New Floors

Chuck took Wednesday through Friday off to work on the kitchen.  On Wednesday we took out the lower cabinets and pulled up the rest of the sub floor and staples and started to lay the floor. We worked on the floor all day Friday.  On Saturday while I was out having fun, Chuck stayed behind and finished up the floor and spackled and sanded the walls to get them ready for painting (the new cabinets leave a slightly different footprint than the old ones so we have to repair the walls where they will be newly exposed).   While the project took longer then expected it went off well, and we are very pleased with the new floor and how things are going.  Tomorrow after work Chuck will paint and the cabinets and counter-top should be installed on Tuesday.


Spring Break

While all this construction was going on, we have also been having spring break.  I took the kids swimming one day, and then another night the girls and I went to see a local community production of Into the Woods that some friends were in.  While there I saw my cousin, Sara, was also in the orchestra, I got to visit with her and that was fun. I had boiled eggs earlier in the week before we took out the stove, so that we could dye eggs on Friday.  I had planed to dye them outside, but on Friday we woke up to some snow and freezing temperatures (hopefully it didn't get my peach tree too badly). By Friday afternoon, the kitchen floor was 2/3 done so while Chuck took a break, I laid down a tarp and set up the card table and we dyed eggs on the part of the floor that was done. 

I thought you'd need a little help finding Jared.

Also on Friday Kaitlin got an early birthday gift: a nice camera with detachable lens.  She enjoyed spending Easter afternoon doing a 'photo shoot' with all the members of the family.  Once she edits her pictures, I'll try to remember to post some of them here.

Saturday morning was our city's annual Mad Candy Grab. Ruth opted out this year (it's her last eligible year anyway) but Jared wanted to go, so we did. It was craziness as ever, and Jared did a great job muscling in there and shoving the other kids out of the way to get the candy. 

With Grandma and our cousin Benjamin.

On Saturday, while Chuck worked on the floor, the kids and I drove down to my sister Donna's house to attend our annual family Easter gathering.   All my siblings that live locally were there, and we had a great time, hunting eggs (lots and lots of them), eating food, doing crafts and visiting.



Easter

I haven't yet talked about what it is like living without a kitchen.  We moved the refrigerator to the front room and plugged it in.   We kept the sink intact until Friday when it had to go.  We moved a few of the cabinets to our family room where I filled them with the contents of my kitchen, along with several boxes placed on top.  The rest of the cabinets went down to the basement for now.  We have been without a stove since Wednesday, but we did plug the microwave in, in the family room.   It wasn't that bad really, kind of like camping.  That is, until we took out the sink.  Losing your kitchen sink feels like moving to a third world country.   Luckily, we have a bathroom right there, but it just feels unsanitary to get drinks of water and wash dishes in the bathroom sink and tub.  Something about putting your dishes on top of the toilet as you get ready to wash them is just wrong. Not to mention the problem of no disposal.  So we've been using a paper goods, but for basic cooking some use of knives and dishes is unavoidable.   We've been grilling and using the crock-pot for every meal, and that has worked out okay. 

Today, I wanted to make a special meal, it being Easter and all.  So imagine with me...   The crock pot is sitting on the floor in the front room near the front door.  It's sitting on a towel that is on the welcome mat. In the family room, I'm microwaving potatoes, which will later be mashed by Jared, by hand, on a towel on the floor of the family room.  Asparagus are washed in the bathroom sink, and then they also get the microwave treatment.  There is no gravy; I have no stove top.  There is an old card table set up in the empty kitchen. Chuck brings some sawhorses and a piece of plywood to make a "food table"; Ruth brings in the piano bench (she has to maneuver it around the stove that is sitting in the middle of the front room) as we need to fit five around the table. When the ham is done I kneel to carve it right in the crock, as it is very hot and I am not trusting it to the "food table" aforementioned. Kaitlin, who has been assigned to make lemonade, is filling the pitcher in the bathtub.  We line up to get the last remaining cubes of ice out of the freezer (there is no water line attachment in the front room). Kaitlin settles for just one cube.  The card table has been set nicely, with paper goods on a striking blue vinyl table cloth with cows and barns on it.   I bring the plate of meat in from the front room. It is time for Easter dinner. We sit down at the table and Kaitlin smiles, "This is the best Easter dinner we've ever had." And indeed, it was.