Hello and happy Friday! Pour yourself a little pick me up and let’s chat about things I’d tell you about if we were having a coffee date.
The Summer Doldrums
It was a good week. I took the girls on the jet ski Monday after being able to secure a jet ski last minute from our boat club; I felt like I got fun mom points! David has been super busy with work and he also took a quick trip to The Overlook to instill a new dishwasher, new disposal, and clean the carpets. I find myself being more proud of these homes (Bearolina, too) and how David runs them. It feels like an honor to get to host people’s memory making.
In contrast to David’s busy schedule, the girls and I are bouncing along at a much slower pace. School is going really well; I’m thinking it’s a combination of age (6th grade means H is largely self-directed, giving me more time to work one on one with K). The days are relaxed right now and it’s nice to get four solid weeks of lessons under our belts before the craziness of September kicks in.
In September we return to co-op, start musical theater, soccer, H turns 12, I turn 40, we visit Zion, and of course, college football! It’s going to be a packed month of good stuff and while I’m looking forward to it, I’m first enjoying the slow pace of August.
Spark Aligners
I had an orthodontist appointment yesterday to check on my aligners progress and have a “button” (bump on my tooth that the aligners snap to) reapplied because it was stained. All is going well. I’ll admit though, they’ve been more annoying that have than I anticipated. The good news is they don’t hurt, but having to brush my teeth and clean the trays so many times throughout the day gets old. However, they seem to be working because I haven’t had even a bit of jaw pain since I started, where previously I was waking up some mornings with my jaw almost locked in place. I’m grateful that’s gone! I most likely have about six months left of aligners, so I’m sucking it up.
Kitchen Remodel
In exciting news, we met with cabinet makers this week to finalize a plan for new kitchen cabinets! Ours are original thermofoil laminate and have been peeling for some time. We are replacing them, turning the built in kitchen desk into an appliance garage/coffee station, and reimagining the island. We are also getting a new cooktop, countertops, and backsplash.
I’ll be honest, I’m a little overwhelmed at it all because while I’m SUPER excited for the upgrade, interior design is not my forte and picking out colors and styles stresses me out. I’ve been perusing Houzz, but if you have any recommendations (or things not to do), I’m all ears!
Health Habits
In April I wrote about all my current health habits. In July with our travel, I fell off of some of them and am just now getting back to full speed. Do you ever feel like that? Like sometimes you’re super motivated about some things and other times you just don’t care? That’s been me, so it feels good to have a surge of motivation return.
I’m also looking to try out a few new things, because self experimentation is my favorite. I just ordered a bunch of adaptogen blends to try out, am starting to drink a cup on bone broth in the mornings on an empty stomach before coffee (it’s supposed to be good for glowy skin), and am looking at trying out some new cookbooks to spice things up in the kitchen.
Home Clean Out
Health motivation is high; home organization motivation is low, but desperately needed. I need to go through my closet and the girls’ to see what needs to be donated and what should stick around. I have a giant pile of seasonal items on the dining room table needing to be organized and store (but some items don’t fit in a bin so I just keep staring at it since I don’t know what to do), and junk drawers and kitchen storage need a good run through, too. Any tips in this area? Blast some upbeat music and just eat the frog? Anyone have this as their natural talent and want to come help me out? Ha 🙂
OK, sniffari time with Finley (who hopefully is nearing the end of her first heat), then it’s Friday! School with the kids, some grocery shopping, a visit from Mema, a TKD progression test, and then…. PIZZA night 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful weekend; thanks so much for stopping by!
Laura says
I definitely need some time/ deadline motivation to get going on the cleaning and organizing! I almost always get those bursts of motivation right at the beginning or right at the end of breaks. I’m back to school now from summer break, and spent the last week of break doing all of that. Not a really fun way to end break, but we’d been traveling most of the summer so I felt due to get some stuff done! Knowing I won’t have the time later helps get me motivated, plus playing something fun on the TV like Ghost Adventures!
August is a huge transition month in my house and I’ll be thankful when we get some rhythm (likely after Labor Day!). First, I go back to work for a week of teacher training/ prep (going from lazy summer mornings to being at school by 7:10 every morning feels so abrupt!), with a couple of partial weeks of some piecemeal coverage for my boys (although this year we really lucked out with grandparents in town and my husband taking a quick break between jobs), then about 10 days later they start school, then at the end of the month my husband starts his new job and my oldest turns 10!
As far as the kitchen renovation- my biggest recommendation is to set up a complete temp kitchen somewhere in the house when it is going on (access to a sink, refrigerator, an electric cooktop, etc.). It always seems to take longer than you think, and being able to still “cook” makes it so much less stressful. We redid ours in 2015, but did it ourselves other than the marble countertops and painting the original 50s metal cabinets which were made so well they were in mint condition (hired professional electrostatic painters for that). But my husband did take a wall out and re-routed all the electric. And we salvaged the original (gorgeous!) walnut planks to re-frame the new island. It took almost 2 years total, but for most of it our kitchen was still functioning. Not a day goes by that I don’t love and appreciate my kitchen! We were able to keep the original mid century style while opening it up and creating a lot more counter space.
Lastly, as far as picking out your kitchen choices, just go with what you like whether it is trendy or not. Trendy kitchens will all eventually look dated anyways, so we went with some classic choices that we love like Cararra marble. Most places would only sell us the marble look alike quartz which is very trendy right now, and we only found one place that had the slabs of real marble that we wanted! Most places don’t want to deal with it because people have it installed without understanding how it will etch and chip and develop a patina over the years… age like good denim and leather. Nothing wrong with quartz, it is just not my style. I’m sooo glad we went with the choices that we wanted, not just what interior designers push because it’s what is popular now.
Kelli H says
Yes, I try to make health a priority too but then sometimes travel happens and I let go of it a bit. Yay for your kitchen upgrade! We’re saving for our kitchen upgrade next summer but it’s sooo expensive! We have to have about $50k to be able to do it. Yikes! Though we have decided to hire a designer to help us and coordinate the contractors. Sometimes I can’t believe how much things cost! I would love to read a blog post about yours when you’re all done or even during.
Brittany Dixon says
I feel you on the cost; we originally had a designer come by who would also act as the general contractor/project manager, but it added on an additional 30% to the cost, so we decided to go for it on our own. A lot of work and coordinating ahead I’m sure, but I’m excited!
Kelli H says
Wow! 30%! Ours is 10% so we felt okay with it.