Nearly Forgotten 2008 Kitchen Remodeling Project

A year ago I decided to remodel my kitchen, and to do so as cheaply as possible. Little did I know then, that a year later, I would still be working on the project and doing so on a Furlough Friday budget. It took me a week or so to give the kitchen walls a fresh coat of white paint. Then I painted over the faded blue cabinet doors with a thick coat of sage green paint. The messiest bits I 'improved' were the white painted cabinet door hinges. I soaked them in gelatinous water soluble solvent to reveal pretty copper door-hinges. The tall pantry cabinet on the left, helped tremendously to increase reachable cabinet space in my kitchen.

Details/photos on the fridge replacement are here. Now, that brings me up to yesterday, when work started on removing the grubby white tile cabinet tops with granite. First, here's a look at the kitchen view with some of the old tile visable on the nearest to the camera bottom cabinet. Things already moved around,but tile surfaces visable - dirty grout and all The workmen striped off all the tile surfaces;note the stove was moved out before work began. The real work began Saturday morning. Workmen arrived and started measuring and cutting the granite slabs in my driveway. Cutting granite outside All the cabinet tops had to have new wooden boards to lay the granite on. It cracked me up when they put up sheets of plastic in the kitchen to cut down on dust. It reminded me of the the cable show Dexter, when he prepares his work room for his - upseting - dastardly deeds. Dexter! Is that you in there?

Anyway, there was dusty galore in spite of the plastic sheeting. I had the whole house fan on and I like to think that helped move the dust up and out of the house (or maybe just out of the kitchen? Oopsy).

By mid afternoon the work was done & I am happy with it. The lady who runs the company with her husband delivered all she promised. I like the granite behind the stove area as a backdrop for splatters and such. A fumes hood needs to go up there.

With one job complete, others suggest themselves, like a hood over the stove

The window side of the kitchen is looking slick The lady had one great idea I would never have thought of. There is a space between one cabinet and my dishwasher. I keep a narrow garbage can there. It was her idea to extend the granite counter top across that space to the dishwasher. Great idea! Doubled my countertop space there and covers over the garbage can. Love the increased counter space over the little garbage can slot

I like that they suggested that expanded counter top. Also she told me since the sink had to be removed for the work, that if I bought a new garbage disposal she would have the men install it for free. As the old one sounds like one is grinding up chain-mail, I took her up on the offer. Work's not totally done on the granite yet - it needs sealing which they'll do in about a week, and then again, 6 months after that, as part of the original costs. Hurrah! Of course, one job down, several more to go. I need to finish the kitchen painting - the upper cabinets and some work on the bottom ones. The stove needs a proper hood and as is obvious in the photos above, I intend to have a tile floor installed; all the fresh new paint makes the old linoleum look cheese-yellow. 

Meanwhile there is post-job clean-up to contend with. Everything in the house is covered with the delicate white blush of dust. Where the heck did I stash the sponge?

Recollections the Day after Thanksgiving

Fran and yammies - a Thanksgiving Classic

Earlier this year we thought we would have the meal in Grass Valley at Mark's - what were we thinking? As if this year the holiday wasn't going to already be missing such a chunk of our hearts. So only a week or so ago the venue was switched to Rick & Nancy's. Mark, just back from New York State was there when I arrived around 3PM. He looks none the less for wear. Also on hand were the neighbors, Rachelle and uh... damn! I knew I'd forget his name. Diego is home from university and Adan took a much needed break from filling out those infernal, never-ending college applications. And me, and it was a nice manageable Thanksgiving mob.

A moment for Being Thankful

Thanksgiving was, as usual, a triumph. Again, the Thanksgiving miracle occured; a diverse group of friends somehow bringing pot-luck that wound up being a tongue teasing extravganza of flavors and perfection. I mean, YUM. In the past we flirted with salmon, Paella and such, but again we returned to old Tom Turkey (with a side of Tofukey for the honored vegetarians among us). Really, I don't know how we pull it off every year, but every dish was delish and there was plenty there-of. There was the usual embarrasment of pies afterwards - apple, pumpkin, pecan (TX style) all home made (which means pie shells weren't perfect, fillings leaked, flavors blew our socks off.

A Contemplative Moment Before Saying Grace

Yeah, that's Hommer peeking over his shoulder...

After dinner Mark showed us an album of photos from Fran's life. This is our first Thanksgiving with her. It was both difficult and exhilarating to see Fran from a cute chubby baby to the beauty she grew up to be. Mark gave me a disc of Fran photos that just love. Must gift him with some of my photos.

Not long after that is was time for the annual games session. Last year it was 'Bananas', but this year we returned to the tried and true Cranium; a board game that challenges you to do stuff like charades, clay modeling, drawing, spelling, you name it, until midnight.

In the Middle of a Game of Cranium

Whew! I was bad and kept zoning out, casting spells on my iPhone Harry Potter app. We played in pairs, Rick & Mark, Diego & Adan, Nancy & Me. Nancy and I came in last, but winning was never the goal anyway.

Nancy trying to recover from a laughing fit after
watching me at charades, performing the word 'Waterbed'

Fancy a Side of Irony with that Drumstick?

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm soon to be off to Rick & Mommy Nancy's for Thanksgiving din-din here in Sacramento. Meanwhile, I'm here at home. There is a crackle log on the fire and I was just enjoying a cosmic joke on myself. It was back in October, you see, that I posted a week's worth of 'spooky shite'. As it happens, Thanksgiving is here and still I'm mulling over the issues that week brought to mind. Many of those so called 'spooky issues' tie in so well with the subtitle of my blog here; Claire's Sit-com Life.

Really, let me explain. I've had animal totems for ages. Totems, spirit guides, power animals - think of them as critters with a lesson for you. I'm going to tell you about my three main totems and how they totally fit in with the Sit-com I've always thought my life to be.

My first totem ever didn't exactly come to me in a dream - at least not a dream I can remember. When I was a first grader. My teacher told my mother there was something wrong with me. All I ever drew at crayon time was Red Foxes. Why? How the heck should I know? I just loved 'Foxy the Fox', as I called my totem. I don't recall if I dremt of foxes, or whatever, but they were close to my heart, pretty much on day one, 6 AM.

My next totem, came to me in a dream when I was 9 or 10 years or so, living in the Bronx. I dreamt I was walking to school and a waterfall sprang out from under the sidewalk by an empty lot. I fell hundreds of feet into a pond below and when I swam to the surface; I was a beaver. Great dream. I used to draw little comic book stories of myself as a beaver named 'Ronnie' (named for Rock n' Roll's 4 Seasons song, as I recall). I didn't realize that beaver dream was a totem dream until I was forty-something, but better late than never. From that early time thought I always thought of beavers as being very special to me.

My inch high toy Beaver - threadbare
via 40 plus years of 'Velveteen Rabbit' love.

When I did know my 'favorite' animals for what they were - totems, I had an amazing revelation; both totems are euphemisms for female sexuality. You know - a hot woman is a 'fox', and a beaver is... okay, moving right along... I decided that my two main totems were so sexual, and myself being on the verge of the asexuality of a single-celled yeast, had to be nothing more than a bizarre, and embarrassing coincidence.

Now my third totem - not my only totem, I've got loads of them, but the only totem other than Beaver, to come to me in a dream/vision; the Mountain Lion that appeared in my bedroom.


Recently acquired Mountain Lion pendant with Peridot eyes
Now here's my point. Last Monday, it dawned on me rather suddenly, that a mountain lion is also called painter, panther and yes, cougar. Guess what folks! Cougar is a new, and recently coined and accepted euphemism for female sexuality, that is, an older woman, who 'preys on' younger men.

GAK!

My Trilogy of Totems all contain a playful innuendo of female sexuality, and me here, damned near a vestial virgin. Now, is that not a prime example of my life having a distinctive Sit-com flare? Damn. Honestly, when I first realized this on Monday I more or less sat down and wrote a letter asking a wiser friend her take on it, then I journaled the whole thing and finally, I've come to the conclusion it all just proves my point. My life is a Sit-com of the non-televised sort, and that is OK with me. Let the polite sniggering begin!