The Good, the Bad and the Cabinets

Here we see a rare species of suburban male trying to put their tool chests and common sense to work to conquer the IKEA Kitchen Challenge.

Bad Ass Cabinet Hangers Dave and Dusan



Denisa and I started the evening off by putting all the wall cabinets together and waiting for the boys to finish their beer. We were finished in like 10 minutes and it took them until 10pm to get this far.




10pm is when we have to stop making noise (like drilling holes in the wall that adjoins our neighbors house) or else cranky people call the Polizei. Don't know yet if our neighbors are cranky or prone to phoning the police - didn't want last night to be the night I found out :) Was hoping we could get a bit more done today (only 1.5 more cabinets to hang and we're onto the sink and stove!) because Sunday is another Don't Be Noisy Day. ...sigh....ever feel like a stranger in a strange land?

p.s. A day late, I know, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister, Weezer!!

A Long, Long Time Ago...In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Introducing our new super-duper space-saving, low-energy using, state-of-the-art yada yada yada electric, marble, wall-mounted heater. It's the latest and greatest for healthy, cost-saving heating and adds that little bit of Mediteranean flair to your otherwise style-less home. It cracks me up that this is the NEW wave of heating when I believe it's quite similar to something the Greeks did like a bajillion years ago. Back to the basics, I guess. Chic, though, eh?




It's also the closest I'm ever going to get to setting a temparature on a thermostat and having a dependable heating system reach and stay at requested temp. Most heat settings in Germany are simply 1 - 5, just hope you get it right...or you spend the rest of the evening running around adjusting radiators. And that's actually what they call central heating. God knows, it might be what Americans call central heating, I wouldn't know. My winter jacket from Florida is only wearable here from May to September :) This is why I learned how to knit - I don't know nuthin' 'bout heatin' no houses!!

We bought the kitchen from IKEA a couple nights ago. Boxes and boxes of pressed-wood magic and miles of countertops. It's going to be gorgeous white Stat cabinets with the beech counters. Is there anything more grand in this life??? Is there anyone that wants to put this together for me??? Seriously, will knit for kitchen ;) Socks, fair-isle, Aran-knit ANYTHING!!

Dave's doing some serious grill hunting on the internet these days. He almost bought one of the bigger than life stone grills, but I convinced him he wanted a normal backyard grill with a top to cover ribs for smoking and a bit more flexibility in placement. Now I only have to convince him that we wants propane and none of this charcoal and ashes nonsense. I tried mentioning the part where propane is much more adjustable and cleaner, but he thinks the food will taste different. Ha! Not if we use the right bbq sauce, right? :)

That's about it for me, tonight. I've been getting up at 5:45 all week to catch the train into town - this girl's not used to going to bed before 12, that's what us night-owls do. Now I'm drinking more coffee than ever in my life and trying not to spill my morning Dr. Pepper on the middle-aged suits in the train as I pry my sleeping eyes open. Think Clockwork Orange - chances are I'd still catch a commuter nap. LOL!

Goodnight, Moon!

Excuses, Excuses....

Not that I'm the biggest Bush fan, but at least I can get laid without discussing foriegn policy

First Morning

With the TV and X-Box, dont'cha know!

Later in the day, we'd gathered more essentials. Luka and Ciara kept out of the way while playing SpongeBob.





Ciara modelling her new jean dress from Granny Tish (my Mum)





Cian modelling his new vest and lumberjack shirt from my Mum :)




Both kids are quite pleased with their new clothes and send big Thank You's to Granny Tish and Mr. Dave :))

You all should have our new number and address on your emails.

Thank you Tish and Mister Dave!!

Kitchen with Tiles

The good news about finishing the kitchen tiles is that we can now move onto the living room floor and maybe, sometime in the next 10 months, I'll have time to unpack my yarn....sigh....







I was a little shocked by the pinky/orangey effect of the mexican tiles and peach-coloured walls, but I have to keep reminding myself that the white kitchen cabinets will make everything look normal - here's hoping :)

Feed A Tree

Kids watered the lawn for a whole hour this evening.




Hey, don't knock it, at least it kept them busy while we scrubbed the kitchen floors and painted on some icky black crap so that we could lay tiles tomorrow.

Isn't this just beyond exciting?!
Really, I'm so fascinated that I can hardly ***yawn*** keep my mind on ***yawn*** anything else. Is it over yet??? Can we freakin move in now?

Think I'll try to make it up to the bed tonight before I pass out. Gotta have goals, ya know?

Crayola, Eat Your Heart Out!!

I give you: the kitchen (in all of its peachy goodness)




Dusan was well impressed with the pump-action paint roller :)
Check out the popcorn on his sweatshirt - we did a popcorn ceiling before the wall-painting. I think there was more popcorn stuff on our clothes and the walls than the ceiling by the end of the evening...




The boys finished the living room in a couple of hours with the pump-action thingie and the handy edger pump-action thingie (just for the record, I finished the kitchen in much less time - no pump-action necessary, hehe). Was well glad to finally see something pretty come from all of our hard work. Scraping gets results, but not necessarily pretty ones, hehe.

Scrape, Scrape, Scrape, Senora

I hope this is the last of the scraping that I see for a long time.....
;)

**Caution: Thighs may seem slightly larger than in real life (I swear, it must be the way the lights are or something...)

Git R Done

Denisa (new neighbor) helps us scrape wallpaper off of the ceiling this weekend.



We got quite a bit done - the walls look much better now and they'll be replastered tomorrow. Herr Forscht already did a sample wall for us to check out. It's soooo smooth, like no wall I've ever seen in Germany and it's all mine, mine, mine! I took a couple of breaks last night just to touch it and make sure it was still silky smooth. Cooool and soft to the touch...... Um, I might have inhaled something last night during scraping, washing and priming. Could be the reason I blew my nose last night and my tissue was covered in plaster. Yum!

Irishboy looks quite productive, eh?
You should hear how cute his little accent is when he says "git r done" :)



Now all we have to do is decide on a wall colour. I don't think there's anything dull about cappucino on the living room walls, do you?

The Ultimate in Sock-Modelling

Cian was impressed with his new sock and only too glad to smile from the camera, but was a bit concerned that it would keep him away from the X-box for too long. Only just gone 4, he's a crack hand at the video games - good for hand-to-eye coordination I say.




Germany has warmed up these days - we spent the day at the house yesterday ripping wallpaper down (off of the ceiling???!!!) and I'm now hurting in places I didn't even know exist. About halfway through the day my neck/shoulder muscle started hurting (that was to be expected) but I was shocked when the muscles in my spatula-holding arm started to twitch. I've obviously led a charmed life until now.

Masion sans snow

check out the new window on the downstairs - 2 meters baby!!

Wall is down in the kitchen and we're taking off the last of the wall covering here - four layers of stubborn wallpaper and tiles that were secured to the cement of the house walls instead of, hhmm, I don't know.... plaster? Who thinks of this stuff?

Isn't this just the most gorgeous kitchen you ever did see?


Work wasn't all bad, I was singing and dancing along to Abba most of the day. It's my favourite escape for housework! Headed back out there today - can't wait :)