sydney

with her favorite toy. missing her parents, Clyde and Kelly.

we were dusted

Last week the granite fabricator's made a template of our counter tops so they could cut the granite to fit. They told us we are able to go to the shop and see the layout. We really didn't have to go since our granite has no pattern. As you can see it's all black with small grey spots. We thought it would be interesting to see anyway and it happened on a day Jeff was off so it worked perfect.

We were a little shocked when we got there. It was near Disneyland but in a very industrial part of town. It felt like we were in a very bad neighborhood. Good thing is was during the day!!! We finally found the shop and it was small with a couple of guys working. There was dust every where. Inches of it on the ground and we could see it in the air. As we walked in I kept telling Jeff, we are going to die in there!!! It was so bad we could barely breathe. After they got the granite out with a fork lift I told Jeff OK, that's good let's leave. The guy wanted to show us the edge styles. I stayed back to take pictures while Jeff went into the shop with the guy. He wanted me to look at an example of a mitered edge. Normally you would see a line where the edge is glued on but on the mitered edge it is sort of hidden. We never heard of it before so we wanted to see it. The piece was covered in dust and as the guy was wiping it off with his hand,I noticed it was a grave stone. I was mortified!!! I couldn't wait to get out of that place. We were covered in granite dust and took us a while to recover...

The template was made with thin wood and a glue gun!!!

our thanksgiving

Our day started with taking Clyde and Kelly to the airport. They are on their way to Japan to pick up the baby they adopted. One suitcase for them and one for the baby. Check out baby Kiyoshi's blog to see their adventure. We can hardly wait till they get home...

Baby's new stroller, waiting for it's first ride!!!

We spent the rest of the day at Disneyland. Just walked around and ate. It was pretty crowded so we didn't even go on any rides. There is always next time...

Very big Christmas tree.

Lots of Christmas decorations to look at.

Our Thanksgiving lunch. It was surprisingly pretty good. We usually get fried chicken at this restaurant but since it was Thanksgiving they served a traditional meal instead.

The turkey the President pardoned, we think. There was no sign yet but last year the turkey also ended up is this same place. The turkey was so big, it could barely walk.

Reindeer . Jeff loves looking at deer. These were big but a little stinky.

A note from Santa.

Taking pictures of ourselves again. Had to take many since most did not turn out very good. There must be an art to self photography. Longer arms maybe???

Bye, Mickey. See you soon!!!

Our simple Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle's house. We had prime rib instead of turkey this year. We are missing the big Thanksgiving dinner we usually have at Clyde and Kelly's house with both family's. We look forward to next year with the addition of their baby... Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!

windows are in

Things are moving along in the progress of our remodel. The new windows for the downstairs are delivered and installed. They look great but our house is still a long way to being done. Our granite is being cut and will take several weeks to complete. We won't have too much activity till they are done except for the stuff we are doing ourselves like painting etc. After that everything should go pretty fast. The flooring, appliances and final electrical and plumbing. It's starting to feel like a brand new house. Well, sort of...

granite

A few weeks ago we decided we should pick out our granite slabs. Our choice was easy since it's just absolute black. We went to a different yard than last time. This one was nicer and inside. The granite was clean and easier to see vs. the last place we went to the granite was dirty and dusty. We had to choose from group that contains enough pieces for our counter tops. This is so all the slabs match if you need more than one. Part of our lot was already reserved but there were 3 slabs we put our name on. After our template was made we only need 2 slabs for our kitchen and powder room.

Before the counter top is cut we will go to the fabricator and see if it is laid out the way we want it to be. It should be interesting and we are looking forward to it.

cabinet installation

Can't believe this day is finally here. We were getting used to nothing in our kitchen and now we have cabinets. Our kitchen is feeling a little small. We do seem to have twice as much cabinet space. Most of which I will not be able to reach. It's really exciting to think we will be able to put all of our stuff away. We rarely saw our counter tops since most of the time they were covered with junk. This will be a big improvement for us.

The peninsula, the biggest change we made.

Very large pantry. Most worried about this cabinet since the old one had a big angle in the corner and we got rid of it to get more storage. The wall angle is a little strange but we can live with it. It has pull out drawers for food. Now we won't have to wonder what is hidden in the back.

Sink cabinet

This space where the TV was located in the top part of the cabinet. The shelf and cabinet was removed and now is now redesigned.

Farmers sink fits!!! yippee... Everyone was against our sink choice cause it is very hard to fit and very heavy too. No two sinks are exactly alike and the rounded corners can differ so cutting the cabinet is difficult. It was one of our most desired items in the renovation. There wasn't any one that could change our minds on this one.

Peninsula with corbels, legs and spice cabinet. Didn't really want the spice cabinet at first since I don't really use very many spices but it looks pretty nice. I am sure I can fill it up with stuff I don't need!!!

The new and improved TV cabinet. This piece was one of our biggest problem areas. This final design was made at the very last minute. Jeff was happy that he could get a new TV when he was just going to be happy with the old one. A wine cooler will go on the bottom and the cabinet will hold TV stuff . New TV will be mounted above the cabinet. It turned out good.

the hat

One of our favorite places for lunch.

The best pastrami sandwiches we ever had.

The small fries are so big. They fill half the bag and we can't even finish them which we all know is painful for Jeff to throw out!!!

So much pastrami falling out. We always share one sandwich. It is so yummy and hard to eat...

finally, they have arrived

Our kitchen cabinets!!!

Almost like Christmas, everything is wrapped up and we have to wait till they install the cabinets to see how everything will look.

The new pantry is huge!!!

The pantry drawers and pull out drawers.

Looks like pieces to a puzzle, all marked and ready to put together.

All the pieces filled up the living room. To be continued...

kitchen drywall

Finally all the drywall is installed and ready for the final patching and texture spraying

kiis fm homecoming concert at the honda center

Another great concert, another bad seat. We tried to get better seats for this concert and yet again we failed. Called at the exact right time but no such luck. Maybe someday. The music was fabulous so it was worth it. Yes, the pictures are tiny and far away. I need a better camera or better seats!!!

Sean Kingston

Lloyd

Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat dolls

USC marching band

half time show

Fabolous

Timbaland and One Republic

Gwen Stefani

the end