Category Archives: Papa and Tutu

Thanksgiving 2008 Recap

Wow, did we ever have a great Thanksgiving.  The girls adored playing with their grandparents, we ate a fabulous smorgasbord meal, and even banged out some more on the kitchen project.  Wanna see?

OK, to refresh your memory, this is where we last left the kitchen.

Not bad, right?  For the most part, the upper cabinets were installed.  The lower units….not so pretty.  The sink corner was still the original worn oak cabinets and we had slapped the old linoleum counter top back on leaving odd gaps and tipsy surfaces.  But it was workable.  In addition to the old cabinets, I still had that awful paint all over the walls.  Picture the sky on an overcast cold day.  Now paint that on your walls.  Because really, everyone who lives in the NW needs more reminders of dreary rain days, right?  

With a few days off, Papa and Kevin decided to tackled the next phase of the kitchen.  Install the final sink base cabinets and counter top.  This was an ordeal because it meant they had to removed my sink for a few days and I had to take everything out of the cabinets.  Chaos, chaos, chaos.

First, the sink and old disgusting cabinets were removed leaving a very large and ominous hole.

To make this space, everything had to be jammed all over the place.  This is where the chaos started.  What you see below is the dishwasher, kitchen table, displaced stuff and the kitchen sink sitting on saw horses.  Not so nice, right?  But do you see the new paint job?  Sunny yellow!  Yes!

The men worked quickly and professionally and after only a few days, order was restored.  Here, now is the first official reveal of the beautiful new counter tops.  Enjoy…

Pretty, huh?  I was debating waiting on the counters and going spendy with granite but I decided to give these butcher block tops a try.  The price difference saved us, literally, thousands and Kevin & my dad were able to install them in a day.  What a deal.  Now, when I enter my kitchen, instead of moldy and grey, I see sunny and beautiful.  I’m so so so happy. 

OK, there is still on thing missing.  Can you spot it?  The back-splash tile.  I need to find me a tile store pronto so I can put this kitchen to rest finally.  I’m thinking white with blue flowers or maybe a twining vine.  We’ll see.   But seriously people, my kitchen rocks!

Of course, while we were working in the kitchen, Tutu was off running interference with the girlies.  I don’t know what they were playing but I know they were having fun.  Can’t you tell?

Good Times Rollin’

The Pops and the Toots have arrived!  Hallelujah!  Let the choir of angels sing!  The Grandparents are here!  They even brought some lovely hot weather with them so we decided to open up the backyard.  While Tutu entertained the minions, Papa & I set up the deck for summer.  This involved dragging out tables and chairs and sun umbrellas.  By the end of the day, our backyard was ready to play.

We broke out the croquet set and the art easel.  The kids adored both.  They loved whacking the balls and creating masterpieces.

Leina went with a realistic landscape full of flowers and butterflies.

By the time she finished her pictures, she had worked up quite a sweat and had to cool off swinging for quite a while.

Kulia, on the other hand, took her painting very very seriously.  Long after Leina had skipped off to the swings, Kulia was still diligently working on her brush strokes.

I like to call her finish project “Jellyfish at Sunset.”  It’s quite a smashing modern statement in my mind.

Every time my kids make art, I wish my sister was here to see them.  I just know she’d love to dip in her brush and join right in.  They loved showing off their creations to their adoring grandparents and the grandparents loved ooohing and ahhhing over every color choice.  All in all, a very satisfying day!

A Few Pictures

Well, my parents are back in LA but they left behind them two very happy grandchildren and a beautiful kitchen.  My dad noted how “lucky” it was that we just happened to have gotten our IKEA cabinetry delivered right before they came.  Yeah, real “lucky” dad.  No planning on our part at all.  Nope.  None. 

Anyhoo, there were boxes of unassembled cabinets to be hung and my dad never could pass up a project waiting to go so he and Kevin began Phase II of the great kitchen remodel.  As you may (or may not) recall, Kevin and I attempted Phase I and it wasn’t very pretty.  It took a very very long time and involved many tense conversation about alignment and extra parts.  Lets just say I was a little burned out on the whole process.  But Elmo proved to have the fresh blood we needed to plow back into the mess.  More importantly, it meant I could step back and let Kevin and my dad work together.  This worked out very well. 

Of course, I forgot to take a “before” picture but really, you aren’t missing much.  Just picture generic oak cabinets, worn and very dingy.  Then were promptly removed leaving a very large and empty wall.  See Exhibit A.

Not so impressive, right?  Well, demolition was the easy part people.  It got much harder after that.  There was hammering, aligning, squaring, lifting, grunting and all sort of labor like stuff going on.  I’m a bit foggy on the details here because, well, I was out shopping.  But I was here in spirit!  Really!  I can even prove it!  See, here I am holding the entire microwave up with one hand while my dad and husband do other cabinetry stuff.

It was work I tell you, work!  Ok, maybe there were a few screws helping me out there but I did help.  Anyway, after they were all hung and the hardware attached and the microwave moved and the hinges damped and the sides installed and the molding leveled it looks something like this…

That seriously rocks, no?  I’m in love love love with them.  They are so white and purty.  I could sit at my kitchen table, sipping coffee, and stare at them for hours.  Not that I do that or anything.  ‘Cause that would be weird, right?  As you can see, the base cabinets are a hodge podge right now.  That’s Phase III.  I’m still staring right now.  Where was I?  Oh yes, along with these cabinets, my dad also finished up the ones over by the fridge.  I can stare at these beauties for hours as well.

Ok, ok, I did a bit of staging and arranged the magnets but can you blame me?  Again.  Lots of loving of the cabinets going on.  To try and give you the feel for it all, here’s a pull back shot.  I just realized this is before hardware but I think you get the picture.  Go ahead, grab a cup of coffee and graze with wonder upon my new kitchen.  I know I do!

The Pooka Life

And the laundry debate continues. My dad sheds some insight on the dilemma…

Hi C & K,

I was just on your web site enjoying your pictures and thoughts. Laundry is also a touchy subject here at silver arrow. My laundry privileges were taken away from me because of my inability to properly sort the loads. But I am supposed to fold them when they are done. They are normally dumped in the middle of the bed so its difficult to ignore unless you want to sleep under a pile of clothes. But if I wait long enough JT will fold them, but then I have listen to a lecture about not pulling my weight. If the clothes are left in the dryer, I have been known to wear them out of the dryer until its empty. I’m sorry Kevin, it must be in the genes.

Dad

Dan, you are also married to a Terry woman. I’m curious how the whole laundry thing unfolds in the Walls household. Any comments???