My $164 Kitchen Renovation & Other Weekend News Items (photos in no particular order because I don't know how to get them in particular order.)

Bye Bye Brass!
GONE are every brass cabinet pull in our house.
GONE is the ugly brass light fixture in our kitchen.
HERE are some simple, inexpensive brushed nickel knobs & a light fixture that, after looking at every lighting place in town, I found at Canadian Tire for $99, which happen to be my budget.
I feel like I have a brand new kitchen!

We also got the back yard to a very usable condition... all the irrigation is moved, the hotub pad prepared, the hot tub moved, my patio reclaimed, and we've got 3 yards of washed gravel over the dirt so that whenever that deck comes, the pre-work is done! We have one small area that still needs to be fabric'ed and rocked, and then a bit of cement to be poured, but our backyard is 90% useable and I've been able to set up my outside living room (with area rug over the gravel) and I love it. We can totally see now that the deck size & shape will be awesome.

We finished 40 minutes before our company arrived on Saturday. Thankfully they were about 4 hours late. We were able to keep their cousin's arrival a surprise from our kids... got a couple of not very good surprise pictures.

Last night we had a little birthday party for my-sister-cara at my mom & dads house... the boys learned this hilarious song called, "Fat Guys Wearing Speedos", which they performed and it was some good entertainment. Lots of laughs on Grandma & Grandpa's deck with our family and Franz & Sabine, our family friends from Germany. They always arrived with a grocery bag full of German Chocolate for each of the kids and assorted German bath products "for the ladies".

Later today I have to call my mom and ask if what Sabine gave me is lotion or body wash. I'm never sure and can't read the label.