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!

Denise Nickerson as Violet who turns into a blueberry in the WWCF (someone else my age)

When I was painting out in the kitchen today this line from ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ came to mind. I chose an interesting bluish raspberry, but it was indeed the color of Violet in the older movie Wonka movie. Another chuckle I got was when Prince’s ‘Raspberry Beret’ came on the radio. That made me think of raspberry water ice. So if you can imagine that color in your brain, that is almost the color in the kitchen. I have the first coat on. It is very nice Benjamin Moore semi-gloss paint. It just needs a little touching up here and there. It’s hard to paint around the crown moulding and the ceiling with darker paint. I should have painted before the cabinets were installed, but I’d have a lot of touch-up to do where there is wall now where there wasn’t before. I can’t get right above the sink area. Sean tried, but he couldn’t reach and didn’t tape it correctly and a lot of the edge still needs paint. I need a taller ladder. I was thinking of having my 6’8″ tall nephew out here for an ulterior motive besides wishing him a happy early 21st birthday by taking him out to lunch or dinner. : )
Just heard that my niece and nephew were in the elementary school talent show last Friday. Kenny is 10 and really plays the guitar well. Tori who is 7 sung with a group of other children, but my mom said she stood out from the crowd. Mom got to see how their kitchen was coming along. She said it’s an interesting sage green color (complete shock) and their appliances are black. I saw their cabinets and they are a medium cherry wood, so it all should go together well. I wanted light colors for my small space.
I called a tile place in Delaware to see if they had that silk glass tile I liked. I said if you can do better than this place on the web, you have my business. She wanted me to email her the photos I have and she wrote back and said she is trying to find some like it. The place on the web wants $27.50 a sheet-so with a discount they offer for some reason, I needed over $300 worth. Ouch. So I hope they can do better down in tax free Delaware. We can go there too as it’s only about 15 miles from here.

I’m going to add some tin under this area to the right as it is my baking center.

I was doing a random search on my knickname ‘diadsie’ as I often do. I thank my mom for such an original one as I appear to be the only one around. Here’s a cool site called blogshares. I don’t know why my blog is there and how to figure it out, but it looks interesting. I should show my father-in-law this one. Go see how much your blog is worth.

I decided to get some embossed tin for behind the oven area and across where the baking center is. I did a search and found two companies that sell it. The second one was the company that The Extreme Home Makeover show uses. I mentioned this to the salesperson and about Paul being from my hometown, and she said she spoke to him a few times when he was ordering stuff for the show! (Small world) I told her to mention that another customer was from Penncrest if she ever talked to him again. Anyway-here is a photo of the silver tin I picked out:

It has a leaf pattern that repeats every 6 inches. I have a leaf design on the knobs, so it ties in well. I figure Brian and I can install this as the one wall is just a long rectangle and the other is half hidden by the oven. We’ll see. Tomorrow I will try to paint the largest wall. We are getting the floor installed on Friday and I don’t want to drip blue paint on it or drag the step ladder across it either.

Maybe it’s because my mind isn’t racing about things that I actually sat tonight and enjoyed the stitching I did. My friend who assembles the charity quilts received Independence Hall yesterday and said she really liked it. Nice ego booster. When you live with two guys, you don’t get many compliments.
I almost had a bird last night because I thought for sure that the new sink wasn’t going to fit in the counter. No, the sink isn’t in yet, forgot to mention that I think. It’s been interesting washing dishes in the basement because I have to drag the full dishpan down the steps and lean over so much. Plus who wants to wash dishes-ugh-how can some people love it? I’ve had no volunteers to help me. I think I really turned against dishwashing from having to do it for almost 3 yrs. Plus my friend in high school got a nasty cut from sticking her hand in soapy water where a glass had broken-that was pretty scary. I had the Home Depot guy call me back and he eased my mind telling me that a 22″ sink will fit in a 24″ cabinet (though the space is only 19″ or so)-guess something is getting cut out.
I am patting myself on the back for only having about 4 boxes left to unload. A few of them are countertop stuff, which I am going to be very selective about putting out again. One of the purposes of this remodel was regaining counter space. I was telling Bri I have a huge bag of ‘junk’ from the 3 drawers near the old stovetop. You know, things like the little corn on the cob holders. I am investing a few dollars in getting those plastic shoe boxes for sure. I’m having trouble with where to put the lids to pots and the plasticware-I still have an entire bag of them. Time to bite the bullet and toss a bunch. I am going to line up all the utensils and select maybe two of each and donate the rest. Mom said she wants my old Oster standmixer. It’s out of here. I got it for a wedding gift and it comes with a blender and food chopper. I don’t need either. And I did buy an ice cream maker attachment-way back when and used it like 2 times.
I’ve been so blue about my friend. I don’t know if mom calling and telling me my brother may move can to Penna. is a good thing. We haven’t seen him for 4 yrs. But if he is willing to help her and fix up her house, then it is. I think her boarder will have to move out. Don has a dog, a cat, fish and birds, so he will bring a family too. I’ll believe it when I see it, but he is missing out being with his family.

My friend lost her grown son yesterday. She wrote me a note today and as soon as I read it, I burst out in tears. I won’t go into it all, but I can tell my friend is in shock, which of course she should be. She wrote and said that she wanted me to know as I am an important person in her life, someone she has never met (well almost) in person. Please keep A in your prayers.