Home Improvement: Part II

Since Michelle was away this past week in Las Vegas attending a medical conference (and visiting her family), we decided this would be the best time to commence Operation Destruction/Renovation of our kitchen and bathrooms. The previous owners chose this cheap laminate surfacing (white & pink, respectively) that stained quite easily. Once again the before shots:











First step was removing the surfacing. Since we were installing two sinks in the master bathroom, the old cabinet had to come out and a new custom-designed cabinet was put in its place:











Next step was inserting the granite counter-tops. Michelle & I had pre-selected three different patterns, one for each room. Most of the pieces were pre-cut, but the sink openings and backsplashes were cut outside on our driveway:










It was only at this point that the plumber could begin connecting the sinks & piping. His job took the longest, at least 8 hours of labor involved:












An voila! A nicely finished project after all ... you'll have to visit to see the real thing :-)

Winter?

We had our first snowfall in Michigan! I was told that it starts snowing around December... not so... it's October and it is snowing. Ginger does not know what to do with this white stuff from the sky. Albeit, not much snow but what a surprise -- we woke up with a layer of white stuff on the deck. It melted and then started again.

Family visit

So we welcomed my parents last week as our first out-of-town guests. After a delayed flight leaving LaGuardia airport Wednesday night, they finally landed and settled into our condominium. Right away my mom felt at home, preparing all sorts of delicious meals :-) They also got to spend time with Ginger while we were away at work.









Our free weekend included all sorts of sight-seeing in the greater Detroit area. Saturday we did the Rouge Factory Tour (Ford-Dearborn headquarters). They had a nice rooftop view of the auto plant, as well as several Ford models on display. Michelle & Myriam enjoy the new F-150 pickup truck :-)













Later that afternoon we walked around Greenfield Village, which currently has the "Special Taste of History" theme. There were numerous machines on display from the 1800's, including those making yarn, metal, and cloth. The weather was gorgeous, with several trees showing pretty fall color changes ...













Sunday we checked out the popular Franklin Cidar Mill. It was packed, customers ordering all sorts of apple products (pie, cidar, donuts, etc.) They also had several large pumpkins on display, with little kids getting into the act:










The rest of the day was spent shopping, exploring the Sommerset mall in Troy, and seeing our hospital. Overall very relaxing, they left just in time as the weather got chilly soon there-after (see the following post). We'll be seeing the fam soon again in November for Thanksgiving. Until then ...