Surviving without Jon: Week #1

August 17-21st

I've found that the best way to make it through the (luckily, rare) days when Jon is gone is to keep myself super busy and have lots of things to look forward to.

Monday we had Debbie, Nikki & Angelina over for a swim. Angelina was SO much tougher than Seth--she would walk straight through the water until she fell over, then get right back up. Seth, on the other hand, almost lost it when he sat down and got water up to his nose. Wimp. And I forgot my camera. Of course.

We spent a lot of time doing retail therapy--great for me, not so fun for Seth. But I found lots of cute stuff for our front room (pictures to come once we find a coffee table that's not super tiny or totally massive, which is a harder process than you'd suppose).

We had Courtney & Eliana over for a swim on Thursday, where Seth was once again shown up by a girl. These girls his age are spunky and fearless! Once again--forgot my camera. I'm amazing.

Thursday night I went on an emergency shopping trip with Lenae (my interior designer friend who I've been mooching off of mercilessly for months now). I needed her help to put the finishing touches on Jon's surprise. No way it would have turned out so well without her! Many thanks to Seth for being a good shopper and to Nikki for watching Lenae's kids so we didn't have to haul FOUR kids around.

I was very proud of myself. Not only was I able to actually finish Jon's surprise, I even managed to keep him from guessing what it was! That's pretty impressive, as those of you who know Jon can attest. And now I can let you in on the secret:

I finished refinishing our kitchen cupboards. All by myself.

Here's a brief overview of the process:

First, the absolutely hideous cupboards in their original pinky-whiteness (this was taken during the inspection, so before we even bought the house):I know. Gag.

Second, the longest and most tedious part of the process (which Marah thankfully helped me with, otherwise I'd still be working on it)--stripping the cupboard doors:Next, we had a month or so of mismatched doors & frames--I was planning to wait until it was cooler so I could open the windows (the fumes are pretty terrible):This past week I tackled the frames, which meant our kitchen was in total disarray. Good thing Jon was gone so I didn't have to cook hardly anything...And yes, that is my son crawling around with a fork in his mouth. Ahem.

But all our hard work paid off--the finished product is fabulous:

Go ahead, take another look back at the pink ugliness. In fact, I'm going to re-post it so you can see them right next to each other:Doesn't it look infinitely better now? Thanks to Lenae for picking out the hardware and paint (there were a few side panels that were just wood-colored stickers that I couldn't strip). I love, love, LOVE my kitchen now (and Jon is pretty dang happy, too). Next stop, granite countertops (cue heavenly chorus sounds). Not for another year or so, but one day...

And just remember, this was done ENTIRELY with girl power. Jon didn't strip a single door. Marah, we're amazing.