This morning during my time of reading God's word, I turned the television on with a local station's "Yule Log". I don't care for all the music selections they put forth so turned the volume off, but the image of logs burning in a fireplace is a very nice background. I'm recording it, as I have in the past at times, in order to have in future days until summer hits and it's unbearable. We have our own fireplace but tend not to use it very often, in fact, it hasn't been cleaned of the ashes since the last time we used it, last Christmas perhaps.
With our kitchen remodel coming up likely early February, we have gone really low on the Christmas decorations and gift giving. I'd like to go even lower on the Christmas dinner - I'd be perfectly happy to do Christmas at Denny's (here's a link to a Randy Stonehill song of that title), but I know Marty and Nick really love having our little, but special Christmas dinner of rib roast, baked potatoes, and whatever sides I add. Rather than a pie this year, I picked up a pre-prepared layered strawberry shortcake cake. If it tastes as good as it looks, I'll be pleased. Clearly, I am cutting back some on my efforts.
Gifts for the guys are mostly the necessities of life which they are in need of anyway. In fact, Nick's is only a bag of candy with a card for a Christmas I.O.U. shopping trip...he needs new jeans and new tees and it'll work better if he can go and try on and choose colors.
I do miss so many past years of great festivities and socializing with friends and family, some of whom decorated to the hilt. Most of those folks are gone - in one way or another. Maybe next year will be more festive; when the kitchen is done, and hopefully we have decluttered and cleaned.
I'll 'wrap' this up now, and wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and whether you celebrate or not, I pray you have peace, and joy, and love and all good things during this holiday season.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Committed
It's official. The papers are signed. The deposit made. Demolition is expected to begin mid-February. Our contractor is a small, hands on business so only has a couple projects going at a time. He's about a week from finishing up one project, then the holidays, and has another starting in January, then us. In the interim, he will begin working on the cabinets, they are custom made by him so take time. While he does that, we need to procure ALL the other elements that go into making this a kitchen, the appliances, tile, sink & related items before he will start the demo. That way, it will all go together smoothly.
It's a big expense; probably the biggest we'll ever put into this house aside from the purchase itself.
In the meantime at home, I must get busy with the years of not dealing with clutter so that we can move stuff from the kitchen/dining room during the demo/construction phases and set up temporary cook/clean areas and plan out meals that require few dishes to prepare.
We have a fireplace so have considered using the camp stove there so that any emissions can go up the chimney. We have the microwave and the large toaster oven too. Disposable plates, bowls, etc. will be my best friend. We will only have a bathroom sink available for clean-up (the tub is upstairs, and no laundry tub), so plan on using as little cooking tools as possible for the time required to accomplish the work. I'm good with a lot of take-out meals too, but I'm sure that'll get old. Freezer meals in their own trays are a very good option.
It's a big expense; probably the biggest we'll ever put into this house aside from the purchase itself.
In the meantime at home, I must get busy with the years of not dealing with clutter so that we can move stuff from the kitchen/dining room during the demo/construction phases and set up temporary cook/clean areas and plan out meals that require few dishes to prepare.
We have a fireplace so have considered using the camp stove there so that any emissions can go up the chimney. We have the microwave and the large toaster oven too. Disposable plates, bowls, etc. will be my best friend. We will only have a bathroom sink available for clean-up (the tub is upstairs, and no laundry tub), so plan on using as little cooking tools as possible for the time required to accomplish the work. I'm good with a lot of take-out meals too, but I'm sure that'll get old. Freezer meals in their own trays are a very good option.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Almost Signing
After the last couple weeks of going back and forth with questions and answers on the kitchen remodel proposal, it's likely we'll be signing the contract on Saturday morning. I look forward to the kitchen being done; I do not look forward to the process, the payments (ouch!!), nor the shopping for all appliances except a microwave, choosing tile for the walls and the floor, choosing countertop material/style, and of course I never look forward to yet another layer of dust. It will be so very nice to have a real, full-size oven again though.
Our current fridge is about 17 years old - leaks water, ice-maker quit years ago. Dishwasher is about the same and is used more as a drying rack than to wash. There is no oven, and the current range-top will be gone - I think it was original to the house in 1966, same with the sink;, garbage disposal works but is old and they recommend it be replaced.
We're adding a 5' sliding door where currently is an 8' window. [To get to the patio where the grill is, you have to go down the hall and through the den/library - wonder who thought that was a good design?] We're adding an entire bank of cabinets - upper & lower with counter top, to a wall in the dining area - it will be all one undivided room for the kitchen & dining. The kitchen area proper, would still have only a small amount of cabinets, thus the additional. Cabinetry is probably the highest individual expense of the project. Current floor tile has to be replaced because the peninsula will be gone as the kitchen becomes a galley-style layout.
Once our contract is signed and the deposit is made, he will begin building the cabinetry in January. When that is built, and only after we have purchased and had delivered all the appliances and other components, will he do the demolition, after which everything will be reconstructed and put in place.
A big project, a big price tag, big fears...has anyone else gone through this? No DIY abilities here and we've only remodeled bathrooms before. When I was in my late 20's, my first husband & I did some remodeling to our kitchen, but he was able/capable and we both were young, energetic and had the strength to do the work ourselves. I think my biggest fear is that we'll go to this expense, and I won't like it, or we'll move and not have enough time to enjoy it. Well, I shant focus on the negatives of my fears...we've put this off too long already, it will be done, it will cost a lot, and we will be content. And I'm going to be very, very busy for the next few months.
Keeping Christmas decorations to a minimum this year!
Blessings to anyone still reading my ramblings :)
Our current fridge is about 17 years old - leaks water, ice-maker quit years ago. Dishwasher is about the same and is used more as a drying rack than to wash. There is no oven, and the current range-top will be gone - I think it was original to the house in 1966, same with the sink;, garbage disposal works but is old and they recommend it be replaced.
We're adding a 5' sliding door where currently is an 8' window. [To get to the patio where the grill is, you have to go down the hall and through the den/library - wonder who thought that was a good design?] We're adding an entire bank of cabinets - upper & lower with counter top, to a wall in the dining area - it will be all one undivided room for the kitchen & dining. The kitchen area proper, would still have only a small amount of cabinets, thus the additional. Cabinetry is probably the highest individual expense of the project. Current floor tile has to be replaced because the peninsula will be gone as the kitchen becomes a galley-style layout.
Once our contract is signed and the deposit is made, he will begin building the cabinetry in January. When that is built, and only after we have purchased and had delivered all the appliances and other components, will he do the demolition, after which everything will be reconstructed and put in place.
A big project, a big price tag, big fears...has anyone else gone through this? No DIY abilities here and we've only remodeled bathrooms before. When I was in my late 20's, my first husband & I did some remodeling to our kitchen, but he was able/capable and we both were young, energetic and had the strength to do the work ourselves. I think my biggest fear is that we'll go to this expense, and I won't like it, or we'll move and not have enough time to enjoy it. Well, I shant focus on the negatives of my fears...we've put this off too long already, it will be done, it will cost a lot, and we will be content. And I'm going to be very, very busy for the next few months.
Keeping Christmas decorations to a minimum this year!
Blessings to anyone still reading my ramblings :)
Saturday, December 1, 2018
A Proposal
So did you think there's someone getting married? Nope, it's not that kind of proposal. Rather, it is a very costly proposal.
I've probably written in the long-ago past about the need for a kitchen remodel. Well, we're finally back at it after a nearly six year "delay". We were going to get started on it back in Spring 2013 (it was last bid on in Feb/Mar 2013) but after a disagreement about a component of it between Marty and I (and my bad response to that), it was postponed.
That and one year later the death of my mom and the next 18 months of back and forth travel to keep my dad on track, which turned into a fiasco later, upsetting me and destroying all the hard work I'd done for him. Well, that's water under the bridge, along with Marty's 9-month layoff before finding work, my health issues too, and then the "I'm just not ready to get to it" issues, but finally, here we are. We had the contractor in the week before Thanksgiving, and received his estimate after. Oh boy, have costs gone up in those years, especially on cabinetry. We've been sitting on the funds so we're ok even at the higher cost, but that doesn't make it any the less painful to have to shell out those dollars. The contractor is the same who did our beautiful bathrooms, he's not 'cheap' and his work is quality, and we trust him. Any others are big unknowns, and we are at the point we just want, and need to get, this done, so aren't even getting another bid.
When we did the bathrooms, we put in a shower downstairs where none existed which in turned moved the toilet over to the space where the wall oven enclosure had been, so I've lived with no full-size oven, limping along with my large capacity toaster/counter-top oven. It's been fine, and I've been able to make most things as I would have in a standard oven (recall my Toaster Oven Tuesday posts), but it has also taken over half of my precious little counter-space, so I'll be happy to regain that space!
Our kitchen hasn't been updated since we've been here (I came in 1996, Marty ca.1992). The kitchen is tiny, out-dated, worn, and literally falling apart. A small drawer is entirely gone, the facing board below the range top is gone, the stain is completely worn off. After a water leak in 1997, we did replace the floor, removing the linoleum and carpet from the dining room and using tile. We lack cupboard storage place (little space was required in 1966 when the house was built) and outlets. The lighting is four fluorescent tubes under a pull-away plastic shield. The faucet is lifting from the sink, the sink has chips and stains that no amount of cleanser or bleach will remove, the counter has chips, the stovetop burner pans are worn, the knobs are yellowed, the enamel has painted repairs where it's been chipped, and one knob is entirely missing. The hood is harvest brown while the rangetop is white (the oven was harvest brown with an avocado handle!).
A couple old posts that concern the kitchen are this one and this one showing the old oven.
I have mixed feelings, and am feeling a lot of anxiety. I'm not good with decision making when I don't really know my 'style' other than if this were an old farmhouse in the country, it'd be a snap. A mid-60s house in a California suburb, well...it's not a farmhouse. Some of my preferences, like white appliances which are not currently in vogue, will have limited selection. And all of our appliances need to be replaced, none are less than 16 or 17 years old and all have issues - other than the toaster oven, nothing is salvageable. That adds to the cost, and there are some unknowns that could cost a pretty penny too. My only hopes are that we will live long enough to really enjoy the new kitchen and if we should sell within a few years, that the home's value will sustain the cost of the upgrade. Kitchen and baths, the two most important rooms of the house, right?
Pray for me as I go through this. Demolition, once we sign, won't start until February or even March due to contractor's availability and other jobs he has going.
That and one year later the death of my mom and the next 18 months of back and forth travel to keep my dad on track, which turned into a fiasco later, upsetting me and destroying all the hard work I'd done for him. Well, that's water under the bridge, along with Marty's 9-month layoff before finding work, my health issues too, and then the "I'm just not ready to get to it" issues, but finally, here we are. We had the contractor in the week before Thanksgiving, and received his estimate after. Oh boy, have costs gone up in those years, especially on cabinetry. We've been sitting on the funds so we're ok even at the higher cost, but that doesn't make it any the less painful to have to shell out those dollars. The contractor is the same who did our beautiful bathrooms, he's not 'cheap' and his work is quality, and we trust him. Any others are big unknowns, and we are at the point we just want, and need to get, this done, so aren't even getting another bid.
When we did the bathrooms, we put in a shower downstairs where none existed which in turned moved the toilet over to the space where the wall oven enclosure had been, so I've lived with no full-size oven, limping along with my large capacity toaster/counter-top oven. It's been fine, and I've been able to make most things as I would have in a standard oven (recall my Toaster Oven Tuesday posts), but it has also taken over half of my precious little counter-space, so I'll be happy to regain that space!
Our kitchen hasn't been updated since we've been here (I came in 1996, Marty ca.1992). The kitchen is tiny, out-dated, worn, and literally falling apart. A small drawer is entirely gone, the facing board below the range top is gone, the stain is completely worn off. After a water leak in 1997, we did replace the floor, removing the linoleum and carpet from the dining room and using tile. We lack cupboard storage place (little space was required in 1966 when the house was built) and outlets. The lighting is four fluorescent tubes under a pull-away plastic shield. The faucet is lifting from the sink, the sink has chips and stains that no amount of cleanser or bleach will remove, the counter has chips, the stovetop burner pans are worn, the knobs are yellowed, the enamel has painted repairs where it's been chipped, and one knob is entirely missing. The hood is harvest brown while the rangetop is white (the oven was harvest brown with an avocado handle!).
A couple old posts that concern the kitchen are this one and this one showing the old oven.
I have mixed feelings, and am feeling a lot of anxiety. I'm not good with decision making when I don't really know my 'style' other than if this were an old farmhouse in the country, it'd be a snap. A mid-60s house in a California suburb, well...it's not a farmhouse. Some of my preferences, like white appliances which are not currently in vogue, will have limited selection. And all of our appliances need to be replaced, none are less than 16 or 17 years old and all have issues - other than the toaster oven, nothing is salvageable. That adds to the cost, and there are some unknowns that could cost a pretty penny too. My only hopes are that we will live long enough to really enjoy the new kitchen and if we should sell within a few years, that the home's value will sustain the cost of the upgrade. Kitchen and baths, the two most important rooms of the house, right?
Pray for me as I go through this. Demolition, once we sign, won't start until February or even March due to contractor's availability and other jobs he has going.
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