of cabinets and kings...

Wow.  It is ridiculously expensive to install new cabinets in a kitchen.

Originally, we were going to just leave the kitchen alone and deal with it.  Then, we thought about trying to make the best of things, but changing the hardware.  Then, we thought, "well, if we're going to change the hardware, we might as well paint the cabinets, too...and the kitchen, itself."  And, after that, it was, "well, we ought to just put new doors on our existing cabinets to really spruce things up, and to really give us bang for our buck."  And, now, we're at, "Well, we have some empty space, and not as much storage as we'd like, and the existing cabinet storage is not in great shape, so we should probably just replace all of the cabinets, as well as adding in several more.  And, while we're at it, we should paint the kitchen and replace the flooring and window treatments, since we don't want to just go halfway with a project."

Oy vey.  By the way, we really want to completely overhaul the bathroom, too.  And, we still have plans to paint the living room, hallway, and porch (once the porch is fixed up).  We have around 1,000 other things on the list, too.

Anyone have a few thousand dollars they'd like to send our way?

In other news, I set a goal for myself that I'd run 120 miles in 30 days.  I'm now on Day 7, and I have completed 24.6 miles.  I'm almost exactly on target, and a couple more days of 5-6 miles of work will keep me ahead of the curve.  I wouldn't exactly say that I'm having fun doing all of this running, but having this goal (and having made it public, both on here, for this limited audience, and on my Facebook page, which receives many more views) certainly helps me to stay motivated.  I don't want to come up short in the end, unless something happens that legitimately prevents me from completing the task.  You know, like, I lose a leg or something.

I'm also feeling a bit of motivation because I have hit a bit of a plateau in my quest for health, and I really really want to push through it and start to see the right numbers drop again.  Of course, my patience is also getting a workout, which is probably a good thing.

Anyway, I can complain about plateaus and cabinet expenses all I want, but here's the truth: my life is pretty darn amazing.  I have much more than I need, that's for sure.  And, so, I want to make sure that I'm taking as much time as I can to appreciate the countless gifts that I've been given.