Where in the world is Ryan Delp????

I know, I know. I have had the police call TWICE to make sure I was still alive. I saw my own picture on the back of a milk carton. Don't worry. I am still alive. I am still (mostly) sane. I am still capable of typing and still have some access to a computer.

So the question is: where have you been? The simple answer?

Painting.

We have had dreams of redoing our kitchen since we moved in. We have done small things but the big stuff, namely replacing the floor and painting the cabinets, we have put off.

Until now.

Right after I got my wisdom teeth out.

I was actually hoping to have some of those swollen cheek pictures after I got my wisdom teeth out. I really was. However, it didn't happen. The doctor said that the teeth came out great and didn't think I would have any swelling. And I didn't. I didn't have to take Vicodin which was a disappointment. I DID have to eat yogurt and shakes which got old after about 8 hours. And now I have that little syringe thing to keep everything clean. So overall, not too painful a process.

The only real downside was that I had to confer with the guys installing our dishwasher (more on that later) about 4 hours after I had my surgery. I don't remember much from that conversation other than I told them that the dishwasher was in the basement.....as they were standing next to it at the bottom of the basement steps. So I'm sure it was a great conversation.

So the plan was to rip out the vinyl floor, put in tile, take out our dishwasher which I think was first used by the Pilgrims after the first Thanksgiving, replace it with a donated newer one and then paint our cabinets, install the new hardware and enjoy our beautiful kitchen. It seemed like a week to two week job at most.

We ripped out our floor on March 23rd. We hung the cabinet doors (thus pretty much completing the job) tonight - April 21st. Two days shy of a month.

Overall, it was actually a pretty smooth process. The only hiccup really was that the donated dishwasher apparently had a family of hungry mice living it that caused $300 worth of damage. So we bought a new diswasher. We lived off of McDonald's and cereal for a few days while our floor was being tiled. It really wasn't too bad. Just time consuming.

We started painting around the beginning of April. Two coats of primer. On the cabinets. And on the doors. Each side. Then two coats of finish paint. On the cabinets. And on the doors. Each side. Then spray painting the existing hardware to match the ones the bought. Each side. You get the idea.

So finally, a month and some change later, I can proudly post the before, during and after shots of our kitchen. Enjoy.

Before.....















During......









After.......















Oh and then our sewer line backed up into our yard and we had to replace the whole thing.













I, for one, am very much looking forward to what May has in store. More blog posts perhaps....