Decisions, decisions....

I love design, I love every aspect of it. My issues are that I have a hard time sticking to one thing. With the Internet anything is possible. You can search for hours on designs, colors, features on any room of the house. For now though I am focusing on two rooms, our Master Bath and Kitchen.

So for the kitchen I am having to decided some things:

Cabinets- What color? What material? What design on the front? What handle or pull on the doors?
Countertops- What material? What color? What finish on the edge?
Sink- What material? What design? How big?
Cook Top- What company? What color? What features?
Range Hood- We know we need an island hood since it is viewable from all side. What company? What color? What features?
Lighting? How many lights? What type? Recessed, drop lighting or good old florescent?

We are reusing the fridge, double oven and microwave for now, they are practically brand new and "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

As you can see we have many decisions to make. So let's start from the top.

Cabinets- We have already decided we both love white. It is classic and will go with us throughout the years as design changes. I love how it can go from traditional to farmhouse to classic with just changing the drawer and cabinet pulls. The face of the cabinets will have a raised design, again something that will stay with us for awhile.

This is from the Timberlake Cabinets Andover Series Thermofoil White

We are leaning toward thermofoil but may change. This is an article on the pros and cons of thermofoil.

Countertops- Now I have RESEARCHED and RESEARCHED my heart out on these. Think about it, you put your food on these surfaces and you need to know what you are buying. Not only that but on some materials the maintenance is ridiculous. If I have to reseal it every few years or worry about radon emissions I don't want it. I grew up with laminate and have no issues with it. My parents house had this 70's style mustard yellow mixed with other colors countertop. It was all the rage back then, it lasted 28 years. They got there kitchen redone and my Mom's only request to my Dad was make sure you get laminate. I personally would not mind it but I want a certain sink and we will discuss this later. So I looked over everything recycled materials, natural stones, engineered stones, concrete, wood, metal, tile (since I work for a tile company) and glass. After buying Consumer Reports Kitchen and Bath and reading articles on the Internet I found Engineered Quartz to be the best. You can also get Natural Quartz but it requires more maintenance.  Best article for research online it this. 

There are quite a few companies to choose from

Avanza®

CaesarStone®
Cambria® I think I may go with this company they are made in the USA!!
Legacy
LGViatera
Okite
Silestone®
Technistone®
Zodiaq®

So if we go with the Cambria here are my favorites so far.


Cambria Bellingham










Cambria Burton Brown






Cambria Brecon Brown





Cambria Aragon

Sink- I have loved Farmhouse sinks for a long time now. Now they are popping up everywhere and I can't get enough of all the different designs, materials and colors. You can get them in stainless steel, stone, stone fire clay and copper. Then you can get them with a single or double bowl, there are pros and cons to both. I decided to go with the classic white apron sink 36" single bowl. This one is from signature hardware:

To complete the look I love bridge faucets, this is from signature hardware as well. I would get it in the Oil Rubbed Bronze though.



Cook top- We currently have an older smaller cook top and were trying to decide if we wanted to just reuse that. The dilemma is that they will cut it into the countertop. If we pay someone to cut the countertop we only want to do this one. The current one we have in a 30" model. We were looking at the 36" models, more cooking space. At first we though we would just go with the downdraft models but we can not find one with a charcoal filter feature. They all have to be vented to the outside. They make over range hoods with charcoal filters but we will not need one since we already have the roof capped to vent outside, this was where the old one was. The issue was that we did not want to put cabinets back over top so it would open the kitchen more. So we decided to go with a hood and since you will be able to see it from all the way around it would have to be an island hood. Back to the cook top, I already have the double convection oven from GE Profile and not that all my appliances have to say one company name but I like their cook top. If I had the money I would go all Electrolux (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) or Viking but the budget rules. I was going to go with the induction cook tops but after reading about them you almost have to learn to cook all over again. They heat up very fast and sometimes too fast you have to be ready to go. They are very popular in Europe and have hit the mainstream here lately. They use to be very pricey but they have come down a lot. The other issue is whether or not your current cookware will work with induction. The best way to tell is with a magnet, since induction cooking works with magnets. Cast Iron and Stainless Steel work the best, the rule is if the magnet sticks it fits. If you want to know more there is a great article on How Stuff Works.

If I did go with the induction cook top I would choose the GE Profile 36" Induction Cook top:

However, the budget is king and I am going with the GE Profile 36" Cook top



Island Hood- As I said above the Island Hood is they way we are going. I wanted something with clean lines and nothing obtrusive. So I found this range hood from, can you guess, signature hardware. It is the Compass Series 36" Island Hood. I love the glass part so more light can get through. It contains four dimmable 35-watt halogen light bulbs to illuminate both sides of the stove top. It also has two reusable, dishwasher safe aluminum filters. I love easy peasy care for filters, they can get nasty and greasy fast.

So that is where I am at right now. I have already selected the tile for the floors and tile that looks like wood for the Living and Dining Room. I have also selected the Master Bath wall tile, listello and shower floor. I will show you those later. :)

Kitchen Remodel

Wow! Is it almost the end of February!! These first two months of the year have been so wonderful and blessed. Hubbie and I still have great jobs and still have a roof over our heads and food on the table. We were starting to save for the kitchen remodel when fate jumped in.

Let me back up a little, we bought a foreclosure and knew it needed work. We bought this house because it is in a nice neighborhood, I literally grew up in the house next door and the school system can not be beat. Our goal along the way was to ONLY pay cash for any updates. So far we have done the following:
1) Replaced the old roof
2) Pushed out the walls from the walk in closet to make it bigger.
3) Replaced the solar heater for the pool
4) Replaced the heater for the Jacuzzi
5)Rebuilt the kitchen pantry

As I said before we were saving for the kitchen and ALL the flooring in the house. When like I said above FATE took over.  The kitchen is from the 70's and the cabinets had been painted over and over and over.  The drawers are so worn out and there is no storage space at all. There is a wall sticking out that needs to come down, I know it was supposed to be a breakfast nook, but it is soooo not needed. There is a dining room on the opposite side. The ceiling is lower in just the kitchen and I know it was all the rage in the 70's but not anymore.

So back to the story, I was getting ready for work and walked through the front Living Room and noticed a small puddle on the floor, we have dogs so I was thinking drool. I wiped up the mess and moved on with my day. My hubbie was off that day and he called me at work to say there was a big puddle in the dining room. Our dining room and living room step down from the kitchen area.
I told him maybe it was the dishwasher and to shut the water off under the sink. When I got home there were towels on the floor and we were now looking for what was causing that nice waterfall on the step down. I called a plumber and he we have used him before and he immediately found that the copper pipe behind the wall had sprung a leak under the sink.  As you can see below he dug out the wall and replaced the pipe.

Then we pulled out the washer next to the sink, it must have been an ongoing leak because there is mold growing up the wall behind that.

This is behind the dishwasher, that is mold and dirt and water. Lovely, I swear I am a clean freak, I do not live like this.

Now you see why I wanted to replace all the floors. This tile is about 20 plus years old, very glossy and slippery and just UGLY.

You can see where the water has started popping tiles. This is good, less work to remove the tiles.

From the step down you can see the tiles pulling away.

The water came out 3 tiles from the step down and without the towels there would have one further.

The plumber called a water remediation team to try to get them to help dry it all out. A lot of the walls in the area already had water wicking up the walls.

These fans are to dry out all the water under the cabinets. They had to drill holes around the bottoms to get the rest of the water out.

This machine had tubes going into the holes to dry out under the cabinets. All of these were in our house for four days. They were so loud!!

That other tall machine is a dehumidifier. They had three of these in the house and oh my stinkin' heck. Every morning I woke up SO thirsty! My sinus passages were DRY and hubbie said he felt like he took 6 sinus pills in one shot. I have a box of Puffs Plus with lotion tissues next to our couch in the Great Room, they were dried out. By the last day I was praying the yellow meters would not show water so they would take them out.

Luckily the insurance company is replacing the existing cabinets and a lot of the floors. So whatever they are not paying for we are trying to do to save money. My wonderful brother-in-law, Marvin, helped me take down the upper cabinets.

Above the cooktop as in the picture above, there was a row of cabinets. We are not going to put those back up, it opens the room more. The drop ceiling as well is going next.

The wall on the right, behind the ladder is going as well. The french doors in the background lead to the Florida Room. I LOVE that room, I have Girls Night Out parties in there.

This is looking from the florida room side towards the Dining Room

We just had the insulation blow in 6" deep and now this area will have to be redone. Once the ceiling goes.

See how much more open it will make it.

This is from the Foyer Hall looking to the kitchen. The window looks out to the pool area.

See the wall in the background. Next time it will be gone. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

The double ovens I had installed when we moved in. I work for a flooring company and a builder we worked for was redoing their model center. This was just installed and they wanted the other model oven. This is the GE Profile with convection. They sold it to me brand new for $400.00. I had it sitting in my parents garage before we ever bought this house. Every house we looked at I looked at the kitchen first to make sure it would work. This house had a single wall oven built in, we ripped it out, re-framed the wall and installed. I can not live without this toy.

I will kep you updated, this weekend we are taking the rest of the cabinets out and hopefully the wall and ceiling are going next. Luckily the wall is not load bearing otherwise my plans would have to be changed.

Another one bites the dust....

Wow!!! My last post was January 25, 2011. This year has been amazing and I hope the next will be even better.

1. We finally sold the house in St. Augustine.

2. My sister had her second baby, a little girl.

3. My two nephews are thriving and getting into normal 2 year old trouble.

4. My sister and her husband moved in next door.

5. My parents in-law suite was completed, after arguing constantly with the superintendent.

6. My husband has had a wonderful job and we are hoping it stays that way.

7. My sister-in-law, her husband and my nephew moved into my Grandma's old house, so now they are closer.

8. I have reached my 10 year mark with my job and we are still going strong there. :)

9. Not so good part of the year is that I gained weight. I am back at the needing to lose 80-90 lbs.

Now I am not going to beat myself up. I know what happened and I can blame it on the fertility drugs, the depression (which I am over), lack of time but they would just be excuses.

So here is where I am at, I WILL NOT be going on some diet program, I am doing this my way. I find that when I do diets I tend to cheat with my foods. Before the holidays began I ate what I wanted and it was the full fat versions of whatever I made. I found I ate less and was more fulfilled. I wound up losing 15 lbs. over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since I need to lose 80-90 lbs and it is safe to lose 1-2 lbs a week. I figured I could do it this year, 52 weeks in a year is really not that long.

This is my way of getting my life back without help from others, I did this to myself and I WILL get myself out. I do not plan on blogging everyday but I will try. I am trying to make foods ahead of time that are healthy but not skipping the fat. Now by fat I am talking real butter, coconut oil, olive oils, peanut butter, eggs (not egg beaters), whole milk or coconut milk.

I am not asking anyone to follow me on this journey or follow my lead. Everyone is different and what may work for me may not work for others. For instance, I can not have artificial sweeteners, it is only asking for an instant U.T.I. I do however use Stevia, Sucanat and Agave. I will stick to Organic fruits and veggies, I feel better when I stick to a mostly vegetarian diet.

I have been using recipes from other blogger websites. I love The Pioneer Woman site and I have adjusted some recipes to make them a little more vegetarian. :)  I know she will be so disappointed but conversion is necessary. I also follow The Nourished Kitchen, Heavenly Homemakers, A Cozy Kitchen and for personal inspiration and I love how she writes Enjoying the Small Things.

I am not making this as a resolution because when February rolls around those are out the window. I do believe in new beginnings and that it is never to late to start something. So I toast the New Year with a new way. I will try to lose at least 1 lb. a week and if I don't I will not beat myself up. It took me years to learn these bad habits and I am assuming in 2 years I will change them.

Love,
Renee

What a ripoff......here a bidder there a bidder

Some of you may search online auctions and good deals daily, I know I am one of those.  Well I found the biggest of ripoffs and if people would do their research before it would save them some money. 

I was researching iPads because of the convenience of them and how they would work at the trade shows my hubby and I go to.  So I entered into a search engine something like "best iPad auction" and it came up with these weird auction sites I had never heard of.

Quibids and Arrow Outlet. Anyone else hear of them, you may have seen them on ABC, MSNBC.... yada yada yada.  Well it just goes to show you that the media does not know a thing about saving money.  Sure you can probably get a good deal but at what expense.

Here is how it works, I watched one auction go on forever and added up what the cost was. RIDICULOUS!!

I was looking at the iPad on arrow outlet and the starting bid was $0.00. Each time you bid it raises the price by .01.  You have to pay for each bid ahead of time and you can purchase them in what are called "bid packs". For instance I would first purchase 100 bids at $49.95 and then they give you a bonus of 5 more, each time you place a bid now you are paying .48 cents for each bid and each bid only raises that auction by one penny?!?!

So back to the iPad (32GB with Wifi, to be specific), if you go to their ENDED auctions to see a real time price one just recently closed for $122.57 on 1/24/11 @ 11:00 p.m.

This auction again went up in .01 cent increments that you paid .50 cents each for. Right now with just the bids that I figuratively bought (105), just by myself I could get the amount up to $1.05. WHAT?!?! This item sold for $122.57, that means that there were 12,257 bids placed and each bid was paid to them at .50 cents a piece. Arrow Outlet just made $6128.50 in bid fees alone and say they only "sold" it for $122.57 (but they do include free shipping, hardee har har). 

Let's do the math:

So let's just say there were 20 people who bid on the iPad mentioned above:

12,257 / 20 (people) = 612.85 (amount of bids needed to try to win per person)

each bid cost .50 cents

$.50 x 612.85 (bids needed to win) = $306.43 (Unless you bought their bid pack of 1000 bids + 75 for free for $499.95 and only paid .47 cents per bid)

OK so $306.43 to buy the bids, then you win the item for $122.57 (but the shipping is free), your total is $429.00. You only saved $201.00 and your eyes are now bloodshot from staying up late constantly raising the price up penny by penny.

If you would have bought the 1075 bid pack at $499.95 + $122.57 = $622.52 (you only saved $7.48) I am going to assume people are buying lowest packs because at first it may not seem like you would need that many to bid. Which means if you did you lost money now instead of saving it.  (You can buy the same iPad on Best buy for $599.99 and be guaranteed the item and not have to look like a zombie at work the next day)

Now granted there are way more people bidding on this one item but you can see how it can add up really quick.

The other scam they have going on is the bid packs you can win by bidding on them, again one penny at a time.  You can win a 100 bid pack and pay $8.53 for it. Again:

853 bids placed to get it to $8.53.
You pay .50 per bid and it only raises this auction by one penny at a time.
Again 853 / 12 (people) = 71.09
71.09 bids each person may have had to make to try to win
So each person spent $35.55 and only one person won. (they still give you the option to put the bids you made though towards buying it at retail cost.) You are bidding to win bids to bid again.

Say you bought the 40 bids at $19.95 and you try to win the 15 bid pack to get more bids. The last auction went off for $1.30 (130 bids to get this, they made $65.00 off your bids and did not have to provide you an item that you can physically touch, just more bids. (Again if you won, if not you are out the bids and now have the "option" to buy more)

The auctions have this never ending process as well. The clock can get down to 1 second and someone can out bid you over and over.  The clock turns red on the final 15 second count down, in that 15 seconds someone can out bid you over and over again. So an auction that says it end in 1 hour (let's say 1 hour starts at 12:00 p.m.), this "last 15 seconds" can go on until someone gives up, runs out of bids or money and go well on into 3 a.m. the next day. 

Now granted they do provide the product at a discounted price if you win and you can win some good deals.  I think if people stepped back and averaged out what they won compared to what they spent they would be shocked. 

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Days 18-34

Well, we finally reached the New Year!!! Shepherd attended his first New Years Party at the Meyers house. He loved the people, kids, music and especially his car-car (as he knows it by). This kid LOVES this little car, he can be screaming his lungs out and tired as heck, you stick his little butt in that car and total silence.

December 23rd they came back to cute the expansion joints in the concrete on the sidewalk around the house.  They also covered back up the pipe for the plumbing, now we don't have a moat between the two houses. LOL 

Not much went on from days 18-26, it was mostly waiting for the concrete to cure and then it rained. This further delayed construction and on day 27, 1-5-11, we finally got the concrete block delivered.

 Granted that it rained for a couple more days after that and then on day 29, Friday 1-7-11, they started on the block.

This lead into the weekend which no work was done and then they started again on Monday 1-10-11 and by Tuesday 1-11-11 they were done, they did come back the next day to clean up the slab. They were excellent concrete masonry guys, clean, quick and thorough.  This link has a great do it yourself how to concrete block yourself.

When I got home today I saw they delivered the roof trusses today so soon we will be in the framing game.