Well, it is a little warmer day today. I think it is about 45 right now. I did a little tour of my flower beds today and the tulips are popping up! That is always a promising sign!!!!! By tomorrow though we may get a little more snow. :( Maybe it is warm enough that it will just come as rain. The rain would actually welcome. It may continue to green up the lawns and ditches. That would be nice.

Yesterday afternoon I continued to put kitchen things away, but didn't get quite done. We ended up going out to Randi and Travis' and help them take down a couple of trees that were dead. They needed to come down so the guy coming to install their Dish Network Internet could put up the receiver. He is coming tomorrow.

Well, I need to get busy. I have so much to get done today - laundry, scrub floors and organizing. It will take me the rest of the day! I need to get done though as I still have not gotten started cleaning out the attic spaces. That is the next thing on my list.

I have spent a lot of time this week putting more things away in the new kitchen cabinets. The hardest thing is to decide which cabinet to put certain things in. I have moved things around a couple of times already, and will probably move things a few more times. Now I am not sure what to do with all of the things that are not coming back into the kitchen. I hope to finish up this project tomorrow. I work tomorrow morning, but after that I hope to finish up.

I had class last night. . . . . . . . . I gained a pound this week! AHHHHHHHHHH I am going to look at it as a waker upper. I need to try a little harder to watch what I eat. I sort of quit journaling my food intake because I was so busy in the kitchen. I need to get back to that to make sure I am staying within my boundries.

The weather has certainly cooled off. The high yesterday was in the upper 20's. We probably won't warm up again until late next week. At least the snow is gone, so it doesn't seem so cold.

Well, I better get ready for work.

DONE!!!!! (well almost)

Yes, we are finally done with the construction work on our kitchen (with the exception of a few little things Leon is going to do). Whoop whoop!!! The carpenter came today and finished putting the counter top in. It looks maaaavelous! I have put a few things away, but not everything. I am still thinking about it. Some things may not come back to the kitchen. You know how it is when you don't even think about certain things being somewhere. They have just been there for as long as you can remember and you don't know why. So I am only bringing back things that I know I will use. Many things may get thrown away or go to a rummage sale.

The weather has been good up until today. We had weather in the 60's on Saturday. It was beautiful. Randi and Travis stopped with the kids. Lauren decided she needed to have a picnic. I have an old picnic basket with plastic plates, cups and eating utensils in it. We took it outside and had a picnic with juice boxes and fruit snacks! We put Logan in the Jumperoo outside as well. They both had a great time.

Today the weather is a different story. It rained on and off all day. I think it is great as the grass should green up really fast. The down side is, it could turn to snow real fast. In fact central South Dakota has a tornado warning out until about 10:00 and then a blizzard warning after that. If it does turn to snow here, we are only suppose to get an inch or so. BUT by Friday we could have a major winter weather system coming through. We'll see!!!

Well, I have to leave here very early tomorrow to be in Owatonna tomorrow for my meeting, so I better get to bed!

Almost done

Well, we went to Sioux Falls today to get what I hope is the last of what we need for the kitchen remodle. We picked up the counter top at Menards - which was a very frustrating experience! Now, once the carpenters get it installed, we should be pretty much done! I did start putting things in some of the cabinets. Only the cabinets on the north wall and the uppers on the south wall. The rest will have to wait until the counter top is on. Then comes the job of figuring out where everything goes. I have a home for some things, but I'm sure I will move things around several times before I am comfortable with it.

Tomorrow will be a day of cleaning. Cleaning everything in every room. There is sanding dust and carpentry dust everywhere. It will definately take all weekend to do this cleaning. Maybe even more than the weekend!!!

The weather has been pretty nice. Today it was about 55 and tomorrow should be around 66. Then starts several day of rain. Let's hope it is just rain and doesn't turn to snow or sleet. I have to go to Owatonna on Tuesday for a meeting so I don't need bad weather. And I certainly don't want more snow. It is the first day of spring. We can't have more snow!!!!!

Why do I live in Minnesota

All but one of the cabinets are in. They have to wait with the last one until I am done mudding, taping, sanding and painting. they put a new window in which is smaller than the old one. So there is new dry wall that has to go in around the window. I told them I could do the rest of it. No sense paying them to do something I can do. Yesterday I did the mudding and taping and some of the sanding. Today (after Millie's birthday party) I will finish sanding and then prime and paint. I hope the carpenter comes back tomorrow to install the last cabinet. Then all we have left is the counter top. They probably won't be here until Friday. :( Until then the kitchen will remain in a mess. I don't want to start putting anything in the cabinets until they are done. That part drives me insane as I can't really clean. I try to clean and then the carpenters come back and there is saw dust everywhere.

The weather has been beautiful! Yesterday the temps reached about 52 and today are suppose to get to 57. Now this is why we live in Minnesota. Days like this are so wonderful. You are reminded that we are done with winter and spring is on it's way. A great deal of the snow has melted already, but the rest should be gone this week. The grass will start truning green now and my perennials will start peaking through. It just puts everyone in such a good mood.

Yes, as I said, today we are celebrating Millie's 85th birthday. I got a cake and everyone else is bringing munchies and some BBQ & buns. Denver and Danielle cannot come and Randi has to work, but everyone else should be there. Any time the Kruse family gets together there is fun. A lot of the time it is at my expense though. I have dropped a crock pot full of soup, accidentally used a can of tuna instead of chicken in the chicken wild rice soup and things like that. They never let me forget all of the stupid things I have done. Oh well, what can I do. Smile and waive boys, smile and waive!

construction update

Well, the carpenters started after lunch today. I came home from work and the cabinets on the north wall were in. No counter tops yet, but the cabinets were in. I guess tomorrow they start on the south wall. That one will be a little more complicated as they have to work around the water lines. It may be a little difficult around here for a few days as I don't have a kitchen sink or a stove. Anything we have needs to be microwaved or ordered in. I like the thought of ordering in for a coule of days. :) I also need to get the "above the stove" microwave. The appliance store here in town has a really good deal on them. And when I talked to him, he said if I got all 3 items there he would give me a really good deal. I can't believe this is all finally coming together.

The weather isn't as good. The temps got up to a high of about 8 today with a windchill of -25. It is suppose to start warming up tomorrow. By Sunday the temps will be in the 50's. I hope this is the last bout of cold weather. ONLY 9 DAYS TILL SPRING!!!

Tomorrow is weigh in day at class. I sure hope I do well. I have been trying very hard to stay on track. For the most part it isn't hard. Sunday I kind of cheated when we took Randi out for her birthday. I had a beer and a large pasta dish. Yummmmmmm, but lots of calories. I guess we will see tomorrow!

Mini-Kruse-a-palooza

Well, the cabinets arrived on Thursday. Of course it couldn't be without incident! The delivery company dropped off the cabinets and then left. Right after he left I discovered there was no counter top in what was delivered. After several phone calls and a couple of faxes, we discovered nobody at Menards actually ordered them. Hopefully we got everything straightened out and the counter tops will be here soon. I hope the carpenter will still start the work on the cabinets on Tuesday.

Last night we had a mini-kruse-a-palooza. We went to Jaime and Brian's in Pipestone and had a great time. We had a WII bowling tournament and of course had a little beer and some munchies. It was a great time. Any time the Kruse family gets together there seems to be a lot of fun. We decided we might need to have one more mini version before the big Kruse-a-palooza - just for practice.

And now it is off to work.

Tomorrow is the Day

Well, I think everything is falling into place. The cabinets are being delivered tomorrow afternoon. I think the window is being delivered at the same time. I talked to the carpenter today and he said he could possibly get started by Tuesday, but for sure by Wednesday. YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a couple of things left for us to do. We have to tear some siding off to get ready for the new window placement. The new window is not the same size as the old one. Then we have to tear out the old lower cabinet. I don't want that to come out till the last minute as I don't want to lose the use of the kitchen sink for any longer than absolutely necessary. I can't believe this is finally going to happen. I have been waiting for this for 25 years.!!!!!

A Really Busy Weekend

Well, I didn't leave the house at all yesterday and today I only left long enough to go to church. I taped and mudded and sanded. Then mudded and sanded some more all day on Saturday. I worked from 8 a.m. to about 9 p.m. I was very tired. Today I did the final sanding. Then I washed down the walls and primed and painted. Once again I am very tired. It is a good tired though. Everything is done now until the carpenter gets here. He should be here this week. I sure hope it is tomorrow!!!!

Well, I woke up yesterday and much to my dismay, all mudding and taping I did Friday night seemed to have problems. I must have used too much mud in the corners as it was all cracked. In other areas I didn't use enough as I could still see some of the tape. I almost cried! So I started sanding where I could and then re-mudded where there were cracks. The entire house had a layer of sanding dust on everything!!!!! I tried to clean up a little, but then I decided it wouldn't matter because there was more sanding to do today. Today when I woke up things look much better. There is just some sanding left to do. So after church I will finish the sanding, wipe down the walls and prime them. Hopefully after supper the primer will be dry and I can paint. Maybe I will be done before Leon gets home from Nashville.

An update to my Lifestyle Management classes - I am now half way thorough the program and have now lost 10 pounds and drastically improved my blood pressure. I think I have improved my cholesterol too, but they have not done any blood work yet. So, 10 pounds done - 15 to go. I can do this! After that, I have to go on to a maintenance program for 4 weeks where I can't gain or lose more than 2 pounds either way. After 4 weeks of maintenance I will do another 12 weeks of classes. Then hopefully I can lose another 25 pounds in that session. My goal is to be "a new me" for Krusapalooza!