Kitchen Chronicles 5 and more Easter Fun

 So by last Saturday's end, the concrete was poured. 

During the week another issue was discovered under the the black rectangle. 

Perhaps now we'll actually be free of leaks.  

There have been blessings along the way- a ten percent off at Home Depot, Franklin's Pest Control that showed up when they said they would and speedy too, invitations to dinner, and mostly all the wonderful hands who've contributed to getting this job done. Some beautiful Saturdays.  Thank the Lord. 

Tim and Gwen hosted Easter and it was  yummy and fun. 

Saturday left this guy a little worse for wear I think,

Yes, the much desired golden egg.

I think an Easter Bunny really did fill this one. 

My word, they are all so grown. 

Thanks to Lilli for the pictures. 

Easter and Kitchen Chronicles Four

  Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

When Adam was gone to boot camp, and Conner was in the NICU,  and I was finishing my student teaching with the mentor from you know where, I said this verse every day.  Well, I am beyond  overjoyed that it is just my house in ICU this time around. But every job reveals another job that needs doing and Monday begins my kid's state testing. Let's just say, this will once again be my mantra. 

So as they were wrapping up the other night I asked about the door to the living room, now that the wall was gone.  Adam asked if I wanted it boarded up. Yes.  My brother quipped, "That ain't going keep the boogie man out."  I said I hadn't gotten to being concerned about the boogie man, I was concerned about waking up with a coon on my chest.  So brother, son and helper Edward all got a big kick out of that.  And the plumber came out from under the house with a box of crackers. What did I tell you?

And the next morning, something laid eggs all over the work site. 

One of them even hatched. 

Now when it comes to tools and construction, I am inept, but celebrating holidays, yeah that I have in spades. 

So, today, Day 8.  Adam is ever at the mercy of his helpers. The one who was to start on the wall, went home sick yesterday. The one who was to finish the tear-out did not show up today.  After he had shoveled wet clay for a few hours and Handy Man had carried it to the garden, both of their nerves were fraying.  Thankfully, Tim arrived on the seen and my distress call to Sir Jordan was answered. It reminded me of the scripture-And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threestrand cord is not quickly broken.

Getting that clay moved out and the gravel moved in was, in fact, doable. 

And before you is our new rubber roof that did not leak in the rain this morning. 

I really feel no good, very bad, awful that this has turned into such an ordeal. I love helping- I've sat a million hours at the hospital, cooked a million meals and thankful to God for all I'm able to do. Being in need of help is like being rolled in sandpaper. I dream of ways to pay this back.  

So, as I look to Easter morning, I am  grateful for the debt paid for me and the gift of all these strong backs. 

Wishing all good blessings to you and yours. 

Kitchen Chronicles 4

 Day 6 of Destruction

Well, destruction continues, but things are being repaired as well.  

The electrician, plumber and pest control man have all surveyed the damage. The plumber has been here all day long. Adam and Uncle Tim are doing the roof. Handy Man and I are still tending the burn pile, between me trying to feed them.

I went out to get some snaps-

A rubber roof. When I asked Tim to pick it up for the picture, he was not amused. 

I said I had to take pictures for Adam's business and Adam started laughing and said, "Umm, I'm not sure these are the kind of pictures you want in your portfolio."  Tim then quipped, "Yeah,  we don't need anyone to know we were dumb enough to take this on."  Which set them both to laughing.  Since my kids started flying the coop, my joy has ever been having them around and hearing them laugh.  It only comes just behind baby belly laughs. 

So six days in and we're already way over budget.  It is only money, right?

Continued prayers for safety. 

Happy Easter to everyone.  

Kitchen Chronicles Three

 Yesterday morning I was up with the dawn giving that stove one last run as I prepared food for the day.  

I literally pulled a pan of bacon out of the oven and away the stove went. I couldn't let this counter go until I took a picture of this little burn spot. Mom sat a hot pot on the counter within days of the kitchen installation and was devastated. I remember it making me wonder if we'd  really gone too cheap on those counters, but really, they held up wonderfully and that burn mark made us smile to day, remembering.

Boy, looks can sure be deceiving! I didn't know how right I was about wondering if the wall, the roof or the floor might fall in. 

In addition to water, there is termite damage. 

No saving anything. 

Roof in fairly terrible shape as well. I've spent the morning burning up the last of the kitchen debris and praying for my people on that scary roof. 

They built a whole new roof over an old one, without venting, so it was all soaking wet. 

There really aren't any words for my gratitude to my sons, brother and grandsons for taking on this demolition. I don't really have words for how bad it makes me feel that they need to. It is such a beautiful spring day and I would wish for them to be somewhere more fun and more safe.  At the same time, since they are faced with this wrack and ruin (Utter destruction or ruination; severe or total decay or degradation, as from disuse or lack of upkeep-yep, pretty well describes it), thank the Lord for the sunshine and safety.

Kitchen Chronicles Two

 So on it goes for days and days. 

By Friday, the floor that looked so empty after I'd emptied the bar and Handy Man and Michael had toted it out, was completely full of boxes. I'd say I had emptied out about half the cabinets. 

Time for the Pod-

It was late, imagine that, and the driver was about to give Handy Man a breakdown, so he came inside and let Ol' Henry handle it.  Yes, that man standing in my drive is Old Mother Hubbard's boy.  Bless his heart, he came to help with the next round of hauling. He had a couple of little helpers, Gideon and Finn, who really do try to help. 

They hauled all the stuff I had packed and Ol' Henry aka Oliver, helped his Uncle Phil with a few big items 

He was such a great help. 

Finally the room is beginning to look like something has been done to it. 

Umm, about that dog bed there beyond the vacuum cleaner, well I knew SamWise would be mighty disgruntled that the couch and his place beside Handy Man was no longer available. At first he wasn't interested in his new fluffy bed and would just wait until Handy Man got up, then jump in the recliner. If that wasn't awful enough, we thought it best to go ahead and move his kennel to the bedroom. This dog has always been attached to that kennel. He took zero training and amazed us by just trotting to it at bed time from the time we brought him home. When it is time for Handy Man to head to the shower, he says, "Kennel" and that is that.  Not last night. SamWise would not darken the door of the bedroom, even though we put it just inside the door. He marched right back out and got on his new fluffy bed.  Little does he know his cozy bed will soon be open to the wind and weather. Poor guy. 

This table Handy Man built me years ago has certainly stood the test of time. That got moved into the living room. You can certainly see the wear and tear on the floor. 

So, I still have my stove until Saturday, but am trying some things in the Ninja Air Fryer as well. Today it was chicken wings.  I don't fry things very often, but I wasn't willing to risk too  many wings in the air fryer- just enough to do a taste test. The ones on the left are sitting on the basket included with the fryer/toaster.

Again, the ones on the left are from the air fryer. It says for thick things to turn them or the pan half way through. When I did that, they looked kind of limp, pale and very unappetizing. But when they finished, they looked like fried chicken. 

Time for the taste test. 

All tasters above, me and later my brother agreed that they were about equally delicious. So crazy. What is weird, is that the back porch, where the air fryer is located in the faux kitchen, smelled more like food that had been fried than the kitchen. 

While most of the demolition will not happen until next weekend, the boys wanted to do their part, so the first of the wall cabinets came down. 

I had a few roses that I had ordered last year arrive, so after the cabinet came down we headed outside. Raechel and I tended to the new roses and the boys helped with lawn duty. Finn did his very first little lawn mowing job, then he and Gideon hauled off a ton of sticks and garden debris. 

It was all kinds of lovely to feel the sun on my face. 

Yesterday I went to an orientation at Yew-Dell Botanical Gardens. Such a beautiful, peaceful little spot of ground. I don't know how much I'll volunteer, but I'm sure I'll enjoy being there. 

Doing the Deed, The Kitchen Deed

 Though this has been on our minds for quite a few years now, I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen.  Our kitchen has had some water damage and has slowly been falling apart.  

My fear of coming home and finding the side of my house caved in was growing by the day. Before we got to the kitchen, the furnace was screaming louder, so the savings went there, but  I did start trying to figure out what we were up against.  The Major Roof Man son of mine said the lid had to come off, a partial wall come down and floor come up. Oh, is that all?  Thank God for him, because all I have to do is  pick out cabinets, and pack this ol' place up and figure out how I'm going to feed us without a kitchen.  And that has about pushed me right over the edge. Of course, the time to do it would come just after prices were jacked over the moon from the pandemic.  I finally went last year and got a quote and the cabinets were only going to be about 15 times what we paid last time.  For one thing, there are so many choices. For another thing, I live in a an ol' tumbledown farmhouse-what sense does it make to stick a million dollar kitchen on the side of it?  So another year has come and gone with us saving like crazy and trying to figure what we can and can't live with.  At least I think. Those goofy little squares that are supposed to show you what it is going to look like make me crazy.  I can't see what something is going to look like until I see it. Ugh. I'm telling you this stuff is not in my wheelhouse. Just these last few days the plan is finally coming together. I ordered a Pod, the Major is assembling a demolition crew and tonight it really came home as I started trying to determine the least amount of pot, pan, fork, etc. that could get me through. 

Handy Man can't do much till the sorting is done, so he decided to clean out the change bucket. It hasn't been touched since we cleaned it out eight years ago to go into Rae's adoption fund.  Probably buy quite a bit of  hardware. 

And as usual, the emotional part. Cleaning out the junk drawer I found the list I made of do's and don'ts when Mom was spending her last days earthside. Of course, my stomach started to hurt, tears, you know the drill I'm guessing. That bar I'm taking apart has held food  for the masses for 36 years. I decided I wasn't parting with it as it came with the house and will become an island. 

 I know the world is in such a mess. A new kitchen in the face of wars and pandemics is laughable, but if  you want pray for wisdom, safety for the workers, and things that work and go together, it won't hurt my feelings. 

We had a good time celebrating Jimi on his birthday/anniversary weekend. I didn't think to get the picture till after Aunt Tish left. 

Bright and Quirky

Dear Jimi, 

 Funny, today is still your birthday, only you aren't here to celebrate with us. We'll celebrate all the same.  I know I don't need to explain loss to you.  Somehow you always got me. 

It is the end of the nine weeks and time to conference with parents. I found myself returning to research, trying to find any little or big thing I haven't tried with my students who are square pegs, expected to shape shift into round holes and came upon a site called Bright and Quirky, where I spent a lot of time this morning. How fitting to land there on your birthday, my most favorite bright and quirky person.  I miss you. 

I don't miss what  went on the last couple of years.  In 2020, we were coming to the end of a long siege of hospital and rehab, six weeks worth and your birthday was approaching. I planned you a party in a room at rehab. Since we lost two siblings at age 63, and since you'd already gone two rounds of being nearly dead, you were so looking forward to being 64.  But on your actual birthday, the world stopped turning. We didn't get to have your party and I didn't go back to school that spring.  Covid is the pits, but that not going back to school allowed me to drop you off and pick you up from dialysis and many appointments, and keep you well fed, so for that I was grateful. That spring you were allowed one last spring in your step and were up and about, mowing the lawn, doing things you loved. It was a short lived spring before your liver failed entirely. From summer's end to your end, it was hard going and heart breaking. On this morning last year, Tish was fighting the powers that be to get you home.  Finally, at seven pm on Friday, your 65th birthday, you were so happy to be in your own little corner with the comforts that meant home to you.  It was so short lived. On Sunday at noon, I wrapped myself around you and sobbed as you left here.     

What do I miss?  I'm a little quirky myself ( insert  here -chuckle of my closest people who are smiling saying, "Umm, you think?"). Our kitchen is in need of repair, serious repair. Could there be a worse time with the current prices?  I am so struggling with spending a king's ransom for a kitchen that will be part of tumbledown ol' farm house.  What I'd love to do is use old cabinets and warm colors and have a mismatch cabinets, but how to do this alludes me. If you were here, you would ride around to places with me all day and tell just what would work where, and I would have zero doubt that you were right.  I miss your big hugs. I miss the way you liked me and everything that I liked. You would have loved that I took a pottery class and wouldn't have minded if I gave you a tiniest bowl or vase for a tiniest bloom, my favorites as well. 

I miss your little treasures you saved for me, or my students. I miss how we shared a love of plants and animals and babies and details and littlest things. I miss that my emotions didn't scare you, and you had no expectation that I shouldn't cry or grieve things and people. I surely miss that smile. I miss having a quirky partner. 

This was the last time you were able to join the fun, food and festivities you loved, at the Gingerbread House Party. 

It has been 363 days of missing you and tears.  Tomorrow though, your boys and a couple of your friend girls and few more of your people will celebrate you with me. Happy Heavenly Birthday my brother/friend. 

Love, Your Quirky Baby Sister

Other than teach and finally go my own round with the latest variation of the latest disease, I've done the above mentioned pottery and not much else.

The Saturday before Valentine's Day I did stop by the floral department of our big Kroger to ask if they could save me some ribbon spools. I told them I needed them for a class project. The nice lady asked where I worked and them asked if I'd like some flowers for the teachers.  I said that would be great thinking she was going to give me a bouquet. No, eight dozen roses. What?

So it turned out to be a fun double blessing as my girls and I enjoyed making a ton of little bouquets and my students loved delivering them on Valentine's Day.