Kitty Adventures, New Countertops, Tuesday Treasures and a Vintage Valentine.....Catching up!

We emptied all the lower cupboards in preparations for the new countertops and the kitties have absolutely loved exploring all these new places! Drawers were stacked in the dining room, sewing room and living room and the kitties were checking everything out!

Tabitha is the most adventurous and she was in every cabinet trying to pull off the new shelf lining as I was putting it in.

Samantha would sneak into the kitchen and check out all the cubby holes she'd never seen before!

We were up and at 'em on Monday trying to empty all the lower cupboards and pulling out every drawer when Irving Countertops called and said that they knew we had a 1:00-2:00 appointment - but they could come early - as in 45 minutes!

They arrived shortly before noon and started to work.

My old counters don't look too bad in the photos, but the particle wood underneath was soft and flaking off. The backsplash had cracked in the inner curve and the seam on the left side of the sink was swollen from all the overflowing we had done in the sink. PLUS - the 'butcher block' design was rubbing off along the edges. Trust me - we do not replace anything that does not, indeed, NEED to be replaced! I covered up all these imperfections as best I could, but these counters were not professionally installed way back in 1983 and I really wanted good quality ones that look nice.

Louis Dean and I sat in the living room and visited together while the guys worked.

I sneaked a peek when I could.

I had ordered tops for our two rolling cabinets.....

this is the coffee cart that has all our coffee things on one shelf inside the cabinet and our liquor - not that we have much - on the lower shelf. We are more coffee, tea, and wine drinkers.

This cabinet had never been finished out and I love the back splash here and the finished edges.

I am loving everthing about my new countertops!

You can see the other cart here and I am SO glad I had them topped off!

Makes the kitchen look finished and on purpose!

The installers knew what they were doing and they were done in about 2 hours!

They loaded up the old ones and left at 2:15!

We took pictures and then decided to go out to eat to celebrate.

We had hired the plumbing part in the contract with Home Depot and I called to let them know the counters were installed and we were ready to have everything hooked back up - the new sink, and disposal.

It was such a nice afternoon!!

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen in Irving.

I ordered the Grande Top Shelf Margarita and it was delicious!!

And BIG!!!

Since I was drinking up extra calories......I ordered the veggie plate.

This dinner salad filled me up!

So I took the four veggie dishes home to have for lunch the next day.

Louis Dean totally deserved a steak dinner!

And he enjoyed every bite!

We went home and I went right to bed and slept for three solid hours!

This whole upheaval of the house causes me a bit of ....what?

I'm excited to get this long longed for update done but I get overwhelmed at the way the house is so trashed in the process. It doesn't depress me but it does mess with my mind.

While Louis Dean and I sat in the living room while the guys were working, I had such a pain in my stomach. Like I had been sucker punched in my belly.

I feel like I am pretty healthy emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.

But I do have history and baggage.

Mental and emotional and these uprooting changes are challenging as well as exciting.

I was glad for the solid rest and had laughingly told Louis Dean to wake me up at 9:00 if I was still asleep. I woke at 8:00 and decided to stay in bed and read when he came to the door and said,

"I didn't want to get you up....but Tabitha ran out the front door between my legs when I was getting a package in."

I staggered outside and spent the next hour chasing down my precious kitty!

I followed her and went around the block called, "Here, Kitty, Kitty!"

Finally, with dogs barking and it being cold, I think Tabitha got tired and this adventure was no longer fun. We were in the middle of the street in front of the house and she just laid down and curled up......and waited for me to take her up in my arms. I set her down when we got inside and she went right straight to the guest room and put herself into her bed inside the kennel.

Freedom wasn't as wonderful as she thought it would be!

All four of us - one old couple and two young sibling kitties - all bedded down for the night!

And we all slept so well!

It's a good thing to sleep warm and safe.

Tuesday we had errands to do before we could work on the kitchen.

The plumber still hadn't called but I kept my phone on and right beside me.

We dropped Summer's van off at Firestone for some maintenance and I shopped Goodwill for a couple of Tuesday Treasures.

I scored on a beautiful cream throw from Pier 1 for $3.75.

It washed up beautifully and is gorgeous with the sequins and golden threads.

Perfect for my quiet times in the living room on cold mornings.

And that Bee Hive canvas was just calling my name!

I had bought Louis Dean a new batch of overalls and shirts.

The overalls are 'lost' and they can be refunded.

The shirts arrived - four of them - but we ordered the wrong size.

He's not as big as he used to be!

So we returned them yesterday to Khol's which is an Amazon return center.

They gave me my return receipt along with a 25% off coupon for Khol's.

This is what we bought.

We needed a new toaster ....and a new toaster oven.....

and with this purchase I got both plus an airfryer and more in one appliance.

AND it was on sale and then another $50 off!

Win! WIN!!!

We spent Tuesday afternoon and evening working in the kitchen.

We had not heard from a plumber by 8:00 that night so Louis Dean decided to install the sink and reconnect the plumbing himself.

I worked at refilling the cupboards and putting new shelf lining in and he worked on the sink.

I cried Uncle and went to bed about 9:00 and he stayed up working for hours and hours.

I got up to check on him and took this picture at 1:00 in the morning.

He is such a hard worker!

Wednesday morning now!

Tabitha is so curious about outside...but we put both cats in the guest room when we knew we needed to go in and out with tubs and tools and such.

I have worked all day on one section of the kitchen while Louis Dean has worked on the sink.

Lou called from Home Depot to say they are refunding the price of the plumber.

I asked how much it was and she said $434!

Louis Dean felt better about doing it himself!

While we still don't have water in the kitchen yet - we should be set up tomorrow.

The hard part is done and he said he knows now why they charge so much!

We have stopped for the night.

It's freezing cold all over the country and we went out to wrap towels around our faucets and Louis Dean put a heater on his aloe plants.

He even built a fire burning all the debris from a section of the interior of a lower cabinet that was pretty damamged. It's good to get all this done while we are still able to do it.

At 84 years old, he has yet to call on anyone for help....except when he had a heart attack and we asked son Jesse to come do some stone work he was not able to do. And when he asked Amber and Mike to take out the old spa in our backyard and they took a holiday weekend to come up from Katy, Texas and hack it up with chain saws and haul it all to the curb. And then the fence posts he had to ask son Dean to do for him. And then all the computer and technical issues he's asked Summer to help him with. Yes, we all need help from time to time and he has helped others as much as they have helped him. Still, age is creeping up on us and we feel an urgency to get things done while we can do them so we can enjoy our older years in good comfort.