I am a Clean Freak or 100 Ways to Drive Your Husband Crazy

Kristi called me the other day and asked what I was doing.  The conversation went something like this:

L: I'm cleaning
K: That's all you ever do
L: No, I organize too

I think it's no secret that I'm a little compulsive when it comes to cleaning and organizing.  I never seem to be able to get it quite right.  It seems like either I could have done a better job with how things fit where I placed them, there is too much stuff, or the storage solutions that I have come up with just don't work.  The only area I am completely satisfied with in the house are the kitchen cabinets.  It's really only been since September that the kitchen cabinets were finished.  While we were working on them we took everything out of the kitchen.  This gave us a chance to go through what we had and sort it into what we were keeping and what needed to be taken to Goodwill.  Everything is nice and neat and has a place.  I think Martha Stewart would be proud! 

We added sliding racks for the lower cabinets.  It makes getting pots and pans out much easier.  Before it was easy to forget what we had in the back of the cabinet.  Now we know and we aren't wasting time looking for the sauce pan or trying to lift the enamel cast iron dutch oven out of the back. 

Over the past couple of weeks I've been re-organizing the craft room (gack, I think this is the fourth time now...).  It would be a lot easier if there was just one type of craft that I enjoyed, but since there are a few it takes up a bit more space.  Aside from knitting and spinning I also like to sew, do a bit of jewelry making, dabble in rug hooking and have a very small rigid heddle loom.  Oh and yarn.  I have a lot of yarn and perhaps more than a few project bags and handbags.  What can I say?  I like yarn and bags. 

On the left in a smaller book case are all my knitting patterns, knitting books, a basket full of hexipuffs and hanging above is my little rigid heddle loom.  The mini LL Bean bag on the loom has all the tools that go with the loom.  The middle case from the bottom up: jewelry supplies and yarn, handspun yarn, the next two shelves are indi yarns, knitting needles and tools, at the top are hat boxes with sewing trims/nicer spinning fibers/things I couldn't part with, shuttles and a basket o'hexipuffs.  On the right from the bottom up: orange bag with spinning bobbins and flyers, picnic basket (empty!!), office organizer and foam for needle felting, third shelf has a rug in progress and supplies, fourth is all needle felting, top shelf is a basket of buttons, lazy kate and miscellaneous all topped off by knitting magazines.  I still think it looks messy but aside from covering it with a big curtain, I'm not sure what else I can do.  If you have a suggestion, please post a comment. 

I coerced Andy into helping me in the basement this weekend.  Shannon had given us a solid wood table style desk when she was moving.  We thought it would be perfect to put the drum carder on.  Andy built the brown shelves on top of the table when he was in middle school.  He was horrified when I asked him to trim the bottom of them a bit so they would fit on the table!  Being the good sport that he is he trimmed them and then helped me put everything on them.

It's not especially attractive, but it's organized and in a workroom in the basement.  The table is nice and sturdy and I can't wait to try the carder on it.  I had it clamped onto a old sewing machine table for a while, but it just didn't work well.  This is a huge improvement. 

Yesterday it was finally not 1,000 degrees in the shade or pouring rain.  Andy and I headed out to work on the start of the new patio.  Andy was able to lay the foundation for the new walkway that will go from the basement door to the patio.  The rail road ties are extremely heavy and need to be moved with a hand truck.  The grass in the path will be coming out and will be replaced with stone.  It will be less work to take care of and less chance of me getting bitten by bugs when walking back there.  Since I'm allergic to nearly everything that bites and my blood is crack for mosquito's we are doing everything we can to reduce the chance of bites.

My thumb finally seems to be working properly and I'm knitting again at full capacity!  It just sort of happened over the weekend while I was working on Mariposa for the Shalimar Beat The Heat KAL. I cast on on Saturday and I'm 1/4" away from binding off for the arm holes.  It's in Shalimar Enzo Worsted, Billies Blues colorway. 

With my thumb back in shape,  I've been able to work on my new sock design.  It's gotten some great comments from guys as well as girls so if you are looking for something to knit for a friend or your husband for Christmas this would be a great choice.  I'll be putting it out for test knitting sometime next week and hopefully be publishing it at the beginning of September.  The yarn is Maple Creek Farm Sherman in Chocolate Mint Truffle.

Wandering Wildflower is specially priced at $3.50 until August 1.  After that, the price will be going up to $5.00.

November

To say that November is a busy month for us is an understatement.  My birthday was earlier this month and Andy took the day off to spend with me.  We went out for a wonderful lunch and then went to a few shops to look at Christmas decorations and pick up a few things for the kitchen.  You know you are getting older when kitchen accessories are what does it for you! 

Since I have severe food allergies it's nearly impossible to get a cake or baked goods from a bakery or grocery store.  I decided that I really wanted chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting.  Every time Ive attempted to make cupcakes they are a complete failure.  This time I managed to have success and they were quite good.  The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. 

Then of course, we had Thanksgiving.  Rob and Shannon came over and hung out for the day.  They worked on refinishing a chest and then came in and helped with dinner.  For the past few years we have had our Thanksgiving on Monday since Andy has the week off.  We then get to have turkey all week long and not have to worry with cooking. 

Earlier this year I won a book naming contest on Veryl Ann Graces blog.  I was so excited that she chose the title that I had come up with!  Last week a signed copy of Murder Comes Unraveled arrived in our mail box.  I loved the first book in this series, Murder Spins a Tale, and the second one is equally as good!  When I opened the book, I was so surprised to see that Veryl had mentioned me in the dedication.  I am so honored and was quite speechless!  Thank you so much Veryl.  Not only do I get to read another wonderful book written by you, but I will have this very special copy too!

 

 

 

 

Ive also had knitting time and am now up to 198 Hexipuffs!  Ive recently coerced Beth into making them as well.  I can't wait to see her's.  She's such a prolific knitter, I bet her quilt will be done in no time!

 





 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel

I didn't think to write down the day when we started the kitchen makeover.  I really should have, because seriously it feels like it's been nine hundred and ten years that we have been working on it.  I'm pretty sure it was right after the Derecho that wiped out our power for almost a week.  So that would be early July.  Which really isn't that long ago when looking at the big picture.  When you are living in a kitchen that is a bit of a mess with half your dishes in the spare room and the other half missing in action, it's a bit of a challenge. 

We so close to being finished that I can taste it, or is that dinner that I'm dreaming of?  The only things left to do are minor in comparison to what we have done: painting the trim around the kitchen and dining room windows, changing the lower wall color in the dining and great rooms (the current color clashes with the new cabinet color), painting that trim,  constructing three shelves to go above the sideboard in the dining room and building a new pantry which will need paint as well. 

One thing that has been great is that Andy and I have taken a few weekends off here and there to regroup. This past weekend we went with friends to a wine festival on Saturday and spent most of the day fishing on Sunday.  We have a romantic four day weekend coming up which we are really looking forward to.  Biking by the beach, great food on the water, and hopefully not a lot of tourists.  I'm really looking forward to eating out.  I hear most restaurants don't keep their dishes in the spare room...

 

Andy built the cabinet above the island from scratch to match what we had.  I love how it turned out and it gives us a lot of extra storage space.

 

 

 

We have picked out a new light fixture for the dining room and will hopefully have it up soon.  This is what it currently looks like.  We took the leaves out of our table to make the room seem larger.  The sideboard is a new addition purchased at a discount furniture store.  It's the perfect size for our small room.

 

The pantry on the right is going to move into the spare room to store yarn and fiber.  There will be three shelves above the sideboard.  The new pantry will look very similar to the cabinets with wainscoting and crown molding.  It's going to be about a foot taller and possibly wider.  I'm hoping for some slide out shelves, but we will see what transpires there.

 

 

 

More on the Kitchen and a bit of a break

August has been such a busy month and has flown by.  We have been working on the kitchen nearly every day.  There have been times when Ive wanted to give up from shear exhaustion.  Andy manages to keep going, I have no idea where he gets his energy and drive from.  He's really an amazing guy! 

 

It rained on Saturday so instead of being able to work on the upper cabinet doors we took a trip to Home Depot to purchase our new backsplash.  Little did I know that when we got home Andy was going to install it.  It looks like an old tin ceiling and came in sheets that are applied with adhesive.  It took just a few hours to put up and we love it!  It completely changed the look of our kitchen and will be much easier to care for than tile.

 

Shown here with my Shalimar Yarn's KAL project, Anarchary in the UK Handwarmers.  The yarn is Homage in Cranberry, Bluecrop and Tawny and is a dream to knit with!

 

 

The next time you see this kitchen there will be doors!

 

Andy and I did manage to take a three day weekend and head to Yorktown, VA.  We were both so exhausted from our home improvement projects that we really appreciated a quiet getaway.

 

We spent some time on the beach

Met a Pirate

Supported our forefathers

Saw cannon fire!

 

And quite honestly spent a lot of time at the Yorktown Pub

 

 

 

 

 

 



More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys (or so you would think)

We have been going non stop this year on our house.  In February we replaced the flooring in the great room, hallway and the two main floor bedrooms.  It's worked out beautifully - easy to clean and maintain.  It's much better for our allergies than the wall to wall carpet that we removed. 

Next Andy enclosed the fence like railing around the stairwell:

Before

After

We began work on the stairs by removing the carpet to see what was under it.  It was a combination of stair treads (good) and plywood (not so good).  Andy replaced the plywood, rebuilt the corner steps, added trim around the edges and wainscoting risers.  I'm the painter in the process.  I come from a family of very talented artists and am glad to be able to use my limited painting skills for some good!

Then we added a shelf under the bar area of the counter that divides the great room from the kitchen.

Most recently we have begun refacing our cabinets.  While it does take a bit of time, refacing isn't really hard to do.  Andy added wainscoting and trim to the existing door fronts.  We updated the knobs and hinges and Ive painted the insides to give everything a clean and uniform look.  Right now all of the lower cabinets are complete.  This weekend we will begin on the upper cabinets.  Here are a few progress pictures.

Sanded, washed and primed

Finished!

 

 We added sliding racks to make access easier.

Before

After

The trim underneath still needs to be painted.  I think I will do that last since I still need to paint the trim in the dining room.

PS  Im up to 148 hexipuffs!!