Month: January 2011

The Original Smaller Kitchen

Post author By dawn
Post date January 27, 2011
4 Comments on The Original Smaller Kitchen

We lost my beautiful grandma on the 16th of January 2011.

She lived 97 years. She was a walking ad for Oil of Olay. (If the Olay people would like to hook me up, that would be fantastic. Just sayin’)

Grandma and Grandpa owned a funeral home and lived in the apartment above it. When they retired they moved all the way across the street into a house. The only time any of us had ever been back in there was for Grandpa’s funeral in 1991.

My cousin arranged for us to be able to go back into that original home the house before Grandma’s funeral. Everything was smaller than we remembered, but it was the kitchen that brought the most memories.

In the corner was where Grandpa kept the “medicine” he gave us before bed at night. (aka one piece of candy corn). The countertop is where the noodles were rolled out, the TINY stove cooked the giant pots of noodles and mashed potatoes. Nothing decorative or fancy or pretty cabinet pulls. The women washed and dried all the dishes in there (hey, all the men were on the roof in the snow and wind adjusting the TV antenna, the kitchen was at least warm.) The smoke detector was on the outside of that wall – and when it went off, dinner was done.

We stood together looking in that tiny space, I remembered the warm security of a home full of yummy smells, crammed with toys, overflowing with people and joy and love.

Whether or not those times were ACTUALLY perfect isn’t the point, the memories are definitely perfect.

That kitchen was teeny and full of love. The bar is set high for my own little smaller home.

kitchen my smaller home

Repairing Water Damaged Walls

Post author By dawn
Post date January 7, 2011

There’s some water damage in the kitchen from a leak last year – the inspector used his moisture detector and said it’s completely dry now – but there is still damage I have to repair before I can paint.

(looks kinda like a person throwing their hands in the air to party eh?)

I know the general idea of fixing it

scrape/flake off the paint and drywall tape that has bubbled off the wall
some kind of joint compound to fill any gaps
sand it smooth

This post about drywall repair mentions drywall tape. I dunno. I’ll have to ask my experts and see what they say.

kitchen my smaller home

Kitchen Flooring

Post author By dawn
Post date January 4, 2011

I shouldn’t really say “kitchen” flooring, because whatever goes in the kitchen will go through the whole house.

I thought about carpet for about 30 seconds. Then Alex spilled syrup and orange juice and popcorn all over the floor and I thought about how lovely it would be to not have to spend my life scrubbing stickiness out of carpet and decided I wanted more wood. (That’s what she said.)

The nasty lineoleum and carpet has to go.

The Dude recommended laminate and I scoffed at him. I’ve had some laminate before and hated it. I could see the rough surface of fake wood and the seams around each plank. No way was I spending money on that.

I went to the local big box store to look at wood. Came home and said, “Uh, the stuff I liked the best was laminate.” Tasty, tasty words I got to eat.

(Tecsun Mocha Teak $3.34/sqft)