cabinets, feeling old, wedding pictures

ah, finally, the cabinets are in! whew. that took a lot of time. if you are planning to redo your cabinets, let me just warn you of what you need to do:

1) clean your cabinets of all dust (we used mineral spirits on a rag, and that did a pretty good job).
2) apply wood conditioner with a rag (this prevers you from getting dark patches on your wood, so the stain comes out evenly). wait about 10-15 minutes before putting on stain.
3) apply stain with a rag. (this can take awhile, depending on how much you have). wait about 8 hours before you put on polyurethane coat (it protects the wood).
4) apply polyurethane coat with a brush. this takes about the same amount of time as the stain. you want to make sure you do not shake the can, or you get nasty bubbles that will be extremely hard to get rid of. by the way, this stuff is STICKY. i got it in my hair, twice. not fun.
5) wait 3-4 hours for 1st coat to dry. then sand those babies. many, that took a long time, and my allergies got aggrevated from the dust (which had probably not so nice things mixed in because of the polyurethane, stain, and mineral spirits. i wonder how much i shorten my life span?).
6) polyurethane again. this time, make sure you see no bubbles. bubbles = bad.
7) if you are completely insane, you may repeat steps 5 and 6 for a third coat. i heard 2 is enough for protection, the third coat is just for smoothness. man, we were singing "hallejuah" with the ending of coat 2!

so how long did it take us to do the top and bottom cabinets you ask? well, i estimate more than a weekend's worth of work. we put in about 3 hours a day for about 6 days, and that doesn't include waiting for those things to dry.

but alas, Praise the Lord, we have a kitchen we can work in starting today! i can't believe it! i really hope/pray that our stove works!

on a side note, i realize how old i am when i read my cousin's (michelle and debra) man, i'm old. they're young and experiencing HS and college life, i'm in grad school for a second degree, married, and writing about cabinets. what's that all about?

oh, here are the pictures of the wedding. i hope you enjoy them. if you want the password, e-mail me!