Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers. This year I am thankful for so many things. But, mostly I’m thankful for a roof over my head, heat, electricity, running water and a sense of humor.

The long list of things I’m thankful for:

I’m thankful for good neighbors who graciously let me do multiple loads of laundry a week while our machines sat unusable in the garage.

I’m thankful for our good friends and family who brought us meals while our kitchen was torn apart.

I’m thankful to my in-laws for helping us through the first week after being evacuated from our home.

I’m thankful to our good friends who helped take care of Buddy while we were homeless.

I’m thankful to all the rest of our friends and family who called or stopped by to check in on us and make sure we were surviving.

I’m thankful to be back in our own home with the ones I love.

I’m thankful that I have a husband who understood that I couldn’t let someone else be in charge of putting our kitchen back together again. And a husband who is willing to live without while we push through the process of demolition and renovation.

I’m thankful for my two boys who have been helping demolish the kitchen and are entertaining me with lots of ideas on how the kitchen should look and function after the renovation. (I know they will be sad to see that their scooter rink plans won’t be in the finished kitchen.)

I’m thankful to all of you for reading, commenting and letting me know that this kitchen fiasco was just a small bump in the road.

I’m thankful that I have the guts to decide to take over building back our kitchen on my own terms!

Most of all, I am thankful for this life and all that amazing things that it is filled with and for where it will lead me.

I hope you enjoy this short one minute video I took during some of the demolition. I’m hoping to start giving weekly updates to keep you up to date on our kitchen renovation progress.

How about that little engine that could attitude? We had a hard time getting him to stop. I think  he’d still be up there beating on the soffit until it finally came down. (Hmmm, I wonder where he gets that from?)

Coming up: How to Remove Soffits Tutorial

You can read more about our kitchen disaster and renovation in these updates:

• Polybutylene Pipe Leak turns into Moldy Mess
• My World Upended ,  Asbestos Discovery and Removal  -All You Ever Wanted to Know About Asbestos
• Planning New Kitchen Layout and more
• Planning Colors and Materials for the New Kitchen
• How to Remove Soffits
• Move Back in the Kitchen Temporarily and Throw a New Year’s Party
• Termite Damage and Kitchen Update
• How and When You Should File for a Permit during a Kitchen Renovation  – Your Questions Answered
• Everything You Should Know about Termites and Termite Damage
• Structural Engineer Plans and another Kitchen Update
• How to Survive without a Kitchen During Renovation