Kitchen renovation is afoot

But my hands are still akimbo:) - Miro is doing all the work! Since we don't have any money left to pay 'real' craftsmen, my husband is being Jack of all trades, and so far it's really working well for him:) The kitchen is completely 'gutted', but alas! parts of the wall are also falling apart. I usually see this kind of thing on TV, and often there are several people working on it. Well, it just couldn't be done that way. Lord willing, Miro will finish plastering and leveling the wall by this evening, and we may even attempt to paint one of the walls. It is so ugly now, but I know it will be so lovely when it's done.

Hm, talk about a gutted kitchen...

In other news, my doctor's appointment went really well, that is to say that I haven't dilated any more. Praise the Lord for that!! The baby is really active and I can feel him kicking and moving almost all the time. This is how I look these days (corduroy pants are just wishful thinking, it's still too warm). I forgot to rotate it before, and don'tknow how to do it here:(

Jakov and Josip are busy outside. The corn field that is near our house is harvested and now we can see the railway!! It is such an amazing event for the kids, and I too love it how the scenery has completely changed all of a sudden.

There are many fruit trees in our garden, even some that I have no idea what they are. Do you?

There are also apples, pears, grapes and walnuts. The last few days there has been a light breeze in the mornings and late afternoons, and I really enjoy that. There is something so special about a soft breeze. My Croatian Bible translates the verse from the Genesis account (3:8) where it says that God walked in the cool of the day, as 'God walked in the breeze of the day'. Oh how gloriously that rings:), as the best possible part of the day.

Another great news is that my darling friend Nina, who is an amazing artist, became a Senior Designer for GinaK Designs. Wow! How wonderful! They are lucky to have her:))

Well, that's all for now. I'll see you soon with new pics of the kitchen;)!

Wooziness, the residential hero, kitchen 'befores'

Well, I've spent most of the day in bed:(. I did work on translation in the morning, but then around 1 pm I just started feeling all weak and like I was going to faint. That's when Miro came home from his meeting and saved the day, as usual. After spending the whole morning in that meeting, he finished lunch, put the kids to bed, planted flowers in the garden, took great care of me (which included large amounts of chocolate) ...and still looks like a million dollars:))

There are so many things I would love to do now, so many little projects, some of which even have to do with Christmas - antebaby fever is shaking me strongly. So much nesting to do, and so little energy. My dr appointment is on Wednesday, and I'm really afraid that he's going to send me on STRICT bed rest. Oh no...

I thought that today might be a good day for my 'befores' - you can't do much when you're in bed all day long... please pray that this goes away, my family really needs me, especially when our kitchen looks like this (actually, the cabinets are new, but are waiting for the old ones to go out, which can't be done before a zillion other things get done):

The grey spot on the wall denotes the place where there used to be a door, but my crafty husband and our Master Fixer Charlie made it disappear.

Look at those old dingy kitchen cabinets...

and those HIDEOUS tiles!!!

Something radical must be done, don't you think?!?

This does seem like a horrific intro into our house make over:))) But, hang on, it might get worse - wait till we get to the bathroom!!!