Dare I Say... Progress?

No doubt that tonight a bolt of lightning will strike and I will learn to hold my tongue... um, fingers. Whatever.

First things first. The deck. This deck has been a work in progress for, ohhhh, since I got pregnant. I remember it quite vividly because the evening I told Eric I was pregnant was the same evening we moved in a bunch of lumber from the slab out back to the yard. And the weekend we told my parents was the weekend Eric and Dad actually built the thing. So 7 months pregnancy, and Harper is now 20 months old... So almost 2.5 years. But, if we needed 2.5 years to get to this, perhaps it was worth it. This deck is a wonder.

The kitchen, we've only been working on for the last four months or so, and we're at a very good point. It still LOOKS terrible, but there has been major work done in there. Eric took up all the hardwood and some of the subfloor, refloored and cement boarded the floor to prep for tile, took down the drywall on the walls and ceiling, built the frame for the island, installed a header for the opening in the wall between the kitchen and dining room, and removed the windows in order to make enough room for the countertop. Plus, electric is finished and plumbing is all done except for the gas line. Next steps are tile, drywall, cabinet installation and appliances. We're reusing our fridge, microwave and dishwasher (which has actually never left its box in the foyer) but we'll get a new wall oven and cooktop. Here's what it looked like a couple weeks ago.

And here's what it looks like now. Nice.

And outside.

More soon.