Catching up

As promised, here are some details and pics.

First, here is the master carpenter working on the molding! wow, what a pain this is. Even the how to websites say hire a pro...I say, hire my dad! when you are trying to make 45 deg angles when your 180 deg is wiggling all over the place, (i.e. MY CEILING!) Um, 45 turns out to be 46.287590834 degrees. Oh so fun with the mitre saw. (or is it miter... mighty saw?) Yes, kids, don't try this at home...ok, try it, but be sure you are patient, and good with geometry, not afraid to cope the heck out of a curvy board, and willing to experiment. Confidence is a must. So is an air compressor nail gun! No messing around with pre drilling and nail setting. I did not order enough molding...my inadvertant ploy to get a return visit.

Um--one little trick to share. Do you notice the valance above the sink in the above pic? Well, when you get the cabinets, sometimes the doors are warped or marred. We were going to make a valance...well, we did not have to because one of the doors was warped. We figured that doors on cabinets are only fastened on one side, thusly the warping comes into play. BUT, a valance is fastened in more places. We could twist the warped door, screw it into place and it would be flat. It worked. The cabinet company sent a new, unwarped door for the cabinet, and we had the door (amazingly just 1/8 inch too long ..perfect!) cut to size, and there it is! Matching perfectly, the right height and width. I was thinking I must have done at least one good thing in my life to gain this kind of Karma. The cabinet company wanted 400 bucks for a similar valance...well, it was curved and such but hey this is a free valance! wheee!

Next, we have the Master Glass Artisan, (a.k.a. Mom!) She is measuring for the stained glass masterpiece that will go into the corner cabinet door. How wonderful to have parts of my family surrounding me as I cook and entertain. Mom made the genius suggestion that the backsplash behind the stove should be glass also, glued and then grouted onto the wall. AND it should be the same pattern/color scheme as the window. COOL! This kitchen is going to be so unique when finished.

The pattern I chose. Art Nouveau. (The little hacked line above the leaves is not really there, just a jot of mine, later rescinded) The blossoms (circles) at the top will be an orangy reddish yellowish circle that pulls the red/orange off of the floor. Amazingly, we went to a glass shop and found the exact match of glass to the blue green countertops for the leaves. The background in the door will be a seeded clear glass so that you will not quite be able to tell whether my dishes are in perfect order or not! (those of you who know me see the need for this...) The background on the wall behind the stove will be a milky creamy streaky affair that echos the cream of the cabinets. I can hardly wait to see this.

Mom started a new job and had to get back home, but Dad stayed for more molding fun. We decided that we had to go see the State Fair!!!fun fun fun. So the next pic, is the result of that. No, the State Fair does not have a Beer Booth, I just tried to take a picture of us with the tripod using the delayed shutter. Ok, the whole point was that we were wearing matching White Sox caps that blink in the night...so you see that my picture captured that perfectly. I won the fish in a game. First game of skill I ever won! But the blinking caps are super cool. Can't you tell? I know--not quitting my day job any time soon.
We like the fair so much, we went the next night too, just to see Kenny Rogers. What a joy! Yes, a joy...deal with it you non-Kenny fans! Singing along with a few thousand people "you picked a fine time to leave me Lucille..." That was a true joy. People are great with music. We are really willing to allow ourselves our little uninhibited moments because of music. It is fun to feel everyone abandoning themselves to this. As a lifetime music teacher, it was like flying to sing along with several thousand random people in unison singing. Sure, Mozart has his charms, but this was so enjoyable because no one was trying to impress. Only to express, and all together. That unity is so powerful.