Weekly update

I think this may be what it comes down to , a weekly update , I wish I could blog often and about new and exciting things but there is no time for blogging much these days , so I will have to do my best to post weekly. Monday's after the kids are off to school I try to catch up on some much needed cleaning , you know how it is , I am lucky to have Monday mornings for that because things have been getting a little out of hand with the pace of my life as of late.Funny fact : we have never picked or bought a BBQ grill , when we got married we were given a space saver grill for our then rental condo , then when we moved to our current home my father gave us his Weber grill which was great but I don't know if you have noticed but grills have come a long way since this Weber was purchased 15 years ago at least ....you can find a cheap as chips good looking BBQ anywhere these days , you can spend $200-$2000 whatever your budget.
I thought it would be the perfect time to buy Todd a nice new grill for Father's Day , so we started looking , there are so many to choose from ? It was a very tough decision , I decided to make sure whatever grill we got it needed a good warranty , because what would be the point spending our money on a grill that only has a one year warranty , that's no good! I think that is the sign of a low quality BBQ , because I don't want to buy a BBQ every other year , I took my time and did some research and digging.
What we settled on was a Cuisinart , yes a Cuisinart BBQ available at Canadian Tire stores , but then we kept going around in circles , I didn't have a strong opinion on which one to go with , they were good looking well priced and we wanted a side burner and they all seemed to have that too and most importantly the tank would be concealed by the closed cabinet and a 5 year warranty of course , I wanted to take advantage of the great savings offered , so we went early to purchase his new grill.
But we changed plans and went with a Kitchen Aid BBQ , it was all stainless , and was really good looking and had no plastic parts at all , has the side searing burner and a closed in back as well and is a beautiful product. It was perfect , except it came in the largest box ever and was so crazy heavy to move , but it came fully assembled which was a huge perk. Ok enough about our grill , it looks so pretty in the backyard too, and best of all I know Todd is really happy with it . We have plans to build a large BBQ deck where it will move to later , more space to move.

I don't know if it was my recipe or the grill but the burgers were extra delicious.

I have great bunkie news , we have windows...I know I had planned to use old windows but the wind blew them over and they both broke...so we started pricing windows , we started at the re-stores where you can get used building materials , but the prices were steep, we loved some windows but $400 and $600 a window seems unreasonable for our bunkie. We looked at stock windows at Home Depot , which were ho hum, and then we priced custom windows which were actually pretty reasonable , we could choose size and grills , then we had decided on a local window manufacturer Mason windows , which is where all our house windows come from , and I was just about to order them , then I learned where my Mom works they had two casement windows left over from a reno last year, I went to take a look and they were so beautiful , smaller than we wanted but I thought we could make them work with trim work, there was no 3-4 week delay or high cost and this would not hold up our build.

The grills are on the outside and inside , they just look so lovely don't they?

I was so pleased they are unpainted wood inside , which means I can paint them whatever color I want , what fun.

We framed the rough window openings and clad the front of our bunkie this weekend with chip board , it's really coming along.

Next step we frame the peaks and then the rafters go up , that should be fun huh !!! so then roof and wrapping the exterior , windows and door install , flooring , siding which is going to be shakes , and interior paneling the walls , I would love to have this closed up in time for the girls birthdays at the end of the month ...wish us luck and good weather too please. I should say how happy I am my husband is as eager to complete the bunkie as I am , we are so looking forward to having it to use and I am dying to get it to the decorating stage of course.

I completed the book cases I was working on , oh painting beadboard is so not fun.

I added bead board to the fireplace mantel as well as the back of the cabinets linking it all in style, I love how they look , so fresh and clean and Nantucket style.The paint color is Benjamin Moore cloud white.

So I'm off again to another busy crazy week , hope all is well with you and thank you for stopping by .

Chris

Sidekick crosses over

Check this out, my husband Todd's cartoon Sidekick is coming to Cartoon network on Monday , you all can now tune in ...we are super proud and super pumped about this launch .



Check out a trailer here or on the link above , simply click on the word Sidekick .
http://youtu.be/lu8yqAHYJSM

Bunkie building begins

How inspiring are these images , this is a real dream backyard we love...

traditional pool design by charleston general contractor Kirk Wood Homes

You don't need a big space to have a beautiful space. This space clearly has a bigger budget than we do , but isn't it beautiful?

traditional pool design by charleston general contractor Kirk Wood Homes

I had this Saturday off from work and the weather was gorgeous , so I talked my husband into getting started on the framing part of our bunkie /shed , this will mostly function as a shed but in the few hot months this will be a fun place for guests to sleep and most fun for sleepovers for the kids.

I know it seems big , but it is only 96 sq feet , there is no real benefit for us to keep our smallish yard empty , we want to create a get away right in our own backyard , some where to relax , entertain , BBQ and spend our weekend in the summer . We are trying to create a low maintenance backyard for our family.
My husband was such a trooper all weekend getting this work done , thanks so much Todd , we are celebrating our 14th anniversary tomorrow , I even bought a new dress to celebrate , we don't normally make a big deal over these things , actually most often we both forget our anniversary as we are thinking more about the two girls birthdays coming up in a couple of weeks.



It was so summery this weekend and we spend most of our time outside enjoying it thoroughly , even the hammock came out.

Isn't he cute ...well both dogs got the doggie stomach flu which was brutal , have you ever given a dog Pepto well you know how yucky it tastes , dogs don't like it much either , but it helps a little.

By evening we had sunburns and some walls , next we will clad some more walls , some weather wrap , cedar shakes , windows to order , roof joists , roof , pine cottage flooring , paneling for the walls and ceiling , just a little bit of work , right ...! I think we are officially weekend warriors now.