Kitchen Remodel: Before & After

OUR OLD KITCHEN- BEFORE

 What a mess!!
No room to maneuver. Very little storage.  Outdated...everything!
Now that I look back on the before and after photos, kitchen remodel was definitely worth it.

Now... onto the before/after photos!

                                          KITCHEN BEFORE:                                   

KITCHEN AFTER:

 

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STOVE AREA: BEFORE

STOVE AREA: AFTER

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SINK: BEFORE

SINK: AFTER


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WINDOW & COUNTER AREA: BEFORE

WINDOW & COUNTER AREA: AFTER
sorry it's so dark...

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WHERE FRIDGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN: BEFORE

 WHERE FRIDGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN: AFTER

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LAUNDRY ROOM - BEFORE

 

LAUNDRY ROOM - AFTER

 

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LAUNDRY ROOM PANTRY: BEFORE

LAUNDRY ROOM PANTRY: AFTER

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Quick list of the major changes in the kitchen:

• Granite counter top and backsplash
• Updated and added custom cabinets
• Updated plumbing
• Updated lighting
• Added additional electrical outlets
• Patched and painted walls
• New windows 
• New appliances

With the new appliances, we had to sell our fridge, portable dishwasher and microwave.
Within 1 day of posting up the listings for the dishwasher and microwave, they both sold!  Woohoo!


We were really happy with our contractor. 
Unlike previous contractors we've worked with, he was honest, not sales-y, worked within our budget, knew exactly what he was doing, and finished the job on time. 
Visit his site: Brad Alan Woodworks

Jen's Business - Peachy PetCare

I've been meaning to share about this fantastic news sooner, but I just never seemed to get around to it.

Starting the end of last year, I started my own pet care business, which I call "Peachy PetCare".  I chose that name, because "peachy" means "good", I like alliterations, and because peaches are delicious (of course, my fav fruit is still watermelon)...

What "pet care" encompasses is pretty much pet sitting, pet boarding (hotel), doggy day care, and dog walking.  I do all of these, but I have been so busy that I have been turning down a lot of dog walking inquiries and have toned down my advertising and promoting. 

Overall, there seems to be a very good market for these services in LA.  People are willing to pay for quality care for their pets, and I get to play with pets while getting paid.  This is also good experience for me, as this is my very first business.  And Jeff has been very helpful and supportive. =)

I mainly have doggy customers and a few cats... still waiting for guinea pig clients.  =)

Here are my links.
Please bookmark me / add me / like me / friend me / follow me / tweet me / Google Reader me....  Whatever you crazy kids call it these days:

Website/Blog:  http://PeachyPetCare.blogspot.com

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/PeachyPetCare
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/PeachyPetCare

i like to eat

My good friend (and twin), Lucy, recently informed me some fantastic info: Keebler makes their own version of Girl Scout thin mints and samoas! 
omfg!
Now you can get "Girl Scout" cookies year round, for half the price!
The thin mints are called "Grasshoppers" and the samoas are called "Coconut Dream".

I got my hands on some Grasshoppers at Target earlier this week, at $2 per box, but the Coconut Dreams were all sold out.  I guess other people know of this fantastic piece of information as well.

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Did you know that at work, I have my own supply of peanut butter, jelly, toast, milk, cereal, yogurt, fruits and teas?  I even have a serrated knife for cutting up my fruits.  
If you can't tell, I like to eat, and food really makes me get through the day.

Guinea Pig Squeakers

New guinea piggy video has been uploaded to YouTube!

Stagnant

This is how the kitchen looks so far..

white cabinets, green walls, and new windows

Actually, this is how the kitchen has looked for the last 8 days!!

Project has not moved forward this entire week.
On top of that, the granite we chose is not available (couldn't they have told us, or reserved it for us, when we made our pick over 1 month ago?)  So we are settling with our 2nd choice: uba tuba.

I hope to see things moving forward within the next week!
'Stagnant' is a terrible place to be

One week down...

We are 1 week into our kitchen remodel project, and it just flew right by. It is expected to take the entire month of March, so... 3 more weeks to go?

When I told people that our kitchen is getting remodeled, typically, the first reaction was "what are you going to do?? You love to cook!".

Tee hee hee.
Well, I have a trick up my sleeve.
Yes, I do love to cook, and yes, I won't have a kitchen to cook in. But that does *not* mean cooking comes to a complete halt!

Currently, we actually have more meals cooked and more meals planned ahead, than I can foresee us eating!
We moved our entire kitchen set up to our Recreation Room (I guess the ping pong table will be out of commission this month), so I am still able to prepare my daily meals as usual.

For cooking, we are mainly using our gas grill and slow cooker for the bulk of our meals.
This last Sunday, we grilled up enough chicken drumsticks and burger patties to last us several days. We have been enjoying plenty of fruits and salads on top of that.

In the slow cooker, I plan on making lots of dishes such as: curry chicken, creamy chicken stew, braised pork, scalloped potatoes...

(Actually, now that I think about it, even when I still had the kitchen intact, I still used the slow cooker as my main form of cooking just because it is such a time saver. Who has time to cook a meal when you get home from work so late?!)

We also got some back-up freezer food, such as microwavable frozen meals from Trader Joes -- these are delicious, but on top of the grilled and slow cooker meals, I don't know when we will get to these!

By the way....
I think the hardest thing about the kitchen remodel is *not* the cooking, but actually the cleaning. It is so hard doing the dishes in the bathroom... Not only is the sink small, but you don't want food bits going down the drain!


Now onto the teasers...

Before the demolition...

After the demolition!



The "temporary kitchen"

"Storage".
We didn't pack away a lot of items since we still use them for cooking and eating.

Eyeballs, nails, and siblings

Eyeballs:
Both Jeff and I got lasik!
I got lasik last Saturday (Feb 19) and Jeff got his yesterday.
My vision is now 20/15 and Jeff's eyes are expected to be the same.
My original vision was 20/400 (holy shit!) with a prescription of -2.50. Jeff's original vision 20/400 (they stop counting after 400), with a prescription of ~9.00)

How the procedure works is:

1. The doctor puts numbing drops in your eyes, and hands you teddy bear to hold. Apparently I undressed him during the procedure without realizing it.
2. You are put under the lasik machine, with lots of gauze put on the sides of your face to catch liquids.
3. Your eye lashes are taped down, and a tool is put on your eye to hold the eyeball in place (this was my LEAST favorite part). Lots of liquid is put in the eye to keep your eyes lubricated.
4. A tool I call the "can opener" is used to cut the cornea flap, and the flap is moved aside exposing your eye ball.
5. Laser laser laser! 15 seconds for each eye for me. 45 seconds for each eye for Jeff.
6. Cornea flap is put back in place
7. TA DAA!! All done!

You are in and out of there in 20 minutes.
Easy peasy.
I was able to see 20/40 right away, and was able to see 20/20 after 3 hours.
Pretty awesome!

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Nails:
Today, we took the guineas for their 2nd mani/pedi (hehe). Their nails were long overdue.
We also picked up a HUGE bag of timothy while we were there:

see how big the hay bag is, relative to the size of the guinea pigs? Yes, the guineas can eat that amount in ~1 week (hehe).

there IS a reason why they are called "pigs"

Here is Marbles getting her nails cut:


And here is Marbles fighting so much, that back-up had to be called.
I was so embarrassed...

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SIBLINGS:
While Ruby was getting her nails cut, one of the Cavy Haven volunteers recognized Ruby (Ruby is famous!!) and informed us that Ruby's brother (Cookie) was also there!
Ruby and Cookie were reunited.

Ruby on the left. Brother Cookie on the right.

Kitchen Remodeling

We are getting the kitchen remodeled this Spring (March is considered Spring, right?).

We are maximizing the floor space, updating the cabinets and counter tops, and increasing storage space.
After all this work is complete, we expect the kitchen to be:

• Easier to use/maneuver -- maybe it will actually fit 2+ people at a time without somebody getting hurt
  
• Easier storage -- it's almost impossible to store pots/pans/dishes with our shallow 1940s cabinets
  
• Aesthetically pleasing -- have you seen our kitchen... 'nuff said
• No longer dropping paint chunks -- I hate pulling a plate out of the cupboard to find pieces of chipped paint stuck on my plate.
  
• Increase re-sale value of the home -- who doesn't like an updated kitchen?!

Here is how we expect the kitchen to look:

View of the stove/oven side of the kitchen

View of the sink side of the kitchen on the left. View of the laundry room on the right

Aerial view of the kitchen

ITEMS FOR SALE:
We will need to sell our refrigerator and our portable dishwasher, as we are purchasing a new counter-depth refrigerator and a built-in dishwasher for the remodeled kitchen.

Kenmore Elite French Door Bottom Freezer Refrigerator : asking for $900
GE 24" Tabletop Portable Dishwasher: asking for $200

Please spread the word!

Christmas on the East Coast. 2010 edition

We spent Christmas on the East Coast for 2010.

We were originally supposed to stay for 4 days but we ended up staying an extra 3 days due to a blizzard. (damn you winter! why must the holiday season also be the winter season?).
The pro was, I got to see Washington DC with the extra days we had.
The cons were, I had to take extra days off work (more than I can afford!), I lost a client for my pet business (more about that later), not enough fresh food in the fridge at home for the guinea pigs, and had to pay extra $$$ at the LAX long term parking lot

Curse you winter!!!
In my ideal world, I would live in Hawaii forever, where it's summer 365 days a year. mmmm
=)

Now on with the photos!
We started our trip in New York, spent the middle of our trip in New Jersey, then drove down to Washington DC to end our trip there.

NEW YORK:

View over New York and Central Park

We are so cute

Empire state building?

Us cousins at Rockefeller Tree

NEW JERSEY

The start of the blizzard

The end of the blizzard

WASHINGTON DC

Capitol Building

Jeff getting stopped by the DC police. 
"It wasn't me, I swear!"

 

White House

 

Thomas Jefferson

Lincoln Memorial

 

Lincoln

 

FDR's dog at the FDR Memorial

FDR's memorial fountain was frozen over

National Monument

Happy Holidays 2010!