*steps up* "Ehhem....I would like to thank the academy for this opportunity. I feel unworthy but I shall strive and endeavor to continue with the fortitude and humor of the ever humble and always fabulous Christine!!! *wipes eyes* Thank you!! Thank you all!!!"

Lol, like I said, I'll start them, as long as you continue to post my friend! ;)

Tomorrow is mothers day and my husband knows that I would rather money and time be spent on getting my kitchen and the rest of the house done then on presents to unwrap.

I've already gotten my shelves cut to the proper size for my pantry and maybe tomorrow we can mount the brackets and do a "dry fit" of the shelves before they are painted.

I am REALLY looking forward to having my pantry done. Right now it is just a room with a fridge and some bookshelves to store goods in but, as I was talking with my mother today and describing the end result I realized that it will really become another prep/work zone.

The kids school lunches will be made in there, I will (eventually) have a bread machine in there, etc.

Maybe when it is finished I will do a mini pantry reveal!!

Thanks for keeping up with this every week for a year or so, and to TX for keeping it all going.

I've been slowly moving ahead with this car stuff, which I've grown to be more than tired of. Yesterday I reached a milestone and the bad transmission finally came out. Long story short, I noticed a couple of other things that need to be addressed at this time (free / very cheap fixes) that can only be done while everything is removed so that's a plus I guess. I've also managed to write a guide on another forum for anyone else who ends up doing the job on their car since none exist. They can learn from me staring at something for hours on end, wondering how in the world that's supposed to come out or what to do next.

I've also gotten my other half to start participating with the landscaping (MAJOR accomplishment for us). Any help I can get with weeding it is appreciated!

[Gasp!} From what we've read, Facebook is your other 1/2's preferred activity. Great job!
And congrats, Shicksal, on the car progress. This has been in the back of your mind this entire year, even with the great accomplishments on the house!

Off to wait on people who never go out,
who feel they must take their mothers out, even though they hate their mothers and never see them,
who feel they must take their mom's to "some place nice" which means a step up from Chick-Filet
where, they're not required to pay a lot or think about tipping
which makes them even more angry, because our little restaurant is "expensive" (when compared to Bob Evan's or Chick-Filet)
and they don't want to spend that kind of money on themselves, let alone someone's mom.
and it's all my fault.

Mother's Day is restaurant hell. Kinda like Valentine's day.
Wish me (survival) luck.

Thanks for keeping this going Christine and thanks for taking over Texas_Gem! I love this series of threads, even when I'm too tired or overwhelmed to post to it I like seeing what everyone else is up to.

Right now, I'm overwhelmed. I had intended to reuse my old vanity in the bathroom and replace it next year. We had a mixup and it was destroyed. No ones fault, just a misunderstanding. Now I need a new one. When I did the kitchen I researched the hell out of everything. I knew pretty much just what I wanted and what it should cost. With this bathroom I thought I had done the same. I had all my materials on site, everything picked out and ready to go. This development has thrown me for a loop!

I had my eye on a pottery barn vanity but it turns out it's too big for the space. Not to mention while it might have been in the budget a year from now it really isn't in the budget today. I had a look at the big box store web sites, build.com and Amazon and found some that are ok and on budget. If I can scrape some time I'll go to some local cabinet shops and see what they've got but I wanted something more 'furniture' and less 'cabinets'.

I'm really not in the mood for making a major decision right now! Guess I better stop whining about it and get to work on it.

Happy Mother's Day!

Well thank goodness for my kitchen and it's induction cooktop. We have no gas today in my town. Restaurants are having to close because they can't cook! I'm guessing a few thousand moms will be having dinner cooked on the grill today. A woman somehow managed to get her SUV airborne, fly it over an 8' security fence and land it upside down on top of the main feeder pipe at our local distribution plant. Loads of people had to be evacuated but no one, other than the driver, was hurt. It may be days before gas service is restored though. They're saying utility workers may need to visit up to 6000 homes and businesses once service is restored to bring each one online safely.

Thank you CEFreeman. Looking forward to Texas-gems new leadership.

Thank you, Christine, you made it happen! Always enjoy your posts.

.....and Hooray for Texas! (isn't there a song named that?)

I'm thoroughly enjoying today :) Slept 10 hours last night. It was so nice to wake up early and then go back to sleep. I honestly cannot remember the last time I did not have to get up at a certain time. We had a leisurely breakfast and then did nothing for the rest of the day.

To all you mothers and future mothers and surrogate mothers out there, happy Mother's Day.

Thanks to CEFreeman for this thread, and for Texas_Gem for keeping it alive! I'll look for it every week, and contribute when I can.

My wife had to work Mother's Day (hospitals never close) but we made the most of it. We've found a new religion- hamburgers from fresh-ground meat! We're both pretty good cooks, but never bothered to grind our own meat. We were watching a cooking show, and it turns out that if you like your burgers RARE, you need to grind your own meat, since hamburger has somehow become extremely toxic since I was a kid. I bought a chuck roast, ground it up, and they were the best burgers I think I ever made! I've wasted 60+ years eating store-bought hamburger- never again!

On the house-building front, I finally varnished the beadboard porch ceiling. Not fun. It is 12 X 28 feet, and, well, over head, so varnishing it was a chore. It came out great, though. Much of the house is done now, but there's a long list of little things that will likely drag on forever. The last big step will be installing the floors, which are reclaimed pine from an old textile mill nearby. It's fun that I know which mill they came out of. I took 'before' pictures of the huge old beams (1896) that the flooring is milled out of. I can't wait to get started on them, but I'm going to paint the rooms first, since I'm a huge slob when I paint.

Jay

I can't wait to see those floors Jay!

Jay, I agree with you about grinding your own meat. Ground chuck with enough fat in it does make the best hamburgers ever! One of my chores about 50 years ago was to grind meat in a hand grinder so mom could have hamburger for casseroles. We never made hamburgers out of it that I recall. I now have that grinder but never use it. My wife thinks it's gross, but I am determined to use it again some day. I did learn that you can make hamburger patties by chopping the meat with a knife, which is what I do now. It helps if the meat is slightly frozen. It makes chunky hamburger and you have to be careful cooking and flipping the patties, but they are so good.