With everything going on because of the Kitchen SNAFU and subsequent remodel, my Baby Steps pretty much came to a screeching halt. My friend Kim has been a big supporter and knows I’m frustrated.
She sent me this in an email… it really really REALLY cheered me up! I hope you find it helpful.
LADIES!!! Remember… a layer of dust protects the wood beneath it. A house becomes a home when you can write ‘I love you’ on the furniture. I used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend making sure things were just perfect – ‘in case someone came over’. Finally I realized one day that no-one came over; they were all out living life and having fun!
NOW, when people visit, I don’t have to explain the ‘condition’ of my home. They are more interested in hearing about the things I’ve been doing while I was away living life and having fun.
Dust if you must... but wouldn’t it be better to paint a picture or write a letter, bake cookies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed, ponder the difference between want and need?
Dust if you must, but there’s not much time… with wine to drink, rivers to swim and mountains to climb, music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.
Dust if you must, but the world’s out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain. This day will not come around, again.
Dust if you must, but bear in mind, old age will come and it’s not kind… and when you go – and go you must – you, yourself will make more dust!
Share this with all the wonderful women in your life. I JUST DID.<
It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.
My friend C recently got a divorce. She wants to sell her rings. I have no idea how much she wants, but if you’re genuinely interested, leave a comment. My blog requires your email address, so I will have it and can forward it on to her.
Warning – a lot of photos here…
Are you genuinely interested? If so, leave a comment stating “I’m interested”.
As you may recall from my Cast Iron or Fireclay post, we were trying to decide between Corian, granite composite, cast iron or fireclay for our sink. Well, we decided on enameled cast iron.
I love Kohler sinks. Way back when (1991), I fell in love with their Executive Chef sink, so when we had our old house built we bought the sink. It was great. I loved the large 9.75” deep side and the 7.75 garbage disposal side. It was great for washing/filling large items and then the smaller side was perfect for rinsing and garbage disposal. We used it as The Offspring’s first bathtub; as well as our tiny 5 pound dog Lady’s. Lady seemed like she was lost in the sink because she was so tiny.
I was so sad when we moved in 1996 because I missed my sink, but Ma and Pa had cows in the pasture behind us so instead of my awesome sink I had the country in the city. It made up for it.
I wash all my pots and pans by hand and have always hated that I can’t get them flat in the bowl. Never fear… Kohler Smart Divide sink to the rescue. The Smart Divide sink has the divider not as tall as the sink, so pot/pan handles can pass over the top. Even before my friend Tammi suggested it last week, I knew I wanted one after seeing one at Home Depot
Having had the Executive Chef sink before I knew I wanted a sink with one large side and a small size, too. I checked Kohler’s web site for Smart Divide and found quite a few. Hubby wasn’t too fond of “curved” sinks and I have to admit with our Shaker cabinets the curved ones didn’t match.
We decided on Kohler’s Iron/Tones Smart Divide sink. It has a 4.5” high divider. Both sides are about 9.5” deep. Our contractor was able to get it for us at their price through Home Depot and we saved over $225.00 off suggested retail!! Thank you, Brent!!!!!
Did you notice there aren’t any holes in the sink and that the faucet is mounted in the countertop not the sink? The nice think about it is that you can have the large side on either side!
As of today, I am planning on having it on the right because our dishwasher and dish rack are both on the left of the sink. That way I can wash on right, rinse on the left and then put dish on dish rack.
[UPDATE:] Remember from my New Kitchen, Part 3 post, this is our kitchen faucet…
To get around my hesitation about the enameled finish getting marred up from my pots and pans, I’m also buying bottom racks for both sides. Again, we were able to save money on these through my contractor. Thanks again, Brent!!!
Here are some pictures of the sink with a countertop (this isn’t our kitchen). See how our countertop will fit over it.
Here, you can see the Smart Divide in use and racks in the bottom of each side
OK… Now I really can’t wait for my kitchen to be done!!! They start demo on the mold-wall (remember the SNAFU that started this whole adventure??) next Monday (Nov 1)!!!
Still left to do during my lunch breaks and after work hours…
Finish packing the kitchen
Remove the wallpaper and border
Buy the crown moulding
But kitchen sink drains
Buy cabinet hardware
Oh… there is too much to do and so little time! Maybe I should start a blog with the same name… Oh right… I already did that!
Do you think the large bowl should be on left or right?
To go along with our “Shaker” look in the kitchen, we ordered the following bathroom vanity/sink. It’s a Mission style cabinet. Our Powder Room (sink and toilet) is narrow so we have to have a small vanity and sink. The cabinet is only 18-3/4” wide x 18” deep (front to back). It is 34” tall. The door pulls are included. These photos aren’t at our house, but I will provide post photos after we receive them and they’re installed.
The door is functional to provide space under the sink.
Here is the side… but given how small the room is, one won’t see this very well…
The sink and countertop are included. I’m nervous about the size of the bowl, but we have a small sink today and the dimensions they provided are close to what we have today. The countertop is black granite.
We went with a Kohler Memoirs toilet. The quiet-close seat is included.
[UPDATE] This toilet has their Class Five technology which have a gravity-fed technology that maximize the natural water force. I hope it’s quiet, but what we hope more is that it lives up to it’s “virtually plug free” claim.
Wow… we’re getting close to being finished with our purchases! Hubby’s right. We only have the crown moulding, kitchen sink and drains left and then I think we’re done with our big purchases!
Thought of the Day…Have you ever felt really dumb? I have… yesterday! ~Me
It turns out that a majority of my readers are Mac users. I didn’t know! I don’t feel alone in the world. Yep… I am a Mac, too! LOVE THEM. I have only had mine for 2.5 years. Won’t buy another Windows PC!
I learned something yesterday and want to share it with my Mac users… PC users don’t worry, I can write you How-To steps, too, but need to know what you want to know how to do… (I use a PC for my day job)
So for my Mac users, do you use Mac Mail? Do you ever receive an email with a picture in it and when you reply to the email the picture is not included? Are you frustrated by the fact that the picture isn’t there so instead you hit “Forward” instead of “Reply”?
For me, the answer to these questions is a resounding YES!! Needless-to-say, I was very frustrated by the fact that I hadn’t found the solution in the past 2.5 years that I’ve been using a Mac!
Well, yesterday I got even more frustrated because my friend Nicki was sending me emails with pictures and I wanted to reply to her and keep the pictures in the messages. I once again did a Google search, but this time I must have put the right words in the search box because I FOUND THE ANSWER!!
Here’s what you do… I can’t believe how simple this is!
Open Mail
From the Edit menu select Attachments
Click on the Include Original Attachments in Reply and this should put a check mark next to the option
Now when you reply to emails with pictures, the pictures will be included
I felt REALLY dumb when I found this, but OH AM I HAPPY!
Had you already found this? What other things do you want to know how to do?
Thought of the Day…Food is the most primitive form of comfort. ~ Sheilah Graham (1904-1988)
About a week and a half ago, The Offspring and I went to a neighborhood bistro and had a wonderful lunch. I’m not a gorgonzola fan… in fact I hate blue cheese! They told me that the gorgonzola in their Butternut Squash Soup with Gorgonzola and Apples wasn’t strong and offered me a sample. I was surprised. It was really good so I ordered it along with Quiche Lorraine. I had already eaten the quiche when I realized I should have taken a photo.
While we waited for our lunch, I noticed a bunch of books on a nearby bookshelf. There was one that caught my eye. It was titled Italian Cooking Encyclopedia. I grabbed my iPhone and used my RedLaser app to check prices. My mouth fell open when I saw $240.00 for a new copy. I thought my app was messed up so when we got home I looked it up on Amazon.com. Yep, $240.00! I thought to myself “no way!” Then I saw it was because it was a first edition.
Don’t worry, I’m not nuts (well… maybe I am… Rafael I expect some smart aleck comment popped into your head! ). I didn’t spend $240 on a cookbook!
I did look at the used copies in Amazon’s marketplace and found a used one from an Oregon seller and the description read:
Worn corners and/or edges (possibly bent). Creases on cover. Used – good. Sound copy (mild reading wear). May have scuffs or missing dust jacket. May have some notes, highlighting or underlining.
When I looked at the price I decided I could afford to buy another cookbook. Guess what I spent for my used first edition copy….
I chose a seller from Oregon so I could get it sooner… Not sure why I felt I needed it sooner, especially since I can’t use my range like I want. (note: if you don’t know what I’m talking about… read my SNAFU, Part 2 post)
I received my book the day after I bought it… the benefit from buying it from a local Amazon marketplace seller.
Well, their description was way off! My new cookbook looks NEW!
OK, not “crisp” new, but just like one that was sitting at the bookstore and had been looked at by customers. I don’t care! I’m soooooo happy!! My $240.00 first edition cookbook cost me a whopping $5.98!!!
The little white box on the front reads
Here are some of the pages… in no particular order. I just flipped pages and took the pictures.
Interestingly enough, the first one was Spinach and Swiss Chard… Ma and Pa (our wonderful neighbors behind our house, you remember… Rosie’s Ma and Pa) just gave me some Swiss Chard. I still have some left in my green veggie bags, so I’m going to try what it says.
Figs and Lemons
Aperitifs & Liquers (duh… it has that at the top page and you can read… silly me!)
The recipes are step-by-step and have full color photos.
Here’s the recipe that made me want the book… Pasta with Cream and Parmesan
This is the last recipe page… Ladies’ Kisses and Tea Cookies
As you saw from the first photo, it’s a pretty hefty book. YEP… that’s right 502 pages!
My friend Kim has been a big supporter and knows I’m frustrated.
I hope you find it helpful. 
They are more interested in hearing about the things I’ve been doing while I was away living life and having fun.
but wouldn’t it be better to paint a picture or write a letter, bake cookies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed, ponder the difference between want and need?
with wine to drink, rivers to swim and mountains to climb, music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead. 
but the world’s out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain. This day will not come around, again. 
Follow Me!