Safari So Good

Happy Days are here again!! Renocation 2015 is complete (well, undercabinet “pucks” or little lights, a telephone jack and 3′ of baseboard notwithstanding)!!! It has been exciting and challenging and, unfortunately, fattening. We did so well the first two weeks — eating upstairs in our quasi-kitchen; cereal and fruit for breakfast and salads for dinner. Then something happened that I cannot explain — or maybe I can — I have spent a life-time soothing my heart and soul with food. While extremely temporary, it is a very effective remedy when one is tired, stressed, anxious, etc. So when the workers arrived at 7 am, it was not uncommon for me to jump in the car and make myself scarce for most of the day, which included breakfast and lunch out, sometimes even at those dreaded fast food places.

I am so tired of eating out or eating out of paper plates at home or occasionally (read seldom) skipping meals. And, no, that does not counter overeating or fast food; it just means I ate more to make up for the skipped meal. This is NOT a diet plan.

So, here are pictures of our beautiful kitchen. Full access takes place Wednesday, after the undercabinet lights are installed! Special thanks to Eberle Remodeling;whose workers were polite, clean, and hardworking; and who kept very close to the original schedule – an overage of 2 1/2 days; and whose project manager, Shannon, kept us informed and coordinated everything to a tee.  I recommend anyone who is considering a major renovation to use this skilled group of experts!

Before

After

Before and after shots of right corner and range/hood.

On the left – Living room paint and floor changes; on the right is a shot of the old corner cabinets where our new drawer microwave now sits.

Old island, new island (left) and old pantry, new pantry (right). There are roll-out shelves in the pantry. Love them!

Get a load of this gas range – isn’t ‘t she a beauty? Someone needs to do some serious cooking now!

This post was drafted about 10 days ago and I am just now getting around to publishing it.  More pictures from our trip to Yosemite will be posted in a day or two.  Kitchen renovation is moving along on schedule.  Granite today, appliances by the end of this week.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel (oh please don’t let that be a train)!!

A year ago, when Michael made reservations for a 2 night stay at the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, we had no idea we would be in the middle of a major home renovation.  The mini-vacation was a birthday gift for me!  (How nice to have a husband who not only wants to give me something I really want, but who also plans ahead).  Getting a room at the Ahwanee takes planning – a year in advance, in fact. So, when the contractor was ready to go in April, we moved forward, not thinking about the impact to our Mini-Vacation in May. When I realized 1) we would be traveling during renovation and 2) Lexi could not dog sit for us at the house (what with no kitchen and no furniture and construction debris all over the place); I actually considered asking Michael to postpone our trip. However, knowing that probably meant postponing until 2016, we decided to just make it work. Frankly, it made me a little nervous — we had never boarded the dogs overnight and I wasn’t sure what the contractors might need from us. As the date drew nearer, I realized this mini-vacation was just what the Dr. ordered! At this point we have had no couch or our overstuffed chair for almost 2 weeks. Each night, we bring in lawn chairs and put the dog beds on the floor and try to watch a couple of hours of TV (while Chewie practices bark echoes in the room with the 20 foot ceiling). So here we are, in the incredibly beautiful Yosemite Valley staying at the luxurious Ahwanee Hotel. It is a bit cold, but our room is warm and there is a couch AND some chairs — what a treat!

There are lots of black bears around here, so we were required to remove ALL food items from our car and place them in a storage bin provided in the cabin.  Our cabin is a bit of a walk from the main hotel, so it was a little scary walking to dinner after dark — I kept listening for the rustle of bears in the woods.

Our cabin – it is large inside, with a big bed, couch, a small table and chairs, along with a separate bathroom.

The view from the entrance to our cabin.

The granite cliff face behind our cabin. You can tell we are in a deep, narrow valley.

Everywhere you look are large Dogwood Trees blooming with hundreds of these white flowers.

What a beautiful place!

The streams were empty, but there was plenty of water in the river.

This young buck was feasting on leaves right outside our cabin door!

Look – a small black bear. Our shuttle driver spotted it during our ride through the park.

One of several beautiful waterfalls in the park!

The Awanee Hotel