Two Dollars

Anyone ever see One Crazy Summer with John Cusack and the paperboy who wants to get paid?  "I want my two dollars!"  I love that classic quote and it made me think of our biggest score of the summer (no, not the kitchen!! I only wish that had cost us two dollars).
Early in the summer, before we knew that the kitchen project was going to happen sooner rather than later, we embarked on building a sandbox for the girls.  We got as far as digging out the grass- well, more moss than grass, really- and then the kitchen s#%$ hit the fan.  So, for much of the summer, we grew a lovely bed of weeds on a dry dusty mound of dirt.  It bugged me to look at it every. single. day.  But there was nothing I could do about it.  I can't build a sandbox. And really, who had time to deal with it with everything else going on?

Honestly, it looked worse in person than in the photo

One night I was at my friend Cala's house and while they live in the tiniest house ever with 3 small children, they have this gorgeous yard with a patio and pagoda (complete with grapevines).  They do such a good job of incorporating their kid toys into their yardscape and I noticed that their sandbox was on the patio and hardly noticeable because of its size and color.  I went home and informed Charlie that our next project was to copy their patio and find a sandbox just like theirs.  He laughed at me and I knew that buying a sandbox was out of the price range for our life right now.  

Two weeks later: little sister and I were scavenging neighborhood garage sales on a Saturday morning that was blissfully kid-free.  Walked up a driveway to a sale and found....  THE SANDBOX.  FOR TWO DOLLARS.  I mean, these things sell for $60-100, depending on whether you do your research.  Incredulous, I asked the folks at the sale if it was really two dollars.  They laughed at me and told me I could pay more if I wanted.  Ha!!  So I drove home, dropped off all the other stuff that was in the car, folded up the seats in the Element, then zoomed off to pick up my purchase before they could change their minds on the price.  Ten dollars for sand at the local hardware store, a few dollars for some mulch, fifteen minutes of actual physical labor, and voila- a sandbox!!

Recovery

Good intentions.  I have them.  The photos of the kitchen have been waiting for months to be posted.  But I truly feel like we have been in a recovery mode after we got our kitchen back.  We've been trying to find a groove with our family schedules, time to just "be" again, "Charlie and Jen time" that wasn't just focused on what thing had to be done next in the kitchen and who was going to be heading to work and who needed to watch the kids while trying to paint.  I have had days of wanting to just hunker down with the 4 of us and enjoy the fact that no one was going to come over and work on our house that day.  While we are incredibly appreciative of every bit of work and help that went into the house, we quickly realized how invasive it is to have inspectors, plumbers, cabinet makers, company reps, and builders in and out of your house daily for weeks and months on end.  And we've been getting caught up on all of the things that we put on the back burner for the summer.  Like a sandbox for the tots.  Weeding gardens.  Getting back to using cloth diapers (I so could not bring myself to use those this summer when we were using the laundry sink for dishes and food prep- albeit the dishes always stayed in little plastic tubs, as I didn't want them touching the sink.  The thought of diaper water going through the sinks where we were also trying to wash dishes made me throw up a little in my mouth)
I will say that we are using the kitchen to its fullest and we are thrilled.  The counter space alone is enough to make me sing.  And the dishwasher.  Man, I love that thing!  How did we live without it for 6.5 years, 3 of which involved kids?  I have an entire skinny tall drawer just for spices (though the one drawback is that the kids have discovered that it's right at their height and that they can open it and take spices out...an entire jar of celery seed was the first casualty of that ongoing battle).  I have loved entertaining and being able to stand at the counter and prep food, whilst talking to those who are in the dining room.   And while I wouldn't exactly say that I love cooking yet, I really do enjoy it much more than I used to.  It's a fun room to be in, it's fun to experiment with new foods while in there, and I love finding new ways to use the space.  The girls have loved pulling stools up to the counter and helping or watching me, something that there was never room for before.  
What's left for the space is to put in the tile backsplash, under cabinet lighting, and finish painting.  I find it much harder to summon the energy for those tasks now that we are out of the rat race mode.  

And at last, the photos...

Love that dishwasher (left of the sink)!

Spice rack is the skinny drawer to the right of the under-sink cabinet.

And why not play with a the plates and knives in the dishwasher?

I didn't even make her pose for this photo- I turned around with the camera to take a photo of her helping me make cookies and there she was, wooden spoon and all.  So much for that egg allergy, huh?

My dad and Charlie just installed the pendants above the counter and it is downright dreamy in the evenings.  I find myself sitting at that red stool and doing all of my paperwork and computer work, feeling a little bit like I'm at a swanky bar.  While paying the mortgage,

Attempting to capture the mood with the pendants on, but the camera just doesn't do it justice.

Remodel- Day 67

I think it's day 67.  I lost track and tried to count and then lost track again.  It feels like an eternity.  8 weeks since I have had a kitchen.  However, we do have a date for countertops- Sept 6!  And the few days after that will hopefully be a big push to get things finally done and everything put in its new home.  I have had so many emotions throughout this process, most recently the hopeless feeling of "it's never going to get done!!!" (conjure up images of me lying on the ground and moaning this to my somewhat amused husband)  It honestly feels like we have chosen to run a marathon, something I have never done (1/2 marathon doesn't count).  We started off in a sprint, running on the sheer joy and elation that this thing was starting, forgetting that this was going to be a long journey and that maybe we should slow down a bit and find a pace.  Lately I have felt stuck in what must be the "I'm more than halfway done, but still so far from the finish line" part of the race.  I would think that for runners, miles 17-23 would be the worst, and that's what this feels like.  The initial joy and adrenaline have worn off, you're past the halfway mark, the finish line feels like an eternity away, you just feel tired.  At this point, we just carry on, because we know that we can't stop and we know that the view from the finish line will make it all worth it.  None of this is to say that I am not thankful or wishing that we hadn't done it, but I will say that we are tired and are just ready to be done so that we can LIVE in our house again.
Here are the photos...cabinets in and painted, but missing the drawer/cupboard fronts.  The green on the walls is still a little shocking, but the funny thing is that changes shades constantly and looks different from day to day.  It's maybe a little more dill-pickly than I had imagined, but it's growing on me.  I still need to do touch-up painting in many many spots.

See that big empty space under the window and to the left?  That's where my dishwasher will be going!  That's the whole reason that this project got started...

If I seem a little crabby lately, it's because I have to cook, occasionally eat, do laundry, do dishes, and store everything in this one room.  It's chaotic and it smells weird and it makes an orderly person go a little crazy!

And she walks!

18 months and 1 day.  That's a long time to wait.  But last night, whilst visiting our neighbors and good friends up the street, Simone decided to start walking!
Of course, who has a camera on them when talking a family walk up the street, just in case "the baby" takes her first steps?  Not I!  But here are the photos from this morning, as she continued to work on her mad skills.

Kitchen Remodel- Day 25

25 days of construction on our house.  16 days since I have had a kitchen.  Some days I am in awe that we are living through it so well and that time is flying by.  Other days I want to lay on the floor and kick and scream until I get my kitchen back.  Finally, there are the days when I think about all that still has to be done to be "finished" and I start to hyperventilate.  It is overwhelming, but the beautiful thing about letting others do the work is that I can just walk away from it and come home to see the progress.  Having the kids and work as my distraction is a good thing.
I have spent many days running around town, finding places to hang out with the kids and places to let them nap (LOTS of time at grandparents' houses).  We've been blessed by food and beds at our parents' houses numerous times.  We did a picnic at Lake Harriet one evening.  We've dined out plenty of times thus far.  And I've found that Kowalski's has the best salads for when I need to grab something to bring into work.  We've used our makeshift kitchen (i.e. the laundry room and Charlie's workbench) to an extent, but what we didn't count on was the sheer amount of debris falling from the kitchen, through the cracks, and into my rack of drying dishes on top of the washing machine.  Ew.  And a rodent made it in during the remodel and somehow, seeing that critter running through the laundry room makes me a little less excited to eat/prep food in that space.  (Of note, we think it got back outside again, as we've seen no other evidence of it) Thus far, we've made it work.  It's getting old, but we're too far in to turn back now.  And so we press on, as there is no other way to go!

The "bump out" 

And you know what we found underneath that ugly yellow siding that we've always hated?  Beautiful original cedar siding (the white siding in this photo).  And now we will be ripping off all of the yellow siding and painting the cedar siding.  (In all of our spare time, of course!)

Last night in the old kitchen (sob)

Last batch of chocolate chip cookies in the old gal.  That was our specialty together.  Something about that oven produced the most amazing cookies (and a lot of disasters with other foods!)

After the first demo day (will post later about the amazing "relics" found when the layers were peeled back)

And after a few more days of demo- gone is the wall!  The kitchen and dining room are now one large open space.  Laila got a kick out of walking through the space that used to be the wall.

Day One

Kitchen remodel started today.  A couple of holes in the ground outside of the wall that will be demolished.  A garage that's starting to fill up with construction supplies and new kitchen appliances.  Massive amounts of money being discussed in deciding whether cabinets from Ikea or have someone custom make them.  Me, trying to decide if I should pack up the kitchen now, procrastinate yet another day, take pictures of the kitchen in its current state, or just try to block it all out and play with the kids instead.  I am thrilled and yet am dreading the next 8 weeks of upheaval in our household.  Yes, I found out today that I could be without a fully functional kitchen for up to 8 weeks.  Ack.  With 2 small children.  No sink.  No stove.  Food stored in boxes in the living room or the basement or somewhere else.  Yikes.  
And to think that this all started because I decided that I wanted a dishwasher.  Be careful what you ask for.

Just a Quick Note...

I only have a minute (which is all I ever really have, hence no posts!). But I have to note that it is March 13. It is 67 degrees and sunny. I saw my first robin of the spring today. Three days ago, we found the first tulips coming up in the gardens on the south side of the house. Can I emphasize that it was MARCH 10TH?!?! The girls now have the sand and water table set up on the deck and they have christened the deck with sand piles already. Simone screamed when it was time to come inside for a nap. I went for my first run outside- 15 minutes of running down by the rushing creek.

Ahhhh the change in seasons, weeks and weeks early. I am in heaven!!

Fear and Loathing

Let's be honest...I dislike cooking. Recipes intimidate me. Fresh veggies stare at me, begging to be used to their flavorful fullness, and I can only roll my eyes and wish that someone else would cook it up for me. If a recipe has too many steps or ingredients that are new to me, I dismiss it. Give me the Betty Crocker cookbook any day. I groan at the load of dishes that gathers after making one meal, a meal that is enjoyed for 30 minutes and during which, most likely, my kids will have thrown the fruits of my labor on the floor or flat out rejected (to which I think 'why did I even bother to cook?'). To make a mess of the kitchen that I just spent a hour cleaning seems like a crying shame. To spend an hour or two preparing a recipe that falls flat on its face is fodder for my loathing. I don't find rest and comfort in the process. It's simply a necessity of the day, a thing to be checked off, and then be on to more fulfilling prospects. If I were rich, I wouldn't bother with a nanny or someone to clean my house. I like taking care of my kids and cleaning soothes me. But I would hire a cook faster than you can say "foodie."

I actually thought, at one point, about starting a blog dedicated to the many reasons that I dislike cooking. Let's be honest: there are thousands of blogs and websites dedicated those who take glory in the stirring, the blending of beautiful colors, the calm that surrounds them as they create sumptuous meals. But are there blogs out there for those like me? Those who love to eat the food, but get a pit in their stomach at the thought of having to make it? Those who get pit stains from the sheer effort of trying to come up with new meal ideas for their family?

Don't get me wrong: I love to eat. I love to eat good, healthy food, with some tasty desserts thrown in. I love seeing what veggies come from my parents' garden and the idea of eating what's in season or what's local fascinates me. I love to eat out at new restaurants and I love it even more when it's a night that I don't have to cook dinner. I guess that not every day or every meal is fear and loathing. But there are definitive moments in my cooking career that definitely tip the scales.

Tonight was just another check mark for the "dislike" vs. "like" of cooking. I decided to be resourceful and use up another of our winter squash from the farmer's market. It was a bright orange round thing, a Golden Nugget, per my mom. I cooked it up just as Betty Crocker suggested (perhaps my first problem of the evening was following her directions and not my mom's). After 45 min, it was still a little hard, so back in the oven it went. After an hour, the chicken was done, the kids were in their chairs hollering for food, and the squash had to be done. Now how to get steaming hot squash out of the shells? Pick it up with an oven mitt and scrape it out with a fork, right? That's a great idea until the hot juices from inside the squash runs down the oven mitt and soaks right through the mitt. And then the shell of the squash, to which I nearly lost a finger trying to cut through when it was raw, decided to completely fall apart as I'm scraping out the innards. As I am trying to pick up the bits of shell to salvage the squash "meat", I realize that the squash isn't nearly as cooked as one might hope. So I am trying to pry hot hard squash from a flimsy shell, meanwhile thinking, "who needs fingertips anyway?" After I finally cut and scrape as much as I can handle from the shell (read: as much as my burnt fingertips allowed), I attempted to pull my wits about me and make something edible from this. A few more minutes of cooking in the microwave didn't exactly make a buttery smooth squash dish. That's when I took out my weapon of choice: the immersion blender. The final product was a somewhat bland (despite my additions of salt, butter, and brown sugar), mildly chunky squash puree. Not at all what I had imagined. Surprisingly, both kids ate a little squash with minimal coaxing and all that was left at the end of the night was a little container of leftovers, bound for the fridge, a reminder of the daily disaster.

So, notes to self, Sweet Dumpling squash is WAY tastier and much easier to cook than Golden Nugget. Golden Nugget looks pretty and its looks are only skin deep. And the butternut squash soup that I made for Christmas Eve, intimidating as it was, turned out pretty amazing. Perhaps there is hope for a "hater" like me.