The Little Kitchen That Could

Making progress here--got the granite countertops installed yesterday. Miss Violet likes the granite countertops so much, she just rolls around on them. I suspect the smell of the epoxy has addled her little kitty brain!

Now the plumber is here, to attach a new faucet to the sink, fix a new leak that developed over the course of the uninstallation, and make the necessary changes to our drain line. I got a deeper sink on one side, so the old drain line is too high.

Got the one side of cabinets restuffed, and this time I was careful about what I put back--looks like I am beginning a flea market collection of kitchen stuff. Good to get rid of things at the start of a New Year!

EEEEEK! Somebody stole my kitchen!

Or at least a good portion of it. Only now I have lots of dust fuzzies, 30 years worth, and sawdust and wood chips to clean up. Violet is having a ball, popping in and out like a whack a mole kitty! We have found 3 neon colored fuzzy mice under the stove and that was entertaining for a short time. But the open cabinets still echo the call of the wild to Miss Violet. Meantime I am getting stressed about all that I have to do, and my darling daughter said to just "Look away from the train wreck, Mom!" So I guess I will have to pacify my stress with a piece of Christmas truffle chocolate cake.

What We Did on our Christmas Vacation

Okay, in case someone reading this has been indulging in too many mai-tais on a sandy warm beach somewhere, or on another planet, we had a snowstorm here in "fly-over country", yes the Great Midwest. So got out ye olde snow shovel and bucket of sand and got to work on Christmas day, because of course we have to have clean sidewalks and part of a driveway, right? Molly dog was so tired from chasing the birds and squirrels around in the snow, and watching us shovel, that she just decided to find a snowy throne and supervise.

Then we realized that since our countertops are being ripped off the cabinets this weekend, hubby had to take the bottom course of tiles off the kitchen wall. Another quick project, with a hammer and chisel. I did the cleanup, my specialite! Lucky we got Christmas dinner done on Christmas eve with the "kids" before the ice storm and snowstorm bogged everybody down.

And THAT is what we did on Christmas!

Christmas Greetings

I love to poke around in flea markets, garage sales, used book stores, and find gems that maybe aren't too terribly expensive, just real treasures. Found these old old Christmas greeting cards years ago, and have been using them as bookmarks in my cookbooks. Then hubby mounted them inside old barnwood frames and we would put them on the walls at Christmas time. It occurred to me that they make lovely greetings to all, at this time of year, when we look back and recount all the blessings, all the love we share with our friends and families, and all the memories. So a Merry Christmas to all, and "God bless us, every one!" as Tiny Tim observed.

Kitchen Progress

More is being done today on the kitchen. My cat cookie jars now have a new home, on a bookshelf. My pantry now has awesome pull-out shelves, so I can hardly wait to empty all the laundry baskets full of pantry supplies onto the new shelves. And yes, then I can bake!!! Jeff, our cabinet guy, is working tonight to get more finished up, so we fed him supper. And the granite is being measured next week. That's progress!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Well, looks like another holiday is upon us, and I am not ready, as usual. That's okay, I have a perfect excuse this time, kitchen renovation. My kitchen "clutter" that once resided in all my cabinets is now scattered in bits and pieces in the dining room, in laundry baskets, on chairs, a card table, anything that can take a stack.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving out in San Diego, visiting with family, and seeing the sights. But I have to confess, our Plaza lights have won hands down over the the Hotel Del. However we did enjoy being wowed with the giant tree of lights at Sea World, which we could spot as we drove by the bay on the freeway.

So this kitchen thing is a work in progress, and I will keep everybody posted as we go merrily along.