Well, we finished painting the kitchen and the dining room over the weekend.

It went better the second time around. We had a friend watch Gabe, so both of us could be working at the same time.

The under-cabinet lighting was installed yesterday and it looks like the electrician is finishing up his work. We can actually use the new microwave now. That is once I have a chance to read the manual.

Unfortunately, it looks like there's been a water leak into the new cabinet that will house the sink. I'm not sure where it came from, since the water is shut off, but we've got a call into Greg about it. The cabinet looks a bit warped, and that doesn't make me happy at all.

As for the stained glass, I dropped of the cabinet doors and talked to the artist. She'll be working up some designs and will call me some time this week to choose one.

We heard from the contractor today that the countertop has finally arrived. It's being cut, and they'll have it in by next Friday.

The end is in sight, it really is.

I also ran by A Touch of Glass in downtown Ventura during my lunch hour and talked to Denise Braun, the stained glass artist there. What I want to do with the glass in the two cabinet doors on either side of the sink is possible.

We have an appointment for Saturdaymorning to talk in more detail about the design. I can't wait.

Things are really taking shape now.

We arrived back in town yesterday moring. Our plane left Kansas City at 7 a.m. and we were up at 5 a.m. (that's 3. a.m. here) after having gotten to bed about midnight.

While we were gone, we had left our cell numbers with Greg, the project manager, just in case there were any problems. What we didn't count on was that we only got intermittent cell service while we were out there. We called in to check on things and there was a problem. Something had been mismeasured on the cabinets and we might have to reorder some of them.

Saturday was spent cleaning up all of the construction dust in the house. Top to bottom.

That was a huge task. I hate dusting, but this stuff was everywhere. It took the entire day to finish. The house just isn't that big, but I wasn't about to leave that kind of mess for the house sitter. She already had to worry about not having a kitchen.

Dusting, laundry and packing for our trip took the entire day.