Life has been busy

Life has gotten busier lately. My older daughter, Valerie, recently got engaged and my younger son just graduated from high school and is getting ready to go off to college this fall. I've never been one to enjoy planning events - my poor kids haven't had a lot of birthday parties - so a wedding seemed even more daunting. But to my surprise it is actually a lot of fun. Maybe it's because it is such a major event in a person's life, but I am actually having fun working on it.

I admit that I did make my life a little easier by deciding to use a reception hall instead of doing all the work myself. Even so, there are a lot of decisions to make: which photographer to use and which package, what food to serve, how many people to plan for. Still, not having to worry about the linens or the centerpieces, or arranging people to serve the food and clean up afterward is a tremendous relief. If I wasn't working full-time I'm sure it would be different. But my husband and I are happy with the choice to use a reception hall vs doing all the work ourselves. On the Big Day I want to enjoy everything and not stress about the details.

It's somewhat ironic, because when I got married 24 years ago I let my mom plan it all. I was more interested in getting our home figured out and looking forward to starting life after the wedding. Luckily for me, my mom was fine with that. My daughter is more interested in the planning than I was for my wedding, but she and her fiance are focused on finding a condo to buy more than choosing wedding colors. But that's ok. I know exactly how she feels.

We went to Yellowstone National Park last week, and my daughter's fiance, Blake, came along. Here is a cute picture of them at Old Faithful:

Nearly finished kitchen

Here are some before and after pictures from the kitchen remodel. We still need to put a tile backsplash up, but other than that, it is done. The things we redid were: Took out the vinyl floor and put in tile, painted, put in new cabinets, put in an over-the-stove microwave, put in under-counter lighting, and had new granite countertops installed. We also extended the cabinets and countertop on the side of the kitchen where the sink is. The layout is the same, but it is now more up-to-date.

Before

After

More remodeling

We've been on a remodeling frenzy. We are just wrapping up a kitchen remodel. Yesterday the countertops were put in and I will soon have use of my kitchen again. Yay! The kitchen has been out of commission for just over 3 weeks. It hasn't been too bad. The upside is I didn't have to cook - not my favorite activity. But we are all getting tired of microwavable meals.

I will post pictures of the before, during and after soon. (As soon as my husband hooks up the appliances, which will hopefully be tonight.)