This weekend was a blur of summer fading to fall.  I put three garden beds to rest, including harvesting peppers and green tomatoes, pulling out honeysuckle and ivy creeping around the fence, and adding to our massive compost heap. In discussion last night we decided to take advantage of low mortgage interest rates at our favorite credit union.  We hope to sell our Honda Fit and buy a mid 90s Civic or similar, using the [...]

Last Sunday my parents unexpectedly watched Lillian for the day.  What a treat! Instead of slothing around like we usually do, I wanted to get some kitchen remodeling projects wrapped up.  Our Japanese guest Kayoko arrived to stay with us Thursday and that motivated me to get a lot of things done last week! After a delicious, inexpensive, large portioned lunch at Lavash Cafe, Alex and I measured, measured, measured, then cut and installed the [...]

You’ll notice something about this blog. The moment the kitchen became usable, all posting switched to food and gardening topics. That’s not because we love writing about food and gardening more – it’s because we haven’t done a damn thing to finish the kitchen! Back in February, when we went to Florida, I took a slew of pictures documenting what the finish work remaining. I hoped to have time to blog there, but between the [...]

We moved out of our old kitchen so fast that we just threw things in boxes and stacked them around the basement.  (Which was already filled to the brim with Baying Hound stock, of course.) We labeled one box KNIVES because I figured it was important that no one cut themselves accidentally, reserving two knives for use while we were without a kitchen. After the cabinets were installed, we started moving things back in, but [...]

We have been plugging away at all the little tasks that add up to huge advancements in functionality. Appliances came in the late afternoon Tuesday.  Alex worked on the dishwasher first because dirty dishes were piled up and clean dishes no where to be found.  It installed pretty easily. The fridge ice maker and stove were another matter.  The handy installation kits failed to include critical parts in both cases, so another trip to Lowes [...]

Sorry for the delay in blogging. I’ve actually been doing most of the work and haven’t had time! Saturday, my Dad came over and we started to hang the upper cabinets. We realized we needed some hardware, and Alex needed a faucet to complete the sink project. Off to Lowes for the millionth time. We finally had a 10% off coupon, so we bought appliances, lights, faucet and everything else we thought we might need. [...]

Today Leonard and Alex worked on plumbing and finishing up electrical work. Then they installed the range hood, a Broan ‘Best’ 36 inch. It is quiet yet really powerful. It will be so nice to get heat out of the house instead of hearing the fire alarm go off every time Alex cooks. I worked on cleaning up after the boys and building cabinets. The first three boxes (including the sink cabinet below) were easy [...]