counter culture

oh my

fake cat

real cat

Yes, three hefty men finished this project in about five hours. At first
it was such a mess that Annabelle and I hid in our offices downstairs.
I wondered what had I done? Then it all came together and we are
so very happy with the results, as you can see. The plumber comes
this afternoon to turn the water in the kitchen back on and to
install the disposal. I am feeling a bit smug, to tell the truth.

counter revolution

we are ready

old sink begone

this 400 year old cutting board was a bad decision

When the plumber arrived yesterday he had to replace some under sink
pipes before he turned off the water for the installers who arrive this
morning. He will return tomorrow afternoon to hook up the new disposal
and turn the water back on. Annabelle and I are using paper plates and
plastic utensils and trying not to think about how much this small job
is costing. Thanks to the Blogmaid who dropped in to encourage me
yesterday while I was studying jars and bottles and deciding whether to
toss or save them. My Bill loved a bargain and would buy accordingly.
How many anise seeds does one kitchen need?

precise preparation for the mess ahead

Note the green line above the counter. The guy came to measure for my
kitchen project today ~ 8am and I was prepared. Annabelle, not so much
as that is her morning nap time. So he used a laser gizmo and I honestly
asked myself WHY I was doing this a few times, but I hope I will love the
results. If not, I will live with them and chalk it all up to yet another life
lesson. Actual work will start sometime after Easter.

well, why not?

We bought Waterford crystal back in the 80's on our trip to Ireland. I
still love the look and feel of it. I decided to start using it for everyday
orange juice, freshly squeezed, of course. (I often think of my friend
Susan who starts her Sundays with oj.) Little by little changes are being
made here in our home and I no longer feel disloyal. I do, however,
find that it helps to include outside eyes, such as my step Nancy saying,
"You have room in the pantry for this and you are going to need to clean
off the counters anyway for the re-mo." Got it, done. Thanks...

back to the kitchen

We returned to Home Depot to finalize the project and that felt really
great. So happy to have Nancy and Scott (and Clarice) working on
this. In about a month the project will probably be finished. In the
meantime, I've been re-organizing the kitchen and getting stuff OFF
the counter. My friend Linda D. writes that I needn't cook just because
I have a sparkling new counter top. Whoosh.

Nancy and Scott left to visit Ceci up north and I sat down (in the kitchen)
and did the taxes. This is our 8th year with Turbotax and it was pretty easy,
all in all. It's good to lead a simple life with very few cover-ups or collusions.

make mine Corian®

Scott and Nancy at Original Joe's (in a  bad photo)

Chef Sarah and Nancy both have and love Corian® (four samples above)

How fortunate I am to have step daughter Nancy and her husband Scott
here. He is a contractor and Nance knows all about this stuff. They arrived
late yesterday and I rushed them to Home Depot in Daly City and we
all worked on the kitchen counters trying to figure out my crude measurements.
Luckily I had photos on my iPhone and we three worked well together. Of
course nothing is simple and I need a new sink, faucet and garbage disposal.
But that's OK. We return this morning to finalize the deal. And no rain
today (maybe).

Our reward was dinner at Original Joe's in Daly City. So grateful. Nance and
I both hope that I will start cooking again with the beautiful new counter tops.
But at least I'll have a pretty new kitchen...

my next project

This is not my kitchen. Not our kitchen. I/we need a new countertop and
I have been poking around online. Soon I will measure the counters and
head to Home Depot with a 15% discount that they snail-mailed me. I
asked Chef Sarah and step Nancy and jotted down their ideas and thoughts.
Nancy and I reminisced about when we had the kitchen painted white
and we both tried to convince Bill to get a new countertop then. He could
be stubborn and he said, "No." So ~ many choices now: marble, granite,
quartz and about fifty strange combination names that sound sleek or
cozy or just plain weird.

kitchen confidential

I don't even have to do the Before and After labels, do I? We are still
busy adding color because it is really WHITE, but so clean and modern.
God, I was so sick of those old cabinets. As usual, why did we wait so long
to tackle this project?