday morning with progress made to date.

A preview: the outlines of the bar between the kitchen and the dining room appeared last night and the supplies sitting there seem to imply insulation and dry walling will begin today (Friday).

Have a great holiday weekend!

Its not everyday that your kitchen disappears

And apparently, it's not every day that you can notice changes.  It looks like some electrical work was done today.  But it's tough to tell... 

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday, we were packing and cooking lasagna. Today? As you can see -- Chrissie is becoming quite adept at making salad at the coffee table.

But at 8:30 AM, Tony (the project manager) showed up to get things going. By the end of the day -- we are down to the brick and studs on all sides, and there's some classic old wallpaper on some of the walls. The floor has been ripped up too. But the biggest change of it all -- the removal of the entire wall between the living room and dining room.

The first pic is from the living room, looking towards the kitchen. You can see our old fridge (and makeshift kitchen) in the foreground.

The second and third pics are the walls where the fridge, sink, and cabinets used to be.

You see the wallpaper in between some of the studs... here's a closeup!

We talked about leaving it up, but decided against it.

Below is the wall where the windows are. Those are staying put (with some insulation added for good measure!). Unfortunately, none of the brick appears to be nice enough to turn into an exposed brick wall. So sad.

Most of the damage is done.... There's no turning back! Stay tuned for further updates...