More Beauty and Slowness in My Life

On Sunday morning we gave our microwave to our college-age daughter before she left on her long trip that will take her back to school. When she voiced a desire for a microwave in her dorm room, I said, "I'll give you mine, and I'll go buy another one." 

The microwave left in her car, but we didn't go buy a new one on Sunday. Adam looked at our local WalMart, but they only had large ones; we need the small size. Here's a photo from 2 years ago when we redid the kitchen:

It was a shelf just made for that microwave.

Anyway ... now it's Tuesday and we still don't have a new microwave. We were thinking of driving to Morehead to look for one there, among other errands. 

I asked Adam, "What do you use the microwave for?"

"Melting butter," he answered.

I use it for heating my chai in the morning. I never, ever make microwave popcorn; I make it on the stove. I began to wonder (you knew this was coming) ... do we really need a microwave?

The answer: no

I also wondered ... do I really want a microwave?

A microwave adds speed. I don't need to add speed to my life. Doing things fast and efficiently has been the theme of my life (and often its bane). I always, always need to slow down. Why would I want a machine in my life that helps me speed up?

We agreed to forego a microwave, at least for now. I'm heating up spiced cider on the stovetop for my mid-morning beverage.

I heat my chai in that same little pan. It's a leisurely, pleasant morning habit. It's soothingly fiddly, steams, and makes the house smell good. Plus, I'm not convinced the microwave fit well with my kitchen vibe. Here's what we did with the shelf:

I'm wondering if any of you live without a microwave? Or if you have one, would you like to get rid of it?

Pickles

Just as the peas were going out, the cucumbers were coming in. And with them, the dill began to flower. It's time for pickles!

These are Boston pickling cucumbers.

Adam is our pickle-maker. He prefers dills, and makes lots of refrigerator jars of them. I prefer a sweet/dill mix. However, I'm prone to make many jars and never eat them.

Dill from my herb garden

So he made me one jar of sweet/dill chips, my favorite.

He also installed the kitchen over-sink light. Hooray!

The green grassy stuff is lemongrass, which has rooted in a jar - yay!

Usually our hottest, nastiest temperatures are reserved for July and August, but today the high was 96, with a heat index of about 106. Ugh! It was awful. I walked out of the hospice thrift store (with this)

(Air Margaritaville is a restaurant.)

... and the outdoors felt like a sauna on full blast. The whole outdoors. You fellow-Southerners know wherof I speak. 

I lost one of my baby chicks to a predator, so now I have 3. She was my favorite, and I was pretty sure she was a hen. Sad :(

Granny Marigold inspires me with her faithful baking, so this afternoon I made some of my healthy oatmeal cookies. I haven't made any since March or April. 

There. That's dinner sorted!

I carefully started quite a few Blue Lake green bean plants and put them into a lovely garden bed. Two mornings later, the rabbits had done this:

All but about four of my bean plants were nibbled to nubbins.
So Adam installed the rabbit fence. I'm tired of rabbits.

And now for the BIG news ... we are getting a roof! Adam was so very stressed about it, and I asked him, "Well, there must be lots of people in our situation, who must have a new roof, but who don't have spare thousands sitting around. What do they do?"
"I guess they get a loan."
So we got a bank loan. We haven't gotten a bank loan since we bought my piano back in 1991, I think! We will tighten our belts a bit more and make the payments, but the most important thing is ... our ceilings will not start falling in. Hooray! We are pleased with the roofer we chose. He says the roof we have now is probably the original metal roof. Original -- that means 1922. That's a mighty old roof. The materials will be delivered today.I'll have pictures for you when it's on. 

Thanks for stopping by, friends. I'm so glad to have blog friends - you gals are a big encouragement to me!

It's June 1st - It's the White Skirt Club!!

Today is important. Right now, Anna and Gramm are down at the courthouse, procuring their marriage license.

It's also my birthday! This morning Adam gave me my birthday card.

Anna had a fabulous bridal shower on Wednesday, given by the ladies in our church. More about that later.

What does a girl-of-certain-age do on her birthday?
Spin, of course:

Go to the thrift store:

I found those two pillow covers and loved them. ($1 each)

The light fixture will go over our kitchen sink. I knew that if I waited long enough I'd find something at the thrift store. It's old-fashioned and just my cup of tea. Also $1!

I picked these tomatoes 

this morning in my garden.

Last year on my birthday I ate my first little cherry tomato from the garden. I was quite "chuffed" (as they say in Britain) -- that means excited and happy -- to have such an early tomato. This year?
I have this many tomatoes because I dug 3 volunteer plants out of the garden last fall, put them into big pots, and overwintered them (rather badly) on the front porch. But their root systems were ahead of the game when I put them back in the garden this spring. They're rewarding me with tomatoes now - a handful! They have recovered marvelously and will produce all summer. I like this plan and think I'll do it again this coming winter.

A coupe of you asked about my white skirts from the thrift store. I'm wondering if this might be a new fad. Do we need a club, ladies? I decided to show them to you with a video because it's easier:

More Kitchen Finishes

#1. The Cast Iron

I've been hauling this cast iron pot rack around for nearly 30 years, knowing someday I'd use it. Finally! Adam located the stud in the wall and used a hefty lag bolt to support the rack. It's located near the stove. No more digging around in bottom cabinets, dropping cast iron on my toe, holding my nose because the cabinet was damp and saggy and moldy and had mouse poop. No more!
#2. The Revere Ware

Our pots and pans were also in a lower cabinet before, and many naughty words were considered (and rejected, of course) while throwing said pots around, hunting for the right lid, the steamer, the double boiler. Grr. No more! Now they hang ready above the stove.

The S-hooks that hang all these pots on both racks cost $5 each. Yikes! We weren't parting with $45 for hooks, so Adam bought a steel rod for $4, cut it, and bent it into hooks. He made a jig for that purpose:

Sorry So Fuzzy. Smudge on camera lens.

 He bought and assembled this sturdy rod (below). An online video showed how to add a shelf above it, perfect for displaying a few pieces of china. I love the variety of natural finishes in the room, including this metal rod.

#3. About Those Shelves

 First, they're pretty. I'm proud of Adam for his carpentry.
Second, we absolutely love having open shelving. No more opening and closing doors for every single item in the kitchen. You need a glass? There it is, in front of you. Pick it up. You just washed a plate? Put it on the shelf. Company helping in the kitchen? They never have to ask, "Where does this go?" Seriously, I've known people who put labels on their cabinets because they grew weary of telling people where everything was located ... behind All Those Doors.

 People have said, "Oh, but all your mess will show." Actually, this is how our dishes looked in the cabinets too. Glasses together. Plates stacked. Cups together. I'm not a clean freak (obviously, haha). But keeping the shelves reasonably tidy should not be hard with just the two of us.

 Everything is so handy. And yes, I can reach all those pots easily:

 And the Revere Ware, without using tippy toes.

Adam did raise the stove hood a bit, and it looks much better.
#4. The Baking Table

 Adam had some rather bad news, dental-wise, this morning (as in ... expensive), but he didn't let that slow him down. He worked on the shelf for his Baking Table/Station. It's not so much a shelf as a rolling platform upon which the table will sit.
Here's the platform, made of scrap lumber left over. We have kept costs as low as possible on this whole project.

 He mounted the table onto that platform, putting locking casters underneath.

 The whole table fits nicely into its spot and serves as a perfect counter.

 When he's in a baking mood, it can wheel out into the kitchen and be locked in position. As in ... Wedding Cake Baking!

He'll add some separators underneath for the
baking paraphernalia, and get rid of the boxes.

 He will also beautify the outside edge of that platform later with a board stained to match the table.
While he worked on the table I made Vegetable Pot Pie.

I wanted Chicken Pot Pie, but we had no chicken in the house. We have no beef in the house either. We don't eat a lot of meat. I was disappointed, before I realized I could just leave the chicken out and use our many vegetables in the freezer to make a pot pie anyway. Frozen fresh from the garden last year, I included:
potatoes
corn
peas
green beans
tomatoes 

I also added:
onion
garlic
celery
carrot
plus, vegetable and chicken bouillon stirred into a roux. 

I had a pie crust in the freezer from making fruit pies a few weeks ago. And it turned out perfectly -- not runny, a delicious flavor, crispy/flaky crust. A good warm meal on a cold day.

In the kitchen we still have 3 shelves to put up, a backdoor to sand and stain, and a light fixture to find at the thrift store for above the sink. I think that's about it. 

I'll sign off with some pretty photos of a horse farm nearby. 

The trees and flowers say "Spring!" but the temperatures disagree. 32 degrees this morning. Brr! Stay warm out there! We are tickled pink with our kitchen. Adam says it looks Hobbitish. I think it looks a little magical.

My Kitchen Hero

Adam worked very, very hard for two days and got the kitchen to "paint stage" -- when I got to help again.
Remember how I said the dry wall under those bump-outs was rather pathetic?

 It's hardly attached. And look at those whopping gaps! It saddened Adam to think of all the dry wall patching he would have to do.
Then he thought of putting boards in those long empty strips! I stained them first, and now it kind of looks like we have beams in our kitchen.

Don't worry. I'll get rid of that nasty wallpaper.

 Thursday morning, his first task was to frame in a box around the stove vent.

 He then attached a sturdy piece of plywood to the front, and wrapped it in dry wall. We will be hanging our cast iron there, so he wanted a strong support under the dry wall. No we won't! Change of plans! Stay tuned for pot-hanging strategy.

 The stove hood and vent will hang under that box.

Friday morning, I painted. It's quite yellow.

 I perched on the refrigerator.
This is just the first coat. The wallpaper over the doors will be challenging to cover. It would not rip off.

More progress on Friday:

I can put a large Cheerios box on a shelf!

The bright yellow in the top photos is more accurate than the insipid beige of the bottom ones. Adam worked so hard on those four shelves in such a narrow space. Tomorrow he'll do more, longer shelves.

Saturday: Today we feel we have moved back into our kitchen!

 

Adam put up more and longer shelves today. Each bracket is held by four bolts with a spring attachment that spreads out on the other side of the dry wall. Each bracket holds 60 lbs.
Here are the shelves thus far on either side of the window:

I wanted cup hooks so badly.

 Here's the stove side of the kitchen. Smaller shelves, so cooking/baking essentials will be kept here. Other seldom-used or bulk items will be on longer shelves over the frig ... coming at a later date.

Yes, the hood is that yellow.
That's the spray paint I had.

 I wanted to get things off the counters, and I wanted almost no storage underneath. Adam and I are older and do not want to bend down. And we certainly do not want to squat. And if we actually get on the floor, we may not get up again!
Another high shelf will go up here (photo below), the length of the kitchen. It will hold all those never-used items that you simply can't throw away. 

(Someday I'll get around to painting those last strips of ceiling ....)

 When they come to gather dust on the top shelf in the kitchen, that will free up space elsewhere in the house (I have kitchen stuff all over), and I can move some of my books out of my studio, which will free up space for my yarn ....
On the other side of the room, a shelf will go above the frig, which we can reach easily with a small stool. Then one more nose-bleed section shelf over that.

 Like I said -- 10 foot ceilings
This narrow space between the frig and the back door used to house a pantry. It was a horrible space where food stuffs went to die.
Now it will hold the trash cans, broom, etc. And I may beg Adam to put one more little shelf there for hiding the ugly Tupperware/plastic.

So there you have it! I'm too tired to say more, and if I'm tired you can only imagine how Adam feels. Poor thing -- his bad leg doesn't do ladders well, and he's been up and down that tall ladder more times than we can count. He is stiff. I am so grateful for him. None of this -- none of it! -- is in some natural skill set for him, and it's not work that he particularly loves (as some men adore woodworking). But he did a brilliant job! And he was willing to do it, for me. (Humbling and wonderful) 
And now that we can really see our kitchen dream as a reality, we love it as we thought we would.

It's a rustic cabin-style kitchen!