Progress, finally!

StalinBenester readers might have wondered why we haven't posted any new pictures of our kitchen project for a couple of weeks. We can tell you that until today, we hadn't made a ton of progress. The only major development was having the asbestos abatement company come out a week and a half ago to take out the old floor, and after that, Stacy's parents helped scrape off the last of the wallpaper.

However, today we took a major step forward with the help of Bob and Ron. We have a tile floor! They are in the middle of laying the tile right now and we are so happy with how it looks.



In other news, we've got some beautiful hibiscus in our front garden and we just shook some Critter Be Gone around the tomato plants in our latest attempt to keep the squirrels and chipmunks away. We hope that will do the trick!

Demolition -- The Olive Garden Day

I call today "Olive Garden Day" because of the lovely smell wafting through what was -- and what will be -- our kitchen. We learned that the only way to get off the old wallpaper was to thoroughly soak the paper and all of its under layers with our vinegar and water mixture. Colin is a wallpaper removing pro, developing his "patented spray and spread" technique that makes scraping the paper like cutting through butter. Here are a few before and after shots -- I meant to get some of the scraping action, but frankly got so caught up in the task that I forgot to take some pictures. No worry, we've still got another whole section to take off.

I also can't believe we've been an aunt and uncle for two whole weeks and we haven't blogged yet about our niece, Taylor. We spent some time in Minneapolis last weekend and got to spend some time with her and her exhausted but excited parents. You can see she's already taken with her Uncle Colin, and he's pretty taken with her.

Demolition Day #2

Thanks to Bob, we got all of the old cabinets out of the kitchen, along with the sink and dishwasher. He also gets the award for taking on the most unpleasant task of cleaning below and behind the stove. (Colin says: Yuck!) What would we do without him? And let us know if you have any restaurant recommendations or tips with cooking with a microwave and electric fry pan -- we've got limited options for the next few weeks.

We're pretty happy with the progress we've made so far and now we're on to a couple more steps in the project. Tomorrow, we'll dust off our wallpaper scrapers and get that off a couple of the walls. We also think we've settled on a tile, but we have to wait for our sample to get tested by the State Hygiene Lab to be sure there's not any asbestos under there.

On to Wednesday, Day 3!

Demolition Day No. 1

We spent a couple of days in Minneapolis getting relaxed and ready to come back to Madison to start our kitchen remodeling project. The first day was pretty major, with us losing half a wall.

Here are some before and after shots:















Next on the list are tearing out the cabinets and replacing the floor...good thing we have about two weeks to get the kitchen ready for the cabinets to be installed.

The current state of youth soccer

I started playing soccer in about 1979 when I was six years old or so. It was pretty simple -- I showed up at Flying Cloud fields for games wearing a little yellow T-shirt with my name ironed on the back.

But as I learned this weekend while working as a field marshal for the Badger State games, a lot of things have changed in the last 28 years. I snapped this picture of a team of 10-year-olds, who not only have full unform kits, but their own traveling bench of fold-up chairs. And while my elementary school games never took me beyond Flying Cloud, teams of 8-year-olds were traveling hundreds of miles and staying overnight in hotels to be part of the tournament.

What was most unbelievable were the comments hollered at the kids by coaches and parents. (And when I say "hollered," I mean literally screaming direction at the kids from the sidelines. It's amazing the kids could concentrate on the game.) It's been a while since I did any serious coaching, but I feel like I could offer a few pointers:

* Think about holding your breath. One of the most common things you'll hear coming from the sideline is the exhortation to "Boot it!" I've been playing soccer for nearly 30 years and I have no idea what that player is supposed to do, but it certainly isn't to play with any finesse or purpose. Indiscriminately yelling "Kick it!", "Get it to the net!", or "Good boot" doesn't help much. Neither does telling a young player who just had a ball kicked into his hand that he "should know better." It's soccer -- unintentional hand balls happen. And a player who drills a hard shot on goal should maybe be praised instead of immediately being told he should keep his head down next time.
* Let them play. You've probably tried to instill some skills or strategy in practice, but once it gets to game day, it's up to the kids to bring it to the field. Yelling at a player to do something and following it up with "...we practiced that!" means you haven't done your job teaching them.
* Remember they're playing soccer. Not football -- that means that coaches don't wander on to the field. Nor is it hockey -- one coach yelled at a player for not having his "line" ready to go.
* Give good direction. If you do need to scream at a player, try to give some useful advice or guidance. Yelling, "Go, Hunter, Go!" in the same breath as you yell "Stay, Hunter, Stay!" will only strain your voice.

Other developments

One of the fun things about the spring and summer has been to discover all of the plants that have popped up. The previous owner promised us the garden would flourish on its own, and it didn't disappoint. Here's a shot of the latest in the front yard.



In another exciting development, Stacy has been spending much of her weekends working in the basement, trying to make it a place we might actually spend time and not just store boxes. We think the mice have relocated, so Stacy has braved the cabinets in the laundry area and put some things away there (safely stored in Rubbermaid boxes, just in case). Once we get the kitchen remodeled, we should be able to get rid of the rest of the boxes.

Lots of work around the house

We've been working hard to finish the last bits of our move (a few months later) and get the house looking sharp. Colin has become a pro with the lawn mower and we've planted some tomatoes at the end of the backyard. We'll see if Stacy's thumb has gotten any greener. (If anyone has tips for taking care of tomatoes, please send them along!)