Tagged

I was tagged by Lisa, so I thought I would add the things that I listed on Facebook when Jami tagged me there. There are 16 things from Facebook, I only needed 7 things for here

Link to the person that tagged you (Lisa) and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

1. I am an extremely slow reader, I like reading books, but only do so on vacations, when I have lots of time to burn while traveling in between places. Mostly I listen to books on tape or CD while I am working at home cleaning or working on a craft project. This is also why I hate studying, cause it takes me so long to read the text books, plus I invariably fall asleep while reading boring text books.

2. I am a crafty person, I love to sew, croquet, knit, etc. I love to decorate and design things in my house. My latest project is our kitchen, I hope it turns out great!

3. I love to host parties, for example our annual Halloween party. However, I usually spend so much time organizing the food and games that I don't get to visit with the guests much.

4. I broke my shoulder (separated it from the growth plate) when I was 11. I flipped over our go cart and my friend was riding with me, she flew out and was ok, I stayed in the go cart when it rolled over and we figured I hit my shoulders on the ground or the roll bars or something.

5. I have been to Canada, Costa Rica, Ireland, Fiji, Bahamas and visited at least 25 of the 50 states. We will also be taking a Western Caribbean cruise in March '09

6. I have not had a full year off of school since I started kindergarten. K-12, two years of generals at community college, two years at Winona State for a Graphic Design degree, one semester off after I graduated, Nursing assistant class in spring semester and summer, started nursing prerequisites that fall. I will finally be done this spring and have an Associate Degree in Nursing.

7. I don't like to ask people in stores for help, if they ask me if I am finding what I need I will normally say yes, even if I haven't found it yet. I will look for something for a long time before I ask for help too. I don't know why, just shy about asking I guess, I think I am getting better though.

8. After my sophomore year in high school we moved to a new state, town and high school. Quite a change for me. The worst time was lunch time since I didn't have a group of friends to sit with. I did meet a few good ones at my new school though, and kept in touch with Stephanie, who is my best friend from my old school.

9. I am extremely fortunate to have a great family! My mom and dad are great, have been married for 34 years, always there for us kids, loving, funny, have lovable quarks and know a lot about life. My sister and I are great friends even though we seem to fight sometimes, we just tell each other how it is. I don't see my brother and his family as often as I would like to, since they live a ways away and it is hard to travel with school and work. He is stubborn, but can surprise you with how thoughtful he can be.

10. I have naturally curly hair and people always comment on it, they always say "I bet you hate it" and I say "No, I like it" Sometimes people I don't even know will touch my hair, which doesn't really bother me, I just think it is weird.

11. I have always been chubby. The skinniest I have ever been was my first year of college, I lost about 20 lbs and my skirts were so loose I could pull them off with out unbuttoning them. They wouldn't fall off, I have my hips to thank for that.

12. I threw shot put and discus in high school, I never set any records, but it kept me out of trouble and that is how I became friends with Leah and Beth at my second high school.

13. I love to cook, which contributes to #11. I don't follow recipes exactly, just use them for a list of ingredients and inspiration. Unless it is something special I will just look in my cupboards and see what I have and use that, not buy specific ingredients. We are also remodeling our kitchen, so it will be awesome cooking in a new kitchen!

14. I have wanted to have children since we got married but have been hindered by # 6, plus Nate is worried by the thought of babies, he is getting more used to the idea though.

15. I love, love, love to organize when I am in the mood for it. I even straightened shelves full of CDs and DVDs in a pawn shop while Stephanie was browsing.

16. Perfect jobs for me: photographer, party planner, cake decorator, wedding planner, sandwich shop/coffee shop owner (with my sister), craft shop owner, quilt maker, caterer ... can you think of more.

And now...I tag: no one, I don't like tagging, if you see this and want to do it yourself, great, if not, that is fine too.

kitchen colors

Here is a picture to give you an idea of what the kitchen colors are. The darker wood on the left is the color of out lower cabinets, the center wood color is the upper cabinets, black appliances and the marble counter top tiles.

Kitchen floor

Well, these pictures are over due, but I finally got them up.

Dad, Gina and Levi came up last Thursday to help us install the kitchen tile. We tore out the old subfloor, put in new subfloor, cement board and then laid tile on that. The actual tiling didn't take long, but taking out the old subfloor was more work than we expected!

Tear out on Thursday night (like my earplugs?)

the plywood was brittle and nailed down every two inches on the seams, so it took 4 hours or more to get it all out.

We discovered that the floor below the plywood was not very sturdy! Note the holes!!!

The mess

Another view of the mess, and you can see we finally got all the plywood torn out.

Putting in new 1x8s

replacing weak boards

cement board installed

my expert help!

putting in the tile

Our progress by noon on Saturday

Chloe and Jami brought the work crew lunch on Saturday, wasn't that nice of them!
Chloe was interested in Levi, she came straight over to him as soon as she came in the door.

Nate and Levi
Nate isn't too sure what to do with him
There, I think he's got it

All in

doesn't it look nice!

Sorry

I know I said I would update with tiling pictures almost a week ago and I still haven't gotten around to it. I have more pictures from our Miller weekend too, so I will add those as well, but it will have to wait until after work tomorrow.

Changes!!!!

I went and picked up our counter top tile from Menard's today. Ooohhhhhh, I like it!!

They also filled in the holes in the walls with sheet rock so the kitchen is looking different!!!

Here are pictures for updates.

before

after

before

after

before

after

Before

After

Marble tile for the counter tops; close up

six tiles laid out together

Dad and Gina and Levi are coming up tonight so we will tear out the subfloor, put down durarock and lay the tile this weekend. Look for an update on Sunday or Monday to see the tile. I had a few votes on the tile design choice, I am still not sure what we will do. I like the Diamond design, but I also think that it may look good just to do plain tan, we will see! It may be too much work and calculating to put the diamond shape in, it would be faster to lay all tan.