Christmas Staycation Day 9 - Continuing with the Kitchen Reno

Well, it's Sunday.

I've made it 9 days without pulling my hair out or killing anyone.

And since I still have an entire week off of work...I decided to be productive.

Remember we made ourselves a new island?

I primed the cabinets...

...and then never actually painted them.

And it's been that way for....too long now.

It's time. 

This is multi-tasking at its finest. Doing some real work, answering emails while painting my cabinets. And no, I chose not to take these doors off to spray them the right way. I'm cheating with these doors. The rest of them we're removing and priming and painting the right way. Deciding whether or not we should spray them...

And of course I couldn't stop there. 

I knew I wanted to do the doors above the fridge. 

I didn't get a straight on shot of the before, apparently. But you can see them here, just plain pine. I figured they are out of the way enough so they'd be easy enough to just knock out without disturbing much in the kitchen.

Took the doors off; primed.

I really liked this primer. It seemed to do a nice job coating the wood surface without needing to sand.

Since we were changing things out, we figured we'd upgrade to these "soft-close" hinges. 

Steve also picked these up for me, to aid in drying

And then.

I just couldn't stop.

I wanted to stop after the two cabinets above the fridge. I really did. 

But I couldn't. So I decided to just do this one side of the stove.

And the drawers on the right of the stove...

And that's it. For now. 

Mila's having a sleepover tonight, so I didn't want to be clunking around the kitchen into all hours of the night.

BUT.

I hope to spend much of tomorrow doing this again. We'll see how far I get! 

Christmas Staycation Day 8

Today was a gorgeous day!

Mila asked to have a friend over, and today was the day.

We picked her up in the morning and her folks came to pick her up before an afternoon family event.

Mila has been BFFs with this little girl for 2 years now and they've spent a lot of time together in these last 2 years.

Mila actually spent the night at her house last weekend.

Since it was so nice out, they actually got to play outside!

I LOVE this pic! 

Today also happened to be the day our new fridge got delivered :)

I will do a separate post on our fridge and our kitchen renovation. We are slowly doing things to improve it, knowing that a full renovation is just too costly for us to do at one time. Remember, we started with the island. Steve and I spontaneously started painting cabinets today, so I'll be sure to capture our progress and post about it. 

Christmas Staycation - Day 6, 7

Day 6 of staycation (Thursday)

We did almost nothing today.

We made it to Wegmans for our normal grocery haul, but that's about it.

And people.

You'd think I was dragging these girls into war the way they were himming and hawing about having to leave the house.

I had to have a talk with Mila:

"You realize that this entire two weeks is supposed to be fun? I want to enjoy this time with you and we can absolutely be lazy today and stay in jammies, but we still have things to do first, like get milk and bread and fresh veggies and fruit. You know, FOOD. We cannot live off snacks anymore."

And let's be real, real. MAMA NEEDS COFFEE CREAMER.

If you know me IRL, you'll know that I live for coffee creamer. Like, yes, I'm one of those people.

Extra cream and extra sugar, please!

ANYWAY.

BACK TO NORMAL, PEOPLE!

We were literally gone for like 1.5 hours.

BIG SIGH when we pulled back into the garage.

I'm surprising myself with how patient I've been with the girls so far this week. Don't get me wrong, I have yelled a couple of times, but I thought I'd straight be OUT OF MY MIND already.

And I'm not.

Maybe because they are older this year and are able to entertain themselves for quite a white? An hour before I start to question where they are and what they're doing...maybe an hour and a half.

Maybe that's just the break I need during the day to keep my shit together.

Maybe it's because I've let go of the guilt of "needing to entertain them all the time" mentality. I know that independent play is good for them.

Of course I enjoy spending time with them and playing games and whatnot. But I'm not super into imaginary play and role-playing (Barbies? Eh, not really...). But coloring? Crafts? Cooking? Count me in.

Now that they can actually participate in those activities without destroying my kitchen, it's actually fun now.

I'm fully enjoying wearing jammies all day and watching baking shows, while listening to my girls play and fights throughout the day.

Onto Day 7!

Day 7 of staycation (Friday)

Another day of not having any real plans. 

It happened to be a breezy 50 degree day.

I had promised the girls that I'd take them to the FunZone while we were on break. Today was the day!

It was very busy there!

We were there for a couple of hours - it seems to go by so quickly! 

On our way home, the girls asked to stop at the playground since it wasn't terrible outside.

Sounds good to me!

Even though it was 52 degrees out, I was not dressed for the weather. It was breezy, so I was cold!

After about 15 minutes, I made the girls pack up and head home.

We spent the rest of the day at home, relaxing.

Not a bad day at all. 

Let's see how the rest of our time off goes!

Christmas Staycation Day 5 - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!

I set my alarm to wake up before the girls.

I didn't want to sleep in again. LOL.

I heard some voices and footsteps around 7:30.

I opened the door and...saw nothing.

I noticed the girls' stockings weren't on the banister anymore.

I yelled up "Girls?"

"yeah?"

"Um, Merry Christmas!? Where are you and what are you doing?"

"We're counting our presents that are in our stockings!"

"Well come down here so we can open everything together!"

So yeah, that was our magic.

I remember last year when they walked down and were surprised by what Santa left.

This time was different.

After they came down, they did seem in awe...but it took a moment.

Sometimes I get frustrated by their greed - like taking their stockings upstairs without even getting me or Steve...it kinda ruined the magic for me.

But I guess it's not about me, huh?

Like I said, it took them a moment, but then the wonder seemed to come into their eyes.

this girl

joy

OSMO - I will do a review on this later. So far, a great electronic game for her amazon fire tablet. All about education and it's super fun. 

We had a nice time opening presents and taking our time. The girls played along with opening. Again, we (I) tried not to go overboard with them. Knowing friends and family would also be spoiling them. They spent the next few hours just playing and playing and playing.

It was so nice to hear the laughing and giggling. There were a few quarrels here and there, but I think the excitement of so many new things kept them playing nicely.

Jennifer was going to be coning over soon, so I started on dinner. 

This roasted potato recipe is delicious. Olive oil, Italian seasoning mix, salt and pepper. Roast at 400 for about 25 - 30 minutes. Drizzle (or spray, in my case) balsamic vinegar overtop when done and serve! So good. 

The girls are so lucky and loved - Aunt Jennifer came over and we did Christmas again!

Jennifer always spoils us! LOL look at Steve in the back. He can't take it anymore. 

Aunt J. playing Mila's new OSMO with her. 

Family <3

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Check out this big boy

Not gonna lie....this was amazing. I made my own au jus/gravy. Mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, arugula salad, peas and corn. Sorry, no pics. I was too busy eating!

We all ate until we couldn't anymore and then proceeded to lay around on the couch. The girls continued to play with their new toys and we all just chilled.

We called Po-Po and Gong-Gong to wish them a Merry Christmas and enjoyed spending time together.

I appreciate family so much more as an adult. 

This was a great Christmas and so far, I'm enjoying every minute. 

Almost every minute.