2

This Week at the Brennans’

This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Here’s what happened this past week:

Well, first things first. Our kitchen is certainly coming along! We got our kitchen cabinets installed, we got our quartz counters and we just recently got our huge folding window, too! It’s so hard to see things inch along so slowly, but we jumped ahead leaps and bounds these past two weeks! There obviously is more work to do, but while it is slow it is steady and for that I’m thankful. I am in love with the shape of the hood. It’s a little hard to see, but it tapers up to the ceiling and is so pretty!! I can’t wait until its all completely done!

I don’t have any pictures of our kitchen with the new window just yet because it was a very recent install and the whole process was a bit of an ordeal, but you’ll have to trust me that she’s in and she’s beautiful!!

The last big step in this kitchen remodel saga is installing our flooring over the entire first floor of the house, plus a few smaller jobs like two cabinets getting installed on the counters, paint, minor electrical and plumbing. Oh and the backsplash. We’re getting closer, step by step!

For Thanksgiving, we were supposed to go to our beach house to enjoy the few days we had off, but Eddie, Brooke and I got a stomach bug and were feeling awful! Some of us threw up a couple times, some of us had diarrhea and we all had very upset stomachs for the days leading up to Thanksgiving. So, I pulled the plug on that trip and we stayed home instead. I happened to have a turkey in my freezer and last minute (Wednesday afternoon) I decided to cook it. I defrosted it in a brine overnight and since we have no oven, we smoked it out back in our smoker. I tell ya, where there’s a will, there’s a way! All our sides were cooked in the toaster oven or pressure cooker and I bought a lot of premade food to keep my work minimal. It still was a bit challenging all things considered but not impossible! It was a tasty meal and we certainly had lots to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving morning, Gordon played football for a turkey bowl with some friends. I told him to not be a hero and take it easy since he recently busted his knee. “Don’t die” were my exact words. Anyways, he got home and was so sore. He has been taking it easy and not really working out these past three months to make sure his knee was healing as quickly as possible. So, I guess you could say he wasn’t conditioned for it. Was quite the rude awakening for his whole body. Ha! But it was good for him to test out his knee and see just where his limits are now. He is getting back into the swing of things and is working out more regularly, so yay for him!

Porter is very slowly getting used to daycare. As a mama’s boy through and through, its so hard for him to make that adjustment, but he is getting there! I get daily photos and updates and he is doing better and better each time he goes! It makes my mama heart so happy. This past weekend, he couldn’t stop talking about Miss Julie and the crackers and peanut butter and trucks at daycare. He even was practicing saying “mama comes back” a bunch because I tell him that mama will always come back every time I drop him off. So, I’m thinking this week will be his best one yet!

On Saturday, I decided to try an Advanced Treadmill Bootcamp Class through my peloton app and just about died. Holy.Moly. It was so hard! Lots of running up steep hills and sprints paired with shoulder presses, deadlifts and ab exercises. I was certainly feeling it yesterday and even into today! I’m trying to ease myself back into running and I thought a bootcamp class would be good. Joke’s on me.

Here’s What’s Coming Up This Next Week:

We are getting our flooring installed! FINALLY!! It’s going to take a few days because it’s a big job, but once the floors are in, we can install the appliances and I can finally get a working stove again! Praise! We are also getting our backsplash installed and paint is getting slapped back on the walls. We are trying to schedule a time with the cabinet company to come back to install the last few cabinets on the counters so we can unpack our dishes. Here’s to hoping that happens this week.

Our enormous fridge and freezer are getting delivered and installed on Saturday! Eek! The floors better be done by then or else we are in serious trouble. Ha! The floors are in the process of getting installed as I type this, so I think we should be good to go.

We are hoping by Friday to have floors so we can bring all our furniture back downstairs since it’s been upstairs for almost two months. I tell ya, everything is hinging on these darn floors! Fingers crossed these installers work like the wind.

I am working on quite a few posts for the blog, including a gift guide that I am almost done! Hoping to post that soon. Be on the lookout for that 🙂

Have a great week, friends! I’m hoping by Christmas I’ll have my whole house back to myself. Can you even imagine? We are counting the days.

Share a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

12 Responses
  1. Anna

    I relate to the house building. My husband and I built a fabulous home in the mountains. Everything went so slow. Finally after 3 years of work and living in adverse conditions we moved in. Have fun a once in a lifetime experience great memories for me. No longer in our home and the death of my Husband.

  2. Judy

    Hi Lauren, You have the best decorating ideas. I love your taste and talent. Would you share your new flooring and kitchen countertop I am just starting this process. You are very classy. Thank you for responding.
    Judy

    I did not see your reply.

  3. Judy

    Hi Lauren, You have the best decorating ideas. I love your taste and talent. Would you share your new flooring and kitchen countertop I am just starting this process. You are very classy. Thank you for responding.
    Judy

  4. Margi

    I did this a couple of times and it can be exhausting. But the day you walk in and it’s completely done is the most satisfying of all home re-do’s. But the quartz counter is what I bought last time and have never regretted it. Cleaning lady over early last week and we took everything off and polished it and you can take of picture of what’s hanging above it’s so shiny.

  5. Gina B

    Love the look of the kitchen so far. Can’t wait to see the completion. You are brave to take on the project. I love hearing about you and your family. Also, your blog.

    Take care.

  6. Irene Killiany

    Thanks for your update…I love reading and seeing your kids growing up. I am a grandma to 6 and I have babysat from six weeks to preschool. Their mothers are teachers so I would get the summers off. The youngest is now in First grade.

    Anyway…a few weeks ago, you showed a picture of sorry to say “dirty” water after you cleaned your couch. I would love to know what machine you used and how you feel on the result. Also, did you used a roller brush attachment. Your answer will guide me as to what I need to purchase.

    Can’t wait to see your new kitchen and eventually the beach house. Enjoy your family as life goes by very fast when you look back. Take care.

  7. Dave

    I know where you’re coming from. We had a bathroom renovation 5 years ago that unexpectedly shrunk our kitchen and required removal of all of our cabinets. Everything from the kitchen was transferred to the back of my 1994 Ford Explorer. We dealt with that for almost two years before finally another round of renovations resolved the issue. I still have totes to go through out in my shed, hang in there!

  8. Carol Ridenour

    Wow! Thanks for the update! Bet it is really hard to live in all the renovations, but sounds as if you all are doing a great job! Don’t know if I could handle it so well! Looking forward to seeing the final result! Hope all are feeling better…

  9. Barbara Best

    You have the best recipes ever!! So easy. I am a type 2 diabetic..would like to see a few sugar-free desserts. Congrats on your new kitchen! Porter is the cutest little boy…how sweet!

“logos”