Super Duper Black Friday

Black Friday, 2007

What kind of crazy loon sets their alarm for 4:30am and heads to the stores? I didn't think I was one of them until we realized what a super buy we could get on our new computer monitor at Best Buy. So... I set the alarm, made coffee in my to-go mug and hit the road. I could not believe the amount of headlights I saw on the roads- which was nothing compared to the line of at least a thousand people who were ahead of me at 5am.



I thought it would be a waste. There were too many people in front of me to guarantee that any monitors would be left. The gentleman in front of me wished me luck as we charged into the store and I darted off to the computer section.



In a half hour I was checked out and headed to my second of four stops of the morning. Kudos to Best Buy for efficient Black Friday coordination. (I couldn't say the same for Kohl's. Even though there seemed to be some good deals - the line wrapped around the store didn't move once when I was browsing.)



Target too, was very good. The parents pushing me and my cart in the toy aisle was not so much fun though.



So how much did the Schlesier's save on Black Friday? We estimate $12,000! When all my early morning shopping was done, I came home, walked the dog and waited for Nat and Kevin to get up. We had some breakfast, read the paper, and found an ad for Chrysler which promoted $10,000 off their 2007 models.



A few hours later, we were driving home in our new mini-van.

Don't think I can top this shopping next year.

Eye Candy

Welcome to the Schlesier Kitchen. Took me 10 tries, but I finally got photos up. We're not 100% organized, so excuse some of the clutter. - ENJOY!

argh...

I have uploaded tons of pictures to show you all and for some reason blogger site does not want to let me post!

So the update from here is that we've slowly been unpacking, organizing and getting used to the new kitchen. There are still a few outstanding issues, but our contractor was out this morning and he said it would all be finished before Thanksgiving (except the backsplash- which we're having redone after Turkey Day).

We've already used the double oven (LOVE IT!) and cracked open the ceremonial bottle of wine. Thanksgiving will be a true test of the full capabilities, but we're excited to break it in.

I will try again shortly to get some photos up. Bear in mind that it's messy!

Thank you fellow readers...

We wanted to send a short note to say that pictures are pending, but we are loving our new kitchen so far...

A few outstanding items for the contractor to finish before we pay the final bill - but for the most part, we are loving it!

This week, we will attempt to cook in our double oven. Woo-hoo!
Happy Thanksgiving to all,
The Schlesiers

Media Blackout

Sorry for the lack of posts, this phase has removed us from the house, and we didn't bring our laptop with us so we haven't been uploading photos from our camera.

Anyway, since Friday October 26th we have been living with Eileen's mom. This is bacuse the floors have been getting sanded and stained. In order to do this they had to move all of our furniture (family room and office) into the living room and dining room, which is exactly where we were eating, and well, living. So out we went. This means we were out of our house for both Halloween and the ladies birthdays, but it was necessary.

Over that weekend we met with the tile guy and our contractor to look at the tile design behind the range. Although we liked the design we realized that a third of it would be blocked by the range controls. We came up with a new design, and the tile man had to redo it.

On Monday the 29th Eileen went to the house to approve the stain colors and surprised me, and herself, by going quite a bit darker.

Eileen got to peak into the house a couple of evenings later (she couldn't go in as the floors were wet) and said she loved the color, so I couldn't wait to see it.

We all went in on Saturday and got to see our new floors, which are stunning, and our new light fixtures which look great. Also up is a new ceiling fan which has a light on it, so maybe now we can actually read in our family room. It was impressive to see all of our possessions crammed into our living room, I am just glad I am not the one who had to carry it all.

The only negative we saw was the new installation of the tile design behind the range. It looks like it was a bit rushed, with some unequal grout and the bottom out of square. The more we looked, the more it bothered us, so we planned on speaking with our contractor about it.

Monday Eileen left for Philly for a business trip, so I stayed behind at Moira's with Natalie. I spoke with the contractor and he said the paint was complete Monday and that all our furniture would be moved back Tuesday. He also said he would speak with the tile guy. We'll see how that goes.

So as of Tuesday night the project is done...at least they say its done. I'll head over tonight to see what minor details (like a sticking drawer that still needs attention) are left. Thursday Eileen comes back and we'll start moving back in.

Natalie has been a trouper throughout, and has slept through the night at Moira's the whole time (except a nagging cough which keeps waking her, and me, and Molly up).

Pics as soon as we can get them!

K

water works

Well, although our faucet was hooked up today in our kitchen, the real water works to highlight today is in regards to potty training.

Kev worked late tonight and as Nat and I were eating dinner she proclaimed, "Poopee mommy!", Up we run to the potty. Too late...already in the diaper. But, we go through the motions- wipe, flush, put on some big-girl pants. To celebrate that she was all clean, out comes the jello- our new favorite dessert.

When all calmed down from the Jello celebration, I tried to impress upon Nat that she needs to tell me when she needs to go potty. We were wearing our Dora underpants and I knew I only had a few critical seconds to get her on the potty if she was ready.

Let's just say that the Elmo chair Nat got for Xmas last year had a good run. It is now sitting in my bath tub trying to air out. If you appreciate the humor in the happy "accident", you'll appreciate that it was the first of two pee messes that mommy was cleaning up tonight. I can only imagine that soon the dog is going to be peeing all over my house to try to mask the urine that Nat is leaving everywhere.

I should be excited about the faucet, but honestly I'm daydreaming about the Sahara right now.

head 'um up, move 'em out

Preparing to move to Casa-Nana's next week so that the floors can be refinished, and cannot even think of where to begin with packing. I guess the first step will be locating our luggage. Hmm... I think its in the blue bedroom which means we have barrakaded ourselves out of that room with all the kitchen stuff that now exists on the floor of that room. Might have to do some careful tip toe navigation to get to the closet- which is where I think the luggage is.

We are not sure when furniture can be moved back on to the floors after its done (4+ day process), so Kevin might just stay with Nana another week since I'm in Philly week of Nov 5th for business. I'm certain that Molly and Natalie will love this little adventure. Let's just hope we are all able to sleep in our new accomodations. (PS- I'll be staying at the 4 Seasons on my business trip and am sure that I will enjoy those accomodations.)

momentum loss

No new pics to post, unfortunately. I can tell people have been here the past two days, but can see little progress. Crossing my fingers we're still on schedule.

Can I tell you how sick of lean cuisines I am?

The Bold and the Beautiful

Could hardly wait to get home today to see our backsplash. I let the anticipation build as I took my time rounding the doorway to get my first glimpse and then... hmmm...

I know I loved the colors we picked out when we met with our tile designer in person. But we took home a printed brochure which didn't quite replicate the colors. I don't know whether I just got so used to looking at the brochure that I was shocked when I saw the bold choices we went with, or if I was suprised by seeing it 1/2 complete.

Anyway, I now share pictures of the in-progress job. They have to finish the corner, then also tile our beverage center wall, and finally grout!

one step closer to paint

Came home last night to find the huge gaping hole in our living room wall patched. I wasn't completely surprised because when I pulled up the driveway I found a nice splatter-paint design of white schmootz on our lawn/driveway. As Natalie said,... Ewwwww!

I think we're one step closer to paint (although Kevin reminded me they have a lot of sanding to do before then...). I'm still trying to be optomistic that one day this week I might come home to a dust free, freshly painted 1st floor. We'll see...

kitchen envy

As many of you know, we have a nosy-neighbor (who shall remain nameless). Nosey-noserson started her kitchen remodel a few weeks before ours began. NN walked over to show off her tile choices; recommend her granite person; tell us how much you should pay for cabinets....etc. Our competitive spirit reared it's ugly head and we told NN that we were going top of the line for everything. NN's facial expression said it all.

We usually do our best to avoid NN- especially on the weekends, but yesterday Natalie insisted that we socialize with NN's 3 yr old. Natalie, Molly and I ventured over to NN's yard and very quickly the converstaion went to kitchen. Not once in 2 years has NN invited us into her house. NN would ring my doorbell 3x a day when I had a screaming infant on my breast, but not once has she tactfully invited us in for tea. You would think with her fabulous kitchen that she would open her doors and welcome us in to get a peek at her amazing new space. Nope. Nada. Nothing. So strange.

NN's husband fired up his weed wacker in the yard we were playing in, and that was our signal that playtime was over. We may still not having running water, but I know that once it's all said and done I'll be very excited to show off our kitchen to everyone including the mail man. (everyone except NN that is...)

Granite, Glorious Granite!!!

Next week will bring even more exciting change...paint, final electrical& plumbing and backsplash installation... but for now, we can bask in the beauty of our new granite.

Hopefully we'll be so blinded by it's beauty that we won't focus on the gaping holes in our walls for the wall sconces and surround sound.

I-40

Because we didn't supply enough entertainment with our last posting, thought I would share tonights escapade. On my dashboard the Nissan's battery and emergency brake lights came on during commute home from RTP...barely rolled into the National Tire and Battery parking lot to find out that the Altima needed a new alternator, brake fluid, and brakes.

Mommy didn't see Natalie tonight because from 5:30pm-8:15 she was getting the car fixed. At least there was a Taco Bell nearby so I could walk to get some dinner... Wahn, Wahn.

hot dogs and beans

As you can imagine, we have had some low budget, non-gourmet dinners over the past month. Natalie requested baked beans out of nowhere last week so I decided to fire up the hot pot and make hot dogs and beans tonight. Beans were gobbled up 1-2-3, but somehow after two bites of dog...Natalie was "ALL DONE!" Fast forward to 8:59 tonight. Natalie is in bed, we've just finished watching Top Chef finale (from last week...yes, we don't have DVR so we have to catch things on re-run); and as we contemplated who was the best chef- who made the best coconut foam for their seared scallops- Molly started puking hot dogs. Everywhere. Kevin started gagging, Molly contined puking and I started laughing.

I don't usually partake in giving human food to Molly. But with all that has been going on...the fridge in the dining room, no lights in 1/2 the house; dust on every surface on the lower level- I caved. Sure Molly, eat the rest of Natalie's hot dog. Enjoy!

So as I blame my new carpet stains on the kitchen renovation- here is the update: We have "some" lights back that were previously diabled, but not all. Speaker wires were supposed to be in today for surround sound, but that didn't get accomplished today. We were told that we picked out too many colors for our backsplash which would cause too much waste so we had to cut a color of our multi-colored design. We were initially aggravated, but I think it will turn out okay afterall. Granite will be installed Thursday... so I promise new pics then.

Biggest news is that they confirmed the date for our floors. Oct 30th the refinishing begins! Which means... we must vacate. I called my mom last night to book reservations at Casa-Nana and although the floors will only take 4+ days, our entire 1st floors-worth of furniture will be in our dining room and we can't move it back for another few more days...Which means we'll be out of house for Halloween, Natalie's/my bday and the week I'm in Philly for a business trip.

It also means we're one step closer to being DONE! Although it's been a challenging road, I don't think it's been as bad as I though it might be. I'm either very resilient or I'm focusing on which bottles of wine I am going to chill first in our wine refrigerator. You make the call.

new pics soon...

We got the remainder of the cabinets in (minus a few doors that need to be replaced), but since we still don't have full electricity I haven't been able to get in to take pictures in the daylight. Hopefully this weekend!

Painters came by yesterday and primed our ceiling. Final electric work and painting will begin soon.

I had already planned to repaint the kitchen/living room the same color as before. (Kudos to the previous owner's choices!), but then our contractor made some off the cuff remark about tone of the cabinets and he thought that I should reconsider colors. Kevin didn't seem to give his opinion much weight, but now my mind has been reeling thinking maybe we need to change everything!

Argh!!!

Cabinets Install- Part 1

Close up of cabinet

New fridge/pantry/phone center area

Furniture piece...Can't wait for the wine fridge to install!

Range hood and corner of the kitchen

Nat and Shower Cap Fun

Nat at Duke Gardens Fountain





3 posts in one day. You know today was crazy at the Schlesier household. Also, a few pics from our weekend. We're getting a little whacky over here... hence the shower cap.



So excited to share photos of today. Brought a tear to my eyes as I walked through-- even in this unfinished state. Tomorrow the remainder of the cabinets get installed and Wednesday we're on target to have the counter top template made. Woo-hoo!

CABINETS!

Just received confirmation that the cabinets are being installed today/tomorrow and the granite template will be created Wednesday (which means it's installed next week.)

YAY!!! I'm sure we'll have fun pictures to post tonight!

Achew!

Being allergic to dust makes living in a house under construction a LOT OF FUN.

There seems to be a new layer of it settling almost as soon as I wipe it away. I don't even know if I should clean or just wait until it's completely unbearable.

For most meals we've been eating upstairs in the bonus room where the dust can't get us...but that also means carrying bowls full of milk upstairs and then bringing dishes to any and every bathroom for cleaning. Which reminds me-- I'm out of plastic forks and need to pick some up.

Ceiling was drywalled last week. Pictures to come... We ordered our faucet and light fixtures this weekend. Waiting for confirmation on when the cabinets will be installed (hopefully this week!).

Raisin' the Roof

So, we were doing so well.

We were originally scheduled to get the cabinets installed today, but things got a bit sidetracked. When I met with the contractor Friday he seemed very focused on reassuring me about the holes in the ceiling, and that they would be patched to our satisfaction. I said sure (after all I patched a bunch in Apple Tree and I was pretty crap at it), so I was not worried.

However when I spoke to the contractor this afternoon he had some news. He stopped by the house today while the holes were being patched, and wasn't happy with how they looked. He thought after paint it would look like a patch job, and that we would not be happy. Sooooo, he told the dry wall guy to take ALL the drywall down and to re-drywall the ceiling.

Cost was not discussed, but schedule was. The cabinet installer can't come back until next week, so I guess we'll have to wait. Technically we are not behind schedule according to the schedule we originally got, but things had been progressing nicely, so I was hoping we would finish earlier.
On another note we still do not have power in the garage (no garage door opener), the office, the downstairs bathroom, half the formal dining room, or the downstairs hall. I spoke to the contractor today about this, and he said he did not understand why so many circuits were off, and that he would contact the electrician. I had to relocate our router upstairs so we could have Internet. We were able to 'borrow' our neighbors Internet for a day but it doesn't seem to be working anymore.

Food has been hit or miss. Moira made us dinner Friday, and Alison had me and Nat over Sunday Night. Sunday morning I experienced the joys of Bob Evans for the first time. Nat had a good time and ate a very healthy fruit plate. Monday night we had some sort of microwave betty crocker meal that actually hurt our stomachs, I thought I was going to die, and I know Eileen was not well either. Tonight we did Chinese. Pass the antacid!

Daddy, enough omelet, try the fruit!

Bob Evans, bringing family together

Its kinda like a rustic log cabin look, only different

At least they stopped at the living room.

The hole where the pantry was is now fixed!

ho-hum

Nothing too exciting to post about today. There was some additional electric done yesterday. Thought that the week was culminating in cabinets being installed today, but won't believe it till we see it (Kevin thought that there looked to be some more work finalized before cabinets could be in...in his professional opinion).

Hoping that the next few posts will include beautiful photos of cabinets!!!

Weekend work

Construction is a day behind, so we didn't hesitate when they offered to come in today (Saturday) to do some drywalling. Although, that meant we had to evacuate with Natalie and Molly in tow.

1/2 the house electric isn't working. No garage door opening, no lights in the powder room (where we've been washing dishes), 1/2 the outlets in the dining room not working so we've had to rearrange our already challenging kitchen-like environment. All in all though, we're getting by.

Headed to Nana's for the day and it was good to get away from the chaos.

Hoping the electrician fixes all the issues on Monday.

Let there be light (sort of)

Today the rough in was done for the can lights in the kitchen. I'm a big fan of a lot of lights, so I was excited to see them! Also done today was the duct work for the hood. The plumber came and installed the new feed for the freezer water line, as well as relocated the drain and feed lines for the sink. No more pipes running horizontally through cabinets!

The electrician is a day behind, so the cabinets might be a day behind too. Lets hope this doesn't set a pattern.