If you think you’re tired of waiting on this kitchen, imagine me—cooking a big heaping pile of onions at the exact same time the guys are installing that cabinet over the microwave. Saw dust was flying everywhere and I think the installer could hardly believe I was cooking right in the middle of it all. And I’m sure he could hardly believe I was already putting dishes away when he still had lots of work to do. I’m just a wee bit impatient. Just a tad.
So here’s where we are: lots of finishing work to do, countertops to be installed next week along with sink, dishwasher and hood.
I decided to go with subway tile so this is truly gonna be an all white kitchen. I can hardly wait. Actually, I’m not really waiting. I’m using this kitchen almost to its’ fullest already. I’m probably a pain to work with but let’s go: snap, snap. Get it done already!
and I FINALLY decided on knobs. Knobs can drive a girl insane. There are so many choices. I’ve looked at hundreds and hundreds of knobs. I finally settled on this 1 1/4 inch antique brass knob from The Lion’s Head. They are simple and clean and classic and exactly the color I was looking for. And my installer is happy that they are knobs and not pulls.
This whole process has been worse and at the same time not as bad as I thought it’d be. My new frig came and didn’t work but they finally got it fixed.
My hood came with a huge dent in it and had to be reordered from California. My pantry cabinet came with no shelves. All my plumbing and electrical have had to be redone. In short, my sanity is hanging on a wet spaghetti noodle. But I realize it’s all just a brief inconvenience and soon I’ll having a wonderfully functional, beautiful kitchen. In the meantime, the workers will just have to put up with my homeade jelly-making, onion-sauteing self until this is all done. I hope it makes ’em hurry.
In non-kitchen news, the girls and I are putting together a 500 piece puzzle on the rainy days and I’m re-reading G.K Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. I like to call him my favorite catholic (but really my favorite catholics are my wonderful catholic friends like Sue and Kim and Donia—who is coming to visit soon, btw!). He was an English writer and christian apologist in the early 1900’s and is often referenced by C.S. Lewis. He was a brilliant man which explains why I only understand about half the book my second (or third?) time through. But oh, is it worth a read. Just be patient and plow through it and you won’t be disappointed. Above mention catholic friends, who saw me reading Chesterton at swim practice, promptly made fun of my ‘summer reading’. Sorry, I don’t do chick lit and I will continue to have the night stand of a 40 year old seminarian!
Chesterton has a beautiful and refreshing way of seeing the world. And it has been just what the dr ordered during this trying remodel. He speaks of rationalists, who point to the mere repetition of things in the world as a sign of deadness; ie, the sun rising, the tides crashing, the monotony of life–day in, day out. He says,
The recurrences of the universe rose to the maddening rhythm of an incantation, and I began to see the idea….It might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to lifelessness, but to a rush of life. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again.” For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It’s possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike, it may be that God makes every daisy seperately, because He has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be the theatrical ENCORE of heaven.
See, you should read it. Hope your weekend is filled with good books and plenty of good food and smooches!
ummm..THANK YOU for showing me updated pics of your kitchen…I mean us. Thank you for showing us updated pics of your kitchen. 🙂
It looks AAAAmazing!!
I need to get a huge puzzle to put on our dining room table to work on all summer….there aren’t a lot of rainy days in the Sunshine state…afternoon rains that last 30-45 minutes but not a lot of rainy DAYS. But, we could still work on it a little each day…and I think we will!
I’m finally joining the rest of the world and making your freezer jam. 🙂
I LOVE that you were cooking while they were installing! We are doing our walk-through of the house we are building this afternoon and honestly, the only room I care about is the kitchen! It’s an all white kitchen too. And it looks like we have very similar cabinets! I AM using pulls on the bottom drawers … any reason why this would be a bad thing? Or are they just miserable to install?
Anyway, please keep up with the kitchen pics! It looks gorgeous!
The kitchen is going to be GORGEOUS!
your kitchen is going to be beee-utiful, edie!
my book club is reading A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. ever heard of it?
i just ordered hubby a book for father’s day called The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World by Stephen Mansfield. It’s a biography of Arthur Guinness and the famous brewery he founded.
I read a review about it here: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/05/17/the-beer-that-changed-the-world/
simply sharing because i know you and your man are beer fans like me and my man. ;D
love the kitchen i did my in white and whitewash and love it
It’s coming along nicely.
Huge puzzles were the way my grandmother and I passed the time at the lake when it was storming or we got tired of the heat. Seeing one brings back so many memories. Show us the finished product, please?
You’re about the third blogger I’ve read that has quoted Chesterton. After reading your excerpt from that book you’ve hooked me. I think I’ll start with it unless there is another that would be better?
“Do it again!” Me-oh-my, how this descends upon my heart. Thank you once again, Miss Edie, for being an inspiration! Chesterton… officially added to the list! Peace of Christ!
The white cabinets are going to be loverly! I would lay down and hug your stove, it’s so nice!
Kitchen remodels are no fun at all, but I love how you are working around the work…I hope everything is right for you soon and all the sawdust gets cleaned up…can’t wait to see what it looks like complete…yah…I’m not very visionary…
Books…thanks for sharing your books as you go along…I love reading and appreciate recommendations…I am not sure if I can struggle through this one though, but I am going to read Knowing GOd by J I Packer next…I personally love biographies and am hoping to read McCullough’s Truman after Packer’s book…I really enjoyed John Adams and 1776 by McCullough and look forward to reading Truman because I understand he was not looked upon as a good President until many years after his term…
Anyway, you might consider this chick lit, but I have also really enjoyed Stepping Heavenward by ELizabeth Prentiss….
Blessings to you!
C~
um. i just don’t think that kitchen is gonna stay white long. just sayin’.
;o
((H))
Kitchen remodels are not fun at all. My parents had their kitchen done about two years ago, it was supposed to last 3 weeks, I think it lasted close to 3 months. But I love being in my mom’s kitchen now~ it was totally worth the wait.
Hoping you have a wonderful weekend reading and working on your puzzle.
It will be so worth it once it’s done and your sanity is fully intact again! Love ya Edie! I live vicariously through you…so keep it up!
Edie, after returning from vacation where there were lots of puzzles in the closet at our villa, I bought a 500 piece one to work on. I find it is relaxing and addictive albeit at times frustrating while I sip on my morning coffee. After finishing it, I took it to an elderly couple I met through work, (knew they loved puzzles) and the nice gentleman gave me one of his previously worked puzzles in return. Looks like Meredith and Matt; Regis and Kelly; Hoda and Kathy Lee and Rachel Ray won’t be getting my attention this summer! I absolutely love the borrowed quote; it gives me a new perspective of a fun-loving God. P.S. Love your kitchen too…were you making french onion soup with all those onions?
Thanks for the glimpse of your new kitchen. We remodeled ours last summer and even though it was stressful it was so worth it. I too went with white! I’m looking forward to seeing your finished kitchen. I plan to make your strawberry buttercream dreamcake for a church dinner Sunday. I can’t wait to taste it. 😉
We are re-doing our kitchen right now too, I think the end result will look very similar to yours! Best of luck and I hope there aren’t too many more road blocks.
I ordered this book this morning, I am struggeling with life right now & the monotany to it. Raising 3 kids, life is so “the same” every day, & this gave me a new outlook on that “sameness.” I can’t wait to read the rest of the book, I even read the above snippet to my hubby, life is good when it is the same, yeah for repetition, yeah God!
What a lovely quote! Thanks for sharing. Love your kitchen too. You can never go wrong with white cabinets and white subway tiles. So fresh and clean and cheerful! I never tire of mine. 😉
Cannot wait to see the completing kitchen; it’s inspiration to get going on mine.
Also, LOVE Chesterton (everything by him) even though I also admit to having only read about half of Orthodoxy .. it’s so deep and I cannot always digest the meat of it. So, I revisit it here and again and some day, I am going to complete it!
Have you ever read Sheldon VanAuken’s “A Severe Mercy” – you would adore it… it’s an amazingly beautiful summer read, of the laying on a hammock, soaking in the deep, wading into the depths of the soul, kind of way.
Some of my favourite quotes are Chesterton, though I’ve never read any of his books… they seem so daunting.
The kitchen is looking fab. Way to go!
It will all be better soon and you will have a perfectly lovely kitchen to bake to your hearts content! I have given a little tour of my kitchen today…it is finished…stop on by!
The kitchen is coming along nicely I see! I love subway tile–it is so classic you should never get tired of it! I also love studying theology – will attempt Chesterton this summer!
Chesterton’s books are fabulous. Brilliant and as timely now as they were when they were written.
I love the all white and I think it will be beautiful when it’s totally done. Do you remember the cabinet color from your old house? I painted my table legs and an old pie safe that same blue (because of you) but no longer have the can. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
P.S. Your still the cutest thing EVER!!!
Love Chesterton – the Chesterton Society used to have a 30 min. tv show with many exerpts from his books – Dale Alquist was the host and there were a few actors. Not sure if it is still on. Just read Til We Have Faces while at the beach. Enjoyed it. Screwtape and Great Divorce are still my favorite Lewis books. Any more suggestions for summer reading? (Idea for one of your upcoming posts). I rarely read, so I am sure you could recommend plenty I have never attempted. Thanks! Kitchen is looking great!
I can just imagine you cooking in the midst of a kitchen remodel – hilarious! Be careful though… your workers might stop working when it’s time to eat! Looks great…
I recently found your blog and enjoy it so much. I enjoy the variety of topics like home, family and faith. Your kitchen is really taking shape…can’t wait to see the final product.
Love the all-white kitchen! I’m sure you’ll add lots of color splashes! So glad it’s almost done and you can share more recipes soon!! 🙂
Have you read Henri Nouwen? He’d be a good addition to your night stand (and another Catholic writer that you would enjoy). My favorite of his is “The Way of the Heart”. (I’m also not Catholic, I am a believer that is always looking for a good book to “chew” on.)
Oh Edie I just LOOVE you!!
ohhhhhh Edie, it is looking wonderful!!! And I literally cracked up when I saw your “me cooking onions” on the picture, LOL! Something I would do for sure! 🙂 I am loving this kitchen and can’t WAIT to see it all finished! Great job my friend! 🙂
Kristi
that book is GORGEOUS!! 🙂
…oh, and…the kitchen looks great, too!
Holy Kitchenpalooza Batman, your kitchen’s looking SMASHING!!!
Seriously!!
I think that’s the exact same refrigerator we bought!
Hugs,
L
You are a girl after my own heart…have you seen my masterbath remodel??? Check it out under “My house Tour”…a lot of similiar stuff to what I am hearing you say. Cant wait to see what you have done…