The Kitchen Finale

Here it is.  The very last time I will mention my new kitchen.  If you have not had a tour of my old kitchen, go do that now.  Click here.  I'm not even kidding.  You are about to view one fancy kitchen, and it kinda embarrasses me that we have something so nice.  You need to see part of what we used to have.  Lucky for you, I didn't even talk about the mold under the kitchen sink from the endless leaks or the vinyl tiles coming up on the floor or the kids shivering because the windows and door leaked cold air all winter long.  So go.  Then come back to see the reveal.

Ooohhh!  Are you so excited?  As I've mentioned, it is fancy-schmancy.  However, it is mine, so there are still a few redneck touches.  Keep your eyes peeled and see if you can spot them.

You walk in the front door, go down the hall, and enter the dining room.  Your eyes go directly to the kitchen and the Harvest Gold glow emanating from it.

Do your eyes go directly to that cute little ice cream parlor table and chairs I got at the antique mall? 

It's the perfect place for the kids to enjoy a little after-school snack by the window.

(I'm still looking for a table cloth for it.  Or something to soften it up a bit.)

I can't tell you how happy I am with the woodwork.  The man who worked on this house is a genius.  He spent five minutes in my house, with no paper or pencil, then went out and replicated them.  Fourteen pieces of wood around this one window.  He cut the wood for 2 windows and four doorways one day, then assembled them all the next.  A genius, I say.

Oh, did you notice the rug?

Overstock.com is my new favorite place to shop.  Nowhere else could I find the perfect 4' round rug for under $100.

Or did you notice the island?

That ginormous piece of lovely that I had no idea could even fit in my kitchen? 

I spent hours looking high and low for unique stools that weren't $300, wouldn't wear out or tip over from use by six active children, and tied in with the farm.  Lo and behold, I found tractor seat stools at Shades of Light on-line.

I know.  There aren't any cushions.  No cushions for my children to rip or stain.  They are surprisingly comfortable.  (And the redneck touch of leaving the cardboard on the feet of the stools to prevent scratches on the floor?  Haven't gotten the felt stuff yet.)

Back to the island.  On the opposite side of the stools are six huge drawers.  I can fit all my everyday pots and pans, all of my 9x13 pans and other Corning Ware, dish towels, every spatula, spoon, opener, slicer, and other odd utensil I could need, and...my favorite...

the Tupperware/tin foil/baggie/food storage drawer.  All organized and in one place.

The kids and I have spent lots of time at this island.  Breakfast every morning, of course.  But the baking with them has been so wonderful.  We've been making a lot of banana bread.

(You noticed the light?  Another Overstock purchase.)

The kids stand/sit on the far side, while I stand on the busy side.

Behind me, the sink.

With a window that opens.

To the left, the stove.  With a nifty spice drawer.

To the left of the stove, the gizmo cupboard.   Some people would use this space as a lazy Susan.  (How many of you have a sister named Susan and used to taunt her with the lazy Susan reference?  (My hand is currently raised.))

I have chosen to leave it as one huge cupboard.  Finally, a home for all of the "We could have used the stove/oven, but why when we can use this great big space-sucker intended for this one and only task" gadgets we have acquired over the years.  Really, a cupcake maker? 

The "Rustic Alder" cupboards continue on the top, with a corner glass door for displaying pretties.

I only have one pretty.  A lovely glass bowl/plate a friend gave me for my 40th birthday.  The other two shelves are noticeably lacking pretty at the moment.

Back to standing at the island, to my right is the fridge.

We realized that the fridge doors open about 150 degrees, so we needed to get the fridge away from the wall in order to open the crisper drawers.  Thus, the added apothecary drawers and wine rack.  Pity, I know.

Remember the pantry I had?  And the window to nowhere?  Now lovely, uber-useful spaces.

The new pantry...

with the added bonus of handles too tall for little hands to reach.

And where the window used to be, same pantry on the bottom, but on the top, a "message center".   A spot with doors that close for my calendar, school papers, pens, scissors, batteries, coupons, and sundry other items.  Did I mention that it has doors?  That close?

And then, the room that has changed my life.  Remember the old kitchen, and the door that everyone drug mud and animal poo through?  It's gone, and instead we have....

A MUD ROOM!!!

In it you will find the soccer bags, boots, shoes, cleats, coats, box of hats/gloves/scarves, water bottles, and school backpacks for each child in each of their own "cubbies".   You will also find our old kitchen table, which is now the craft/project table.

No more Play-do crumbs in my kitchen, baby!  Or sand.  Or glue.  Or crayons.  Or paint.  Or markers.  It's all used in the mud room, which has a vinyl floor.  An awesome vinyl floor.  Vinyl has come a long, long way.

There is also a large utility sink to clean it all.  And to fill the animal waterers in the winter.  And for the kids to wash their hands before entering the main part of the house.

And see that curtain that runs along the top of the cubbies?  The 13-foot curtain I made without a sewing machine? 

Yeah, ironed that Stitch-witch stuff to hem it, then duct taped it to the top.

Hellooooo Redneck!

Anyway, under that curtain are the miscellaneous items I don't use that often.  Canning supplies.  Extra water bottles.  Dish drying rack.  And lots of empty space to fill later.

The room has changed my life, people.  Everything in those cubbies used to be scattered throughout the front entryway, the kitchen, and their bedrooms.  The insanity and filth were everywhere.  No longer.  I am at peace when I enter my home.

Do I love my kitchen and mud room?

Let's just say that after everyone has gone to bed, and I'm alone with my thoughts, one might walk into the kitchen to find this...

Yes, I love my kitchen and mud room.

 For those of you still reading, thank you for putting up with the gushing. 

The kitchen will never be mentioned as "the new kitchen" again.

If it is ever mentioned at all.

And you're all welcome to come have a meal with us anytime!

Have a lovely day!

7 Quick Takes

It's not quite midnight yet, so I'm going to sneak in some quick takes. 

*********** 1 **********

I really wish I could have seen the events that led up to the following conversation with Cuckoo.

Me: Why don't you have pants on?
Him: They fell off.

*************** 2 **************

Our three oldest kids had their Christmas musical last night.  Buttercup got to play a few Christmas songs while everyone found their seats. 

****************** 3 ********************

 Once the musical began, I was hit upside the head with a whole fistful of reality when I saw all of my babies up there with their classmates.  When all dolled up, their classmates look so very almost grown.   I was most struck by the girls.  It made me realize how much I have failed my daughter thus far.   She isn't a little girl anymore, even if that's what I see when I look at her.  For years, she didn't want me to touch her hair, so I would simply stick it in a ponytail.  Once she figured out how to do that on her own, I stopped doing her hair.  As a little girl, she was not interested in clothes at all.  I was happy to put her in sweats and similar play clothes most of the time.  Over the last 6 months or so, she's been getting up early to "get ready" for school.  I let her, but didn't get involved.  I realized last night that I haven't taught her anything about what to do.  How to curl her hair or straighten it or braid it or take care of it.  I don't discuss clothing with her, except on the rare occasion that she asks my opinion. 

It's shocking, really, as I was so, so awkward growing up, not knowing how to do anything with my appearance.  Now that I have learned, you'd think I'd be all over teaching my daughter and saving her from that awkwardness as much as possible.  It never crossed my mind. 

******************* 3 ******************

Last night, after the musical, after the middle school party, after the kids were in bed, I went up and climbed into bed with Buttercup.  She was quite taken aback, for sure, as I have only done that maybe once or twice since she was five.  I assured her there was no emergency or terrible news.  I simply wanted to apologize for not being the best "girl" mom I could be.  With five boys in the house, my "boy" mom tendencies got center stage, as they are so much easier for me.  I promised to change.  I will tap into that young girl I used to be and help her through these funky middle school years.

While she doesn't want me anywhere near the middle school party, (tough cookies.  I'm chaperoning.) I think she was quite happy that we had our little talk.

***************** 4 *************** 

Hubby and I watched a short bit of Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating People show the other night.   After a minute, Hubby said,  "Add "my booty" to the end of any and all of Barbara's sentences".

You must try it at home.

********************* 5 ***************

Are you surprised and impressed that I got to #5 without talking about my kitchen?  Be patient.  It's coming.

*************** 6 *******************

The wind blew in yesterday, bringing cold, cold temps and snow.  It was the perfect weather for cuddling up in jammies for a lovely Christmas movie marathon.  Too bad it couldn't happen.  School was not cancelled, but delayed two hours.  And it was an early dismissal day.  So basically, I took the kids to school in order for them to turn in their last homework assignments and participate in their extra-long class Christmas parties.  I'm fine with that. 

And I'm not just saying that because the principal of the school has now seen the blog. 

Giant came home today with the news that my friend, the assistant principal, showed the blog to the principal.  Mrs. P approached Giant and said, "I saw A Fly on our Chicken Coop Wall and read the post about the pig.  Does your mom like to exaggerate?"

When he got to this part of the story, I cringed.  I know him enough to know that he will say exactly what he thinks.  I really like to prep him for these types of questions.   My mind immediately went into damage control mode, coming up with a plan in case he called me out as a liar.  After the killing the bitch essay, I'm a bit twitchy when it comes to my kids telling stories about our family.

I was so, so happy that his reply was, "No, she doesn't.  That's really how it happened."

******************** 7 ********************

And the moment you've all been waiting for.  Unless you're tired of hearing about my new kitchen, which is really quite possible.  The counter tops were put in today!  Because of the bad weather, it was delayed a bit.  Just a bit, but enough that the plumber couldn't get here.  So, while my kitchen looks good, it is not quite usable yet.

The view from the mudroom:

and from the dining room (that doorway in the previous photo (while standing on a chair)):

******************** 7 1/2 **********************

It's finally starting to feel like Christmas.   We have been able to move a lot of things out of the piano room and into the kitchen, thus leaving room for a tree.  We have a tree!  Tomorrow afternoon we will decorate it.  Seeing as how Santa is coming to our house tomorrow night (We're on a special "We travel for Christmas and aren't about to drag gifts for six children back from Ohio" route.)  I'd say it's about time. 

Have a lovely day!

And because Hubby is in bed already, I have to tell you what I just did.

As soon as I pushed "publish" I broke into a coffee cup of Hershey Kisses I received as a gift from one of my preschool students.  (I recently gave up my peanut M&M habit, and wanted just a bite of chocolate.  (Get your jaw up off the ground.  I don't move enough to work off the pounds of M&Ms I consume.  So I quit.)) I popped it in my mouth, only to discover that the green tinfoil didn't just mean Christmas, but also mint.  I hate mint.  If you like mint, I don't want to hear it.  Mint is a polarizing taste, and I hate it.

So, to get rid of that horrible taste in my mouth, I grabbed a piece of candy my mom sent back with us from our trip to her house in Kentucky last weekend.  I don't know what it was, but it tasted terrible.  I actually spit it out into the trash.  So, I did what any desperate woman with a horrible taste in my mouth would do.  I cut myself a big ol' piece of apple pie that a baker-client had given Hubby for Christmas.  

I know there's a moral in there somewhere, but I'm too tired to figure it out.




Listicles - I Miss Food

 

I once had a conversation with my grandma about cooking.  Her take on it:

"I love to eat.  In order to eat, I need to cook.  So I cook.  Because I like to eat."

My sentiments exactly.

I love food.  Sweet.  Savory.  Salty.  Comfort.  Healthy.   So unhealthy it will take 4 years off your life.

I like it all.

Well, not Indian.  Curry and I don't get along.

Oh, and anything too spicy.  I don't understand the appeal of food that makes you cry for your momma and some milk. 

Although, I do love a great big glass of cold milk.

Stasha has chosen 10 Foods as our Monday Listicles topic for the week.

As I may have mentioned a time or two, I don't have a kitchen at the moment.  We're living out of a crock-pot and a microwave.  My eating habits, and thus my husband's and children's, have gone down the tubes.

At a party this weekend, Hubby actually answered the question, "Have you been eating out a lot since the kitchen is getting redone?" with, "No, we've just been eating junk." 

To his credit, he realized exactly how that may sound to his wife (who has been trying very hard to make good, nutritious food for over a month) as it was coming out of his mouth and quickly tried to fix it.  He really couldn't fix it, but bless his heart, he tried.

Basically, we're all missing real, normal-for-us food.   

For the list this week, I'm giving you 10 Foods That I Am Really Missing These Days.

1.  Eggs in general, but hard-boiled in particular.  We raise chickens for crying out loud.  We normally eat eggs at least once a week.  I am used to eating a hard-boiled egg every single morning. Without my egg, I get hungry so much earlier.  Which means I eat things I shouldn't.

2.  Banana Bread.  It makes me so sad to give our over-ripe bananas to the chickens.  We love banana bread, and I normally make it at least every other week.  I buy more bananas than we need just so we have some to make bread.

3.  Pasta.  We eat some sort of pasta every single week.  Sometimes two times a week.  We miss the fast and easy rotini.  We long for the shrimp and broccoli fettuccine Alfredo that takes a little longer, but is so worth it.  And then the fan favorites lasagna and stuffed shells.  Oh, Carbs, we miss you so.

4.  Pancakes.  We love some breakfast any time of day.  Pancakes with our homegrown and canned apples sprinkled with a little cinnamon are a favorite.  It's just too hard to make them on a griddle precariously balanced on a piano bench, though.  So we've gone without.

5.  Salmon.  Really, any fish, but mostly salmon.  We normally eat some sort of fish most weeks.  I only buy salmon when it's on sale, and I swear it has been on sale ever since we lost our oven.  And since we had to change clocks, it is dark well before dinner.  You just can't cook salmon on the grill in the dark. We still go to the fish counter when we shop, so the boys can visit with the lobsters and I can drool/cry over the salmon.  

6.  Pork.  Once again, we are pig farmers and we haven't had a pork chop or bite of sausage for over a month.  That's just not right.  Actually, I miss meat in general.  There aren't many recipes that call for raw meat in the crock-pot.  It's always "brown the meat" first.  Fortunately, I did cook a bunch of ground pork and chicken before we lost the stove, so we've been able to eat chili, tacos, white chili, chicken nuggets, and chicken quesadillas.  Chicken, chicken, and more chicken.  I do miss some hot out of the oven/off the stove meat, though.

7.  Homemade anything, but mostly potatoes (mashed and au gratin in particular) and mac and cheese.  We've made do with prepared stuff from the store that you heat up in the microwave, but it's just not the same.

8.  Christmas cookies.  I know I did a whole post about how I'm using this time as our chance to change our traditions and focus on Advent, blah, blah, blah.  I know we'll make the cookies very soon after Christmas Day.  Oh, but I love a Christmas cookie.  I just plain want one.

9.  Appetizers and desserts.  During the last month and a half, I have been to Thanksgiving, scheduled to donate to two Teacher/Staff Birthday Celebrations, had one book club meeting, and gone to two parties.  All of which I would have liked to take some yummy concoction.  Unfortunately, I've either had to simply donate the plates, buy some weird thing from the grocery store, or show up empty-handed.  Usually empty-handed.  My friends don't mind feeding me, but I would like to be less of a heel and contribute.

10.    All the yummy-looking recipes I've seen on other people's blogs.  I don't get on Pinterest, but I swear that since I can't cook anything people have been posting the most delicious-looking recipes on their blogs.  It's really starting to annoy me.  Don't you all know that I'm living out of a crock-pot here?  Save the good stuff until I can do something about it.  Because you know I don't have a pen or paper next to the computer to jot down the sites to which I want to return.  I used to have pen and paper.  People about the same size as my children keep taking them.  And when I'm all cuddled up under a blanket, catching up on my reading, the last thing I want to do is brave the cold of my house to find a pen and paper.  So I don't.  And I forget where I saw all of these yummy recipes.  So they will never be made. 

Um, just thinkin' off the top of my head, but could this be why Pinterest was invented? 

Too bad I've sworn off the internet and its creepiness.  Who knows what information the internet would learn about me if I started pinning things all willy-nilly.  I don't want to find out.

And....back on track.

If you would like to see how other folks did their lists, or you want to join in, head over to



Have a lovely day!



Happy New Year!

For years now, we've had our way of doing things at Christmastime.

We come back from Ohio the day after Thanksgiving in order to track down and purchase a 12-ft. tree on Saturday.  Throughout the weekend, we haul out the decorations and get a good start on decking the halls.

The week is filled to the brim with cleaning and decorating, as the very next weekend we host a big, adults-only Christmas party. 

From then on, it's all Christmas all the time.  We bake, we shop, we wrap, we dance, we go to parties.  We celebrate our hearts out all the way through, and Santa always makes an early visit just for us, seeing as how we always spend Christmas Eve and Day in Ohio. 

We come back home a day or two after Christmas.  Home to a dead tree, a mess of laundry and gifts to put away, and general unrest until I can get every bit of decoration back in the box from which it came.

For the last few years, I've been uncomfortable with this way of doing things.

We completely skip over Advent, and by the time the Christmas season is here, we're done with Christmas and ready to move on.  Usually we move on to snow removal and some sort of indoor house project.

At church last weekend, the sermon was all about the first day of Advent being the first day of the new liturgical year.  It is the perfect time to change something we want to change.  And instead of making a resolution like people do on January 1st, he suggested we make a commitment. 

This year, the unexpected kitchen renovation has put a big old red stop sign to our Christmas normal.  What a blessing in disguise it has been.  The experience has been the catalyst that I needed to change the way we do things.  To make a commitment to doing things differently this year.

It is December 7, and we don't have a tree.  In fact, we haven't pulled out a single decoration.  We don't have a stove, so we haven't baked a single cookie. 

Instead, I bought our family's first Advent "wreath" and a daily devotional book.  (All for $18.)  Instead of our usual daily readings, we've been going through this book at breakfast.

Did you notice that it says "Joy"?  I didn't until Star pointed it out three days after I bought it and put it on the dining room table.
 

We have our Sparkle Box that we won from my first blog friend  (who just happens to live thirty minutes away from me!) at Raise Them Up and we're filling it up.




The kitchen cabinets are in and the counter top was templated today, but the renovation won't be done until after Christmas.

We will be able to start moving things into the pantry and cabinets before then, though.  Everything in the piano room will be moved, leaving space for our tree.

Perfect timing.

We'll decorate the tree the day before Santa comes.  And the first thing we'll do in our finished kitchen is make Christmas cookies.  During the Christmas season.  Where they belong.

And because I mentioned the kitchen, you are going to have to endure a few kitchen photos.

First, remember the before:

After:

What was that?  You'd like a closer look at those door knobs? 

And the inside? 

Certainly.

Would you like to see the sink?

Sweet mama, Hubby is going to have so much fun washing the dinner dishes in that sink!

Have a lovely day!

Kitchen Update - We're Cooking Now!

And by cooking, I don't mean actually cooking.  I mean things are moving along in the kitchen.  The oven is still in plastic in the piano room.  And the sink, faucet, and microwave are still in boxes by the front door.

However, the floor is in, the walls are painted, and the cabinets came today!!!

I'm so excited I think I may abandon Hubby and sleep in the kitchen with the cabinets tonight. 

As I've said before, I make decisions very quickly.  Thirty minutes to choose the cabinets, floor, and counter top.  As the time gets closer to installation, I get more and more concerned that nothing will go together and I made a horrible, expensive, unchangeable mistake.

Let's just say I've been rather anxious for about two weeks now.

No more, my friends!

The floor:

The drawer:

Was that mean?  Tell me about it.  I was all excited to see the floor, and they had completely covered it in paper.  And the cabinets were in boxes.

Have no fear, there are bits showing for me to give you a hint as to what the final room will look like.

I really wish I had my good camera to take these photos.  Unfortunately, it has gone one strike and won't take any.  While it gets its much needed tune-up, I have to resort to my camera. 

Keep in mind that these aren't the true colors.  The sun was setting, so no natural light.

The island drawers:

The kitchen floor:

The mudroom floor:

Vinyl has come a long way, people.

The trim and wall color:

It really isn't sunshine yellow.  It is called Harvest Gold.

And a view of the room that will change my life:

The mudroom with a whole bunch of kitchen cabinets in it.

Holy Storage, Batman!

They will be able to template the counter on Friday, which puts us at a completed kitchen on December 21.

We are leaving for Ohio on the 22nd.

Crud and double crud.

No Christmas baking for us this year.

And really, not many Christmas decorations at all.

We usually have a huge, beautiful, 12-foot tree in the piano room.

With the kitchen stuff taking over that room, no big tree this year.

We hardly have room for a Charlie Brown tree anywhere in the house.

And even if we did, the last thing I want to do is pull out the Christmas decorations and add even more stuff to our horribly cluttered lives right now.  The clutter is wearing me out. 

Plus, we've had so many dentist appointments and gatherings and errands to run and basketball practices and games, and volleyball tryouts that dinner, which is hard enough to get together, is made nearly impossible.  I have said, "Find something to eat," way too many times to count.

I just keep saying, "It will be worth it.  It will be worth it."

Because, oh my word, it will be.

Have a lovely day!

The Kitchen Is Coming!

The guy building our kitchen and mud room is a genius.  I have never seen such talent in a person.  I have to admit, in the early days of this renovation, I was a bit nervous about him.  No longer, my friends.

Remember that our house is almost 150 years old.

This guy was in my house for less than five minutes.  Perhaps two.  He had no paper or pencil.  Yet he was able to duplicate the window and door frames exactly.  Almost.  I thought they were exactly, but he told me that the one piece (out of 14 around just one window!) isn't cut that size anymore and is 1/8 of an inch smaller.  Slacker.

Some not-the-best-photos-but-you-are-going-to-be-OK-with-it-because-my-real-camera-is-broken:

Oh, and he cut the wood for two windows and four doorways in one day, then assembled the frames the next.  The guy is lightening quick!

Then, he moved on to the lockers/cubbies for the mudroom.

He measured the kids' soccer bags to make sure he made them wide enough.  I thought I knew what I wanted, until I saw what he was planning. 

Holy storage, Batman!

The entire wall around the windows is going to be storage.  A total of four lockers, shelves above, benches below.  The lockers are going to have shelves/benches that line up with the ones above and below the windows. 

He isn't putting a "floor" of the lockers to make for much easier cleaning.  No lip of a shelf to block the way when I decide to mop.  Or rather, when I make a child scrub the floor.

Two more, larger lockers are on the walls next to the wall of storage.

Folks, this mud room is going to change my life.

I am so, so, so, so excited!

The kitchen sink, the faucet, and the stove are sitting in my entryway, waiting to be installed someday.

I still need to pick pendant lights, door pulls, and a microwave.

Fast.

The cupboards will be her the week of Dec. 3.

Yikes!

Have a lovely day!

The Fun Continues - Kitchen Renovation Update

Holy choices, Batman!

My head is about to explode from all of the snap decisions I've made this week, but the rooms are coming along nicely. 

view from the dining room

The meals:

Because I know your first thought is for the welfare of my family, we are eating well.  We've had meatball subs with frozen meatballs I left in the crock-pot for a few hours.  We had loaded baked potatoes one night.  Chicken nuggets I had made and frozen were on Wednesday.  The kids actually cheered when my co-worker gave us an electric skillet to make some french toast.  We went out Thursday, and had leftovers on Friday.  We had $5 Little Caesars pizza Saturday, and I will cook hot dogs for the second time in my life as a mom for dinner on Sunday.

We're doing just fine on the food front.

The kitchen and mud room:

They are actually looking like rooms!  The insulation and drywall is up.  The lights are in.  I can finally imagine what the final look will be.

I have ordered the sink (a big farmhouse sink with a ten inch apron), faucet, paint color, range hood, mud room flooring, and the sink for the mud room.

The painters will be here Monday to get started.  The cabinets are supposed to be delivered the week of December 3.  We're getting there.

The Problems:

There are many this week.

1.  We knew it was only a matter of time before the previous owner's mistakes were uncovered.  Monday was the day.  All of the windows he put in the soon-to-be-mud-room-but-used-to-be-smoke-house were put in wrong.  Not only were they not level, they were leaking and rotten.  We had to replace four windows and the siding all the way around the outside of the mud room.

Can you say, "Budget buster"?

This is the new window.  The new siding will come on the first day that we don't have rain.

2.  Our fridge opens 150 degrees.  That means that the original design, where the fridge was up against a wall, wouldn't work.  We had a few choices, and of course the one that we consider the best choice is the most expensive.  I am happy with the look, though.  We are putting a vertical line of apothecary drawers and wine cubbies between the fridge and the wall.  Hubby and I had a long discussion about this one.  He didn't want to spend the money.  I did.  The alternative was to have a 5 inch piece of wood that just covered an open, unused space next to the fridge.  In the end, we agreed that Hubby being unhappy until we paid the bill was much better than me being unhappy for the rest of the years that we live in the house. 

3.  All of these extra costs have sent Hubby over the edge.   More than once I have found him in the dumpster.  He has become a dumpster diver.  He props up a ladder, gets in the dumpster, and digs to find things to salvage, because "Those builder guys are just wasteful."   When I made fun of him he said, "Look at this.  We can use it as a fence post." 

I'm all for being green and reusing materials, but these posts are huge, and he had to carry them out of there on a ladder in the dark.  Oh, and I have no idea what fence he is planning on posting.  Those "posts" will sit in our barn for years.

4.  The guys did a great job putting up a dust barrier between the kitchen and the dining room.  No dust has made it through. 

Only one problem.  See that light at the top of the photo?  The one over the dining room table where we eat all of our meals?  Especially dinner, which occurs at 6:30, which is after sunset now that we changed clocks.  Guess where the light switch for that light is?

We've had some nice, romantic lighting for our dinners lately.

5.  I'm thrilled with the plans for the new pantry.  One that is deep enough to hold some food and has a door that works.  This is where it will be going.

The back wall of the pantry butts up against the game closet in the "game room".  When one of the boys opened the closet to get a game out, we realized our error in the sealing of the kitchen.

No one thought to seal up the pantry/closet.  Every single game and every single puzzle and every single piece in each game and in each puzzle is covered with a thick layer of dust and debris.  And once the kids opened the closet and dumped half the games, the closet is stuck open and dust flows into the room.

I have been avoiding the task of cleaning out the closet.  I really, really don't even want to think about how long this is going to take.  And how much sneezing will be involved.

Still to do:

I am now on the hunt for two pendant lights and the drawer pulls/cupboard handles.  For both, I'm looking for something to tie in with the rest of the house.  Something farmish, but Victorianish, perhaps copperish to pull out the copper-looking flecks in the counter. 

I also need to think about a small table and benches/chairs for a corner of the kitchen, and some stools for the kitchen island.

I'm off to enjoy some more of this GORGEOUS weather we are experiencing here in Indiana.

Have a lovely day!

Kitchen Update Numero Uno

Nothing makes you feel like you are going to wet your pants more than knowing that there is no bathroom for you to use.  Such is my life all stinkin' day.  Today is the day that the plumbers and electricians are here, along with the normal crew of two, to get the old pipes and wires out and install/move the new ones.  Really wish it could have been done yesterday while I was at work and a variety of other places that had working restrooms.

It is Day 5 of the big kitchen redo.  So far, it hasn't been all that bad.  Sure, my temporary kitchen looks like this:

but we're managing just fine.

Meals:

The kids have survived on milk, fruit, and cereal or bagels for breakfast each morning.  I only have one hard-boiled egg left, so I'm going to be trying out the burner on the grill this weekend.  In the five years we've had this grill, we have never used it.  Hope I don't blow us up.

The big kids buy lunch at school every day, as I've found the $2.50/day is cheaper than if they were to pack.  Plus, it means they get a good variety, unlike the little boys, who eat PB&J most days of their lives. 

Dinners have been fine.  Grilled burgers Monday and white chili in the crockpot Tuesday with chicken I had cooked before the stove went away.   Wednesday, Meijer had individual frozen dinners on sale, so I let the kids each pick one for dinner.   Downside of that is that each dinner takes 8-10 minutes in the microwave, so we didn't all get to eat together.  Last night we went out, as Phoenix had soccer an hour away from home, and tonight it is chicken quesadillas, pineapple, a salad, and Halloween candy.

No one is starving, and everyone is happy to not to have to deal with dirty dishes.

I am unhappy about the amount of waste we are creating with all of the paper products we're going through.

The kitchen:

If you haven't seen what our kitchen looked like before, go here for a tour.

At the end of Day 1, it looked like this:

Buttercup is standing right where I used to spend 50% of my day, right next to the stove and sink.  The rubble is what is left of the wall that used to be there.  To take the photo, I stood in the old 1800's kitchen.  Back then there was a porch and yard between the house and kitchen, but when the "modern" kitchen was added to the house, they used the porch area.  The modern kitchen and the 1800s kitchen shared a wall, but we couldn't get into the 1800s kitchen without going outside. 

The 1800's kitchen will now become our mudroom, while the "modern" kitchen will remain about the same size.

Day 2, more major demo, but some rebuilding as well.

I was a touch surprised to see that I no longer had an outside wall in my kitchen.  This is where the window over the sink used to be.  We moved it over a bit to give more room to the cramped corner, so off with the wall! 

This is how the room looked this morning:

Starting from the left, the door used to be a window.  Between the now-door and the new window here on the right, two doors have been removed and changed into walls.  The wall between the kitchen and mud room is going up about two feet from the new door and is getting framed today. 

This is where (left to right) the small, broken pantry, the fridge, and the window to nowhere used to be.  They will be turned into a much bigger pantry and a "message center", both with working doors to hide any and all disorganization when company comes.

Problems we've encountered:

The floor of the 1800's kitchen was slanted just a touch, if you consider 3 1/2 inches from one wall to the other "just a touch".  The floor had to be ripped out in order to even everything out.

The ceiling of the 1800's kitchen was a few inches shorter than the ceiling of the "modern" kitchen.  The modern kitchen ceiling had to be dropped, and my transom cabinets had to go from 15 inches to 12.  I think.  Something like that.  Just so I don't have an open area above the cabinets, I'm happy. 

Getting to know each other:

One of the demo guys was eating and working at the same time.  He put down his sandwich for a minute, and when he went back, he found Roy the Wonder Dog had eaten it.

Someone hurt himself this morning.  I don't know who, as there is an impenetrable, murky barrier between us and the kitchen.  I just know there was some ouching and grunting, and some "Are you OK?s coming from behind the barrier.  I didn't see anyone race to the hospital, so we should be good.

Work begins at 7:30 each morning, and most days I am showered and dressed before they arrive.  I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, so I needed to be.  On Monday I learned that it's just a bit creepy to take a shower directly above the room where strangers are working.  I made that mistake Monday, but not today!  I showered nice and early then put my PJs and robe right back on. 

While the guys work, they have a radio playing.   Luckily, I like their taste in music.  And I like that I can frequently hear them singing along with the radio.  And even more, I like that they cannot carry a tune.  It means they won't be judging me when I bust it out with them. 

They work together on projects much better than Hubby and I do.  While I have heard an occasional, "I need another 1/2 inch.  Give me a half an inch!"  I haven't heard anyone yelling at each other to, "Stop talking!  I don't see you over here on the ladder trying to fix this!"  I also haven't heard any cussing.  There is almost always cussing when Hubby and I do home improvement projects together.

I am hoping that these guys never meet Hubby.  They may end up talking and telling Hubby just how much time I waste on the computer during the day.

Homework I have:

Pick out the kitchen sink, faucet, lights for above the island, and the cabinet/sink for the mudroom.

Considering the age of this house, and the number of things we find wrong each and every time we undertake some renovations, I am thrilled with the progress.  I don't know what the agenda is exactly, but I have been told that the drywallers will be here on Thursday.

I'm off to see just how bad the old outhouse behind the chicken coop is.  I can't hold it much longer!

Have a lovely day!