late night kitchen updates

I couldnt sleep, once again tonight. After taking a bubble bath, in hopes of relaxing and falling asleep, I am now quite awake. Hubby finished morter-ing the kitchen. Check out the almost finished pictures. The big debate is what color to paint the inside of the cabinets. Remember, there will be glass shelves, and no doors. Our options are as follows- paint them (just the insides) green, to match the living room. Or blue, because I like blue. I am leaning towards green, since it will flow nicely into the living room. We need to paint them, because the holes and screws are very visable now. I am thinking we will cut some beaded board panels, paint them green and stick them in the back of the cabinets. Thoughts?

The pictures are of the kitchen as it stands right now. The dirty dishes in the sink are due to the fact that the hot water line is frozen and I cant run the dishwasher or do them by hand. I already tried boiling water to wash a round this morning...ulgh!

Oh the farm side of things, our cat Mittens, who ran away and then returned is in the cat's version of a dog house. Before he ran away he would pee on the bed randomly. Gross I know! So we were kind of relieved when he ran away because we didnt have to worry about cat pee anymore. Buttons, our female cat never has accidents. Mittens returned a week or so ago, and until today has been fine. This afternoon I discovered that he peed on one of my favorite quilts (not the new one), through the quilt, bedspread and flat sheet. So Mittens and Buttons are confined to the bathroom. With plenty of water, food, a clean liter box and soft places to sleep. The chicks are locked up in the downstairs bathroom. Which leaves one bathroom, thankfully the one with the tub, available for showers/bubble baths. Tonight's temperature is supposed to be in the single digits. I felt awful for the dogs outside. Even if Jack has the thickest coat imaginable. I made them a dinner of rice, pureed carrots and chicken (such a difference from their normal kibble) and they have spent the evening inside where its warm. As I write they are curled up on the bed with Hubby. Two 60 pound dogs and a husband take up most of the bed.... Whiskey is looking way too skinny! I am not sure if its due to the temperature outside or something else. We have agreed to feed her wet food and house them inside as often as possible. Hopefully that will help. If not, then its off to the vet.

Off now to push my way into bed... hope everyone has a good night!

new old treasures

Today was an inside day. One of the coldest weekends on record. When I left for work the truck's temperature gauge measured 11. I thought it would adjust as the truck warmed up. It adjusted down. To 10 degrees. Yikes! After work, hubby and I worked lots on the kitchen! Hubby cut brick down to the random sizes we needed. I glued them in place and he started morter-ing the inbetweens. We took a break to watch a few episodes of The Office, our current netflix phase. Back to the kitchen, to install lighting in the cabinets, just waiting on the glass shelves now. All thats left in the kitchen is to finish morter-ing (which will take a while) and put everything back. The end is in sight.

Today was also a great day for antiques. One of the antique stores I love in Frederick, had a gorgeous lime green quilt for sale. It is super old, good condition, but out of our price range. Every time I think of quilts, I now picture this one. I was sad that we couldnt afford it, when I remembered that I had Christmas money put away in the safe. Out came the money (thanks Tom and Joyce) and home came the quilt. Hooray! It is now draped across the chair in my knitting room until it finds a permanent home. Speaking of antiques, I inherited a few pieces of transferware. Love! Some of the plates date back to 1848. I love anything old with a story. As I sit under my lime green quilt, I like to picture the people who have shared the quilt before me. As I look at my new blue plates, I like to think of who has enjoyed them. 1848 is a long time ago. More than a few generations. Both the china and the quilt must have been loved or they would not be here today. I too will continue in the tradition of loving and caring for them. Its not just "stuff", this is history! Now I have to figure out how to display the china on the wall (higher than little hands can reach). What do you think about my "mock display"?

they call it progress

I got off work early today. Rushed home to take care of the animals. I thought maybe the

goats would like to be out on a tie out with fresh food. So I took the first two goats (the big ones) down to the woodline, where there is still leaves on the brush. I had them each on a tie out and they were happily enjoying their brush. Then the poor little billy goat bleated. Note- these goats have wanted nothing to do with billy, even shooing him away when he gets too near. Well, I guess today they decided that it is the worst thing in the world to be seperated from their billy. 2nd note- I was on my way up to bring the billy and Jackie down to join the others. Jumpy and Meanie (the temporary names for the big ones) started running towards billy. When they reached the end of their tie out Meanie jerked back. Jumpy just kept running. Her collar busted and is still tied down to the tree. She raced back up to the pen and stood at the gate to be let in. Now Meanie was wanting to run too, so I unhooked her from the tree and ran with her back up to the house. Both goats were let back into the pen, where they promptly ignored billy once again. So much for freedom and green leaves.

On the homefront, since I was off early I got to work on the kitchen. Hubby is still at work, so I started laying the brick backsplash on my own. I am at a stopping point (waiting for hubby to pick up more caulk from Home Depot) and I thought you might enjoy some pictures. Keep in mind it is no where near done, but its progress!

PS check out the corners we put in the cupboards! They are porch corners that we painted white and glued in place. I ordered glass shelves just for the open ones. Hopefully it will all look nice!

Pardon the mess, we are remodeling....

At least right now we have a good excuse for a messy house- we are remodeling the kitchen. It all started with a sink I got from my parents for christmas. the sink was slightly bigger (ok loads bigger) than the previous sink. No biggie, we will just redo the countertops. and move the dishwasher. and change the cabinets. and we need new lighting to go with. and a new backsplash. and what color to paint? But I do love my sink. Double farmhouse style. The old sink was a single basin. I hated that I couldnt fill up one side to soak and rinse in the other. I complained to my mom, and for chirstmas she had hubby get the sink and put it under the tree. Way to go Mom and Dad! Way to go hubby!

The kitchen is looking better, but not nearly done. We put the last of the countertop in yesterday, and the sealant is drying right now. Our plans changed for the cabinets when we found out the cabinet doors were discontinued. So we moved them around to make what we had work. Ill post the before (with the green backsplash), and the current (with the new counters, but no backsplash). Hopefully soon I will post a "finished" picture.

Once the counters are done, we can move the kitchen items back in. They are currently taking up residence in the dining and living rooms. I can't wait to have my house back!