New Kitchen/Final Details and Other Details

I woke up in a fog this morning. The man who loves me was out the door before I got my bearings, and I stumbled around for at least an hour wondering what was wrong with me. I think it might have been a dream that threw itself over me like a blanket, but I couldn't remember anything coherent. The nightmare that I had on Catalina--a certain someone shot me and several other people--keeps coming back to me. The sensation of that dream was so intense. The wound just below my heart and the doctor telling me that the bullet couldn't be removed--that I would just have to live with the pain. The physical ache was so palpable that, when I woke that morning, I thought maybe I'd fallen asleep on top of a pen or a pencil and that's why it was hurting so in the area of my rib cage, but no, it was just the dream. This morning's stupor was almost as upsetting. But I don't know why.

So today for whatever reason, I could barely function. Sitting down to write was out of the question. Opening the mail with the big brown envelope from the QDRO attorney not even the remotest possibility. So I ran errands. Did chores. Puttered. Nearly put the finishing touches on the KITCHEN PROJECT. Yesterday the electrician installed the second light bar---

which was necessary because the spotlights on the fixture in the main part of the room, we discovered, could not be aimed toward the sink without blinding whomever happened to be sitting at the bar. We can see to chop veggies now and wash dishes. Surgery could probably be performed in my kitchen if necessary. Maybe to remove a bullet. Or whatever.


And here's my finished chalkboard--frame and all, which I never got around to posting.

And now that wallpaper is completely unfashionable, I thought I'd put some up. I've never liked how my kitchen cabinets hang down below the opening between the kitchen and the dining room. It looks like a miscalculation to me, as in--oops--wow, we should have made that opening smaller so the backs of the cupboards wouldn't show. So I did this:

I think I like it. There are tiles above my stove that have a similar design. I'd never hung wallpaper before, so this was the right size project for a beginner. And I discovered something very handy. If you wear reading glasses, you can put them on upside down if you are doing "close work" that requires you to look up. But I might do this to the wallpaper:

Just cuz I like silvery things, I guess. And because I'm just looking for stuff to do rather than do the stuff I have to do. This evening I decided I wanted to live at the beach (again) and found THIS. I looked at houses just to be sure I wouldn't open my mail.

Every visit from my kids and grandkids could be a beach vacation if I lived there.

New Kitchen!

It's two weeks to the day since the Great Washing Machine Disaster, and my repaired and improved kitchen is done.

My ceiling has been dried out, patched, repainted--and a new light fixture has been installed.

The cabinets have been sanded, stained, and refinished--and new hardware has been installed. The cabinets  were not damaged in the leak, but the floor business was slow, and the man who loves me suggested putting his guys to work for a couple of days. I'm glad I said yes because they (the cabinets) are now so much more attractive than they were. The guys haven't changed much.

The long narrow return next to my fabulous red vacuum cleaner will be painted with chalkboard paint this weekend. I have a thing for chalkboard paint and already have my supplies standing by. There's always stuff you wanna write down in the kitchen. Post-it Notes are too small and like to flutter away. This chalkboard will be big enough to write a poem or a list of ingredients for a big dinner, or draw a map or mark how tall my grandkids are when they come to visit. Then we can compare those marks on their next visit.

The lights have a dimmer. Which is cool since my kitchen is a tiny galley-style kitchen and the dining room is just on the other side of the bar that adjoins the sink. Now we can get all moody.

My tool box is back in the garage. Aaand yeah, it's red and my car is red. 

But my drill is still on an end table in the living room. I will probably put some kind of frame around the chalk board.

I dig doing projects--especially when I have help that can keep me from getting overwhelmed. TMWLM and I took all the doors of the hinges. He made the templates for the hardware. His friend Ken attached the first half dozen or so drawer pulls. The night before last, I reattached all the doors. This morning after a little espresso, strawberries, sourdough toast, and some encouragement from TMWLM, I drilled the rest of the holes and attached the remaining hardware. Clean-up and then........tada!