DIY Kitchen Makeover, Part 3: The Countertops, Island, and Floors

This post is continued from DIY Kitchen Makeover, Part 2 and previously, DIY Kitchen Makeover, Part 1


Countertops

I wasn't sure what to do with the countertops. I had planned on painting them--there is actual paint that is used for countertops--but I wasn't in love with the idea. I knew I didn't want to replace them with granite or something (I happen to really like laminate, even though it's not what the cool kids are using these days!).

Again, I began some online searches and discovered that people actually make their own laminate countertops. This never even occurred to me! I assumed it would still be very expensive, but after pricing it out, I was so surprised. I wished we'd done it years ago.

In the end, we made our own countertops out of particle board and sheets of laminate. It was so much easier than I expected! I also installed a new kitchen sink (bigger and only one basin, rather than a divided one).

Countertops are much simpler than I thought: particle board, laminate, and contact cement. That's it!

First, I cut down the particle board to the sizes we needed (basically long rectangular shapes). I cut two of each and stacked them so that they would be 1.5 inches thick (the particle board is 3/4-inch). To do that, I put wood glue all over the surface of the bottom one, and then I put the other one on top. I lined them up very carefully and clamped them together to get a good seal while the glue dried.

After that, I used a router (I had no idea what a router was--I borrowed Brian's, and I learned that it is the coolest tool ever!). The router basically trims the edges so that they are flush. I was going to try to explain how it works, but it is way too difficult to explain. Just know that it's an amazing tool and I'm sad that I have to return it to Brian.

After making sure that the countertops were tightly glued together and the edges were smooth, it was time to apply the laminate. I had to cut the laminate to size (with a bit of an overhang in all directions, which will be cut off later). I put masking tape on top of all of the lines where I'd be cutting (with a circular saw) so it didn't chip the laminate. That worked really well! I cut the pieces for the tops and the sides that would be visible.

Next, I applied the contact cement to the sides of the particle board as well as on the back of the long strips of laminate that would cover the sides of the countertop. (I used an old paintbrush for this, knowing I'd have to throw it away afterward.)

I let the contact cement dry, per the instructions. Once it was dry, Jerry and I carefully lined up the laminate strips to the sides of the countertop and pressed them together to bond them. I used a router (this time it was a smaller one that is specifically for this purpose--called a trim router) to trim off the excess laminate. The sides were done!

Then it was time to apply the laminate to the tops, which is done similarly to the sides. Because the tops are so big, and the laminate sheet has to be lined up carefully, we used dowels to keep the laminate from bonding to the particle board until we were ready.

When contact cement is dry, it's not sticky at all. It doesn't bond to other things--only to itself. So by pressing the two pieces coated with contact cement together, they are bonded permanently. With dowel rods in between the laminate and the particle board, the two can't bond just yet.

We laid the laminate sheet on top of the dowels and made sure it was evenly lined up (a small overhang on each side). Then, starting in the center, we removed the dowels one by one, pressing the laminate down onto the particle board.

I had been so intimidated to do this, but it was so easy! Once the top was bonded, we used the trim router on each edge to cut away the excess. Viola! New countertops. Jerry screwed them into the counters, and I was thrilled with how they turned out.

For the sink, I had cut (with a jigsaw) the hole for the sink into the particle board top, and used a router along the insides of the hole. Then we applied the laminate on top of the entire countertop, even over the hole for the sink. Finally, I drilled a pilot hole in the laminate over the hole for the sink, and I used the router to cut out the laminate to the edge of the hole.

I installed the sink (the plumbing was the most frustrating part of the entire project thus far). I was SO excited about how it looked!

You can read more about the countertops and sink on this post: I Made My Own Countertops!


The Kitchen Island

This was a project in and of itself. I had an idea in my head from the very beginning, and I was determined to carry it out. The island we had was four feet long. I wanted to extend the countertop to eight feet long, but keep the cabinet part the same size. That way, we could add some barstools and have seating on the other side of the island.

Here is my post about making the island from scratch: The Story of Our Kitchen Island

I left that post off with a cliffhanger (that might be overdramatizing it, haha!) about what we were going to put down underneath the epoxy countertop.

The next post can be found here: Completing the Epoxy Countertop!

Finishing the countertop was a complete nightmare, and I'm sure I have several (more) gray hairs because of it.

The final post of the island countertop nightmare can be found here: An Epoxy Nightmare


The Floors

This was the most expensive part of the project, and I knew I wanted to do it last, as the "finishing touch". This was all Jerry. While I did about 90% of the other work (solely by choice--since he works full time, it was only natural that this DIY makeover would be my project), he did an amazing job on the floors.

I knew I wanted luxury vinyl planking for the floors. We Jerry installed some in our bathroom, and I really liked it.

I searched and searched, reading about all the different kinds, what to look for in terms of durability and quality, and I was completely overwhelmed with choices. I wanted high durability (with two cats, a dog, and two teen boys, it had better be durable!) but I didn't want to spend $6-8 per square foot.

In the end, I chose MSI Herritage planks in the color Beaufort Birch (shades of gray--not too light, not too dark). The day it was delivered, I threw on my shoes and coat to go outside and help the delivery guy bring it into the garage. Well, it weighed a tad more than I expected. It was on a pallet, and the pallet full of planks weighed over 2,100 pounds!!

Rather than carrying in each 44-lb box, he used a pallet jack. I was SO nervous watching him lower it from the truck to the ground. The ramp on the truck looked very unsteady, and at one point, I was so sure the pallet was going to tip over and fall off the ramp. (The delivery guy said the same thing.) Once it was on the ground, he pulled and I pushed all 2,100 pounds of planks up the driveway and into the garage.

Jerry and I tore up the linoleum in the kitchen, as well as the carpet from the living room/dining room and hallway. And then Jerry got to work.

Jerry's friend/coworker used to install flooring for a living, and he was so nice to come over and get Jerry started, giving him tips for installation. He was only here for about an hour, but he finished nearly half the kitchen! Jerry continued to work on it, and a couple of days later, the flooring was done--in the kitchen, pantry, living room, dining room, and hallway.

And it looked awesome.

I was so happy with the floor! Since I ordered it without a sample, I had been a little nervous. But the quality is fantastic and the installation wasn't bad at all (I speak for Jerry on this, haha).

We had leftover planks, so we used them in the bathroom and the kids' closets.


Floor Trim and Finishing Touches

For the floor trim, I bought this simple baseboard molding from Menards. I borrowed my dad's miter saw and did the baseboards pretty quickly. It was already primed, so I just had to cut and nail it to the wall with a trim nailer (borrowed from Brian). Then I filled in the holes with wood filler, and put a single coat of white paint on it. Done!

Other touches:

Painted my dining table and chairs
Hung and painted new door slabs for each doorway
Installed a new fan in the living room and light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room
Made a "pet feeding station"
Painted an enormous chalkboard wall clock in the dining room
Bought some new (used) furniture for the living room
Bought some used barstools for the snack bar
Bought some counter stools from Amazon for the island
A new range! (Our oven died about two years ago, but we continued to use the stove and countertop oven. We finally got a new range with a working oven. I've only used it twice in a month, hahaha--I'm so used to NOT using it now.)


Continued in Part 4...

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DIY Kitchen Makeover, Part 2: Moulding and Cabinets

This is continued from DIY Kitchen Makeover, Part 1...

The Moulding

Next up: painting the window and door casings, as well as the window sills and door jambs. Since we were going to replace the flooring later on, I decided to remove the floor board trim instead of painting it (it was very cheap material and definitely not worth trying to save). I would replace it with new trim later.

In retrospect, I wish I'd have replaced the moulding around the windows and doors. We ended up doing that in the kids' bedrooms, and it wasn't nearly as expensive as I imagined. However, it all worked out, so it's no big deal.

I knew nothing about caulk until I started researching paint, and then I learned all of the great uses of caulk! I filled in any gaps in the moulding with caulk (just make sure it's paintable!). I used these little caulking tools to smooth it out, and I was amazed at how much better the caulk made it look. I always wondered how trim looks so seamless and smooth! It's due to caulk and wood filler.

I used Kilz oil-based primer on the moulding. I thoroughly cleaned it all beforehand, but I didn't sand it. After a lot of research on paint, I decided that sanding trim wasn't necessary. I applied a coat of the primer, and then two coats of oil-based paint. I used Sherwin Williams oil-base in a slightly off white color called "Spare White".

I read a ton about oil-based paint versus latex with enamel, and decided oil was definitely the way to go (on the moulding and the cabinets). The main downside of oil-based paint is the drying time (24 hours minimum) and the clean-up (using mineral spirits--no water--and having to properly dispose of the mineral spirits which can't be poured down the drain). It was definitely a pain to use, especially on the cabinets (more on this later) but I wouldn't consider anything else.

I also added a paint thinner called Penetrol (Amazon affiliate link) to the oil-based paint in order to make it easier to apply and minimize brush strokes. I don't mind brush strokes (I like that they make things look less manufactured) but adding the Penetrol helped with the application a lot. Without it, the paint was hard to spread around and get into the little crevices of the moulding and cabinets.

While the paint was drying, I had to hang plastic sheets over the window sills so the cats wouldn't step on it. I couldn't believe the difference that a little paint can make--the trim looked so much better! We weren't even close to done, but look at the difference already:

The Cabinets

Since we were going to have freshly painted walls and new flooring, I figured we might as well give the cabinets a makeover, too. Even though our cabinets are not top quality, they function just fine and I didn't want the expense of replacing them. So, I decided to paint them.

I also wanted to do something with the space between the cabinets and the ceiling. It seems like such a waste of space, so I began browsing the internet for ideas of what to do with it. In the end, I decided to make some open shelves that extended the cabinets to the ceiling.

I was very unfamiliar with woodwork, and I had no idea how to start. I had some ideas in my mind, but they didn't pan out very well. Finally, I bought some plywood to make boxes and some finished boards to make "faces" (the outer, finished border of the cabinets).

I wish I had known about using a Kreg jig for pockethole screws--those would have made this SO much easier! Instead, I used screws, braces, and wood glue. It was much more work than using the jig, but I was happy with how they looked when I was done. I placed them on top of the cabinets and fastened them together.

Painting the Cabinets

I have a lot of cabinets, even after removing the ones we did in the beginning. I removed all of the doors and drawers, so I was left with just the "shell" of the cabinets in the kitchen (as seen in the photo above). I knew I wanted to do something different with our island, so I didn't bother painting that just yet.

When removing the cabinet doors, I marked a number on each one to correlate with the location of that door to the cabinets. I wanted to put them back on exactly where they were before. I put the numbers inside of the little hole where the cabinet hardware would go, so it wouldn't be seen or painted over.

I took all of the cabinet doors out to the garage and laid them out. (Doing this in the house would have guaranteed pet hair embedded in the doors, haha.) I chose to sand these, even though it probably wasn't necessary. I didn't sand them super hard, but I did a light sanding after cleaning them thoroughly with TSP (trisodium phosphate, found in the painting section of Lowe's).

I applied a single coat of Kilz oil-based primer. The primer dries really fast, so I was able to apply a coat to one side of the doors on the same day.

The problem with painting the doors of the cabinets was that I could only paint one side every 24 hours.

Also, it got cold outside.

I learned that oil-based paint does not like to dry in the cold! It took up to three days for a single coat to dry, and then I'd have to turn it over and paint the other side. The doors took much longer than expected because of this.

Meanwhile, I got to work painting the "shell" of the cabinets inside. Again, I cleaned them very well with TSP. I also filled in the minuscule holes in the cabinets where trim nails were used by the manufacturer with wood filler (it's just a tube that you squeeze, like toothpaste, and rub the filler into each hole with your finger, and then wipe off with a damp rag).

Painting the cabinets inside the house didn't take much time at all, because it dried quickly and I didn't have to turn anything over and get the other side, like I did with the doors.

While the doors were off, I lined the inside of the cabinets with contact paper, which made them look so much better.

Once the doors finally dried, I brought them inside and reinstalled all of the hardware. I bought knew knobs and drawer pulls, and used a Kreg jig for cabinet knobs and pulls. This tool was invaluable! I wanted to make sure to get everything on uniformly and evenly, which is much harder than it sounds. The Kreg jig made it super easy. I highly recommend this if you are installing new knobs or drawer pulls.

Finally, I hung all of the doors back on the cabinets, and was thrilled with how good they looked!

I loved the color, but I didn't love it next to the gray walls. For some reason, the blue-on-gray didn't look right. I was very undecided what to do. I knew that it would bother me every time I looked at it, so I decided to change it up. I left the gray everywhere except for the areas around the cabinets. I painted the walls surrounding the cabinets white and it looked so much better!

The only problem was the transition from white to gray on the walls. I looked online at different ways to transition paint between rooms, but I didn't like those ideas. Finally, I decided that a single stripe of dark gray (the color we painted the living room) would work. For this, I did use tape--I used a laser level to get perfect lines and applied the tape along those. Then I painted with the gray between those lines.

I really like how it looked after that!

Continued on Part 3...

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DIY Kitchen Makeover, Part 1: Walls and Ceiling

I started this as one singe post, but it was WAY too long and has a trillion pictures, so I am dividing it up into four posts. I know a lot of the details will be boring to people who aren't interested in DIY projects, but I worked so hard on this for so long that I wanted to write down everything I did. Mainly as a journal for myself to look back on!

I had so much fun doing this home makeover. Truly. I worked nine-hour days for a long time at the beginning. My favorite part of the day was in the evenings, when Jerry was working nights, and I would listen to podcasts while painting or whatever I was working on at the time. Now that it's over, I kind of miss it!

Anyway, I wasn't sure how to organize these posts. I think I'll just do it in chronological order. I'll start with the beginning--write about the projects I did with progress photos, and then I'll do the "big reveal" in the fourth post. So, if you're not interested in the details, just skip to post four.

(I feel like I've hyped this up so much, it will be disappointing... I have been working on these posts for weeks! I have hundreds of pictures and I've been trying to narrow them down, as well as organize the posts. When all is said and done, though, I love love love the new look!)

When I started this project, I had no idea it would turn into an entire makeover.

After paying off our debt last year, we have some extra money to play with, and I've been wanting to do home improvements for years. I thought it would be fun to pick a project here and there and work on them over time. I made a list of the things we planned to do in the future (as far as home improvement).

Do you remember that book called, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"? This makeover was kind of like that.

There was a section of floor in the kitchen next to the pantry that had some water damage, and I knew it needed replacing. I figured that since we were going to replace that, we might as well replace the floor in the whole kitchen. And if we were going to do the floor, we might as well paint the walls. Since we were doing the walls, we might as well do the ceiling. And so on.

Removing Walls

As I was looking around the kitchen, I was struck with the idea to remove a ridiculous wall between the kitchen and and living room.

I say it was ridiculous because it was very small (maybe two feet wide?) and was simply there to hold up the cupboards over the snack bar. We removed that wall (and the cupboards) and it already looked so much more spacious.

After that, I noticed another wall that was unnecessary, so we took that down, too.

Here is my post about when we removed the walls. The beginning of the next seven months' work!

The Ceiling

I've always hated our ceiling. It had a texture called "Stomped" (similar to a popcorn ceiling, just a different design). Since it would cost next to nothing and make an enormous change in the look of the house, I decided to look into removing it.

I felt confident after watching a couple of YouTube videos and testing a small spot in my laundry room that we could remove the textured ceiling. It just required a spray bottle of water and a drywall knife, but it made the biggest mess I'd ever seen. Here is my first post about it: Removing Our Textured Ceiling.

I also wrote a whole post about how to do it: How to Remove a Textured Ceiling

Since I've written about the ceiling in those posts, I'll move on...


The Walls

I thought this would be the easy part. I had no intentions of removing the crown molding--I planned to just paint it, like I had in my bathroom and bedroom. As I was doing the ceiling, however, I was thinking about how much I was going to hate the tedious painting of the molding.

The molding was cheap and coming loose in spots, so it was going to need some work regardless. I decided that I would remove it, see what I could do with it, and--worst case scenario--I would have to replace it. It wouldn't be a huge deal.

After removing the crown molding, I was kind of horrified to see the gap between the wall and the ceiling. In some places, it was an inch to an inch and a half!

I really didn't want to put up more crown molding, so I started researching what I would need to do to close that gap. By "research", I mean I called my brother, Brian, who knows all this stuff, haha. He explained it, and then I checked out YouTube (an invaluable resource for this whole entire project!).

Brian showed me what I would need to buy (drywall compound and tape--the "tape" is really just a roll of thick paper with a crease along the length. It doesn't have adhesive on it. I borrowed Brian's drywall knives and mud pan (along with half of his garage full of tools, which I'll write about later).

Since I was going to be using the drywall compound on the wall-to-ceiling seams, I decided that I would also remove the strips in the kitchen that cover the wall seams. I'm not sure what they are called, but in manufactured homes (a.k.a. trailers) the bathrooms and kitchen have long strips that cover the seams between each sheet of drywall. (Most manufactured homes have them throughout the entire home, but when I chose ours, I paid extra for them to mud the seams. They said they could do it everywhere but in the kitchen and bathroom, not sure why.) Thankfully, there isn't a big gap between those seams, and they are an easy fix.

While I was doing that, I removed the laminate backsplash from the wall. I knew we'd want to do a different backsplash, so removing it in order to paint the walls was necessary.

It was the wall-to-ceiling transition seams that I was worried about. I felt confident after watching the videos, so I just dove right in and hoped for the best. Surprisingly, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be! I just put some drywall compound along the wall and the ceiling (where they are supposed to meet) and then pressed the tape against it, making sure the seam was nice and straight. Then I added more compound on top of the tape. Finally, I took a drywall knife and ran it from one side to the other, pressing the edge against the wall (or ceiling) to smooth out the compound (and remove excess).

I worked in about four-feet-long sections at a time, moving the ladder along; and eventually, I had the entire kitchen and dining room done. (It was at this time that I decided we might as well do the living room, too, because they are all connected. So, I removed the crown molding and ceiling texture in there.)

We were left with drywall compound all along the edges of the ceiling in all three rooms (plus the hallway) and covering the seams in the kitchen walls. Against the dark paint, it looked pretty bad! I couldn't wait to paint it! I knew it would look much better after a coat of paint.

I spent a good amount of time sanding all of the seams so the drywall was nice and smooth. I can't even tell you how much drywall dust there was in my house! When I would shower at the end of each day, I couldn't believe the drywall dust in my hair. I discovered that it would make the perfect dry shampoo, however--it absorbs any sort of moisture you can imagine. My skin was SO dry.

I was also left with a couple of battle wounds. Like this small bruise on my shin:

Painting the Walls

I chose a color scheme that was totally unlike me, especially the blue, but I decided to be brave and go for it.

After we cleared out all the dust and thoroughly cleaned the walls, I decided it was time to paint the walls, even knowing I would probably have to touch them up at some point after painting the cabinets and trim. I sanded the walls so they were smooth and wiped them clean of dust. Then I added a coat of Kilz Latex primer. Finally, I added two coats of Sherwin Williams "Cashmere" latex paint in the color "Argos" (a light gray).

I painted the dining room and hallway with the same light gray, and then I painted the living room with dark gray--Sherwin Williams Cashmere in "Cityscape" color. (You can see the living room photos in this post)


Continued in Part 2...

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Book Worm (and Wednesday Weigh-In)

After working so hard on my kids' bedrooms over spring break, and getting hardly any sleep (I've had major insomnia lately), I needed a break. My carpal tunnel flared up (I had forgotten about it until the day after I started removing the texture from the ceiling). I was also extremely sore, like I had lifted weights for first time in years, and my whole body was just aching.

So, I told myself that on Tuesday, I would do absolutely no work around the house or any sort of "chores". I ended up reading a book all day, and I actually read the entire book (444 pages) in one day! I have never done that before. I'm a slow reader, and it usually takes me weeks, if not months, to read a book. If it's really intriguing, I can usually get through it in a few days.

Anyway, I've been reading quite a bit lately. It all started a few weeks ago, when I got a notification from the library that a book I had requested was available and it was automatically checked out for me (it's an electronic book that the library lent to my account; after two weeks, it's automatically "returned").

I request books every so often, and if it's a popular book, it can take weeks before it's available. If I come across someone's review of a book that sounds good to me, I'll put in the request. I usually forget that I even requested them. Apparently, I had several books requested, because over the next couple of days, I got four more notifications that books had been lent to my account!

There is no way that I could read five books in two weeks, but I was going to try to read one of them at least. That one was good, so I read another. On Tuesday, I read an entire book and immediately started a new one.

So, here is what I've been reading (no spoilers):

It started with The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. It's a psychological thriller, my favorite fiction genre. It's begins with a flashback of a man's murder, whose his wife was charged with the crime. His wife refuses to say a single word (hence, the "silent" patient) and the details leading up to the murder of her husband are unknown because of her refusal to speak. She is sent to stay in a psychiatric care facility, and as of the beginning of the book, she'd been there a couple of years--never saying a single word.

Meanwhile, a criminal psychotherapist who was very interested in the murder and her silence accepts a job at the facility so that he can try to work with her and hopefully get her to speak about the details. I won't write more, as not to spoil it, but if you like thrillers with twists and turns, this one was very intriguing--I'm usually pretty good at figure out plot twists, but I could see this going in several directions. That's probably what kept me turning the (electronic) pages!

After reading that book, I moved on to a book called Vox by Christina Dalcher. This is a dystopian/sci-fi book that sounded interesting to me (The Hunger Games opened up dystopian novels for me). It reminded me quite a bit of The Handmaid's Tale. It takes place in the United States, where the government is completely ruled by men.

Women are basically around to have children, take care of the house, cook, clean--all of the stereotypes. The government decides that women (and young girls) have no real reason to speak, so they are given a limit of 100 words per day (sign language, or any other form of communication, is forbidden). The limit is enforced by wristbands that have a counter, working down from 100, that resets at midnight each day. If a woman goes over that 100-word limit, then she is given an electric shock with the wristband.

The main character, who was a doctor prior to the new laws, is asked to help the government with a top secret project. She is an expert on the subject needed for the project, so they want her to accept the position. She bargains for some incentives, knowing she has the upper hand. As she starts her work, she becomes suspicious that something else is going on, and she is determined to find out what it is.

This book wasn't as fast-paced as The Silent Patient, but then again, it's not a thriller. Like I said, I like dystopian novels, and this one was good. It made me very aware that 100 words can fly by--just saying goodnight to my kids would put me over the limit!

On Tuesday, I started a book called The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn. This was my favorite of the books I've been reading lately. It's another psychological thriller, and I was especially interested because it focuses on mental illness (depression and agoraphobia).

The plot focuses on a woman who lives alone in NYC and she has agoraphobia--a severe fear of leaving her house, or even having the windows open. Ironically, prior to being separated from her husband, she worked as a therapist. She has a daughter who is with her husband, and she speaks to them occasionally throughout the book, but she is lonely without seeing them. After they left, she became agoraphobic and began abusing alcohol and prescription medications.

She passes her time by "spying" on the neighbors that live across the street--she has a great view into three or four neighbors' homes. She knows their routines and some family secrets. While spying one day, she witnesses a woman being murdered in the home across the park. Her agoraphobia and substance abuse makes her reliability questionable, and even she begins to wonder what is real and not real.

This book kept me reading almost non-stop. The chapters are very short, which made me say, "Just one more!" over and over again, and before I knew it, I finished it. My only disappointment was that I figured out very early on what was probably supposed to be a big shocker toward the end. However, even knowing that information from the beginning, the book was fast-paced and kept me wanting answers until the end.

I thought the author did a fantastic job describing her mental illness (I didn't know much about agoraphobia, but I could practically feel her fear from the author's descriptions). And of course I could relate to the depression.

Yesterday, I started a book called Contaminated by Em Garner. It's another dystopian/sci-fi novel.  This is about a diet company's product that is contaminated with a virus that causes people to become enraged and act kind of like zombies--attacking people for no reason and killing them. The government finds ways to "neutralize" them with lobotomies and collared devices to control their impulses. They become almost hypnotic and can't care for themselves. Many are abandoned. The main character, a 17-year old girl, finds and cares for her mother who had contracted the disease. I'm only a quarter of the way through this one, but I'm enjoying it!

While reading these books, I discovered that I am not a huge fan of Goodreads anymore. I try to use it keep track of what I've read, as well as learning about books that may interest me. Now, though, I find that the reviews people write about books tend to ruin them for me. Not because of spoilers, but because the top reviews seem to be mostly negative (one star out of five) and it can override my own thoughts of the book before I've even started or finished it.

I may be enjoying a book, like the ones above, and then when I read the reviews on Goodreads, I see that people didn't like it for this reason or that reason. I find that it sways my opinion a bit, and sometimes makes me not even want to read books that initially sound like something I'd enjoy.

So, I downloaded an iOS app called Stacks on my phone to keep track of my books without any of the bells and whistles of Goodreads. It is simply a list of the books I've read, am currently reading, and plan to read--no social integration or reviews at all.

(The book links above are Amazon affiliate links, which means if you purchase them through the link, then I get a small percentage for the referral. Just FYI.)

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Yesterday was my Wednesday Weigh-In, which I never seem to post on Wednesdays anymore. I was very nervous about getting on the scale, and I avoided it all last week. While the kids were on vacation, Jerry and I didn't eat the best--I had cereal for breakfast, skipped lunch as we worked on the house, and then we got Subway several times for dinner. I didn't order healthy subs, either--I got my favorite, the Spicy Italian. Along with chips and a cookie.

I didn't even want to know what my weight was. When I got on the scale yesterday morning, I was just hoping it was under 170! I was very pleasantly surprised, then, when I saw that I'd actually lost a little from my previous weigh-in:

I think my last weigh-in, which was two weeks ago, was 162.4. So, rather than gain the weight I thought I had, I actually lost one pound.

When the kids got home from vacation, they said that they were really craving healthy, home-cooked food. They'd eaten out a lot while on vacation, which they loved, but they were ready for healthier meals. I went grocery shopping with a list of dinners to cook this week, and it feels really good to be eating home-cooked food after a week of Subway! haha.

Yesterday, I made General Tso's Chicken and roasted asparagus, and it looked good enough to take a picture (I just posted the recipe as well). It was SO good! The chicken is one of my favorite recipes.

I also need to get back to my walking plan. I was so busy last week that I didn't take the time to follow my plan. I know I got a ton of exercise with the housework, but I'd like to get back to deliberate walking for exercise.

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RECIPE: General Tso's Chicken

This recipe is one of my very favorite dinners. The chicken isn't breaded, so it's healthier than typical General Tsos, but the sauce is delicious. It has the perfect amount of sweet and spice. This is super fast and easy to make, too.

Here is a printer-friendly PDF!

General Tso's Chicken

1-1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tsp. peanut oil (I use olive or canola oil--any will do)
3/4 cup chicken broth
1-1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
4 servings cooked rice

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in oil. Meanwhile, combine the chicken broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and crushed red pepper. When the chicken is cooked through, pour the sauce mixture over the chicken and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.

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I'm Still Alive! (Spring Break Week)

Wow! Time really flies, especially as I get older. I think the past nine days was the longest unintentional break I've taken from my blog. I assure you I am still alive and kicking ;)

My kids had spring break all last week, so they were out of school Friday afternoon all the way until yesterday, and they went back to school today. They actually weren't even home--they were gone for eight days--which was the longest I've been away from them.

My parents were vacationing in Hilton Head, SC, and the kids went down there to spend spring break with them. I took them to the airport on Saturday evening, and they flew (by themselves!) down to South Carolina, where my parents picked them up at the airport.

They were "unaccompanied minors" on Delta, so they have this whole procedure we had to do beforehand. Jerry and I went to the airport with them and waited in the slowest moving line ever, only to find out that just one parent could accompany them to the gate. Jerry insisted that I take them, but it was a bummer that we had to do it that way.

After Eli getting his backpack unloaded and searched, and me getting my body thoroughly patted down at security, we finally made it to the gate. It was so strange putting my kids on a plane and just trusting that they would make it to their destination without any problems. They are so grown up!

Noah isn't as angry or sad as he looks in this photo. Apparently, it's not cool for your mom to make you stop for pictures at the airport when you're 14 years old ;)

Anyway, Jerry and I had been planning to drive down (with Joey!) to Hilton Head for a couple of days as a surprise (to my parents and the kids), so Jerry had the entire week off of work. After talking about our plans with Brian and Becky, they suggested that we don't go down there. My mom had told them that they had plans to do a fishing charter and some other things that required reservations. I didn't want to mess up their plans with the kids, so we canceled our hotel reservation a couple of days prior.

Instead, we decided that since Jerry had the whole week off of work, we would surprise the kids by making over their bedrooms while they were gone. When I was helping Eli pack for the trip, I had the idea to widen his closet door. The closet is six feet wide, but the door was only two feet. It's always been frustrating to find clothes on each end of the closet and it was pretty much wasted space. By widening the door, we'd have access to everything much more easily.

Jerry did have to work Sunday before his week off, and I spent all day Sunday scraping the texture off of Eli's ceiling and widening the closet door. For the rest of the week, Jerry and I spent pretty much every spare moment working on the bedrooms. I'd thought it would only take us about four days total, but we were still scrambling to get everything done right up until the kids came home yesterday. (Unfortunately, it wasn't totally done... but they were completely surprised and they really liked what we did.)

The closets were the biggest change (along with the paint, which is obvious from the pictures below). I built shelves and hung dowels in the closets, which made a world of difference (both in how it looks but also in the amount of storage space. I still plan to paint the shelves, and I also need to add trim along the floorboards in the closets. After taking out part of the wall from Eli's closet, we were left with a couple of bare spots of carpet. So, Jerry took some leftover planks from the rest of the house and floored the closets with them. I love it!

These are the shelves I built at 5:00 yesterday morning. (Like I said, we were working until the very last minute). I also did some shelving for Noah's closet, but I didn't take a "before" photo of his closet because I wasn't planning to change it at first.

(I still have to hang the ceiling fans in their rooms)

Jerry and I actually had a lot of fun working on all of this. We listened to podcasts, chatted while we worked--and then ate Subway for dinner nearly every evening, hahaha. Eli is selling Subway coupons for baseball, and I was too exhausted to cook for just Jerry and me, so we took advantage of the "buy one get one free" coupons.

We did do a few fun things other than working on the kids' rooms all week, though. On Monday, Dave and Renee came over. They hadn't been over since we remodeled the house--and that's been a while. Renee invited us to their house to play Euchre with them and two other couples on Friday, so we did that as well. We drew cards to assign Euchre partners, and my partner was Dave. We ended up winning two out of three games!

Normally, I would have had a couple of drinks in that situation (everybody else was), but I brought my alcohol-free Heineken and honestly didn't even think of the fact that I wasn't drinking. It's getting easier and easier.

On Thursday, Jerry and I picked up Luke and took him to the Fox Theatre in Detroit to see a kids show called PJ Masks. It's apparently a live version of a kids TV show, which I know nothing about these days, but Luke likes it.

It was SO much fun for us to have some special time with Luke! He is absolutely adorable. He turned two years old last month, and he's in the phase where he asks questions non-stop. He especially likes to know what people are doing... "Dad doing?" "Eli doing?" "Joey doing?"

At the show, we bought him a light that spins around in circles (my mom bought each of my kids one at Sesame Street Live when they were little, and they loved them!). Luke spent just as much time playing with that as he did watching the show. He loved the songs, dancing and clapping along.

Jerry and I agreed that taking Luke out was the highlight of our week. Being an aunt is so much fun! Now that my kids are teenagers, I really wish I'd appreciated all of their younger years more than I did. The time goes by so so fast. As an aunt, I get to relive those days.

Anyway, I'm here. I'm alive. My anxiety isn't nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago. This week is going to be all about getting back into a normal routine. It was rough this morning, waking up and getting the kids to school. I went for a long walk with my sister, who is in town for a few days, at the state park this morning. Now I have a LOT to catch up on--the laundry pile is ridiculous!

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Infamous Glazed Carrots Recipe

My family hated these, but I happen to love them! You can read the story here of how these became "infamous".  You can make glazed carrots with pretty much anything that contains sugar. When you heat it, some of the liquid evaporates and it reduces down into a syrup-like glaze.

The first time I made these, I used frozen carrots. I've also made them with canned carrots. I'm sure I'd like them with fresh carrots as well. Just make sure that the carrots are cooked until fork-tender before you add them to the glaze.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Infamous Glazed Carrots

1 can sliced carrots, drained (or fresh or frozen, but make sure you cook them first)
1 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. dried cranberries (Craisins)

In a skillet, combine the orange juice concentrate, the butter, the cranberries, and the maple syrup, and cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes until thick and syrupy. Add the carrots and brown sugar and toss to coat, keeping over the heat until the carrots are heated through.

Makes 4 side-dish servings (approximately 1/3 cup each)

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