Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun filled weekend.  On Saturday we went to Billings for a trash can turkey feast at our friends Marty & Vickie Davis.  They invited the HOG group for the feast.  We went early on Saturday to help them set up for the event.  They had about 30 people come for the party.  We had to bring pot luck dishes.  I made a snickers salad which was a hit.  It was determined that the salad was more like a dessert than a salad.  Snickers and apples in whipped topping can't get better than that.  We had so many choices of side dishes.  Had a great time visiting with our biker friends. 

I had an appointment at Lowes for the new kitchen design.  That took two hours but I have the renderings for my new kitchen.  Lowes was having a sale on kitchen cabinets and countertops.  I am getting the cabinets and countertops for just a tad over $5000.  I chose hickory cabinets and a quartz countertop.  They were having a sale on the quartz.  We found out that we need to have the cabinets installed on our own but Lowes will install the countertops.  The cabinets are custom built.  It was fun watching the design on the computer.  When I called for the appointment she told me just to bring my wall measurments and window placement.  Do not measure my existing cabinets.  With the new kitchen my must haves are a built in dishwasher and an over range microwave.  I could live with out the microwave if needed.

The sale they were having was that I got two base cabinets free, on being the sink base and the other is waste basket base, she felt that was real important to have.  I got a free undermount sink, stainless steel and the hardware for the cabinets.  I also got a drawer divider for silverware free.  I didn't think I could get a better deal than that, but the sale ended on Monday so we had a couple days to think on it.  If we decided to do this we got a $400 instant saving off the cabinets plus we would get a $326 Lowe's gift card that we could purchase the appliances.  We priced the dishwasher and over range microwave, the dishwasher is $500 and microwave was $150. 

We got back to our friends and started getting ready for the party.  Marty is a drywaller and he said that we are getting a very good deal on this stuff.  He gave us a name for a cabinet installer.  Gary got a number of a local guy who does this kind of work.  I called  both men on Monday morning and the Hardin guy called me back.  Our friends guy still hasn't called.  The Hardin guy will charge us $35 per hour, we don't have to pay mileage. 

Monday we decided to just go ahead and do this, so things are in motion.  My cabinets will be here in about 5 weeks.  The cabinet installer will get with us later this week to look at the kitchen and we can get a ball park figure.  We are hoping that we can remove the cabinets ourselves.  Once the cabinets are installed then Lowes will come down do the template and then countertops will be installed.  Looks like we are going to be under budget on the kitchen which I'm excited about.

Sunday I was able to visit with an old childhood friend who came to Hardin for a family reunion. Sunni Drake was a friend from 3rd-6th grade, she moved after 6th grade.  We got connected through Facebook.  While I went to visit with Sunni, another classmate was there, Kathy Conzelman.  I haven't seen Kathy since we graduated.  Even though the visit was short, it was nice.

I am very excited about my new kitchen and 5 weeks is going to be a long time.  I will make sure to take pictures of the before, during and after.  So glad that this will be done.  We may have enough money left over to redo our bathroom this fall but will have to see.