# 2 and # 30 - DONE!

#2 - Install a kitchen island
#30 - New lighting in the kitchen
DONE and DONE!

I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet. I'm such a slacker! When we moved into our current house in Feb 07, I wasn't pleased with the layout of the kitchen. There was a lot of wasted space because it was supposed to be an eat-in kitchen. So I said "I'd love to have a kitchen island in here!" and so began my long long journey...

I saved and saved money for it. I researched and tried to just buy one. Didn't see what I was looking for. I tried to get someone to build it for me - timing just wasn't right. So finally Chris and I decided to tackle this sucker on our own. We started building it in Feb 08 (one year after I originally wanted this baby) and didn't have it installed in the kitchen until July 08!

We had some set backs (which I shall not list here because I wouldn't want my husband to have to admit that he actually needed help and that sometimes he should listen to your wife! And then I'd have to admit that I hit the top with my tire and caused a wee bit of damage...oops!) and we had to make some adjustments to the original plan - but in the end it turned out great and was cheaper than I would have paid for a manufactured piece.

The cabinet part is a pre-made cabinet from Lowe's. But then Chris added wood all the way around the sides since the pre-made cabinets just have a plywood sides/back. The top was the interesting part. A butcher block (my original idea) was too expensive. Then I saw an antique table that had wood planks as the top and decided that would be a good idea for my top. So we spent a lot of hard work making a top from scratch! On my end, getting all of this to match the cabinets and counter tops that already existed in the kitchen was stressful - but seems to match pretty darn close!

And all the hard work and waiting was well worth it. I love my kitchen island. Sometimes I just sit there and stare at it, knowing that even though it isn't the most perfectly crafted kitchen island - it is perfect for us and was a combined effort.

Side view with stools and on the other side is a place to hide my trash can under the top. This side will one day have a bookshelf for all my cookbooks.

You can see the window seat Chris recently build for me too. I need to stain it/paint it and put a cushion on the top and then I'll blog about it.

A big fat thanks goes to my fabulous husband for all his hard work and patience (most of the time...), to my dad who saved the day a couple times and to my cousin Alan who helped in the beginning and was an excellent beer drinker during the process!

And if the kitchen island wasn't enough...I also got a new light fixture to go over the kitchen island. I knew I would one day get the light fixture - but I had no idea it would be so soon. My parents came in town to help install the kitchen island (it's pretty heavy!) and my dad decided right then and there that he'd also install the light fixture for me. I love it!

Original light fixture meant for eat-in kitchen.


New light fixture over the island.

#60 - Step Brothers

Like I stated before, we were in Iowa visiting our friends Leslie and Mike recently. We were going to go canoing one day - but there were some bad storms so we had to make different plans. Last minute we decided to go see a movie and picked out Step Brother with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.

What makes a movie more fun? ALCOHOL! What are you to do when there is no Alamo Drafthouse in Iowa? Sneak in little flasks of alcohol you bought at the grocery store on your way to the theater, of course!

Did I mention we went to a matinee on a Tuesday? That made it even weirder to be drinking. I felt like a teenager sneaking liquor into the theater but it really did make the movie more fun.

As for the movie - I loved the beginning. There are some great lines. However, I felt like towards the end of the movie they just ran out of steam and thought "Hey, let's just find a way to end this." It just didn't quite work for me.

So basically what I mean is...if you haven't seen it already - just wait until it comes out on DVD and you can rent it from the Red Box for a buck and save yourself some money. And then you don't have to sneak the liquor in either - you can get as drunk as you want in your own living room.

The 600 lb Butter Cow

Have you ever seen a 600 lb cow made out of butter? I HAVE! And I have the photos to prove it.

Quick (grainy) photo of me in front of the butter cow before some runt kid pushed me out of the way

While we were in Iowa visiting our friends Leslie and Mike, we went to the Iowa State Fair. The "must see" for me was the butter cow. Things to know about the butter cow:

1. The butter cow could butter 19,200 slices of toast
2. I wouldn't want to use that butter on my toast though since they recycle the butter from year to year (ew! part 1)
3. It would take you 2 lifetimes to consume all that butter
4. There is a wood, metal, mesh frame so it isn't JUST butter
5. They go into a lot of detail on the cow. (ew! part 2)


Bonus for the butter cow of 2008: the life size butter Shawn Johnson, US Olympic Gymnast from Des Moines.

Before the butter (photo from Yahoo! Sports and Getty Images)

After the butter (with butter balance beam - her premier event)

With the butter flag

Sorry for the lack of updates

This summer still continues to be crazy busy for me with lots of twists and turns. I won't go into details now because I don't have time but I'm hopeful it will settle down once Christmas tree farm season starts in October. I don't know if I can handle all this PLUS working on the farm every weekend.

But for now Chris and I are headed on a 16 hour (one way) road trip up to Iowa to visit our good friends Leslie and Mike.

Chris and I with Leslie and Mike at their wedding just over a year ago.

We'll also attend our first National Christmas Tree Meeting in Des Moines, IA (the initial reason we're going up there - but don't tell Leslie!). Yup folks, my summer vacation includes going and meeting with a bunch of Christmas tree farmers! Whoda thought??? But I'm really excited about it. Bonus is that we're stopping in Jeff City, MO on our way back to visit Chris' Aunt Mary Ann - and that woman sure can cook! My tummy can't wait. :)

I have major updates (like I finished my kitchen island!!!!) but no time to organize the photos and post about that long process. Just sit pretty and hopefully I'll get to it when we come back from our trip.

p.s. - Pray that our crAaZy dog doesn't make my parents go insane. They're angels for watching the hellion. It'll be a miracle if he doesn't kill our 22 year old family cat this week with his antics.