Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Happy Home Al Fresco, the Beach House, and the Kitchen Renovation

For all my dear friends who left comments and emails in the last couple of days -- I am not ignoring you.  I just fell a little behind when I had to make a quick trip out to the coast to meet up with some contractors about the beach house renovation.  Honest.  It was a business trip.  Really, it was.

It was still a bit foggy out to sea, but it cleared up in time for my 
camera battery to die a few minutes after this picture was taken :)
 Does anyone else have luck like that?

And even on, ahem, a business trip a girl's gotta eat breakfast.  It's the most important meal of the day.

 Look!  It says "Happy Home".  Can you think of a better 
way to start the day in our new old beach house?

Of course, when the kitchen looks like this...


 ... you have to pack your milk in a sweet vintage thermos, and pick up some locally baked pastries.  And then you have to step out onto the deck for some fresh air and a view of the white caps.  You have to.


We've made some progress.  Did you notice the stack of doors is gone?  Well, not gone actually.  Just leaning against a different wall.  They had to be moved to remove the old moldy drywall from the refrigerator nook.   Apparently the ice maker had leaked for years....


.... and the sink had leaked, so all the lower drywall on this side of the room has been removed, as well.  Something else is missing, too.  Do you know what it is?  It's the rat poo! I'm doing the "no more rat poo happy dance"!

Sigh.  I love my kitchen.  I'm pretty sure people think I'm crazy 
when I say that, but they don't see the things I see. (At this point my 
husband would probably interject that they don't hear 
the voices I hear, either, but that's a subject for a different post...)

No more mold in my kitchen, and no more rat poo, either -- woohoo!  In a few weeks, there won't be any rot in there, either.  I'm just keeping my eyes on the prize.


Remember what we started with?  We really are making some progress.  The holidays and the weather and the crazy short daylight hours slowed us down a lot, but we're ramping up again.


This was what the kitchen looked like at first.  See that very dirty looking floor area where the cabinets used to be?  Yup.  That's rat poo.  Lots and lots of rat poo....  I walked into that kitchen the first time, right past the rat poo, and knew I was home, but I think my husband wanted to run the other way!

I do hope there will be lots more meals taken like 
this -- even after the kitchen renovation is finished.

Now, just for fun, here's a picture from down at the beach this morning.

Look at that handsome dog -- can you believe he'll be fifteen 
in June?  I had to keep calling him up the cliff to keep him 
away from rolling logs today.  He just has so much energy!

This picture is very deceiving.  That little log in the background actually has a diameter of over four feet at the base.  When the waves came crashing in, they would pick that log up like it was a bath toy and roll it around, and twist it in different directions.  This is why it is so important to stay far away from logs in the surf.  A wave can pick it up and put it on top of you in a heart beat!    And waves can really take you by surprise -- just a couple of minutes after this picture was taken a wave crashed right where I was standing to get this shot.  Aslan (the dog) and I bolted up the cliff, barely escaping a good soaking!

Now, I'm off to start returning emails -- I missed you guys!




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