I have a dream . . .

I had a goal this weekend, it was to be able to make, serve, and eat dinner in our dining room. It doesn't sound like much, but I had to do sooooo much to make it happen. I decided that the dinner would be spaghetti and meatballs to boot.

I am here with the last 5 minutes of energy left in my body to tell you that I achieved my goal!!

I spent all of Saturday painting. I got up early and painted quite a bit before the kids were even awake. Unfortunately, all the last minute work by the guys left me with more priming to do. So I primed, then I did 2nd coats where I had done first coats last week, I did touch ups, then first coats, then taped and painted more trim - well, you get the picture. Lots of painting.

In the meantime, I also emptied a few boxes. I wanted to get things ready to make the spaghetti and meatballs, and so I needed my pots and pans. I also needed some of my food items.

On Sunday, I again started early - about 6:30 - but today was all about clean up, set up, cooking, and serving. I started with cleaning up the paint stuff. I had rolled out the dining room rug the night before so it could flatten. Chuck helped me with hanging the curtain rod, and I hung the panels that I bought. I'm happy to say that they look really good with the paint and rug.

You can see the newly-covered chairs in this photo too.

By then, the kids were starting to get up (Tess), and so I made pancakes, and they ate at the bar. It was challenging because we don't have our 3rd barstool (it was sent without the swivel assembly, so we are waiting to see if they can send us one). But the girls actually shared a seat, and it was pretty cool.

After cleaning away all the paint stuff in the living room and hall, I cleaned the table - 2 months in the garage had not been kind to my dining table. It probably needs the top refinished, but after I cleaned it, I gave it a coat of Restore-a-Finish. Once it was in the house, I concentrated on the chairs. I have recovered 4 of them, but there are 2 that needed the seats repaired, and 4 that may need complete refinishing. Chuck had been taking a break until this point, so I asked him to make the seat boards that I needed to replace, which he did. Unfortunately, he didn't have the nails needed, so I had to run out to Aubuchon. Got back, built and covered the 2 seats - yes! We will all have a chair at the table.

From that point, I finished making dinner - cooked the spaghetti, made the salad, and served everything. I must say, while I am still getting used to certain aspects of the kitchen, I mostly feel very comfortable in it. I really liked working at the peninsula. It worked well to have the stove near by, and the trash right underneath me for vegetable peels and eggshells, etc. I think it is going to work out pretty well. There are some cons, but I'll talk about them in another post. This one is for all the pros :-)

After dinner we cleaned up, then Chuck helped by installing the towel bar, paper towel holder, and the can opener. There is more to do, but I just couldn't even think of it, I'm so tired. I have 4 boxes on the kitchen floor needing to be unpacked, but I just cannot do it. Must sleep . . next goal: The Living Room!