The 1st of May already! My year has been consumed with the kitchen. I am so ready to get over it and get outside and spruce up the place more!
I remember making May baskets that hung on the door knob and leaving one for my grandmom who lived with us (and mom too). Most of the time the flowers were dandelions. Someone once picked tulips or daffodils out of a neighbor’s yard and got in trouble for it-I would say it was Don or Ken, one of my younger brothers. I would have never done that!
Sunday night the Extreme Home: Makeover Edition with the home in the northeast Philly area aired. It was fun to see the different sights of the city. We’ve never been to the Independence Hall visitor center as it is fairly new. We were wondering where the stained glass maker and the Medieval Place were (Paige the designer got the armor for her special room for the granddaughter there).
The house was beautiful and made the other houses in the neighborhood look old and sad. I’m sure the neighbors are envious to some degree, but they seem like a well loved family.
I enjoyed seeing Paul DiMeo’s mom and dad from my hometown of Media stop by. I swear I have seen Mr. D in Media as he looked familiar.
The dumpster is coming tomorrow so ‘cabinet-henge’ will go away. That mess is driving me crazy. I hope Brian bits the bullet and gets rid of dry wall and old doors that are taking up precious space in the basement. He has a riding mower next to the shed that doesn’t run either! The problem with that is the tires are flat. Wish him well at getting that one pushed into the dumpster.
Sean has three finals and he is officially a college sophomore! He got a certificate last semester for getting over a 3.5 gpa and he was listed in the incorrect major! He was a health major or something similar as listed in the program (he didn’t attend the ceremony). Now he’s back in Earth and Space and may switch to Meterology when he transfers to the main campus or goes to another school.

After church last night, I asked Sean if we could stop by one of my favorite nurseries and he obliged. We were halfway there anyway. Talk about overwhelming-they were fully stocked! Their prices are good-annuals $1.99 to $2.99. I know Wally World is probably cheaper, but they don’t have the colors and choices that this place does. I purchased marigolds, snapdragons, petunias, salvia and impatiens, my standard ‘filler’ plants. I also bought some mini-marigolds (sold as an herb) and johnny jump-ups for my fairy garden. Also found a few herbs like dill and lavender. I have trouble with lavender and if anyone has growing hints, I’d appreciate them.
I think all the pollen overload gave me a big sinus headache a few hours later right up until bedtime. I feel better now, thank goodness, but will use the Flonase before going outside.
Cosmo ‘christened’ the new kitchen floor with a few scratches already! I couldn’t believe it! I bought a few throw rugs with the fringe on the ends and he likes to kick them and then take off like a Looney Tunes character with the spinning feet, thus leaving a few scratches behind. Brian read on the web about a laminate repair kit. I am suppose to get a ‘customer care kit’ from the company where we bought the floor. Doesn’t seem too scratch resistant to me as stated on the packaging and what the salesman told us. : (
I got an email from my friend who lost her son last week. Said that she received the plants from me (I sent her a planter with a variety of green houseplants). The wake was attended by a few hundred people who really loved her son and raved about him. I was glad to read this because it will definitely help give her closure.
Off to the grocery store-oh happy day!

It’s not exactly the glass mini tile I originally picked out, but I am actually getting little tiles in the interesting decorative insert there (this was taken with the camera photo). The mini-tiles were over $700, and I couldn’t stomach paying all that. I almost got a handmade blue in about a 4″ square, but they were expensive too. I wanted something more natural looking and the lady showed us this to go with the cabinets more, and I fell for it because of the decorative insert with the rainbow of colors and the flower. They are on order and we may tackle putting them up ourselves (that may change). BTW, the grout will match the tile.
We stopped by to see my uncle on the way home and brought him some Wendy’s chili and Pepperidge Farm goodies from the outlet store nearby. He was talking about himself the entire time about how one bad thing with his health lead to the next and he never seems to be able get be helped. He’s telling us all this while puffing on his pipe-cough!

Just ordered pewter finished lightswitch and outlet covers because no way am I having those ugly plastic ones in the kitchen the electrician put on:

Gotta hit the hay as Brian dared me we wouldn’t get to the tile store before 2! It’s only opened until 3, so he is wrong. I can get by on little sleep-well most times. ; )

I plumb wore myself out, plus I need to get off my feet if you get my drift. ‘It’ was kind enough to leave me alone for the days I had to get things accomplished in the kitchen. Of course I am seeing tons of touch ups on the kitchen walls as I am a perfectionist. I wish I could take a small brush and ‘cut in’ like they do on all the decorating shows. The blue tape works well, but it takes some practice. The peach color is gone. Bri’s parents painted that for us way back in Sept. ’86 before Sean’s arrival.
Friday we get the floor. They give themselves a nice open window on when they will arrive-between 8 am-6pm. Brian was worried about them getting behind the fridge because of the water line, but last night we pulled it out so I could get back there and paint. We did have to unplug the frig for a while though. I am getting a light honey maple laminate (in salute to the old cabinets and the other wood in the house) which is guaranteed for life.
I just had the Home Depot inspector call about the knobs. I was short-changed 12 knobs! The designer at HD didn’t count them correctly. I am also getting 3 other doors and a drawer. Two cabinets came without doors as they were pulled before shipping because they were damaged or something. The rest weren’t finished nicely. That’s one good thing about HD, anything you don’t like, they will replace.
I’m a bit bummed because the countertop people are getting back to me about the template making part of their job. I got in touch with someone yesterday and she told me the scheduler should be getting back to me in ’24 hours’. Time’s up! Not having counters and a sink for a week so far is the pits.
Think I’ll kick my feet up and do some reading or stitching. I got the Keepsakes NeedleArts catalog and there are so many gorgeous things in it. I bookmarked a page that has listed ‘Plant Kindness’, a small 7″ x 5″ kit by Katherine White and ‘Ladybug gardeners’ a kit by Ingrid. There are many more designs that caught my eye, but I may splurge on these two.

~Update~
No countertop or sink until about the 3rd week of May! The marble people finally got back to me about the template-that is next Wednesday. Then we get the counters about 2 weeks later. I called the kitchen project manager about it and I have to call him back when we know the installation date. I had noticed one of my spice drawers in the dish rack cabinet isn’t straight and I told him about it. He’ll look at it when he comes back to install the sink. It’s going to be a long 3 weeks!