Kindergarten Class

The inner child keeps seeping out...

The Cabinet Maker has been busy in the kitchen again. A little bit of painting, some finish trim on the cabinets, and a few more lights... He'd started to paint the cabinet doors to the one original cabinet that we hadn't pulled out when I had an idea. What if we painted those two door with chalkboard paint? We even had some on hand from an earlier project. Now all we need is a couple of latches and some door latches.

It turned out kind of cool, I think, and last night I sat down and drew a few animals to spruce it up for the granddarling's arrival this morning. Didn't I tell you I should have been a kindergarten teacher?

The kitchen has been fun so far and it's all coming together beautifully.

Kitchen Pot Pie

Those chickens make me smile. (How is that even possible?) I went down to the coop late tonight. It was dusk and the chickens had already put themselves away for the night. They were all "upstairs in bed," but they heard me come around the corner of the barn and out they came, one by one. They were more than pleased to see me put some feed in their dish and drop a few bread crumbs on the floor.

I had three grandkids today. Maybe next week we'll go on an adventure, but today it was cold, the wind relentless, and the air full of pollen. I opted to stay home and attempt to clear some of my kitchen stuff out of Mom's room and find a home for it in the cupboards. I put a lot of stuff away and have a ton of stuff left. I'm beginning to think it multiplied while I wasn't looking. Yup, I'm pretty sure.

I'm working on the blue and white dishes. Hid the mismatched stuff in a cabinet with a solid door. The Cornflower Corningware has been in my possession for years. It matches and so it goes in the glass cabinet for now. Here and there I've picked up some plates and dishes, and a cup or two, and, believe it or not, I already have 3 or 4 planters, blue and white, that are sporting greenery. Maybe one day they'll find a permanent home on a shelf or the corner of my counter.

Back to Work

Tuesday. Back to work.

It was a rather nice weekend. I can't recall exactly why, but I feel ready to sit with my friend in the Memory Care unit, so something must have gone right.

I've had my coffee, but not my shower. The bathroom was occupied when I emerged from hiding this morning, and so my routine has been rearranged. This will happen sometimes. No Ladies' Prayer group this morning. Most of the women are away on some kind of outing, so not only is my Tuesday rearranged, but my week is slightly rearranged too, and that's okay.

My house is slightly upside down (okay, a little more than slightly), and that is okay too. It's getting put back together a little at a time. We can still walk safely through most of the rooms. It's only the old dining room, which my mother once occupied, that is impossible to traverse. But now that my cabinets are in, the boxes that inhabit the room will be gradually emptied and their contents slowly dispersed. In fact, some of it might happen today, if I ever get off my backside and into the shower.

Cockadoodle-doo!

We've come to the conclusion that our chicken coop houses eleven hens and one handsome rooster. I've been calling him Bubba. It's Bubba and the Biddies. He hasn't started crowing yet, but he is sprouting some pretty tail feathers and I am enjoying the process.

I have to admit, although I thought having chickens sounded like fun, I didn't expect them all to come running when I rounded the corner to feed and water them, or that I would stand outside the coop and watch as they ate or performed crazy chicken antics. Who knew I would turn into a crazy chicken lady so easily?

Our kitchen is progressing rather nicely. The counter tops arrived today and are beautiful. The Cabinet Maker is presently busy hooking up the plumbing. Before you know it there will be more cabinets in place, a working dishwasher (fancy that!), the walls will be painted, and we'll have a finished floor. Little by little, bit by bit, it's coming together. Kitchens are a process.

I haven't attempted to put much of anything away yet. Kind of figured it was a losing battle if I didn't wait for the rest of the cabinetry. The hanging lights, which don't match in the photo, now do, and the present table will eventually be replaced by a counter height table/work surface.

When we first began I wasn't sure what I wanted to do or what colors I wanted, so I had some help with some of those things. Now I am having fun discovering ways to organize and decorate, and I'm finding myself perusing the aisles of Goodwill in search of blue and white dishes... And what do you know? I'd already been collecting them even before we started. I've found several pretty blue and white planters and dishes already gracing the house.

The Before Pictures

So the big change is upon us. The cabinet doors have been removed and the shelves cleared. It's kind of like moving, except we're not.

I won't be here for the big demo, he's tearing the place up Monday, and it'll be completely different by the time I return from my trip next Saturday night.