Home Again! And some Thoughts on Mothering....

BTW, I've been gone, rather unexpectedly!

Our two oldest sons, as you might remember, left a month ago on a cross-country bicycle trip. 

Well, when they hit Nevada (it's Nuh-vaa-da, according to Nevadians!!), our second son got sick.  Going to the clinic in Ely, he found out he had viral pneumonia.  So, wisely, these two spent over a week in Ely resting and recuperating.

Then they rode 67 miles to Baker, Nevada.

And son #2 called saying he really wasn't improving, health-wise.  So Dearest Husband and I jumped into the car to retrieve him.

Sooooooooooo, there's the long story as to why I had a brief hiatus in the western United States viewing the beautiful vistas of southern Utah and the mountains of Colorado.  (And the rather less lovely west Texas.)

Driving!

Bringing the Bicycles Home

Rocks

Grand Basin National Park (Baker, Nevada)

I'm finding mothering adults something of a difficulty.  As the above story indicates, even adults still need mothering.  Gracious, I certainly needed my mother when I was going through a mastectomy and chemotherapy!

But it's harder for me than mothering younger children--or even adults.  It's hard to adjust, as much as I enjoy my (moderately) grown-up children.  They're fun to talk to and do things with and cook with and tease and all that great stuff! 

But it's hard to sometimes figure out how to mother AND treat them as young adults.

Sometimes they need a mother--sometimes a friend.  Sometimes they need advice--sometimes they need to learn their own lessons.  Sometimes they need nurturing--sometimes they need to tough it out.  Sometimes they need they need a little (or big) push--sometimes they need to learn how to do it on their own.

I just don't always get it right. 

Kitchen Cabinets

When we started looking at remodeling our kitchen, we seriously considered just repainting the cabinets and getting new countertops.  Cosmetic touch-ups!

We could manage moving the refrigerator away from the stove and down to the other end of the "L".

But we couldn't figure out how to fix the inaccessible corner cabinet problem.

So we began to look at new cabinetry.

Something I had read about and looked at and been impressed with was the (fairly) new Martha Stewart cabinets at Home Depot.  They are very reasonably priced, and include as standard features such things as fully-laminated insides and outsides, dove-tail joints, and no-slam doors and drawers.  Ooh, great goodies!

We really like the very plain, vintage-looking Maidstone.  Here it is in a pale yellow "Fortune Cookie."

Source

Of course, we plan on the cabinets in white, the "Picket Fence" color.  We're striving for a farmhouse kinda look.

Since our house looks like a farmhouse!

And, as we started looking around, Home Depot was offering all sorts of discounts.  I think we got 6 different discounts!!!  Iincluding a free sink cabinet, etc. etc.

So we went with Martha.

The cabinets are being delivered today!

Inspiration for a New Kitchen!

Lot of beautiful kitchens!

(I will try to find the sources for all of these lovelies)

The springy colors are yummy!

Note the butcher block countertop on the island.  Plus the corbels under the upper cabinets. 

And the fabulous lights.

Such a bright kitchen!

The hutch look is lovely. 

 I like the sideways use of the brackets and the handles

on the cabinets and drawers.

The combination of the soapstone and butcher block countertops

is wonderful.

Red, white and blue--my fave!

The lights over the peninsula are great.

How do you like that screen door on the pantry?

Ooh, those lights

Just quaint.  I like the shelf over the sink.  And the sink!

Just pretty.

The built-in shelving over the cabinets is striking.

                                  

Better Homes and Gardens

The feet added to the bottom cabinets add a lot of interest. 

I also like the light over the sink

and the hutch-like cabinet.

I think I like white cabinets.....

I'm Getting Quite Ready to Get Going on the Kitchen....

I'm really looking forward to cooking in a kitchen that has cabinets that are usable--unlike this lower corner cabinet which absolutely nothing will go into.

Not to mention the deep drawers that can't be opened completely without hitting the oven door!

Or the chipping paint....

Or two people trying to cook in a little corner that contains the refrigerator, oven AND microwave. 

Dearest husband can't even get to the refrigerator without moving the cook (ME!) at the stove.

This is sorta how it feels to cook in my kitchen:

My Sewing Room--Ugh and Double Ugh!

My sewing room is an absolute wreck!  There's absolutely NO WAY I can sew in there.

It's because my sewing room has a new occupant:

It's Fred the Snake!

He's a lovely snake--it's just that his cage takes up LOTS of room.  Thus I've got to re-arrange (and clean up!) the ol' sewing room before resuming any stitching endeavors.



It's Summer Here

Approaching 100 degrees.  Whew!

Good time to nap....

I Finally Did It!

I actually had a winning bid on Ebay!

I've never done that before.  I either a) forgot to go back and check the bidding b) was gone to church or class or something or c) got distracted by cats throwing up on the carpet or some such other emergency.

However, this time I persevered and triumphed!

A few weeks (months?) ago, dearest husband and I went antique "looking", and I found this lovely vintage mirror on sale, for next to nothing:

The problem is that I need another mirror to place over dearest husband's sink. 

And the mirror needs to be about the same size and appearance.

So I've been haunting (in-between all the other craziness going on) antique stores, e-bay, etsy and craigslist.

FINALLY, I found something that would work!

It's the same size and shape, with similar pretty little flowers etched on it!

Won't they look great together! 

Oh, and We're Redoing our Kitchen!

Another summer project!  One I'm really getting excited about.

Our kitchen isn't terrible.  But it's not really great either.  First of all, due to lack of funds, we painted the dark-brown (almost black) kitchen cabinets white when we moved in.  And replaced the yellow (yucky, vomit yellow) formica with sorta blue granite-looking formica countertop.  And took up the scratched bright green (!!!) vinyl flooring and put in lovely tile that sorta looks like slate.

(This sorta gives you an idea, via Paint, how the kitchen looked when we bought the house---but even worse, actually!)

Yes, it was a designer's dream (NOT!) that we bought.  But with the fixes, it's been quite acceptable.

But now the paint is chipping off the cabinet (because the painter did NOT prime the cabinets as I asked him to do).  And the formica countertop is developing warped seams, scratches and cuts.

Also, the corner cabinets are totally unusable.  Whoever built this house didn't seem to be aware that you can purchase cabinets that allow you to access the corners!

One of the biggest problems is that the refrigerator, microwave, and stove are all crammed into one bit of kitchen, with almost no countertop nearby on which to chop and mix and stir stuff together! 

I, or my dearest husband, cook almost every night---and this set-up is driving me crazy.  So it's time for a change!