Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Kitchen Remodel

One of the things I loved about our house when we first saw it was the kitchen. I could see the potential. Here are some pictures of it before we moved in (Feb 2007).





Why yes, those are peachy, flesh-colored counters! And don't you love the huge burn mark on the island? The previous owner apparently didn't own any trivets. I wasn't crazy about the white generic appliances or the yellow wallpaper. I knew one day we would get around to changing it.





In March 2009 we finally did get around to it. Little did I know that this was going to be the biggest ordeal of our lives! We put in granite countertops, replaced the backsplash and the tile floor, had the wallpaper removed, the walls textured and painted, got a new sink and faucet and finished replacing the white appliances with stainless steel. Let me rephrase that, we hired people to do all of this. More on that later.

This is how we lived for a few days while the granite and floors were being installed. Let's just say we ate out...a lot...during this time.






Yes, that is our fridge in the office. Very convenient when you got thirsty while blog stalking.




Since it was still tax season and Ryan was very busy and since this was a pretty big project, we decided not to attempt any of this ourselves. We hired a local company for the counters, backsplash and floor. I could type for another hour all of the details with what a terrible experience we had, but I won't. I will leave you with a few of the hiccups:

Almost installed 2 different color floor tiles (I stopped them just in time!)


Removed the baseboards and took them with them when they were supposed to put them back


Removed 3 small custom pieces of trim and then lost them

The list goes on and on. My blood pressure will get too high if I relive this for too long. I'll just say that they actually did install 2 different backsplash colors and tried telling us that it would be the same when it dried. Well, a week later they were still 2 different colors. After several weeks and 6 trips back to our house to fix things (not to mention 2 trips from the general manager who ended up being a jerk, too), it was finally over.

This is a picture of the 2 different color backsplash tiles.





Finally, its finished! (Actually, this isn't a picture of the finished product. You can still see the wallpaper. I will have to find a picture with the painted walls, but you get the idea.)








The only thing left in our house to work on is the master bath. I have a feeling it will be while before we tackle something again.









Thursday, May 14, 2009

Does this thing still work?!?!?!

Dare I step back into the blogging world? The pressure to post on a regular basis. To take pictures and actually load them onto the computer. To type witty narratives. I'm not sure I'm ready for this again!

Maybe I will just try to change my Christmas background and see if that inspires me...

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas in Shreveport

Last weekend, we celebrated Christmas with the Guyton family in Shreveport. Although I didn't get any pictures of the actual Christmas dinner and present opening, I was able to capture a few moments. Ryan went deer hunting Saturday morning with his brother and nephew while I slept in. It was great! That afternoon, we shopped, ate and played around the house in anticipation of our "Christmas" that night. It was a quick trip...we were there less than 36 hours! We were grateful to get to see them since I am on-call for Christmas this year and we are stuck in McKinney.

Ryan and Ella (our neice) making silly faces


Ella cheesing it for the camera




Michael (Ryan's brother), Ryan, John Michael (Michael's son),
Me, Ella (Michael's daughter)



The same gang, with Mr. John (Ryan's dad) instead of me


Michael flying a kite with Ella and John Michael



Come see us soon, Guytons! We love and miss y'all!







Happy Birthday, David!

Belated happy birthday to David Myers! We celebrated with David and Caitlin at Pappadeaux's.

David enjoying his birthday dessert and a kiss from Caitlin


Ryan about to dig into our sweet potato pumpkin pie
(my choice-very different, but delicious!)

ICE at the Gaylord Texan

ICE! at the Gaylord Texan
Jason showing off his moves on the ice slide.


The girls...FREEZING!




The guys in front of the beautiful ice nativity


Fallen ice skater sculpture


Ice Nativity Scene



Kristen getting some sugar from an ice elf




We recently went to the Gaylord Texan to enjoy the ICE exhibit with the Aunes and the Myers. Ryan and I went 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. If you've never been, it is very cold! They supply parkas because it is ~9 degrees inside the exhibit. They had different sculptures this year and the ice slides were even longer than in the past. We had a great time!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Too cute not to share...

Last year my grandmother (Maw Maw Dyess) bought her first great-grandchild (Shelby) a winter coat. Our poor little Shelby is a bit on the petite side, so it was too big. This year she fits into it alot better. Once we put it on her she ran to the front door and scratched. Guess she thought she was all dressed up and ready for a night out on the town!






Monday, December 8, 2008

Sad, sad news

Most of you know that I have been training for the White Rock half marathon since February. Sadly, I am not going to run in the race on Sunday. After lot of tears and pouting, I am willing to admit that this is just not the best time for me to attempt something of that magnitude. Over the last month I have had a stomach bug and a cold, each one lasted nearly a week. I wasn't able to run much during all of that. Then there was the week of Thanksgiving. I actually took my running gear to Shreveport and Monroe, but was able to run only once due to the weather.



The straw that broke the camel's back was last week. I had been dizzy since last Sunday, but Thursday night I had a scary couple of hours. The room began spinning out of control. As I went to get Ryan, I couldn't walk straight and kept running into walls. The next morning we were in the ER at PHP for over 6 hours. (I tried pulling the whole "I work here" routine, but it didn't get me very far). They diagnosed me with vertigo but couldn't determine what was causing it. They checked my blood pressure, blood sugar, electrolytes, ears....everything was OK. They even did a CAT scan and found no issues with my brain (please refrain from any smart comments!). The MD hopes it will go away as quickly as it came.



So after having a rough month health-wise, it seems to be in my best interest to postpone my running dreams. I am very disappointed, but want to make sure I am really ready when I do decide to run. I looked up some races this morning. There are other half marathons in February, April and July. This just means that there is plenty of time for someone to start training and run with me. Any takers?!?!?!?!



Here is a sad picture of me with my first IV access. They didn't even have to give me any fluids since my labs were OK. What a waste!