I'm not a good cook.

When I lived at home the year before I married Mark, one of the ways (o.k. like the only way) I earned my keep was cooking one night a week. One of the meals I made involved making a hot dog look like an octopus. It was seriously the cutest meal we've ever had...too bad it wasn't edible. My family still talks about how bad it was.

While my cooking skills have improved some since marriage, I would never call myself a 'good cook'. God has not blessed me with that gift. I can make dinner and follow a recipe, but they are pretty straight forward. I was ecstatic when I did a meal exchange with ladies from church and loaded our freezer with yummy meals and also got a few new recipes. [I am looking forward to another exchange :)]

While I can not cook and do not often plan our meal until Mark calls me to tell me he's on his way home (that is exaggerating a little bit), I still had a strange feeling the first time I rounded the corner to the kitchen and saw this...


While it does give our kitchen a nice 'open' feel, even someone who doesn't cook needs a stove.

Where could our stove be...?

In the garage holding up our bike.


I've been trying to take lots of 'before' pictures as we are doing projects in our home and have been getting excited about taking 'after' photos. I thought today that I really need to take some 'during' photos. Of the paint splotches that are in several rooms, our dining room now located in the living room and our missing stove.

I am loving everything that we are working on and and very excited about it, I admit I am looking forward to having it all done and put back together. Until that time comes, I plan to enjoy (and remember) the humor of these moments.

Our new dining room, located in the corner of the living room where the couch used to be.


The new living room layout. The couch is blocking the opening to the dining room.


Mark taking out the carpet in the dining room. I tried to get a picture that included all the stains...some we made...most we didn't, but the pictures kept making it appear much nicer than it really is.


And the current state of the dining room, carpet pulled out and refrigerator moved in.


If all goes as planned, by mid week we should have new counter top & back splash!