Garden Dreams and Water Features

Gorgeous no?
This is the fountain at my friend Saundra's house.
The fountain is situated on the front walk to her home.
I covet it.
I pretty much covet Saundra's whole house and garden...except for her property taxes and maintenance costs...she can keep those.

January is when I start thinking about gardening, when I itch to get my fingers into the soil - but I can't because every square inch of soil here at this old farm is a muddy mucky mess...
so I dream.
Lately I've been dreaming of water features...especially fountains like Saundra's.
Except today, when my dreams of water fountains came true.
In my kitchen.
My kitchen sink became a lovely water feature, shooting water straight up into the air, onto the window and all over me and the counters and floors.
I bet that doesn't happen at Saundra's house, Saundra's faucets wouldn't dream of exploding all over her kitchen - Saundra runs a tight ship.

On a happy note, Moen is sending me a replacement faucet.
Thank You Moen, for not making me jump through a lot of hoops and standing behind your warranty.
Disclaimer* The nice guy that I talked to from Moen didn't ask me to say nice things about them, he doesn't even know that I have a blog that nobody reads.
I can't say that he doesn't know who I am except he does, cuz he's sending me a new faucet. I doubt he knows that when you blog and say nice things about faucet makers that you also have to say that they aren't paying you to say those nice things.
I wonder how much we paid our elected officials to make up those silly rules, oops...I think that's another post - for another day.


I shall resume my dreams of water features..but I shall be more specific, all water features must be outdoors.

The Happy Cook

Oh my...I'm a happy little cook.
The kitchen isn't finished, but it's in hold-mode so that we can take some time to enjoy the last bit of summer. Remodeling isn't for sissys, especially if you're trying to do a lot of the labor yourself - but I wouldn't change a thing.
Last week I put the kitchen to the test and cooked like a maniac for our annual Garden Party...oh.my.stars!
I loooove my new kitchen.
I have counter space, and lots of it! Well, I guess not compared to the McMansions that I've seen, but when you consider that my washer and dryer took up a lot of space in the old kitchen it was always a little challenging to do serious cooking.
But now? Ooooo la la!
This girl has room to spread out! The photo is of the bar which has become command central in the kitchen, I can really spread out. I can cook three recipes all at once, I can get out all of the ingredients and line them up like little soldiers in my cooking army! I know I sound over-the-top giddy but cooking in the old kitchen was like cooking with one arm tied behind your back.
Now that I've rambled on and on about counter space...can I tell you how much fun it is to cook really seriously with a dishwasher? A dishwasher! Now that's somethin' I tell ya...washing dishes never really made me cranky, but it ate up a lot of time...especially during a cook-a-rama. I'm calculating that I can cook twice as much stuff in half the time with my little friend from kitchen-aid.
I gotta watch it, I don't want to have to buy bigger jeans because of all of the good food I'm planning to make.

Celebrate!

The cabinets are coming, the cabinets are coming!

Ok...they've been in the garage for months...but tomorrow they're getting installed, I wish it was me (and hubby) doing the installation but he's drawing the line - he won't budge - he won't install cabinets with me.

Sunday we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, two months ago we took a wonderful sailing trip, a gift we gave to each other...we think thirty is a really big deal, we love sailing so that was how we opted to mark this memorable occasion.
The photo is of us after a great week on the boat...bliss baby.
We both want to take another sailing trip, the dream is to go to the South Pacific.
What do sailing and cabinets have in common? In my cajoling conversation with hubby about cabinet installation...he said "you really think we'd still be married if we tried to install those cabinets on our own?"
He has a point, cabinet installation is tricky,
and I want another anniversary so we can go sailing again.

I give.

Floored

The kitchen floor saga continues.
If Bob Vila was doing and episode of "This Old Farm" and someone had asked if this old kitchen floor could be saved, two days ago I would have said no...give up girl...go shopping for something to cover up that nightmare.
But today...the sun is shining...and the floor looks like something I just might be able to live with.
The journey to this point was long and arduous.
It consisted of peeling off all of the layers of old flooring - I won't go into that since I already posted about our escapades on the floor peel-a-rama.
Next up came...
sander rental, big...
but not big enough or mean enough...call it the sissy sander...
another sander rental and the meanest roughest sandpaper on the market...
two buckets of gap filler goop...
a palm sander for edges...
a random orbital sander to sand out the ruts and gouges from 100 years ago...
four batches of stain color trials...
first coat of stain...yuck
next coat of stain...uh ohhh...nooo likey!!!
fix it with the third coat of stain...
Hubby peeked in at it last night when I was close to finishing up the final coat of stain..he said "looks good hon"...it was like music to my ears. I think both of us thought this floor was probably more work than it would be worth...but neither of us wanted to spend a bunch of money on new flooring - since I was willing to tackle it he got out of the way, smart man that one ;)

This morning - - the floor looks decent. I think I'm ready to put on the first coat of sealer.
Unfortunately I don't think my knees will bend for me to get down there with a bucket and a brush.
I don't even want to think about how many hours I already have in this floor...and there are still several more to add to the tally.
Where the heck is that ibuprophen?

What's That Stuff?

The biggest challenge in the remod has been the kitchen floor...testing my patience I tell ya.
100+ years of flooring, one stacked on top of the other. I've had several people tell me it would be best if I just covered up the mess by adding another layer.
Uh uh.
The top layer was curling linoleum, and there were soft spots where the dishwasher and sink each had their little hissy fits over the years. There was no way I was going to stack my new cabinets over potential dry rot?
Dumb...approaching stupid.
So, we got busy. We're down to the original t&g fir flooring, lots of water damage but no rot. The base layer of linoleum was backed with tar paper that was stuck to the floor with some kind of adhesive - I was able to get that off with my favorite Jasco stripper. But the Jasco doesn't touch some kinda wierd gunk that was under the tar streaks..it looks like floor wax, or glue of some kind.
After a lot of internet research I thought a steaming process would take it off.
Nope.
Mineral Spirits?
Nope.
Paint thinner?
Nope.
Acetone?
Nope.
I talked to another know-it-all guy at another paint store and he asked me if I'd tried Denatured Alcohol...he was sure that would take it right off - so I bought it.
Nope.
Then I remembered that a friend had told me her husband had the same problem with the floor in their bungalow. He'd tried absolutely everything and then someone told him to use boiling water. I tried it...scrubbing with steel wool right after pouring on the water - - - it worked! The boiling water/steel wool scrub turns that gunk to muddy water. It's a really slow process and the water has to be boiling or it's a no-go.
I talked to that friend this week and asked her who told her hubby about the boiling water trick...he told her it was me.
Yikes.
I hate middle-age brain fog...I seem to have lost a few chunks of really good data.
If you find my data would you please be so kind as to send it to me?
Oh ya...and if you have a really old house with strange gunk on the original wood floors...try srubbing with boiling water first before you buy buckets of chemicals.

The Treasure Hunt

Oh. My. Goodnes.
I'm on a little remodeling break, this stuff isn't for sissies ...or for that matter fifty year old women with back issues. It's still fun, even through a haze of muscle relaxers and pain killers...better remodeling through chemistry.
I keep looking for treasures, for that wedding ring of Carolines that was lost more than forty years ago, anything! There was a newspaper from July 27,1961..it was stapled into the soffit in the kitchen - that was fun to look at...coffee was 69 cents a pound. It's obvious that every farm family that lived here over the last 110 years was on a shoestring budget, nothing was wasted, this old house was built sturdy but without any frills. The remodel from 1961 gutted the kitchen and changed the footprint from what I can tell. I was told that in the late sixties they blew in insulation...well...they did that on the north side of the house, but not a spec on the south wall...I guess insulation was considered a frill. Bare studs, not a spec of fuzzy stuff anywhere - unless you count spider webs...no wonder my heating bills cause choking and gasping every winter.
I've taken little snapshots of all of the different wallpaper samples...some are pretty...others...not so much.
But last night while we were peeling back layer after layer of linoleum, sub floor, plywood and tar paper...I found this flooring.
I like it!

I wish I knew the stories of the families that lived here before me...because I think I would like the lady that chose this flooring for the living area.
I can't help but wonder who she was and how she spent her days.
These are the things I think about while I'm crouched on the floor with my nail puller and pry bar.

For "the girls"

Or....the project that ate me up...hopefully it will spit me out ;)

My girlfriends haven't seen me for a while...heck...I haven't seen me in a while!
The kitchen remodel is in full swing, walls are coming down, windows are changing or getting eliminated...all in the name of progress. I love it, most of the time. Except for times like today when I had a rather intense discussion with a plumber, then my hubby, then my helper, then the electrician...ayyyeeee!
When it was finally all over and I thought I could finally put away my hammer and start diner...the washer overflowed, over the floors that I SAID should get sealed first.
Crabby farm girl.
But I have a laundry "room". My washer and dryer are no longer in my kitchen...they can no longer be seen from the front door...I am over-the-moon-happy!!!
I guess that makes me a grown-up now, because I have a la la la laundry room!
This photo is for Mary...look Mar! No back entry wall! Cool huh? The kitchen feels huuuuge.

Lookie lookie...I have a "laundry room". All smiles.
And...you can't see the washer and dryer because they're hidden behind that little wall, groovy baby.

And a back door! Where farmer hubby can come in, hang up his coverall and not get hay all over the kitchen.

I'm doing a happy dance and singing a happy song.

Now that all of that water from the washer flood is cleaned up....and the guys admitted that I warned them this was going to happen.
Just so we're clear.
Right boys?

Tunnel Vision, The Remodel Saga

Goodness...I didn't think that lighting would be where I would get stuck. So many choices - and I like them all!
This one is Limoges, it's one of my favorites but I don't really like the cord, it seems a bit cheapy-creepy. It seems to me that Limoges and exposed cords shouldn't go hand in hand. Yes, I'm an opinionated farmgirl indeed.



Is there light at the end of the lighting tunnel?


Don't you love this? It's a photo of my girlfriends driveway.

My posts lately have been quickies, or... um...nonexistent.
The kitchen thing is fun, but it's where all of my creative energy is going...blogging is taking a back seat for sure. I haven't been visiting other blogs much but hopefully I'll be able to click around and see what's shakin' the blogosphere soon.
I'm finally wrapping up the materials gathering phase, I haven't smashed a single thing yet. A friend advised me to make sure I have all of my decisions made and my materials chosen before I start demo, and since we'll be doing a good portion of the work ourselves it's not like I can go out shopping while the carpenters are doing the labor...this old farmgirl is the laborer. Woohooo!
The one thing I didn't have definite opinions about was lighting. Now I know why...it's because I like it all! Well...except for that look where there are fifteen pot lights scattered all over the ceiling - not a big fan of that.
Come along...go light shopping with me..and please, opinions are most welcome!


Cool, I like this one. Oh...wait a minute - it's a whole lot like the fixture I've had in my kitchen for the last 25 years...
moving on.


Bling? In my kitchen? It could be fun, I saw something like this last year on a holiday home tour and loved it. Oh wait, I'm not a bling girl, more of a barn boots and hair out of the way kinda gal. Oh...and this one was a spendy little number.
Pass!


Totally love the shape, but yikes...wayyy too shiny and bright. I like dull, well... I like dull surfaces - not dull parties or friends.


Industrial meets schoolhouse, would I get sick of it?


I like the lines, it just seems a bit heavy for the space.


This one is pretty dang cool, it looks handmade....like blown glass. I sure wish the folks that make my favorite Limoge fixture would take lessons on cords from this manufacturer, this is beautifully done.

So, I think these are my choices...until I go to another lighting store, or Home Store, or junk shop.


Don't worry, it's not all work and no play around here. I finally made it to the city to take my darling niece for her 21st birthday lunch....delightful and truly lovely...oh yeah...the food was good too.

I'd love a comment or two, help me choose....because I really do like them all ;)

Sink, Sunk, Sank

Shopping and researching sinks.
Thanks goodness for cousin Mary, the girl is a fountain of information. She told me about Houzer sinks and I just got off the website....after running around all day yesterday and not coming up with a single thing - here we go.
The whole sink thing has been a bit confusing for me. I think I know what I don't want - but I'm not sure what I do want.
The groovy new kitchen will have two sinks! After having a washer and dryer in the kitchen for almost thirty years I'm getting ritzy. Since the water pipes are already in the wall on that side of the kitchen I figured I should take advantage of the situation and have a designated clean-up zone.
So...I like this one.
Does anybody have any advice for me? I hand wash my wine glasses and delicate china and crystal...thought the built-in drainboard was a cool feature.
Yay?
Nay?

Time to DIY

The never-ending saga of the kitchen remodel...continues.

There is a little part of me that would like to have a section of my kitchen counter done in wood...not butcher block but face grain.
I've been doing a lot of online research and surfing through my kitchen books, boy have I seen some beauties...
Love the look!
I went to see a few people, talked about the pros and cons...got a rough idea on pricing from one guy - a thousand bucks for ten feet of kitchen counter.
Choke.
Until today...when another guy called back with his bid,
drum roll please....
$2230.00 for a ten foot counter, no back splash... a hole cut for an under mount sink.
I think it's time to do a little more research, and perhaps it's time for this old farmgirl to get out her power tools.

I found this.
My recycle maniac is shifting into high gear.
Old maple gym flooring in 4' x 12' sections.
$108 bucks in materials...
plus some elbow grease and sandpaper...maybe a little molding, some tung oil.
If I hate it I'm sure I can find a home for it around here someplace.


Maybe I can sell it to some fool for two thousand bucks...
rofl.

***materials update....got the flooring for 30 bucks!!!
Yippieeee ;)

Well Helloooo There...

Wanna come live at my house?
How do you feel about living on a farm?
We promise to be nice to you.
We'll let you hang out with our friends in the kitchen,
you'll get to be a big part of every party.
Really...it's gonna be fun.
Promise.

Turn Back the Calendar!

That's right...turn it back.
Back to June...I want a do-over.
Not because it wasn't right the first time, but because it was so sweet -
great weather,
great houseguests,
fun parties,
things got DONE!
The garden...oh the garden - the best year ever. The freezer is filling up fast with organic fruits and veggies...today I'll pick-shuck-blanch-cut-freeze another 50 ears of corn. I think that will get me close to the 200 mark, 200+ ears of corn, beans, raspberries, squash and more...my goal this year was to focus on not letting my garden produce get away from me and go to waste - it happens too often.
My only garden regret is rhubarb, I didn't get one single stalk into the freezer, oh well...there is always next spring.
And speaking of next spring...maybe we could just turn the calendar FORWARD!
The kitchen remodel is freaking me out, can't turn the calendar back on that one, the cabinets have been ordered and should be finished pretty soon. Yiiiikes.
I've been in the garden, hiding from the decision making process.
I haven't started demo,
I haven't decided on countertop.
Hey...I have an idea ;)
Here...you pick.
Hubby and my BIL picked the exact same one - I think it's too busy.
What say you?

While you're making up your mind I think I'll go make a giant batch of applesauce and put it in the freezer.
Happy choosing!

I know I'm not the only one

It's a little out of control.
Just a little.
It's not something that bothers me, or my husband.
But I know it's a little over the top.
I've heard it tagged a few different ways.
Dishease.
Chinaholic.
A friend openly calls herself a dish wh*re.
I'm right there with her.
It's time to clear out the kitchen and dining room to get ready for the big smash-up in the kitchen...de-construction they call it.
I started with the stemware. There's a lot of it, I'm just moving it out to a cabinet in the party barn so it's safe and easy to get to if I want a champagne flute while I'm sweeping up sawdust, plastic cups just don't do it for me...especially with champagne.
I giggle when I go out to the party barn and see all of the stems lined up.
Looks like we should have a party...pick a glass and we can make a beverage to coordinate with the stemware.

Moving on to dishes...and china...and teacups.
Guess there should be a tea party too...
And maybe a girls coffee time.
Goodness.

It can't be all bad...it's not like there's a twelve step program for it or anything.

Is there?

Surfing for Surfaces

So...I've finally tweaked the kitchen cabinet design for the last time - they're ordered! Yikes.
New dishwasher and fridge - chosen and ordered.
Next up?
Floors and counters...
Plain Jane, practical and economical farm girl that I am ...I'm seriously leaning toward Formica.
I don't drive a foreign car, don't have any fancy high heels like Manolo's or Jimmy Choos...never has a fancy handbag caught my fancy.
Since I've never done this before I'm trying to challenge my own thought process. Will I be sorry I didn't take the big leap and go for the granite?

I'd love some advice, Formica? Granite? Tile? Composite?

Next week...flooring...oh, I'm going to miss my curling 70's linoleum...
Yaaa..right.

The Party's Over

Oh...I suppose.
That's as good a blog title as any.
It was an unintentional month long blogging break....I guess we could also call it
*And she lived to tell about it!
or
*Are you still here?
or
Fifty ways to hit fifty.
Yup..it's true. This old gal at this old farm hit the big five-oh, and it didn't hurt even a teensy bit.
Somewhere in that month I
got a job
quit that job
got rehired
quit again
had some wonderful house guests
had a not-party birthday celebration
went to a few outdoor concerts with fabulous friends
got invited to some really great parties
nailed down the design for the kitchen remodel
freaked out about kitchen remodel costs
moved the fridge to discover rotting floor
decided kitchen remodel isn't optional, it's mandatory...
unless I wanna fall through the floor

I was a whirlwind month, several times I tried to sit down and blog...but the words
just didn't flow...yup...the girl who can hardly talk today because she wore out her voice last week can't pull together enough words to write a paragraph or two.
Odd..I know.

So, if I find more words I'll be back..if not...I'll pop in now and then and read what the rest of you are doing out there in blogger land.

Cheers!
I'm off to the lumberyard and then it's time to sit down and plan the kitchen demolition...
Woohooooo!
I just love the feel of a properly balanced wrecking bar ;)

The Messies

Dark cabinets...

Or light painted cabinets.

I love the cream colored kitchen...hubby likes it too.
But I think we have to go with a wood stained cabinet look.
I found these pictures online cruising real estate listings...these condos have the same layout but different color schemes.
The layout is quite similar to the layout of the kitchen upgrade we need to do here at the farm. When I look at the two photos side by side I really prefer the cream colored cabinets.
But I don't think I can have them, it's just not practical.

We're messy... plain and simple. Call us Mr. and Mrs. McMessie.
Hubby farms, he's dirty. I garden...I'm dirty.
We eat almost all of our meals at home. I cook a lot, and I don't mean popping something out of a cardboard box and shoving it into the microwave.
I chop, slice, dice, saute, fry, bake, and simmer...my kitchen gets a serious workout. That means splatters and spills, hubby opens cabinets with sticky fingers and no amount of whining from his lovely wifey will change this behavior.
So...I think dark cabinets are our only option - to hide some of those splatters and sticky finger smears until they get cleaned up by yours truly.
If anybody has any advice for me on kitchen remodels I'd be more than happy to hear it, all I know how to do is dream about a new kitchen...never really done more than that.
Yikes.

For my irl friends, yup...it looks like it's going to happen.
I'm getting that kitchen upgrade that this old farmhouse is sorely in need of.
Guess we better plan a little farewell party for those nasty 60's cabinets and the lovely 70's linoleum.
Maybe it should be a demolition party.
Champagne and crowbars ...
I just love a good theme party.

Cooking by Committee

I love gathering with friends, making a meal together...we call it "Cooking by Committee". Give me a knife and I'm happy to chop, a pan and a spoon - I'll stir 'til you tell me to stop. It's so much fun to create a fabulous meal while chatting and catching up, unless I'm in charge! I had a dear friend who was a fabulous cook and she was always so relaxed in the kitchen, something I need to work on.
Multi-tasking in other areas of my life? No problem!
Cooking and chatting in my own kitchen? Problem! I get totally confused, lost, distracted...and something usually gets burned.
I think the trick is to just smile and nod...and keep my eyes on the stove!

Kitchen Nightmares

I've been reading house porn again, that's what I call decor magazines. They're my weakness, aw heck...it could be so much worse, that's what I tell The Husband...it's just House Beautiful and Traditional Home (ok...and a few more).

I found this kitchen photo online and I actually figured out how to save it, sorry to say after all of that I can't remember where I found it. I loooove the look of this kitchen, in order for it to work in my house I would have to shrink it down to about half the size, hmmm...probably even less.

I've only been dreaming about a new kitchen for twenty eight years. Right now I have curling 70's linoleum, a leaking fridge, a non-functioning dishwasher and brand new stains on the carpet that leads to the dining room because the washer sprung a leak a couple of weeks ago -yay! Oh yeah, the washer and dryer in the kitchen....true multi-tasking.

My daydreams of a new kitchen have now wormed their way into my dreams at night...only they're not so dreamy. I've been taking pain meds and muscle relaxers (crappy back) and they always give me strange dreams, last night was a doozy. My dream was that I finally committed to a kitchen remodel and ordered the cabinets above...only they didn't fit. The kitchen island in the photo was installed in my existing kitchen, and there wasn't room for anything else....you couldn't even walk in the door, the whole kitchen was one big beautiful granite topped island - no fridge, no sink, no stove....no nothin'. Just one giant island that you couldn't even walk around.
Of course my favorite decorators were there to tell me I should have known better than to design my own kitchen, even my favorite decor bloggers were there to tell me what dummy I was.
Big bunch of meanies.

Now wonder I'm scared to remodel.

My poor old kitchen

Roberts photo challenge this week is called "show me"...and today it's the kitchen. I've walked into the kitchen for two days and tried to think of cool, funky ways to take a photo of it. I came up with nothin'....not one stinkin' creative thought. I've been working in the party barn this morning - I must have used up all of my creative juice out there. Oh yeah...and I decided to "keep it real" for the photo, dishes in the sink, on the counter, in the dish rack....and a few paint brushes there to the left of the sink that need to be cleaned - hey man...we're workin' around here!
This poor old kitchen needs a lot of TLC. The dishwasher hasn't worked in years, the fridge leaks, the cabinets are circa 1967, the linoleum is from the early 70's...oh yeah - and the washer and dryer are directly behind me where I stood to take this shot! Yup, no laundry room at this old farm..when I grow up I would love to have a laundry room. We talk about adding on space, adding a second bathroom. I've drawn multiple plans, shopped for cabinets, talked to an architect and contractors....but I just can't take the plunge, we even arranged for financing!

The Husband and I ran a few errands this weekend and while we were at Costco we saw some old friends...they were buying flooring for their kitchen, living and dining room - their entire kitchen is gutted right now. She invited me to come over and see it when it's all finished, maybe I'll just live vicariously through her...or maybe...we'll just move in with them.
Hey now, there's a thought!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

No no no no no no no no no no....!!!!!!!

That's what I said this morning while I was making my coffee. I've been an

at-home-espresso-freak now for at least fifteen years...if not more. Since 1995 I've had two of these little Krups machines, they make great coffee - no fancy shmancy yuppie gadgets for me. Good coffee is about the right beans roasted the right way and ground fresh - the right way, these facts are not negotiable for me. I buy my beans in small quantities and keep them in the fridge. Sound obsessive? Probably...I'll own that. But I make a mighty fine cuppa and have fellow java lovers who will back that up. I like making a good strong brew for the folks that enjoy it, I love watching them grab the big mug with both hands and say, "oh ho ho ho...that's gooooood". That ranks high on "stuff I dig list".

Soooooo.....this morning when I was really sleepy/groggy/foggy ....that's another story, let's just say that the doggie that is visiting is a little sore today and won't ever be procreating. Anywhooo......every day when I make my coffee I put the perfect amount of water in the machine and due to the fact that I was not working with all of my faculties, I doubled up on the water....whoops. I went to dump the water out and start over again and yiiiiikes....spare parts came out of the reservoir. Those little parts you can see on the counter in the photo above, there's a spring thingy, a couple of washers and a little metal plug looking thing. Acckkkkkkk! No way! Please, NO! Not today! Ok...any day would have been bad, this would be a bad bad thing even on the most sunny perfect all-is-right-with-the-world kind of day.

My first thought was "there is no stinkin'way I'm driving to Starbucks"...that's not something I ever do in my own town, if I'm in another town I'll hit a "Bucks" but it never tastes as good as my own stuff..... although I do use their beans these days.

Well...since I didn't see any other options I filled the reservior and loaded the grounds, tamped them down, crossed my fingers and hit the "on" button". I got my triple shot out of the deal but something was definitely missing, there just wasn't the depth of flavor that I demand.

This situation must be addressed immediately. The only solution I can see is that when "The Husband" comes home from his meeting today I'll leave the doggie with him and drive the ten-plus miles it's going to take to locate a decent espresso machine.

Yuk, I hate to shop, yuk yuk yuk. Hmmm....maybe I'll buy one of those fancy shmancy machines. Ya right.

Hey...I just might.