happy mother's day to my hero, an angel and saint: my mom. i had a pretty blessed childhood. both my parents were loving and supportive. we had a great education, a huge organic fruit and vegetable garden, and plenty of family time. the biggest complaints we probably had at the time were the child labor we were forced into (that garden didn't tend itself), and not going to florida for family vacations like everyone else we knew (a side effect of paying for private school for 4 children). instead, we went camping, spending 3 days in the woods with no tv and just our family, creating memories that make us laugh to the point of tears to this day. how my mom raised 4 kids, ran the household, and, after the birth of my youngest sister, went back to school, got her teaching degree, and taught middle school kids - all while still taking care of the 4 of us and the house - is beyond me. i have one
child and i can't manage to get the laundry washed and folded in one weekend to save my life. she is my inspiration, who i strive to be. she is my supporter; the first one i call when i have a baby question. she gladly watches the baby so i can get a much needed nap, do the grocery shopping, or even go and have some adult time with my husband. she insists on making me breakfast or lunch (i usually request 
grilled cheese) whenever i stop by. she immediately and warmly welcomed my husband into our immediate family, and then into our large extended family; a man who at the time had no family of his own. she became his friend and supporter as well. at our wedding when he was debating taking out his earrings so as not to offend her, she told him she would in fact be angry if he did take them out - because they are an expression of who he is, and she loves him for who he is. she is my best friend. now that i have a child of my own, i finally understand her love for me, for my sisters. the love of a parent is steadfast, strong, and given freely without a thought. i can never thank her enough for what she has done for us. and i can only hope and try to be as good a mother to my children as she is to us girls.for mother's day, adrianne, mom, and i had planned on lunch and a movie. however, as i was baby wrangling while bryan dealt with asbestos, we nixed the movie and just did lunch. to our dismay, singha thai was closed, but we headed down to ghengis khan mongolian bbq. not as good as singha thai, but it was fun nonetheless. hannah called to wish me a happy mother's day and recite some poems she wrote for me. she is such a sweetie. :)
oliver and i spent the majority of the weekend at my parents' house in order to let bryan make as much noise as he needed to, and to avoid the asbestos. saturday, oliver napped pretty much like crap all day. he, mom, and i hit up the mall to get him new clothes since he's outgrown nearly everything current in his dresser. we got some CUTE stuff. now the weather just needs to get warm again so he can wear it!! sunday he napped much better (i pulled the playpen up to shannon's room, where it was darker and quieter, so i think that helped). last night, i helped dad sort through boxes of old pictures. it was a blast - so many cute and funny photos of us as kids!! dad may take on a rather daunting project to scan them in and put them in an online album so we can all access them. oliver and i spent the night there last night, as bryan had been ripping up the flooring. he was definitely up more than usual, but between not being in his own bed and having terrible allergies, i think he did alright in the end. hopefully we can sleep in our own beds tonight.
so on to the demolition!
saturday, bryan ripped out all the base cabinets in preparation for pulling up the floor.
he spent all day yesterday working on that floor. he has the room completely sealed off - doors, vents, etc. he wore a lovely asbestos certified mask as well. he worked until about 2:30am. he is THE MAN.
today, he went to pick up the negative air machine and hepa vac so he could cut and bags the pieces of flooring to ready for them for disposal. unfortunately, the rental place didn't have them and has to order them; he thought in talking with them friday they would ready the equipment for him, but not so. unfortunately, that means they won't be available until wednesday. bryan called one of the asbestos removal companies, and they agreed to haul away the material AND loan bryan the negative air machine overnight - for hardly more money than it would have cost to rent the equipment. AND bryan doesn't have to cut the boards, so it will definitely save time, effort, and blisters, not to mention avoiding cutting the flooring and thus putting lord knows how much asbestos into the air. SCORE. so i should get to sleep in my own bed tonight, which will be much easier on ollie. DOUBLE SCORE.
then the contractor who is installing our cabinets called, and he is going on vacation around the time our cabinets will arrive. IF they come by the end of this month and IF he finishes the job he has scheduled for the first week of june early, he can come do our cabinets before he leaves. if that doesn't work out, he won't be available until june 16th. and then it's another 4+ weeks for countertops after the cabinet install, which means the reno will bleed into hannah's visit here.
two steps forward, one step back.
there are multiple more shots in the projects gallery.
next up: new subfloor, tiling, removal of upper cabinets and ugly tile backsplash. painting. and MUST PICK COUNTERTOPS!
WFD: seriously, you don't want to know. i'm trying to decide between ordering a pizza or getting fried cheese from culver's. it's one of those kind of days.
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