my performance at dance rehearsal today:

Still stinky, but a little less so ...
Only 7 more rehearsals till the first live performance! Aiyiyiyiyiiiiieeee!

train stuck in the station

So, we were steaming along nicely with the kitchen project. Contractors miraculously became available, the sink came right on time, I found the faucet on Ebay for an amazing price, the soap dispenser was here on time, I got an appointment with the templater for Wednesday, it all looked really good, full steam ahead! And then someone pulled the hydraulic brakes, and wham! It all jerked to a stop.

Did you notice the flaw in the previous paragraph?

Yep. The faucet never arrived. The templater came and went without templating, because the faucet never arrived. I've been in repeated, sometimes heated discussions with my Ebay seller about the fact that there's a $100 penalty for rescheduling the templater, and since it's two weeks after the sale and the item hasn't even shipped yet, shouldn't s/he perhaps think about doing something for me on the price of the faucet? But even that discussion was premature, because as far as I can tell, despite what I believe are his/her good intentions, the faucet still hasn't shipped!

So why did I not notice this and cancel the templater before the penalty period, you might ask? It's all a big mixup. I got notified that something was arriving here by FedEx on Saturday, but it didn't come till Tuesday night. I thought it was going to be the faucet, but it turned out the package contained the custom grids for the sink. Nice to have, but not needed for the templater!

I'm going to name names here. The seller's nom de seller is COMKARAASLAN. I don't care what his/her feedback score is --- 100% before I came along! --- do not buy from this person!

I've finally purchased the faucet from another wonderful seller, Homeclick.com, who answers his phone and has done his darnedest to get that faucet shipped out tonight via FedEx expedited service. I could have it tomorrow. If not, because of the holidays, I won't have it till Wednesday. And the templater won't even set another appointment with me till I tell him it's in hand.

So, bottom line ... about two more weeks without a workable kitchen. And even then, it will be only a slapped-together temporary kitchen, waiting three more weeks until the countertops can be installed and the kitchen goes back to normal!

I guess I should have known it was all too good to be true. Dreams die hard, though.

Sigh.

wordless wednesday

Sunday night, we can expect to see lots more canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

hello? hello? anybody there?

You know, I don't have big ambitions for this blog. I don't think of myself as a writer, and I don't expect it will ever become one of the blogs that are read by thousands of people every day, like Farm Girl's and Sweetnicks'. I write it as a way to keep my far-flung family and friends apprised of some of the things going on in my life, and sometimes to just keep track of my life for myself. (I can't believe I've been blogging for a year now! Those garden entries last year really helped me this year!)

Sitemeter says about 20 people a day look at the blog, not the same people every day, and I think that's really neat! Some of you even leave comments, so here's a big "Thanks!" to Barbara, Lynne, Eva, Ilsa, Margaret, Brian, and Paz. You guys are my regular encouragers, and it is an encouragement, indeed, to get the occasional comment that says, "I'm paying attention!"

I'm really curious about the rest of you ... I wonder who you are. I see France, Henniker, Massachusetts, Virginia, Texas, California, Winnipeg, Singapore, Delhi, North Carolina, and more. Some of those are from folks who just followed a search link to one of my posts, and I expect many of them won't hang around to read more than that. But ... if you're someone who checks in regularly or now & again, won't you leave me a short comment to "scratch" my curiosity "itch"?

smiles from simba

No, I didn't photoshop this to make him look smiley, he did it all himself!

Sunday night, we can expect to see lots more canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

progress masquerades as chaos

The theatuh
Oh, vey! Rehearsal was 3 hours on my feet last night, some of it in heels, which my Dansko-pampered feet aren't at all used to. After a night's sleep, they still don't feel right! But the good news is I'm beginning to have the teensiest glimmer of hope that I might just be able to get through all this tap dancing without being a noticeable disgrace. Woo hoo!

Contractor wrap-up
The contractor finished up yesterday, hanging and mudding the drywall (it's green because it's a special moisture-resistant type) and helping me think about a variety of decisions yet to be made. Rich showed me what's left to be done with mudding, caulking and painting, and advised me where to buy the paint and whose advice to take about the best mold and moisture resistant products for a kitchen wall. The electrical subcontractor came in and put in the wiring for the undercabinet lights. And then off they went, after first tearing down the plastic "wall" they'd hung to keep the mess out of the rest of the house, sweeping up, and removing the paper taped to the wooden floor leading outdoors. These Peachtree Builders guys are great, and I told them I would say so on my blog, so this one's for you, Rich!

Sink
So, here's the new sink! It's an undermount, so the granite will cover everything that looks like a rim in the picture. We liked it because it's a heavy gauge stainless steel (less prone to denting), and I love the grill inserts, which will provide a strong, flat surface for pots to sit on. One of the stopper baskets is extra-deep so when I'm cooking away, cleaning lots of veggies and other more disgusting stuff, I won't have to stop often to dump it out of the basket. And we got the brushed finish so it won't need to be wiped out after every use and the inevitable scratches just don't matter as much as they would have if we'd gotten the mirror polish finish. And that's about all you can say about a sink, I think!

Faucet
The faucet, on the other hand, is worth rhapsodizing about. We've never had a good quality faucet, and this one from Grohe (left) is just off the scale. The features that led us to choose it are the hands-free handle that can be operated easily with just a touch of the wrist (no more cleaning off chicken fat from the faucet handles!) and the pull-out sprayer. The salesperson demonstrated how some pull-out sprayers are positioned in such a way that you tend to pull them out from the top and then turn them toward the sink. The one at right might be an example of that. The one we purchased is just naturally grasped in the spraying position. And it has two settings, one for spray and one for stream. And, as you can see, it's really tall! I decided I wanted a shiny one, so we have a satin finish in the sink and all shiny hardware. I think it's going to look wonderful.

A dilemma
But here's a dilemma for you. We went to a local kitchen & bath place to investigate fixtures, and the salesperson was very helpful, convincing us that you skimp on other things, but not on your kitchen faucet. She had this exact model installed in her kitchen, and she demonstrated why. But the price they were selling it for was actually above MSRP! We saved, believe it or not, $420 by buying it in an Ebay auction. So, it feels a little like we used her ... but honestly, how can you justify buying anything at those prices? I don't feel great about it, but I don't know what else we could have done. It's easy to say, "They need to lower their prices," but they have this beautiful showroom that we could walk around in and try things, and they pay salespeople who are knowledgeable and take time to talk with you (unlike their competitors), so obviously they can't compete on price. But I don't have hundreds of dollars to toss around willy-nilly. It's an uncomfortable position to be in. What do you think?

With a kitchen like this, it's going to be a long while before I can participate in Sweetnicks' ARF Tuesday. Why don't you substitute for me? What is it, you say? Well, let's let Cate speak for herself:

"Simple. Just my little way of keeping healthier eating in check. Every Tuesday, food bloggers who made a recipe that includes an ARF (Antioxidant Rich Food), fruit, veggie or any combination of the three can be included in my ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday evening round-up. The recipe doesn't have to have been made that day. Just e-mail me your permalink by 8 pm EST on Tuesday to be included, and post a link to my site in your post on your site, so your readers can get a chance to check out the round-up as well. All designed to keep us eating healthy and inspire us with new recipes and ideas."

no looking back

No more eulogies for old tile! I think my housecleaners are excited as I am to get rid of that hard-to-clean counter with its crumbling grout.

The process we've chosen
You may notice we have those same tiles on the floor. Nope, we're not keepin' em! Those will be going, too, but we're taking things a step at a time on this little remodel. First the counters, backsplash, and undercabinet lighting. Live with that for a couple of weeks, then replace the floor. Live with that for a couple of weeks, and then ... do we need to lighten up those cabinets with a coat of paint or some pickling? I really hope not; what a big job that would be!

Yesterday was consumed with details of the kitchen. Our wonderful contractors, Peachtree Builders, came in the morning, talked over options, and went right to work removing the old countertops and tile. They were surprised to see that the original builder put the wall tiles on plywood. Usually it goes on drywall. The plywood was still in good shape, so we've decided to put 3/8" drywall over the plywood rather than ripping it out and framing for the drywall. There were a few places where some decisions had to be made because of this change, but overall it seems like the best approach. One bonus idea that came out of this brainstorming is the notion of painting the wood that surrounds the windowframe. Since I've been wanting to brighten up this cave of a kitchen, I am really liking that!

Running around
I bought a Whitehaus Dolphin undercounter soap dispenser ... what a nice luxury for not very much money! No more soap rings on my counter, and we plan to position it so any drips land in the sink. I must commend Blodgett's Sash & Door, of all the places I visited, they were the only ones who offered to order a dispenser and have it for me within 1 day. I should have my dispenser by tomorrow! And by the way, if you're looking for cabinet knobs, you have to stop by there. They have an immense selection, so I had some fun looking at all of them while waiting for a salesperson.

I also visited Illuminations, a small full-service lighting store in West Lebanon, NH. The salesperson was most helpful, and sent me home with a spec sheet (which I promptly lost) so I could talk with the electrician about the options. We're going with a low-profile xenon strip lighting, perhaps this one. Xenon lights are warm-colored like incandescents, but take much less electricity and throw less heat. We'll have it on a dimmer switch, and I think it will make the kitchen look really nice!

Respite with friends
The most normal part of my day was meeting some dear friends for lunch. We couldn't hang out and talk as much as we'd have liked to, but it was an oasis of pleasantry in the midst of my currently crazy life. Afterward, I joined friend R to look at a small office she wants to rent for her business. We had to wait for the realtor in front of a pet shop, so of course we went in and ogled the puppies. There was a sweet-spirited miniature poodle whose eyes and manner reminded me so much of Simba, I wanted to bring her home on the spot! It's a good thing we couldn't hang out in there indefinitely!

More running around
A quick trip to BJ's yielded some needed items and a chat with another acquaintance, Marie, who does dog rescue and currently has four big dogs in her huge home with large acreage (I just mention that so you don't envision a passle of labs in a tiny apartment). When I told her about the visit to the pet store, she told me that the dogs in there often have health problems because they buy them from puppy mills. She assured me that if I ever decide to have another dog, she will help me find a small sweet rescue dog. Wasn't it good that I ran into her just then!?

Tomorrow I'll post about the new sink & to-die-for faucet; now it's time for a little lunch and a little more running around before heading off to another 3-hour rehearsal tonight. It's a crazed-busy time, but it's all good stuff!

rest in peace

Today, in addition to being the first day of the rest of my life, marks the ending of the lifetime of the ceramic tiles in my kitchen. Now, I've written before of my dislike of this tile and its accompanying brown grout, but now that it's going away, I feel I need to point out its virtues. For 14 years, this tile has uncomplainingly accepted scorching hot pots on its surface. It has helped disguise the crumbs that I failed to wipe up, and even tried to camouflage errant sticky spots. It has borne up under heavy things dropped on it. All in all, it's been a pretty good support, which is why I've been loyal to it thus far. But it's ugly, and the grout was breaking down, and now its time has come. The End.

wordless wednesday

today

I don't normally do journal-style posts; it's never been an interest of mine to record day-to-day activities. But I was reading Lynne's blog and her ending comment, "Ok, I'm off to read how your day went!" and I thought, my goodness, she surely doesn't get much of the day-to-day report from reading mine! So Lynne, this one's for you! And anyone else who has both time and interest ...

I hate to start by complaining, but doggone it, I woke up at 3:30 this morning and could not go back to sleep! The alarm was set for 6, which is already way earlier than I like to get up (waking up naturally -- no alarm, please -- between 7:30 and 8:30 suits me just fine), so it was especially daunting to find myself awake so early. After an hour of closing eyes and trying to stop the spinning thing in my head that passes for a brain at that hour of the morning, I gave up and got up. It's amazing, at this time of the year, the sky is already starting to brighten at 4:30!

I'd set the alarm so early because I needed to prepare 7 lunches to take to a workshop that a colleague and I are giving (he's teaching it, I do the logistics), so I decided to get to work on those. It was a good choice of activity, not too stimulating, and it took long enough to do that I felt sleepy again when I was done. So I put on our overnight NPR news station at just the right sound level and let it lull me to sleep on the couch. Slept a little later than I'd have liked, till about 7:15, at which time I was in a merry rush trying to get everything together! Bake the scones, make the coffee, pack everything into a backpack and a rolling cooler, get it all into the car with a willing assist from The Huz, and off I went!

9 hours later, I'd learned a lot in the workshop, had a great time with the participants, talked with one about perhaps doing some consulting work for his company, served up snacks and lunch and gotten the remains into my car, and headed home to let Simba out and spend 30 minutes with him.

Then, off to rehearsal for two & a half hours. It was fun, and even though I still am not quite getting all these tap steps we have to know, I'm beginning to see that I'm not the only one ... although I still think I'm probably in the bottom 30%! The costume lady gave me a slinky dress to try on. Boy, I sure wish I didn't have that middle-aged spread! But the dress looked nice as long as I let go of the dream of being a size ten ... but I do ... but oh well. Welcome to the 50's. Anyway, I have nice long limbs that look good in jazzy poses, and I'm getting some very fun little vignettes as an extra, and I'm also making some new ... not friends, exactly, but recurring acquaintances to sort of gravitate toward when the entire chorus is told to "space yourselves out and walk across the stage in groups. Make up a story of who you are and why you're walking down the sidewalk and act it as you walk across the stage." So our little group becomes people who have conflicting destinations in mind but who want to stay together. Or minor Hollywood luminaries who are being interviewed and trying to upstage one another. Or whatever ... it's really fun!

Then off to pick up The Huz from work (would you believe two different trucks have died on him in the past month??), with a quick stop at MacDonald's ... I know, I know, I just complained about my middle, but hey, a gal's gotta eat, and I got the Happy Meal so it wasn't a lot of food! Picked up the Huz, went home, let Simba out & gave him about two minutes' attention, and then began unloading the contents of my lower kitchen cabinets in preparation for the arrival of big men with sledge hammers who are going to remove my countertops (see a picture of the current tiles about halfway down this post) in preparation for new granite ones! Which, by the way, I just found out Sunday night was going to happen this week, and I won't bother to list all the stuff that had to be arranged by Monday afternoon to make all of it fall into place. I think I must have had some supernatural help, it's been amazing how very many implausible things have happened to make this come together. Anyway, hold onto your hats, it's going to be a big mess and very noisy and then very inconvenient for a couple of weeks, but it's started and it's not going to stop and at the end will be ... smiles. Ooo's and Ahs. Lots of reasons to invite folks over. I love it!

So, that was my day. Tomorrow will be another one. And this reminds me why I usually don't do journal-type entries, because I do not have Lynne's knack for succinctness and somehow turning her short entries into something so meaningful. But I'm glad to have done it, anway, and now it's definitely bedtime. (I already read about all your days before starting this, that's how I read Lynne's comment that got me started ... and now stopped. G'night!)

simba! want a treat?

Sunday night, we can expect to see lots more canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

the garden, again

Sorry if all these garden pics are a bit boring to you ... the changes from picture to picture aren't dramatic, I know. But the poppy season is brief, and I'm leaving town for a few days. They may be gone when I get home. This is the first year since I transplanted them a few years ago that they've given me more than one or two blooms, so I just had to capture it here so I can look back and enjoy them later, after they're gone.


Thanks for letting me indulge myself. Here's hoping your garden is enchanting you day-by-day too! And if you don't have one of your own, I hope there's one nearby.

wordless wednesday

The perennial garden today

click to see the garden larger, with labels

We haven't had a speck of sun in what seems like weeks, so excuse the muted coloration. Isn't it amazing what a garden can do with not much sun and lots of rain?

caption not-contest #4

What's he up to?

There's obviously something going on in Simba's mind ... can you help him express himself? Please leave your suggestions in the comments, and I'll do a roundup next week.

Previous caption not-contests:
#3 roundup
#2 roundup
#1 roundup

Sunday night, we can expect to see lots more canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!