Category Archives: Everyday Life

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Kenny

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Who is Kenny? He’s someone I don’t know very well, but I will tell you that he makes me smile every time I see him.

You see, I am one of those rare grocery shoppers that makes a weekly meal plan, a corresponding grocery list and a weekly trek to the store (this usually occurs on a Saturday or Sunday). I want to get it done all in one trip and never go back (well, until the next weekend). I really hate grocery shopping – as much as I hate cleaning the bathrooms.

I described myself as a rare grocery shopper because I don’t usually see many others in the grocery store filling their carts to overflowing and then, watching their baggers navigate two carts across the parking lot. I feel like a rare breed. One time, a fellow shopper asked me if we were having a party and I said, “Nope. This is my normal weekly grocery trip.” She looked horrified (really, I’m not kidding). I wasn’t sure how to respond to that so I didn’t. We just waited in uncomfortable silence in the checkout line until my groceries were bagged and ready for transport.

So, you’re still saying, “Who’s Kenny? And, what does this have to do with food?” Kenny is my grocery bagger. Okay, he’s not really MY bagger, but the poor thing is usually the lucky duck that ends up bagging the seemingly endless stream of food that I buy.

I want to say that while bagging groceries isn’t rocket science, it’s still a science of sorts. Not everyone is good at it. You have to have good spatial skills. There are definitely great ones (fast, efficient use of bags, perfect food placement within the bags and smash-free bread & chips), good ones (somewhat fast and efficient, okay food placement within the bags and smash-free bread & chips) and bad ones (slow, wasteful with bags and smashes your bread & chips). When picking out my checkout lane, I’m not looking for the shortest lane, I’m looking for a good to great grocery bagger. Since I shop at this store every week, I know who’s who and what’s what.

Kenny makes the trip worthwhile. Besides being a fantastic bagger, he is always happy, always has a smile on his face and always has really nice things to say. For example, he often asks about my kids and when I tell him their ages, he always responds with, “Wow! You look too young to have kids in high school!” (Thank you, Kenny!)

Kenny is probably in his early 50s and I think has been working at my local O’Malia’s for about 25 years (give or take a few years). In making small talk out to the car, he will be the first to tell you that he was hit by a car when he was a toddler (2 or 3) and suffered a brain injury in that accident. He loves skiing with his aunt in Colorado because they have a great skiing program for the disabled. He also has a sister in Dallas whom he visits at least once a year (from what I have gathered). His sister has three or four kids and he LOVES them tremendously. He talks about them as if they were his own.

I really admire him – his outlook on life is wonderful despite the cards dealt to him and he seems to find the joy in the moment.

I strive to mimic his perspective and his ability to live in the now.

He always ends the visit with a “Thank you for shopping at O’Malias!”

I hope that Kenny’s coworkers see what I see and take away something positive after a Kenny-encounter. I know I do.

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Salmonella with Tarragon & Cider Sauce

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It was time.

“Time for what?”, you may be asking. Well, for my mid-year cooking meltdown, of course!

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not a perfect chef every other day of the year. I make things that end up on the Never-Make-Again List, or don’t look like the picture but still taste good, or don’t look like the picture and don’t taste good.

But, I usually don’t put my family in danger by serving Salmonella on a plate covered in tarragon-apple cider sauce!

This cooking mishap occurred on Tuesday. I was excited because I was making two new recipes (I love making new recipes) from my new cookbook, Eating Local.  They sounded so delicious!

What caused the disaster? The 2 mutant chicken breasts (MCBs) that I bought from the grocery. Along with the MCBs, I also bought 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks.

The recipe called for browning the chicken, removing chicken from skillet, making braising liquid in same skillet, then returning browned chicken to skillet for braising. I can do that!

But, wait….The mutant breasts took up my WHOLE iron skillet (there may have been room for one additional thigh and drumstick).  One skillet! I was supposed to be able to use only one skillet!

Curse you kitchen gods!  The chicken pieces and parts had to be relocated to a big pot (now I’m on my second pot/pan) that could handle all of the poultry and the braising liquid. Damn those breasts! There’s not enough liquid to cover the chicken for braising. I ended up winging it a this point to make sure I had enough liquid by adding more chicken stock and apple cider. Now, the recipe was so out of kilter and there was no turning back.

There’s more to this sad chicken braising tale (sauce needed to reduce and thicken and didn’t, blah, blah), but I won’t bore you with that.

We finally sat down at the table at 7:45 pmish (by this time, the people in my house started eyeing each other to decide who would be the first sacrifice because they were starving to death). Everything smelled great. The side dish looked great. I’m a little flustered, but ready to eat.

Mike cuts into one of the MBCs. “Ahhhhh!” There’s major pink. My son cuts into one of the thighs, and again, “Ahhhhh!” Major pink. Now, I’m just plain frustrated. I mean, I browned and braised the pieces double the time stated!

We threw everyone’s uncooked pieces into the microwave (I always consider this a major defeat). And, I reheated the pot containing the remaining chicken and sauce and cooked the crap out of whatever was left in the pot (I needed to make sure it was safe for leftovers).

The consolation? The chicken did have a great flavor (once cooked through) and the tarragon sauce was awesome.  I’m definitely going to make this again, but with some tweaks. When I have the nerve to try this again, I will post it on my food blog – Suburban Foodie. I do have the potato side dish posted.

Look at the size of this sucker:

I think I’m going to buy organic chicken from now on – I’m assuming there’s no breast enhancement in those chicks!

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What IS that sound?

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“What is that noise?”, I say to myself. “Where is it coming from?” And, then silence.

“Ah, I must be losing my mind”, talking to myself as I meander back to my office. Then, “What? That noise is back. What IS it?”

The resurgence of the noise confirms that I’m not losing it – there is a strange noise afoot in my house!  I start wandering around the house looking for the cause of this mysterious sound. It sounds like a cat in agony just after a cat fight or maybe an elephant dying. Maybe we have a strange animal wheezing its last wheezes in our basement. (It really wouldn’t be that far-fetched as we’ve had baby possums in our basement ceiling before – long story).

The noise seems to be emanating from the basement so I cautiously wander into the depths of the house to put an end to this insidious sound. Then……I see it.What? What is it? Something so shocking so as not to be believed.

It is my son practicing the trumpet (without being asked). Yep, the trumpet.

The mystery sound story happened during early June – about the second week after having his instrument.

My son (my baby) is entering junior high this fall (actually next Tuesday!), can you believe it? I sure can’t. I don’t want to talk about it or I will start blubbering. As Jack and I were walking into the middle school this past Tuesday to pick up his schedule and get his locker assignment, he looked at me and said, “Mommy, please don’t cry.” He knows me so well.

Anyway, to explain the trumpet in our house, I have to take you back to the end of this last school year. During this past May 2011 (the end of his 5th grade year), his 6th grade schedule had to be determined. At our middle school, they have to take all of the usual subjects and then, there is the tough decision whether to take band, orchestra, choir, or a study hall. Study hall was out of the question and he immediately said, “No choir!”

Why so adamant about choir? Both of his sisters elected choir at the middle school so he had attended many a choir show. I think remembering the boys (especially the 6th & 7th graders) in shiny shirts and ties doing the choreographed dance moves somewhat awkwardly (I thought they were adorable!) sealed the deal. No choir. Also, unfortunately for him, he inherited my strong inability to carry a note.

So, orchestra or band? Well, at the end of this last school year, the middle school had a “try on”. It’s really pretty great. The kids got to go and literally try on any instrument they wanted. What instruments did Jack choose?  The cello, clarinet, percussion (drums), viola and the trumpet. The band and orchestra teachers watched the children individually at each instrument selected for their “try on” and made notes. I think at this point, the teachers try to narrow it down to two instruments for each child and in doing this they will also take into account the child’s opinion.

Case in point:  Jack had been hounding me about viola lessons and I, being the good mother that I am, essentially ignored him. We had just finished 2 years of piano lessons which also included parental nagging about practicing (or lack thereof). He was gung-ho at the beginning, but then his interest diminished (maybe some of you have experienced this with your own kids). Well, long story short, he “tried on” the viola and decided that he hated it (so even if he had viola-potential, the band director would not consider this instrument for Jack).

Side note: Lesson learned for me? Listen to your gut. NO viola lessons was a good decision.

It was determined that he had the best potential with trumpet or clarinet (SO glad it wasn’t the cello). The band director really wanted Jack to pick the clarinet – apparently his try out went really well. But, Jack picked the trumpet instead. Why?  Well, it has fewer buttons! Duh! Kids crack me up – especially mine.

After practicing all summer (20 minutes a day), the trumpet-produced sounds coming from the basement no longer resemble the moanings of a dying animal. They have improved – now his music resembles the sound of someone blowing his (not hers) nose in a cartoonish, loud, exaggerated way. This is a definite improvement. Trust me.

I’m really looking forward to attending my son’s band concerts – it will be a definite change from the lavish choir shows (costume changes with each song and choreography) we have been attending since my oldest was in 6th grade (she is now a senior. sniff, sniff).

Here’s to my budding band geek! xoxo

 

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Off the Grid

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Hey! Were you wondering what happened to me? Well, I left the grid for a bit (not completely). I mostly became a voyeur on Facebook, WordPress, Blogspot, and Twitter. By that, I mean that I didn’t comment/participate much, but stayed current on what was happening with my peeps.

I have kind of been on vacation since mid-June.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

My oldest daughter will be a senior this year and we wanted to take a “big” vacation this summer. We won’t be able to afford any big vacations next summer because of looming college expenses (we found out that book rental for one semester can be $700!!).

So, on June 22nd we loaded the family truckster with our luggage and began our 11-day trek across the West.

On the first day of trip we stopped in middle of Minnesota and encountered a 60-foot Jolly Green Giant in this small town, Blue Earth. By the way, the Engledows are not highbrow travelers. Bring on the cheese – the cheesier the better.  So, you can imagine our excitement when this discovery was made! 

On the second day of trip we reached our first destination – Hill City, South Dakota. We stayed there for 3 nights and visited the usual sites in that area: the Corn Palace, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, Badlands National Park, Mt. Rushmore, Chief Crazy Horse Monument, Custer State Park and Bear Country USA.

Here is a montage the South Dakota part of our trip (we have 1000 pictures between 4 cameras so these are just a sample):

South Dakota was beautiful. I didn’t expect it to be as gorgeous and green as it was. What was I expecting? A lot of brown, dusty looking panoramas. This was just not so!

Day 5 was the transition day from South Dakota to Colorado. This required us to drive through Wyoming and was the eeriest part of our trip. Why?  There were rarely any other cars and we had no cell signal – we could have disappeared without a trace! But, we didn’t. Wyoming had wonderful, interesting panoramic views that you just don’t encounter in the Midwest and I would have enjoyed the drive more if we had had cell coverage.

Our second major destination was Estes Park, Colorado. OMG! I love this place. I could move there. Seriously.

We stayed 4 nights and had a wonderful time. We saw Elk wandering the downtown sidewalks, went rafting down the Colorado River, toured the Stanley Hotel (inspiration for The Shining), drove over the Rocky Mountains (we reached 12,000 ft above sea level!), went hiking in the Rockies, saw wildlife galore (wolves, elk, moose, marmots, bald eagles, pronghorns, mule deer), etc.

Pictures from the Colorado Part of our trip:

We rounded out our trip with a hellish drive through the entire state of Kansas (talk about desolate!) and then spent our last two days in St. Louis, Missouri. We toured the Arch and the St. Louis Zoo.  Their zoo is fantastic and it’s free!

What a great trip!! It was definitely my favorite of all of our family vacations. We had been saving money for this trip for two years (we had a trip jar) and it was worth every penny.

Our kids are the best travelers and made the whole experience absolutely wonderful! I hope this trip will remain in their memories as something really cool from their childhoods.

What about the rest of the summer? Well, we got back from our trip on Saturday, July 2nd and left again for another family vacation on July 9th (No, that’s not stressful at all. Yeah, right!).

We were not on the go during this vacation so it was very relaxing. I read three books and started a fourth (in one week) – I did pay some attention to my family, but not much! 🙂 That’s okay – they were busy swiming in the lake, going tubing, fishing, etc.

 Michigan Sunset

Now I’m back in the real world (hiss, boo) and ready to get back to it!

It would be a lot easier if I wasn’t still daydreaming about being back in Colorado. These intrusive thoughts are seriously hampering my ability to get back into my real life.  Hopefully, these daydreams will eventually go away and quit taunting me!

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A Major Award!

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I have to share something with all of you. I received a blogging award on May 30th. Surprised? I sure was!

The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award was bestowed upon me by Dawn at Recovering Dawn and, I just discovered, by Cynthia at Knowledge Maven. I have to tell Dawn & Cynthia, “Thank you very much!”

I found Dawn’s sweet blog while surfing on the She Writes website. You must check it out. I love the honesty of her writing.

And, I discovered Cynthia’s blog by looking at someone else’s blog roll.  I love her stories about her family. Her writing is wonderful and it speaks to me.

This sweet award is given out by blogging peers which makes it all that more wonderful (I think). “You like me; you really like me!” As a winner of this award, I’m supposed to share with you 7 things that you may not know or ever guess about me from reading my blog. I’m also supposed to bestow this honor upon my favorite blogs (between 5 and 15). I’m also supposed to contact these award winners and let them know that they have won (since I can’t call them up on stage like at the Oscars, I will contact them via the web).

You may be wondering why I’ve waited so long to share this wonderful news with you. Well, I’ve been mulling over my 7 new things to share. Hmmm…..

The Seven Things that you may or may not know about me:

 #1  My sister (my only sibling) and I have the same birthday, but we aren’t twins. I’m two years older – what a birthday present, right?! Hey, Jen what do you want for your birthday? How about a little sister?

When I was younger, I really didn’t like the fact that I had to share my birthday. The birthday is supposed to be the one thing that is yours alone! But, as I’ve gotten older, I like it. It’s one of special things that my sister and I have in common.

#2 My guilty pleasure is watching Bond films. I just love’em! There used to be Bond movie marathons on TV (I haven’t seen any lately) and when this happens, you can just forget about the laundry, cooking, paying attention to my family, etc. My butt is parked in front of the boob tube. My favorite Bond? Before Daniel Craig came into the picture, it was the young Sean Connery hands down! Now, I’m struggling. I mean, have you seen Daniel Craig?

#3 I own an autographed t-shirt signed by Hall & Oates (Yeah, Baby!) and autographed pictures of Candice Bergen, Tatum O’Neal (when she was young) and Ryan O’Neal.

My girlfriends from high school (Tam & Elise) and I went to the Hall & Oates concert when we were 17 or so and they (H & O) signed only one of our shirts (not sure why – too long ago). We were supposed to share the shirt (like the traveling pants, but it’s a shirt). I guess I wasn’t a good sharer or friend because I have it. Also, my sister might say the same thing about the autographed pics since Mom got them for us. Don’t worry everyone, I’m taking good care of our treasures! I swear!

#4 I was born in Waynesboro, VA and moved 5 times (5 different states) before I was 7. We moved to our final location when I was in first grade and I’ve never left. I still remember my new first grade teacher – Mrs. Burns (she was really mean).

#5 I’m a control freak and compulsive organizer (Bed, Bath & Beyond LOVES me) in my every day life (which you all know). BUT, when I go on vacation, don’t you dare try to impose a schedule or itinerary on me! Vacation Jenni likes to live life on the edge without a schedule. I don’t want to HAVE to be anywhere at anytime – let’s wing it!

#6 I LOVE daffodils, but I can’t find anyone in my life that will ever get me any (hint, hint). I guess I’ll have to buy them myself. Why are they my favorite flower? They remind me of my grandma Helen’s house (that no longer exists). Their wonderful smell takes me right there.

#7 I graduated 2nd in my class out of about 676 students. That year we had 5 Valedictorians – crazy, right? The shocking thing is that I’m not really that smart – just focused and determined. It was important to me to have straight As (my perfectionist tendencies). Now, as an adult, I’m not sure if all of the late nights studying really paid off.  I could have had a little more sleep and a little more fun and probably still ended up a math major at Ball State!

My favorite blogs? This is a really hard list to make (I apologize to those that I left out). The winners of The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award are:

Writerly ~ This blog is by a friend of mine. I stumbled upon her blog when rifling through my FB feed. What I read was really interesting, funny, introspective, etc.  Her blog inspired me to start my own.

As the Actress said to the Bishop ~ Her descriptions of her casting calls and life in general are incredible, funny and entertaining. Her life is very different from mine. I get a kick out of peeking in on her life as she lets me!

Punch It In! ~ I really like this blog. It’s a compilation of rantings, writings, and stories from a 30-something Chicagoan. I like this perspective since I don’t hang out with many 30-somethings any longer! Her insights can be very thought-provoking and I like that.

Writing in the Margins ~ Her writing is just lovely and beautiful. I don’t know how else to say it. You just have to go to her blog and check it out.

Perpetually Peeved ~ She is just funny. There is no beating around the bush and she tells it like it is. This blog is a glimpse into suburban life with two daughters, a hubs and her mom.  It will make you smile. I promise.

40BlogSpot ~ I like this blog – it’s life through the perspective of a French woman living in England with her family. Her writing brings a smile to my face! 

Well there it is! Happy reading!

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Step Three is Painting the Kitchen from Hell

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Wednesday, as the contractors were putting in our countertops, I heard one of them say, “This is turning into the house from hell.”

I was afraid to go in and find out what was going on. Then one of the contractors told me that the countertops were taking longer than normal because my cabinets were 33 yrs old and warped. They were having trouble getting the countertops level. And, to add insult to injury, our hard wood floors have buckled in a few places also due to age which added to the leveling problem.

It’s hell getting old even for houses.

So, on Wednesday, the countertop guys were done at 5:00pm, the water was turned on by 5:00pm (thank goodness), the guy that hooks everything back up was done at 5:40pm and four 8th grade girls arrived at our house at 5:45pm. And, I started drinking my colonoscopy “cherry-flavored” sh*t at 6:00pm.

Instead of making dinner for the girls as planned, we ordered pizza and then Mike drove 4 giggly girls to the 8th grade dance. We were back on track.

Yesterday, we had the painters in at 8:30am to start painting, the plumber in at 9:00am to fix the broken main water valve and I had my doctor’s appointment from hell at 1:15pm.

The plumber discovered that our water main valve is so messed up that he didn’t have everything he needed to fix it – we rescheduled our appointment for next week.  We just have to hope that we aren’t in a situation where we need to shut the water off to the house (at least until June 1st). Keep your fingers crossed because at the rate we’re going anything is possible. 

Okay, for the big reveal on our kitchen:

Before

After

I haven’t had time to put our kitchen back in order, but what do you think? Much better, right?

I’m really glad we did it and I can’t wait to start cookin’ in my new space!

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Step Two is New Countertops & Tissues

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Classic Stone is here right now installing my new countertops – very exciting!

And, of course, there has already been a snag. I guess that happens when your house is 33 years old (Oh, to be 33 again!). Since I’m also getting new sinks, the water valves under the sink need to be turned off. No biggie.

Well, now it’s a biggie because, of course, the water valves are too old and don’t work anymore (when did that happen, I wonder?). They need replaced which the countertop dude is ready to do, but in order to do that, we need to turn the water off to the entire house.

Dude:  Ma’am (I hate that word now), where is the main water valve to the house?

Me (thinking): Hell. If. I. Know. 

I did take him to the spot in the basement where I thought it was. He turned the valve off and then ran the sink water and convinced himself that it wasn’t it. That was my best last guess*.  

Then,

Dude:  Ma’am, do you know where your breaker box is?

Me (sensing some condescension in his tone):  Yes, I know where the breaker box is.   [I’m not a complete idiot!]

I’m a little concerned about the main water valve being turned off. Not to be too personal, but I’ve got a colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow and I have to start taking my prepping meds at 2pm.  For all of you that have had this test or know someone who has, you know that it’s very important to have running water the house once the consumption of the meds has begun! Now, more anxiety is creeping in. I need that like I need a hole in the head!

*BTW, I finally got through to the hubs via text and he confirmed my last best guess for the location of the main water valve (Ha! Take that!).

More later . . . . . . .

Today is not going well.  Apparently the main shut off valve in the house is not working properly (the water won’t shut off completely – it’s down to a trickle) and they have had to do heroic measures to get the sinks installed. However, the guy that comes in after the installation of the sinks and countertops to make sure we have functioning faucets and such told me that he can’t say for sure that we will have running water this evening because of this broken valve (he gingerly got it to turn off enough to allow installation of the sinks, but he can’t guarantee that it can withstand more turning to get the water back on). We won’t know for a couple of hours. He doesn’t want to turn the valve until the installation of all sinks and countertops has been completed.

I need to have running water tonight! I’ve got my test prep ordeal (arghhh!) and we are having a pre-party for my daughter’s 8th grade dance. I thought we would have countertops, sinks and most of all, running water by 6pm tonight.

The contractor did set me up with a plumber that is coming out tomorrow morning to completely replace our main water valve, but that doesn’t help me tonight.

Have I told you that I had to start a complete liquid diet this morning? Yep. I’m pretty much a starving, grumpy, panic-ridden middle-aged suburban housewife on the verge of tears in front of four workmen . . . . . . G-r-e-e-a-a-t!!!

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How to Set Goals & Reach Them ~ 5th Grade Style

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If you’ve been reading my posts regularly, you know that I have funny, interesting kids (at least in my opinion). They can and do say some funny stuff.  I really need to keep a journal with me at all times so I can jot stuff down as we go through our day (I’ll put that on my To Do list).

The funniest kid this week was Jack. Last night it was just me, Jack and Rachel at the dinner table and we were discussing Jack’s last Track & Field Day ever (sad face):

Me: “Jack, what are your events for Track & Field Day tomorrow?”

Jack: “Best of 10 Free Throws, Cone Quickness, Soccer Kick & the Relay. I hope that I get 5th place.”

Me & Rachel (confused): “Why do you want 5th place?”

Jack: “I need a 5th place ribbon for my set. I don’t have a 5th place ribbon.”

Me & Rachel (laughing really hard now): “Hmmmmm, Okay.”

Me (still giggling): “Hey, buddy, how about you go for 1st place and then see what happens.”

Jack: “Hmmm….Okay. That makes sense.”

I’ve NEVER heard someone say that they wanted 5th place, have you? Who says that? Well, my son apparently.

God, I love that kid. He’s a nerd through and through! I keep telling him that nerds rule the world so to keep on keepin’ on! [Bill Gates, for example.]

Today, he comes home from school and I ask him, “How was Track and Field Day today?” He says, “I got 5th place in ‘Best of 10 Free Throws’! I also got a 6th place ribbon and a Best in Class ribbon.”

I’m thinking, “Really? What are the odds? How weird is that?” The 5th place ribbon is the green one in the picture.

It’s nice to have dreams and goals and actually attain them! What’s the next goal for Jack? With one week of school left, it would be not to forget any more homework assignments for the rest of the year. I’m hopeful with this one 🙂

As a side note, I want to clarify something for all of you, from the dinner discussion last night, both Rachel and I were under the impression that he needed the 5th grade ribbon to complete the entire  ribbon set (honorable mention through 6th place). After further discussions with Jack on the subject today, I discovered that he is still missing the following ribbons: 1st, 3rd and 4th.  So, why was he shooting for the missing 5th place, when he still needed a 1st, 3rd and 4th place ribbon for his set? What’s wrong with 1st place?

As an extremely competitive person, I’m a little perplexed by his goal-setting this week. What’s going on in that 11-year-old brain of his? Hell if I know. I’m going to have to defer to his father on this one since the boy is an exact replica (down to the last molecule). Mike will be able to explain Jack’s line of thinking to me – I’m sure there is a good explanation, an ultimate plan.

Since Mike is on his annual fishing trip, I will have to wait to get the answers to my questions: “What is driving our little man? Why didn’t he want to go for the 1st place ribbon? What does this mean? Is there a bigger plan that Jack has set into motion that I can’t comprehend?”

Maybe I should just leave well enough alone. Maybe some things are supposed to remain a mystery. . . . like origin of the universe and the enigma that is my son. 🙂

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Step One is Stripping

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Before Photos

Finally, we are having almost the last of the wallpaper stripped from house (check out that wallpaper!). When we bought the house back in 2001, every spot of available wall space with the exception of the downstairs bathroom, master bedroom and master bathroom was covered in wallpaper. The prior owners clearly hated paint for some reason (Maybe the fumes? Couldn’t find the right color? Not enough pattern?).

Now that the kitchen/dining area has been stripped, there are 3 rooms left: the office (it’s so hideous, but we can close the door and hide it from guests), the kids’ bathroom and the laundry room. If the office is so hideous, why haven’t we done anything with it? Well, because the office will snowball into another big project because the window treatment and carpet will have to go as well as the wallpaper. Uh. . . . .I don’t want to talk about it right now. Back to my kitchen!

Stripped

I’m so excited!! After weeks of trying to convince my husband that my vision for my (I mean our) kitchen will be amazing, it’s finally happening. We are getting new walls, new countertops and refinished hardwood floors.

I had to fight for my walls though – I wanted a warm, purplish color. Mike was really resistant – he was afraid that the paint color would be lavenderish.  I finally went out and picked out the color that I had floating in my brain (my husband would come back with samples, but they just weren’t right and the ones he picked out were freaking him out!). The color was hard to describe, but I finally found it and it has a name – Gothic Amethyst (Porter Paint).  Cool name, right? We are also considering Smoky Quartz (it’s very similar, but a little warmer). Now that Mike has seen my vision of “purple”, he’s onboard.  I just had to convince him that it wasn’t going to be lavender (yuck!).  Check out the colors on the Porter Paint Color Palette.

What do you think? Which color?

The countertops took about as long as the color – we have selected Santa Cecilia Granite  for the bulk of the countertops with Cambria Quartz – Branbury (Quarry Collection – it’s reddish brown) for the island. We will have new countertops next Wednesday and new paint next Thursday. 

I’m nervous and excited.  I hope we like it when it’s done – I spend a lot of time in these rooms! I mean, this is where the culinary magic happens! Okay, not magic, but really tasty meals 🙂

However, I guess when you consider what we have been living with, anything would be better, right?

More later…..

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The 2011 Poetry Cafe – Oh, Snap!

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Can I say that kids are amazing? They are really quite capable of doing more than we give them credit for.

This morning I attended the 2011 Poetry Cafe held by my son’s class. Each of the students worked in a group of 2 to 5 kids to perform an established work and then each student individually read an original work. As in the tradition of Poetry Cafes of the 60s, we snapped in appreciation instead of clapping after each performance. Very cool and hip.

By the way, the poetry created by these kids was really, really good (they are 10 & 11 yrs old!) and they deserved all of the snaps!

The following work is an original poem by Jack.  He did not perform this particular work this morning, but it is my favorite from his poetry book (see above) that he has been keeping since 4th Grade (all of the students in his class do this).

Self Poem

by Jack / Sep 22, 2010

My skin is like a ghost, pale and drifting.

My eyes are like the ocean, calm, blue and green.

My eyelashes are thick and ink black like a crow’s feathers.

My smile is like a daisy, it brightens people up.

My heart holds a happiness that burns inside me like a roaring fire.

I live in a steakhouse and eat everything. 

**SNAP-SNAP-SNAP**

I don’t remember doing cool stuff like this when I was in grade school! Do you?

I’m really glad I was able to attend this morning. It was a real treat.