daydreams & the former me.

I took this week off work. No particular reason, aside from my occasional need to walk away and recharge, but it's the perfect opportunity to start diving into the organizational nightmare that is Turning the Yellow Bedroom into a Nursery. (Yes, I do spend all my time off organizing. Yes I do.)

Of course, when I took time off work last spring, it was warm enough to paint the kitchen cabinets; this year, we've hardly cracked 50 degrees on any given day. So much for my theory that Ann Arbor is always in bloom by the time University of Michigan graduation rolls around (third week in April). Wonk-wonk. IT USUALLY IS, OKAY? Anyway, since anything under about 65 degrees is considered freezing in my book, I've been holed up inside, playing organizational dominoes.

The first domino is the future nursery, AKA The Baby's Crib. At about 10' x 11', the yellow room is our smallest bedroom - definitely smaller than the master bedroom and the guest room. When we moved in (almost four years ago! Whaaa?!), we couldn't even venture a guess as to how we were going to use THREE BEDROOMS, plus a living room, a garage, a basement....As adults, we'd only inhabited apartments, and we didn't have enough furniture to fill three bedrooms.

We stuck the futon in there and called it a day (and later took down the stained drapes and painted the walls yellow). Fast-forward almost four years, and it's been reinvented as an office, a temporary nursery for my niece, and a What-Do-We-Do-With-This;-I-Don't-Know-Stick-It-In-The-Yellow-Room room. Especially after we turned the guest room closet into our office, the smallest bedroom became a dumping ground for everything from coursepacks to comic books, crafting crap to keyboards. 

Taking a 360-view of the room...

The little bookshelf houses my grad school binders and textbooks;
that chair is never sat in anymore; that fan is broken...

Haven't touched the keyboard in years...the tall bookshelf holds my undergrad
textbooks and grad school coursepacks...that big dresser is EMPTY...

And the fourth wall is pretty much useless, since it's a wall of doors.

I've kept all my school books, binders, and papers, even though I finished undergrad eleven years ago (omg) and grad school seven years ago (omggg) - but it was high time to prune the collection. One simply does not need four severely outdated textbooks on developmental psychology. But it's hard to part with this stuff! It's like a visual reminder that, once upon a time, I knew all that crap. And this is the stuff that defines me, in a way - at least, the young-adult-version of me.

But, you know, reality check. Baby coming. Times a-changin'. And? Totes sick of the yellow walls, and can't paint until the room is cleared out. I started perusing the stack of over a dozen coursepacks and realized that if I hadn't read them to begin with (ahem), I probably wasn't going to reference them in the future. And anyway, isn't that what Google is for? So: out with the coursepacks, out with nearly all the textbooks, out with the contents of the binders. I couldn't part with everything, especially not all of my social work texts, so I'm allowing myself to keep one shelf's worth of school stuff, but it's major progress. I also slogged through my memento box that's traveled with me since I left my childhood home (and actually got rid of some stuff from it...gasp); I sold three big things on Craigslist; and I found a new location for my collection of children/young adult books.

As for the rest of the stuff? Well, THIS IS WHERE DOMINO MADNESS BEGINS. Baby deserves to sleep in a crib not made of coursepacks --> must clean out yellow room --> but I'm not getting rid of all my stuff / J.J. isn't either --> need to relocate remaining stuff to basement/hall closet --> basement and hall closet both need to be cleaned out and storage bins need to be purchased. Let's not kid ourselves here, though, people. This is my dream come true. I'm designing a nursery for the baby that I think is really going to happen, AND I have to get to purge and organize in order to make it happen?! Best problem ever.

So, another update soon, after I tackle the hardest, most cluttered part of the room...which I haven't even shown you yet: our closet of disorganized shame.

Photo albums, comic books graphic novels, old magazines, children's books, yearbooks, memento boxes, a dozen journals, and mayyyyybe two scrapbooks dedicated individually to R.E.M. and U2. That's right. Which I haven't looked at since 1998, but somehow haven't been able to dispose of yet. This closet alone is taking forrrevvvverrr to go through. In the meantime, my quest of selling, donating, purging, and relocating continues...all in the name of anal retentiveness the Baby.

Sorta hard to tell, but that's the baby giving us a high five three weeks ago.
(Hand is below where it says "Hand" - all five fingers pointing to your left.)
(Holy mackerel, there's something inside of me with at least five fingers.)

return.

So maybe it's been over two months since my last post. Sorry; it wasn't on purpose. I have a good excuse, though.

Right? Reasonable excuse. THAT'S GROWING INSIDE OF ME. And even though it's been forever since I last wrote, and even though I still have, like, three or four or seventeen kitchen posts to finish, I needed to get this out. (Um, the news, not the baby.) And answer some Frequently Asked (To Publicly Pregnant Women) Questions, too.


Q: Wait, whaaa? You're preggo?!
A: Yes. Yep! That ultrasound picture is from a week and a half ago - twelve weeks, three days pregnant.


Q: How far along are you?
A: Fourteen weeks tomorrow. I'm due October 1, because what the world needs is another Libran Gorga. (I'm not sure if I'm being sarcastic about that or not, but I don't think so?) (Unintended Libran indecisiveness noted, thank you.)


Q: When did you find out? And how?
A: I found out in late January, the night before my period was due. I'd run out of pregnancy tests a few days earlier, when I used up the last of my Super Duper Early tests (and got a "not pregnant"), but I had a nagging feeling that something was up. I don't usually get strong PMS symptoms anyway (experienced cramps for the first time around Week Seven...yeah, those suck), but I felt nothing, which was odd. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I went ahead and asked Dr. Internet a weird question: Can I use my ovulation predictor tests as a pregnancy test? Dr. Internet said YES, since a certain hormone will only be detected if one is either ovulating or pregnant. (Dr. Internet also cautions folks not to depend entirely on OPKs to tell you if you're pregnant, duh.) I tried one out, and? Smiley face. Hormone detected. I sat there shaking for a minute, trying to convince myself that it wasn't an actual pregnancy test and not to get too excited. After all, I'd had a decidedly negative test just three days prior. I made my way downstairs to J.J. and said, "So...I think I might be pregnant." He was shocked and ecstatic, and when I explained that I didn't actually use a pregnancy test, he bolted to the drugstore and bought four. I didn't want to try one until the next morning, since morning pee is the best pee to use, so I waited overnight and took the test when I woke up. Guess what I did? I failed it. Nope, it didn't say "not pregnant" - I got an error. I failed the pregnancy test. AND I used up all my good pee. You'd think after taking eight pregnancy tests in five months, I'd have the routine down, but nooo. I tried later that day on my lunch break. PREGNANT. Holy crap.


Q: How have you been feeling?
A: I can answer this one in stages.

1. Discover I'm pregnant. Allow myself two unfettered seconds of HOLY CRAP I DID IT before anxiety sets in. Out of superstition, wait a week before canceling my pending Reproductive Endocrinology appointment. Still nervous that I jinxed the whole thing by canceling the appointment.
2. Don't "feel pregnant" for about two weeks. Freak out that maybe I've cultivated a hysterical pregnancy. It could happen.
3. Hit Week Six and become hyperaware of every aspect of my digestive system, even aspects of it that I didn't really know existed. I'm nauseated from around 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. I'm starving constantly, but nothing sounds good - in fact, all foodstuffs sound vile. Repulsive. WHY DO HUMANS EAT HOT CHEESE EVER? Shudder. The only thing that eases the nausea is (in a horrific twist of irony) eating. Maybe I'm pregnant after all.
4. Oh, so THAT'S what cramps feel like. OH. Wait...do cramps mean I'm miscarrying? Consult the Internet. The cramps are obviously an ectopic pregnancy, an impending miscarriage, and/or 100% normal. Crap. Make solemn promise never to ever again consult the Internet about pregnancy. Break that promise a few dozen times.
5. Spend two weekends in a row in bed, from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, wondering how anyone ever does the following things: get out of bed; descend staircases; clean; smile; exercise; go more than three hours without a nap.
6. Vacillate between rampant anxiety that I'm going to (a) innocently go to the bathroom and discover blood, meaning I've lost the baby, or (b) miscarry and not know it until weeks later. These aren't totally unfounded worries, but, being me, I take them to a whole new level. So much for having that Generalized Anxiety Disorder under control.
7. Stare into space while at work, groping for my anti-nausea pressure points. One day, a coworker brings another (pregnant) coworker a fountain soda, and I almost grab it from her because I want it more than anything in the universe ever. Instead, I push on my thumb webbing and will the nausea away.
8. Have my first ultrasound (at nine weeks, three days). This is my first confirmation that I am actually, factually, with child. Everything looks great, if gummy-bear-esque. The anxiety retreats to Threat Level Two, along with my constant nausea.
9. Hit Week Ten and have explosions of slightly manic cleaning, because I finally have some energy again. Am rewarded twofold: first, with the totally sensical thought that I must be having extremely early nesting syndrome, indicating imminent fetal evacuation, meaning I'm about to miscarry; and second, with crushing exhaustion a couple hours later as I'm reminded that my body is working ridic hard right now to grow a human, and I can't just haul off and mop all the floors in the whole stupid house.
10. Welcome Week Twelve by puking for the first time during the pregnancy, courtesy of swallowing my huge, chalky prenatal pill. Which, mind you, I've been taking for over a year without issue, but WHATEVER.
11. Approach the second trimester with the cautious understanding that most food is sounding edible again, but not all the time, and that I can only expend energy in short bursts if I don't want to pay for it later.

So, overall? Felt like complete hell for about five weeks, starting to feel better. Except when I don't.

Q: Do you have a bump yet?

A: Yes, but probably not to the casual observer. So far, my belly looks like it does after I gorge on a sixteen-inch Sottini's sub. My waist is definitely getting thicker, though, and usually by the time I finish dinner, my jeans can no longer be buttoned comfortably (an unfortunate truth when I'm eating at a restaurant). I've had to watch what shirts I wear to work, since most of my tops are form-fitting, which betray the bump. Seriously can't wait to have a bump that's obviously a human baby and not a food baby!

Q: Any food cravings?

A: NO. Nope. Nada. There were certain foods during the height of my nausea that sounded mildly palatable - grapes, bagels, red juice, fountain Coke, peanut butter toast, apples, smoothies, Cheerios - but typically what would happen was that I'd finally get my act together to stock up on the not-disgusting food item, only to find it was suddenly disgusting again. It's pathetic, but I've wasted an awful lot of food the last couple months. Basically, I'm not yet in the food cravings part of pregnancy; just stuck in the food aversions part. The absolute most disgusting things are the meals I was obsessed with right before I got pregnant - tomato soup and cilantro-lime quinoa with black beans. I'm pretty sure the media designs food commercials specifically to torture me. The worst over the past couple months? McDonald's Fish McBites (WTF) and the new Lay's potato chip flavors - Chicken & Waffles, Cheesy Garlic Bread, and Sriracha (WTFFFF). 

Oh! Know what I haven't been able to eat AT ALL??

EASTER CANDY. Not any of it. I know, right? It's so sad, guys. Easter Candy Season is my favorite candy season of all. Usually I go through two to three bags of Easter candy per week, no joke. Lemonhead jellybeans, SweeTart jellybeans, Cadbury Eggs and Mini-Eggs, Giant Chewy Bumpy Nerds, Easter-flavored Chewy Spree (what are "Easter flavors"? Hard-boiled eggs? Tulips? Jesus?)....This year, though, exactly one bag has been consumed, and at least half of that was by J.J. I just don't want sugary things. It's unbelievable. Sigh.

Q: Are you going to find out the sex?

A: Duh. Yes. I'm a compulsive planner. Also, as my friend puts it, it's going to be a surprise whether we find out at 20 weeks or at the birth, so it's not like we're ruining the surprise.

Q: Is this the end of home projects? Of your blog?

A: Um, hopefully not, although my two-month absence from the blog doesn't bode well....Truly, though, I'd get home from work and just collapse. I stare at a computer screen for about half my workday, and the mere idea of doing it again when I got home would make me even more nauseated. But hey, here's one post, and there are more to come, along with more house projects. I'm working on the front room, since that doesn't require any painting (a pregnancy no-no), and we've got a nursery to design. And, yes, I still need to finish up kitchen posts about lighting, the frame wall, storage, and budget...so cross your fingers that I have continuing energy to do other things besides stare at my bedroom wall.

Q: Why? Why would you do this?
A: Well, they say it's all worth it in the end. Whether They mean the end of pregnancy, end of the child's Constant Dependence All the Time, end of my cognizant humanhood - I don't know, They never specify. But They promise it's worth it. Also, once the nine-month kitchen project was done, we figured we needed another nine-ish-month project, sooo, there's that.

No, no, just kidding. Obviously, this was on purpose. It happened on Month Six of trying, and although I've had my moments of ambivalence in the past, those have mostly disappeared. (And yes, I've made peace with the knowledge that those moments of ambivalence will rise again...like during pregnancy aches and pains, like leading up to labor, like when the kid is throwing tantrums...I know.) While I know parenthood is full of surprises, both awesome and awful, I feel like J.J. and I are more well-prepared than the average bears, considering our educational, professional, familial, and experiential backgrounds.

For real, though, I am beyond excited. I've been keeping a list on my phone for a few months of life's awesomest pleasures, because THAT'S why this is so exciting to me - I'm creating someone who will get to know the best of the human experience. Yes, potentially the worst, too, but my job will be to cultivate opportunities for the best experiences, and to offer my wisdom, my ear, or my shoulder for the worst ones. Maybe that's parenting in a nutshell.

And in the meantime? Help me be excited, because sometimes it's hard to let the joy override the fear. I'm trying. :)

mi madre saves the day.

This past October, my mama made all sorts of magical things possible.

First, I celebrated my thirty-second birthday. I think it's pretty clear how my mom was involved in orchestrating that event, but truly...she's freaking awesome, and the older I get, the more I appreciate her.

Carvel ice cream cake from friends. #homerdonutnoises

Second, there was the teeny tiny realization that I had neglected to plan a backsplash for the kitchen, and my mother ultimately saved me from Volcanic Meltdown Mode.

Yep. Just completely forgot about the backsplash. (Blame my advancing age?) When we were finishing up with the counters, it hit me that we'd have to do SOMETHING with the wall behind the range and between the counters and cabinets. I wasn't about to re-use our foxy backsplash of yore...

...and I'd chosen to get the countertops cut straight across, instead of including a backsplash, both for aesthetic and monetary reasons. That left an unappealing, raw expanse of drywall above the counters that would no doubt be a bitch to patch and paint.

Although, let's be real: At this point, anything I needed to finish for the kitchen was kind of a bitch. It was my first time doing any kind of major house updating, and, eight months in, fatigue was taking over. But I'd heard that installing a backsplash was one of the easier DIY jobs to do, so even though bile rose in my throat every time I imagined wet saws and grout, I went ahead and chose a tile. Needing some inspiration (see: forgot to plan a backsplash), I decided to go straight to the source: The Tile Shop.

Initially, I saw myself going for a colorful tile, maybe one that would accent the blue walls.

www.tileshop.com

I loved the blues and greens, and the colors probably would've gone great in the kitchen, but this tile was a little too bathroom-y for my taste. In fact, all the bright blue tiles I saw screamed "RESTROOM" to my eyes. (Not literally. Although that's probably the wave of the future...talking tiles.) I started looking at subway tiles instead, and surprised myself by being drawn to the white ones.

www.tileshop.com

Usually I'm a sucker for COLOR COLOR OBNOXIOUS COLOR, but when I brought home a sheet of white subway tiles and posed them atop the counters, it just felt right. OMG, a decision made easily - either a sign of refining my taste or reno fatigue. Who cares? Either way, the decision was made.

That is, until I returned to the store to purchase all the tile and installation materials...and someone sexy caught my eye.

www.tileshop.com

White hex ceramic tile. Yeah, it surprised me, too, but everything about it was perfect - there were some subtle gray undertones for added interest, it was glossy and clean-looking, and it was an unexpected choice in terms of shape. I do love the sleekness and order of subway tile, but it's a trend that - like all trends - will come and go. Hex felt more unique, more me, and at $5.99/square foot, totally affordable. (I also got 10% off, thanks to Young House Love's perma-sponsor-discount...woo!) I snatched up 38 square feet, along with some Whisper Grey grout.

Buuut about that installation. I just couldn't do it. I had absolutely zero desire to tackle another new-to-me DIY project. In every project, I think it's good to step back and ask, "Is this worth it?" "It" could be anything - time, energy, money, scale, permanence, whatever. For the backsplash - and the kitchen in general - DIY'ing had been half the fun. (Okay, "fun" is a strong term.) (And so is "half.") Now that they're done, I absolutely love looking at various aspects of the kitchen, from the cabinets to the flooring to the lights, and knowing that I'm intimately familiar with everything it took for them to look like they do. And there's no way I could have afforded to pay someone else to complete the projects we completed on our own. So yes, DIY is usually great.

But it was October, yo. It'd been eight months since we started our little kitchen update. It was cold outside. I'd learned a great many new skills. I was already intimately familiar with every aspect of the kitchen reno - sometimes overly familiar. Didn't need to know about Ground Zero of Spiderville or mouse poop hiding on top of my dishwasher, thx. Overall, let's face it: My enthusiasm had dwindled to nil.

I was on the phone with my mom one night, telling my tale of (first-world, middle-class) woe. She had one simple inquiry: "Why don't you just hire someone to do it?" I told her it would totally break our budget, which technically already had been broken by the counters. She asked if we had the money available to pay someone to do the install. Officially, yes; just not in the kitchen budget, which had become set in stone in my mind. Being the fabulous mom that she is, she understood my need to stick to the budget (hell, it's probably HER genetic weakness passed on to me), and - hold on to your butts - she offered to pay for the install for my birthday and Christmas presents.

UM OKAY HELL YEAH OMG YES PLEASE & THANK YOU!

Within a week, I had an appointment for a highly-recommended handyman to take care of business. And at the end of Day One, I returned home to this beautiful sight:

Actually, truth be told, I was unnerved by the way the tile looked after Day One. It was busy and seemed jarring, adjacent to the counters or cabinets. I have absolutely no experience with backsplash installation, so I underestimated what a huge impact grouting would have. Thankfully, when I got home on Day Two, not only was the job done, but it was done well. And it looked freakin' fabulous.

A reminder of the Backsplash Before:

And After. AHHHH! I die. I die! 

Of course, this last picture highlights some of our final tasks to be accomplished - specifically, rewiring the outlets on either side of the sink to be GFCI outlets, and installing a light over the sink (for the first time since December of 2009) and two ceiling light fixtures. Also, um, I still needed to patch the ceiling over the sink, paint the caulk between the cabinets and counters, add some storage solutions, design a desk/frame wall, and put some endcaps on the backsplash (wtf? No one warned me about those).

But, oh, that hex tile...and the fact that I DIDN'T HAVE TO INSTALL IT (thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom!)...it was like a balm on my soul. No, seriously - staring at the kitchen and imagining the Befores and Afters, stroking the smooth hex tile, using the "spray" and "stop" functions on the pretty faucet....Look, I know it's only a kitchen reno, but I was (am) ridiculously proud of it. Nothing like admiring a job well done.

And - spoiler alert - the day did finally come when it was officially done. The blog is just taking a while to catch up. Mostly because I can't stop staring at the kitchen. :)

major game-changer.

Throughout our kitchen renovation, it was of utmost importance to me that we not lose functionality in the space. I mean, it's the kitchen. And while it's just the two of us, I'm sure the house would have seemed a lot...smaller...had we not been able to use the kitchen. Also, J.J. was already wary about the whole project, so I wanted him to be able to pretend it wasn't even happening.

As far as the appliances were concerned, they were pretty much exchanged one-for-one as we purchased them, which meant that (a) we always had use of them, and (b) they remained in the kitchen for the whole four- six- eight-month renovation period. (Ha, remember when I thought it would only take about four months? Ha. Hahaha.) We emptied out the cabinets for painting, but that just meant that our small stockpile of dry goods was relocated to various surfaces until we installed the pantry. So far, so good.

It was the countertop and sink installation that worried me.

First off, let me say that the counter ended up being more expensive than the rest of the renovations (minus the appliances) put together. Seriously. I'll do a total budget breakdown soon, but let it be known that everything else - hardware, flooring, electrical work, lighting, backsplash, paint, materials, and new cabinets - cost less than the counters did. The "Everything Else" stuff totalled about $2,150. Since our original budget was $5,000 (again, not including the appliances), that left us a pretty sizable cushion of $2,850.

Or so I thought. Then I fell in love.

I fell first for Zodiaq Minera Pearl.

I knew I didn't want granite (too costly, too high-maintenance), but I wanted something higher-quality than laminate. Really, I was only browsing when I ran across Minera Pearl in the quartz section. I absolutely loved the way it pulled in different colors from our kitchen, and how it came across as neutral but still packed a close-up punch. I brought samples home and stared for hours.

...Was also sampling the floor tiles, apparently.

Honestly, I thought that was it; Minera Pearl was the right material and the right look. Price, however...was not right. $74 per square foot, installed. I had estimated we had about 48 square feet to cover, which would add up to nearly $3,600. Wonk-wonk. I even called around to other installers to see if I could get the price down, but Lowe's was far and away the least expensive (especially with my credit card discount and/or a 10% off project coupon).

I looked at the budget again, peered lovingly at the Minera Pearl posing all over my kitchen, and realized it would only put us about $500 over budget. Not too bad. And, importantly, WE NEEDED A FREAKIN' COUNTERTOP so we could finish the dumb kitchen.

Let me just tell you, it is annoying as all get-out to not have counters on either side of the range. Just in case you're planning on trying it anytime soon.

So I headed to Lowe's in July, all ready to make my purchase. Well, turns out there are all sorts of semi-hidden fees associated with countertop installation at Lowe's, which brought my estimate over $4,000. Um. False. I was so pissed at the countertop lady that I ended up just leaving. Mostly I was pissed because I asked the dude who gave me the original estimate about extra fees and costs, and he was all, "Oh, no, this would be the final cost." BS. A more confrontational person might have eked a deal out of the whole situation, but since I didn't have the estimate in writing (and since I was already stressed to the max this past July), I headed back to the drawing board.

I considered laminate, just to bring costs down, but it turns out the laminate would have only cost about $1,000 less than stone. I mean, $1,000 is nothing to sneeze at, but taking into consideration long-term value, resale value, looks, quality, etc., it seemed worthwhile to invest more to get more out of it. Make cents sense? I tried to look at the bigger picture, I guess.

And, also, I fell REALLY TRULY in love with someone else. Someone better.

This is allen + roth's Angel Ash quartz countertop, and it. Is. Beautiful. I brought it home with a few other samples, and it was my clear favorite - even more so than the Minera Pearl. It was understated but gorgeous, reading as a grayish-brownish (greige?), neutrally magnificent wonder of the world. Overdramatic, right? WRONG. Words can't describe how perfectly this seemed to work with every element of my non-designer-designed kitchen: the blue walls of the kitchen, the yellow walls of the family room, the white cabinets, the brown flooring, the stainless appliances, the couches....Really, I would get home from work and spend an embarrassing amount of time imagining what it would look like. *Sigh* It was love.

So I bit the bullet and ordered it, half out of love for the material, and half out of hatred for my never-ending kitchen renovation. Angel Ash is usually $70/sq. ft., but it was on sale when I bought it, and I had a 10% Lowe's project coupon, too. (They wouldn't let me use that on top of my 5% credit card discount, though. Bummer.) Along with the installation costs, the edging costs, taxes, and other lovely fees, it ended up costing $3,639.45. YEP. Wayyy more than I had planned. And actually, when I sat down with the lady in the store (same lady who dashed my Minera Pearl dreams), the estimate was $3,100, which was totally reasonable for our budget. They called me three weeks later, after the countertop measurements had been done, to say it would actually be $500 more. I was so over everything kitchen-related that - have I mentioned I was unduly stressed at work this summer? - I quietly expressed mild displeasure (shaking my head at my nonexistent confrontation abilities) and took the hit.

All I knew was...that freakin' countertop better be gorgeous beyond belief, considering it was singlehandedly blowing the budget to which I had so carefully attended. I was also nervous about what amount of leveling would need to take place, even though the guy who measured for the counters assured me it would be fine.

Finally, finally, in the BEGINNING OF OCTOBER (long drawn-out kitchen reno was long and drawn-out), it was installation day. I shimmied the range out of the way, cleared the counters, and emptied the cabinet under the sink in preparation. Side note, turns out I had rodent friends visiting that cabinet occasionally to poop and eat the furniture-scuff-repairing walnuts I had stored under there (Pinterest never warned me about THAT). Groooooss. I also did some last-minute spackling on the trash cabinet front because I didn't want them making some comment along the lines of, "Who did your cabinet install? Because you need to make them re-do it!" But, spoiler alert, last-minute spackle is an unwise choice right before a counter installation, so my plot to avoid DIY embarrassment kinda backfired. Ah, well.

When the two counter dudes, Gary #1 and Gary #2, showed up, I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be or what I was supposed to do while they were removing the old countertop and installing the new one, so I alternated between taking pictures and updating my Facebook.

Old countertop GONE, BABY!

Awesome creepy dead-space-hole in the corner that was,

blessedly, rodent- and insect- and poop- and spiderweb-free.

Top of dishwasher that was, unblessedly, NOT poop-free.
GROSS NEAR MY PLACE OF CLEANING DISHES.

As for who "Alex" is - have I mentioned we have a snake?

...And on and on until...UNTIL...

TA-DAAA!!! NEW PRETTY SHINY COUNTERS ARE DONE AND PRETTY AND SHINY!

That area right there - under the microwave shelf? That's both J.J.'s and my favorite spot in the new kitchen. It didn't really exist before, given that the range was where the drawers are now, and the fridge was where the range is now. It's a whole new counter space, and we're in looove. With the whole thing, really. Having the counter finished made me feel like the kitchen would really, truly be finished someday. The plumber came the next day to hook up the sink (and replace our broken garbage disposal), so we were only without a sink for about 24 hours. YES NEW COUNTERS! File under Major, Major Game-Changer.

I was indeed left with a little bit of after-work to complete. Because the Garys ended up having to do a fair amount of shimming and caulking to make the counters level, I needed to paint the caulk between the cabinets and countertops. You know, one of those areas that no one would ever, ever even think to look, but that I would have always known was incomplete. Not a big deal, and I did it quickly, re-energized by the fact that THE KITCHEN WAS ALMOST DONE.

All I needed now was an upcoming birthday, an awesome mommy, and some professional help. Spoiler: All three were bestowed upon me, resulting in a finished back splash. But that's for next time. :)