is there any more pie?

Two young men arrived at 7 and immediately began ripping up our 20-year old Pergo floor. That floor still looked good, by the way. When we bought it we could only afford the least expensive version of Pergo and the fact that it held up so beautifully is pretty amazing.

I loved it then and I still love it.

But it’s time for a change, I guess, whether I want a change or not. Change is a-comin’ and I’m standing here on the sidelines praying it all looks good when it’s done.

I spent a sleepless night worrying about the decisions I’d made. There is only one left and that’s the kitchen counter. I will not bore you with my endless dithering about Formica, quartz, granite and Corian. The insurance company isn’t paying for a counter so that’s our problem. We are making one last trip to a place in the city called Stone Depot tomorrow. Everything is expensive, period. I’ve sent away for Formica samples three times and nothing looks good except solid white. But I’m tired of constantly wiping white counters and would love something else.

Here’s the final contenders for the wall paint:

There’s a dumpster in the driveway now and Banjo Man is pacing around wondering if there is anything here in the basement that he wants to get rid of. The problem is that we’ve been getting rid of stuff for two years and I think we’re done…for now. But I’ll have to keep a close watch on him, just in case.

The electric range and the two chandeliers are leaving this morning, which should make him happy.

The best part of this? More dinners out, as we’ll eventually run out of all those frozen meals I made last month!

I finally finished this Tuesday night, before we attempted to eat a train wreck of a dinner (we ended up throwing it out) and I resolved to do no more cooking during the remodel of the kitchen. I don’t have the patience or the energy–and it makes me grumpy to cook and eat after 7 PM. We’d gone to town to look at window and door trim, so we had a late start making dinner.

We should have stayed in town and grabbed a burger somewhere.

Anyway…I did finish this quilt top and I was pleased with how it turned out. The browns are warm and golden and the coral and purple give it a lot of personality. I have no idea where it will live, but I hope to quilt it in May, when the dust settles (literally).

We’re in the process of moving to the basement, so the office/music/sewing room has become a major storage area for the next few weeks. Blogs will be written from the basement and I hope I won’t bore you too much with the demo details.

Sunday we’ll be heading over to Wood River Inn for some bluegrass music and seafood with Barb and Rod. I cannot wait. I need a little musical inspiration, as the violin and guitar are here with me in the basement and are ready to be played.

Wish us luck!

We’re still waiting for the contractor and his crew to start the remodel. I cannot really complain, because this is a paid-for-by-home-insurance project, but living like this is getting old.

So yesterday I decided to remove a cabinet door. Just for the heck of it.

So I kept going.

Banjo Man came upstairs and didn’t even notice. I guess he was focused on lunch.

But after he saw what I’d done, he wanted to get involved, too. “I wonder if it’s hard to take one of these completely out,” he mused.

“Go for it,” I said, handing him the fancy screwdriver.

I also made a rushed trip to Home Depot. Have you ever opened an old tub of drywall mud to discover it is filled with dark green mold?

Not a pretty sight.

Because I’m repairing wall and fixing holes I need my drywall mud. The new little tub that Banjo Man bought me just wasn’t going to cut it. Hello again, Depot.

I also collected another dozen Formica and WilsonArt laminate counter samples, because I am deep in Kitchen Counter Hell. The quartz I like would cost $3200. The Formica Solid Surface I fell in love with (similar to Corian, I learned) would cost almost $3500. Neither is even close to being within my budget. The insurance company isn’t paying for a new counter, so this is up to us. And “us” is frugal.

I’ve decided I am so tired of white counter tops. There will be plenty of white elsewhere and I don’t especially want to feel as if I’m living in an igloo, so the search continues.

But I did order the new lighting fixtures–one with a little extra sparkle for over the dining room table and one with lots of extra sparkle for over the island. As much as I tried, I just couldn’t click the shopping cart button for the more minimalist choices.

I’ve tried to put a picture in here, but for some mysterious computer glitch I can’t do it. So you’ll have to visit in a few months and check it out for yourselves.

Parts of Rhode Island ended up with 18″ of snow last night, which was a bit unexpected. We have about 6″, but the stuff is going to freeze and won’t melt until Friday when the temps get above freezing. It’s a wintry mess this morning, but I have a great big container of dry wall mud and some walls that need help, so I’m going nowhere.

It’s a very good day to stay home.

It’s not cold enough to freeze (and skate on) but it certainly was a sight to see early this morning.

We had snow, sleet and rain yesterday and throughout the night, so we had a little taste of winter weather.

But not much.

For which I am grateful.