Countertops Suck

Warning: This is a picture heavy post.

Our countertops were installed on March 15th.  It is now July 31st and I can say that the countertop/tile backsplash project is complete.

Holy bologna*.

*I hate that this is how to spell bologna.

I love do-it-yourself house projects because A) you have the self-satisfaction of doing it yourself B) you save money (or hope to), C) you don't have to do any work because your husband does it all, and D) it takes a hell of a lot longer than it would have if you had just paid a professional.  Wait, what?

I say that our countertops were installed on March 15th, so it's safe to say that the demolition of our kitchen started around March 1st.  Exactly 10 days before I was slated to host a baby shower at our house.  I came home from a movie with Haley and the kids to find that my lovely husband had already ripped off the laminate backsplash and huge portion of the countertops.

Ryan insisted that I could still host the baby shower and "cover up" the length of the wall that was missing the backsplash and riddled with left over adhesive.

Sure, babe.  Sure.

Removing the countertops and the backsplash seemed never-ending, and I swear that everyday our kitchen (and who am I kidding - our house!) turned more and more chaotic.  My godfather, Frank, was a God-send throughout this whole project between his knowledge, tools, and supportive, helping hands.  We love Frank.

Here are some before photos.  Because of Ryan's hasty backsplash and countertop removal - I never got a good "before" picture of the whole kitchen.

Some chaos (including the discovery of some dry rot in the wall between our bathroom and kitchen):

And finally, the finished countertops:

So, the counterops were in and all was great.  They just so happened to be installed on the week that I was battling bronchitis.  No joke - I slept through the entire installation.  I literally went to sleep with no countertops and woke up to granite ones.  I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz... Or something like that.

We really slacked on the backsplash portion of the project, and this is where we both with we would have just contracted this work out to get it over and done with.  C'est la vie.

Once we got our shiz together (decided on tile, purchased tile, and ordered grout), Ryan was able to get the tile up and grouted. It certainly didn't happen over night, but this is what our kitchen looks like now:

I'm really happy with how it all turned out.  Is it sad/bad that with the completion of this chaos, I was most excited to have our paper towel roll resume it's rightful place?

No, no it's not.  It's the little things, people!

So, there you have it.  It took nearly five months, lots of hard work from my Hubby (and Frank), and lots of patience from me.  Even though I was seriously itching to get this project finished, I tried not to pester Ryan about moving faster in his progress since he was doing all of the work.  I can honestly say that I contributed nothing to this project - except picking out the granite, tile, and grout color, and  helped clean/scrape the grout off.  But give me a break, I've been sick and/or pregnant during this whole ordeal!

What do you think?  Have you ever tackled a (majority) do-it-yourself project that took forever?  I would love to hear about your experience.

Take Luck,

LP 

Dear Monday

Linking up with Megan for Dear Monday!

Dear Monday, My alarm was not a welcomed sound (as if it ever is!) this morning and I was afraid you were going to suck.  Thankfully, you didn't.

Dear Kennedy and Riley, I loved getting to spend so much time with you this weekend.  However, I think it's going to take this baby-cooking-mama this whole week to recover.  My constant requests to have some of your energy were laughed at.  I was serious.

Dear Baby Peters, Only 3 more days until we get to see your face (and your genitalia).  There are a lot of people in your life who are very excited for this day!

Dear 20 Weeks, Goo!  We're rapidly working our way through the produce department in terms of baby's size and halfway done with this pregnancy.  Ca-razy.

Dear Hubby, I came home to two separate surprises from you this weekend.  The first, you assembled baby's crib.  The second, you cut up all of Brock's chicken for the week (that's 10+ pounds, people).  I would have never guessed that furniture assembly and the dissection of poultry would make me swoon.

Take Luck,

LP

Men Are Clueless

I have the pleasure (debatable and drenched in sarcasm) of working with lots of men.  And 90% of those men are over the age of 45.

I already knew that men were clueless before becoming pregnant, but let me just say - that men are really clueless.  And insensitive.

When I first told my group that Ryan and I were expecting, everyone seemed genuinely happy and excited for us.  It was then that I had two awkward conversations with two different male co-workers.  They were excited for me, but it seemed like they were more excited to see me gain weight.

What makes me say that?  Oh, I don't know.

One of the gem-gentlemen said, "So, when can I start calling you Chubs?"  And you could totally tell he thought this was a valid question.

The other asshole said, "Lauren, you are going to totally blow up, man.  You are gonna gain like 50 pounds," and proceeded to show how gigantic I would be by making his (fat) arms into a belly.

I am a pretty relaxed person, so I handled these situations by laughing them off and saying, "Uh, never?" to gem-number-one and "I sure hope not," to a-hole number two.

On the outside I kept my composure and was happy that my hormones have been pretty steady.  But on the inside I was thinking, "Both of these men have wives who have been pregnant and given birth.  To babies.  Why the hell do they think it's OK or acceptable to say this crap to me?"

Source

Let's fast forward to today.

The previously mentioned asshole said to me, "Lauren, you are blowing up*!" and then went onto say, "I bet you are going to have a 10 pound baby.  Can you imagine getting that out?"

*I would just like to say that I have not blown up and have only recently started to really "show."  Mmm, thank you.

It gets better.  Thanks to the hormones, my face has been breaking out quite a bit.  Mt. Everest and K2 have taken up residence on my chin.  My BFF actually said to me, "You might want to put something on that!"

I'm pretty sure my face turned beet red and I nearly cried out, "You might want to cover up your balls because I'm about to rock your world."

I'm thinking that he (as well as every other man in my working group) should receive a laminated copy of this post from Pregnant Chicken, along with my own little tidbits of advice... And maybe a protective cup.

Just sayin'.  We still have 20 weeks to go.

Take Luck,

LP

Dear Monday

Linking up with Megan for Dear Monday!

Dear Monday, Holy exhaustion.  I needed a caffeine IV/drip fixated in my arm today.

Dear Blogging Break, You were totally unintentional but not at all surprising considering my level of exhaustion lately.  See above.

Dear Kitchen Upgrade: I cannot tell you how much of a weight has been lifted knowing that you are complete.  I have been admiring our countertops for over four months now, but because the backsplash wasn't done - I didn't feel like I could completely enjoy them.  As of yesterday, I can.  Now, if we only had appliances that matched.  Ho hum.

Dear Baby Peters, Only 10 more days and we will know if you are a boy or a girl.  Let me tell ya - the suspense is killing me.

Dear 19 Weeks, My tummy is slowly expanding and rounding.  This very well be my last week in regular pants.  Bring on stretchy waist bands and forgiving panels of elastic.

Dear Hubby, I can't thank you enough for all of your hard work on the kitchen... Or for your kindness in the fact that this was all my grand idea and I was completely useless throughout the whole endevour. 

I'm cooking up a countertop-saga post that shows the great kitchen transition over the last four months.  I know you are just drooling with excitement, but hold your horses.

Take Luck,

LP

The Best Compliment

The prompt for Day 15, the final day of Sar's 15 Day Challenge is: What's the best compliment you've ever received.

This answer has definitely evolved throughout my life.

Growing up - I always liked and appreciated being told that I was mature.  Today, I enjoy being recognized as someone who is hard working and who catches on fast to processes and concepts at work.

But the best compliment I've ever received was while I was playing softball in college.  Several times throughout my senior year, my teammate Wags' Dad told me, "I have so much fun watching you play."

I never asked why, or for any explanation - but it always made me feel good and was an affirmation that I was playing my hardest and best, and leaving it all out on the field.

Take Luck,

LP