Kitchen Details and Blurred Photos

We went along the coast to choose some worktops, G likes stone I like Formica.

My choice

Dogbone Storm

Bermuda

Earth

Midi Mode White on Folkstone

 or

Amber Burl

Boysenberry

I think Midi Mode White on Folkstone looks like a punch card knitting pattern and Amber Burl....that would just be too fabulous.

But there isn't the time to make a decision about what colour, what thickness and have it delivered before the fitter comes, and, sometimes you get the feeling the sales staff at the builders merchants are making things difficult for you because you are unsure of your needs at this time.
So that visit paled


On the same day the stone masons.
Mostly pale stuff for G.

I got on board with the following terrible photos.

This Verde Marinace comes in a red and it is awesome and we even priced it up and I may have talked G round before deciding it was way out of budget and secretly thinking that we would have to move if we ever went off it.


This was the best pic I could find on Google images, can you imagine!

At home previously G suggested these on the wall behind where all the cooking action happens I flatly said no, to which there was a rage eruption, I yelled something back about them being lovely but imagine cleaning them.

WHY did I always have to bring hygiene in to it?
I'll tell ya!
Because I am the one trying to keep on top of the house work but if he was offering to clean them I would gladly buy him the tooth brush that he would require and he could clad as much as he likes.

The lovely man in the stone shop agreed with me, completely impractical and the argument was closed.


Back at home I managed to say that as we both came from design back grounds it would be nice if we didn't plump for predictable wooden worktops and that it would be nice to imagine the alternatives, I think sometimes the engineer in G comes out and he just wants the job done and WTF's wrong with me.

So we started looking at copper, brass and pewter.
I can't even begin to up load some of the 100's of images I have saved to my phone.

We almost made a decision but I have an under mounted sink and I kept thinking what the return would look like in a metal and before you know it I am knackered and there is now a wooden work top delivered and ready to go in the hallway.

We went with Zebrano.

Funnily enough, Formica do a print just like it.


The oven G has bought has to be handmade in Italy, probably a bit of an over exaggeration, but it won't be shipped to the UK till mid November and then be delivered to the dealer and then on to us.

So with much disappointment we cancelled the re fit and it is now booked for the end of November.

Now G and I are discussing tiles, it is the last thing we need before paint colour.
I like antique mirror.

It has been half term this last week and a half and the girls have been full of fever and snot hence the big break in blog postings and Mrs B in Madrid from the previous post also put the fear in me by suggesting that she would link the Homestead into her Facebook page.
It sent me into hiding, freaking me out that people she knew might think 'what is this crap?', I couldn't do it to her.
I have analysed those thoughts mixed them up them up with a memory of an email from her regarding an Alexander McQueen jacket, taken a deep breath and decided to get a life.

None of that will make sense except to me so until next time

It's getting really cold out there.
CM

Notes from Madrid

Yonks ago I posted, and I can't find it to share, a delicious email from Madrid describing the differences between buying a length of elastic in Spain and here in the UK.

I have been trying to find that post but can't because I don't LABEL things proper and I wanted to link it here to go with the new email that arrived yesterday.

You should know that Otto is under 5 and incredibly well turned out.
You should also note that his mother Mrs B when dressed for any occasion makes a peacock look like a pigeon and her poise makes a flamingo look like a lay about.


*Sigh*

I took Otto to have a haircut today.
We go to the barbers in the next street.  It's run by 2 eldery brothers who each day, co-ordinate their beautifully laundered candy-striped shirts, so they're matching.  (Cufflinks, of course)

It's a tiny shop, that's been open for decades.
The decor and chairs haven't ever been replaced, but are well cleaned and maintained.  The shelves are chocka with half-full bottles of cologne and hair pomades, going back about 50 years, but not a speck of dust.
The clippers are antique, and they still use razors and strops.
There's always an old man sitting in a waiting chair, reading out the bits in his paper that annoy him most.

Otto's lifted onto the red leather child seat that matches the chair, a cape is put on, and the trimming starts.
They do 2 cuts for boys: 1940s and 1960s, for the more rebellious parent, but it's really just a slightly longer 1940s.
We get a 1940s.
"Eres un bueno hombrecito?"
"Si"
"Entonces, los hombrecitos buenos cogen caramelos"
("Are you a good little boy?"  -"Yes"  "Well then, good little boys get a sweetie afterwards")

After a brief discussion of football, where Otto's asked if he's a little capitalist, for supporting Real Madrid, so switches allegience to Atlético Madrid (The left-wing underdogs)  his hair is done.
A swift side-parting, a spritz of cologne, then he's handed his Chupa-Chup (lollies, with Dalí-designed wrappers)

And that's it.  No chairs shaped like fucking rockets, with a Playstation and telly built in.  I can't imagine what they'd say if I said "Yeah, keep it long all over, except the front"

Wish you could come and take pictures.
Besos guapa,
Señora B


No pressure but it's one of the biggest treats of my year to receive these emails.
Apologies if you didn't want me to share.

I will remove it if you ask me to.



On another note G tried to order the carcasses for the kitchen today..............no........ not happening.
He had made the decision that oak was what was wanted.

Turns out you can only have these if you are trade and can guarantee that you will spend £3000 in one year.
Do businesses want to take money in a recession?

So it is wind out of the sales for the mister today.
Never mind.

We also now own a dishwasher, I am not sure how I feel about that one. I buy washing up liquid at 95p a bottle last lasts me three plus weeks and now I will be getting involved in things called Rinse Aid and limescale tablets and I can see an extra £10 on the monthly shopping bill.

See what tomorrow brings
CM

We Are Getting a New Kitchen

G and I have spent the last couple of weeks raging at one another over our opinions and what the kitchen is going to look like.

It all started when he came to tell me about a two part resin white floor paint he plans to put down.
I'm not sold, mainly because once it is down it's going to take a lot of maintenance and if it is a mistake we will probably have to lay lino to cover it because it will never lift.
Anyway he could see the unease on my face and BANG we were off.


I'd ripped out the greasy kitchen when I moved in and me and the lodgers happily survived on small table from my grandmother, a sink, and what amounted to no more than some beer crates next to the oven.
I also bought part of an old stage but the ridges between the planks made for an unsuitable work top and that found its way to the skip.
I don't do salvage yards now following one too many bad decisions in the past.


A hundred years ago I saw Practical Magic and fell for the kitchen.
G and I set about putting a kitchen in at the turn of the century.
All the cupboard doors that were available in our tiny budget I didn't like. If you weren't happy with fake wood then they were vac formed plastic and a shaker knock off and I just didn't like them.
I thought keep checking the shops, fashions change and at some point someone will stock what you want.
It never happened and everything got really expensive. So to this day the contents of the carcasses remain open to view.

The kitchen is on the first floor and there were once trees outside each window and door.
We laid the wide boards and stained them black.
The light airy space was immediately depressing and it showed every speck of dust so the colour lasted about a season and I hired a sander and pulled them back to natural wood gave them a white wash and put a clear ballroom varnish over the top.

Before you know it 12 years have passed I never had the PM kitchen, the range cooker we have no longer works and I can't cope the the hob for cooking any longer so by Halloween we will have a brand new functioning kitchen.
But it's a bumpy ride to get there.

My tastes haven't changed I still like the mix and match look, I think it will probably look something like the following although G calls it slap dash, but he has become completely confused and no longer knows what he wants as I keep firing alternatives in to the mix.
My evil plan worked
Actually I spend most of my day in there so really I do believe I should have the final say.

All these images are from GOOGLE and my housey file, huge apologies for the lack of credit

So it is going to be kitchens all the way for the next couple of weeks.
Later I will tell what happened in the stone masons.

We bought an oven!

CM

Totally Bombed!

I have a long list of blogs that I read every couple of days, it's instead of newspapers, gossip columns, fashion pages and interior design magazines.

So thank heavens for those creative on the internet. Probably saved me hundreds upon hundreds  of pounds over the last 5 years.

Somebody made a weekend list of links and in there was this you tube clip.
It is sweet.

Can you see it?
It's Chaddy Wisdom Teeth at Home if you search You Tube

G asks me what would I do if we won THE MONEY, I always say, I'd by Gas and Air.

Very determined to be a bit more organised by the end of the weekend, I think that was last weeks challenge but it kinda fell by the wayside.

Can see the path ahead of me but struggling to steer the course

CM

Autumn Gardening

Somewhere along the line I heard that this Saturdays weather was going to be fine so in my mind  an out door tidy up was in store.

We live in a terrace town house with a stairs to the basement where G has his practice.
New word - I usually refer to it as an office.

It began to look a bit scraggy in the summer and I kept saying to G, you have to sort it out. I always clear it and expect him to maintain it especially as he walks through it to get to his desk.

It's a man thing.

My dream job of recent years is to clear front gardens, I don't want to plant things I just want to tidy them up. When ever I see something that could do with a sweep, I think, why don't I?

For some reason there is more green in the brick work than ever before and as I was tugging some weeds out the dream job was beginning to fade a little.

So I think we need to get the jet washer out and go over the stone and lift the slim and muck then put some concrete mix down in the brick joints. I've cleared up by the front door and some of the cement flooring is loose and the water is just pouring through the gaps in the stone steps.

More jobs and I can't think if it is best to tackle them as soon as (if) we get another good weekend or wait till next summer when everything is completely dry and tackle it then.
But what state will it all be in 2013.



Today is grey but as it was G's turn to do breakfast for the girls I went for it and trimmed my bush in the back garden.

It's blurry because the button didn't like my gardening gloves.
I planted five lavender herbs (not found with the normal lavenders in the garden center) and whilst the bees have loved hanging out here, at nearly six years the growth is beyond a bush.
In fact this is it trimmed down from last weeks harvest.

It's just got really woody.

Alan (80 yrs plus) two doors down said Ken (100yrs plus) would say, trim them when the flowers die leaving and inch or so of green and then trim and shape again when the warm weather arrives but before it starts to flower.

The plan is to re plant just two and keep them manageable.

Of course by removing them I've made the biggest litter box for all those F****** cats that insist on crapping in my garden so I've decided to fox them by making what I hope will look like a death trap from the leaves of the other big thing that grows.

Doesn't it look sad when you pile it all up before the frost. I had a really good sweep, folded the chairs and put away the tools.
I will try and get out and do a little bit more through the week.
The more gentle stuff will need covering with bark chippings to protect them and plants will need cutting back as the last things finish flowering. The washing line will need rolling up and the pots I will move next to the house out of the wind.

By my breakfast time and before my bladder gave out I had two huge sacks and the old kitchen bin.
So ready for a shower.


But this beauty puts my efforts to shame.
It's truly stunning and I would have loved to have sniffed it as much as seen it.
Please watch it.

Going to fill this week with things to be done.
Only hope I have the energy

CM

Around About Stuff

We bought these 'Put Put' steam boats at the GDSF.
There was ONE beautifully styled stall filled with tin buckets, gypsy peddlers and twinkle lights (not to mention unwashed hair and long mucky finger nails eeugghh!) in scorching sunshine with all these little boats in water making their way round vintage model light houses etc.

G bought 2 and had the girls names written on them.

G who is for the most part function over style decided an old tin bucket wasn't cutting the mustard, went out and bought plastic guttering and erected a water viaduct.
When P was asleep, T and G spent a chilly two hours in the garden fixing, setting up and watching these boats make their way round the course.


Some one also has new shoes.

and she is ready for dancing

 and shop lifting

Having to check all bags before leaving nice shops that sell lovely things.


There is a chill in the air, I have put the Autumn blanket on the bed and it feels nice.
The cat is not sure why I have shut the bedroom window she still likes to sit on the ledge after midnight and scratches at the rubber bit that holds in the glass until I get up and open it.
Damn cat.

Anyway it is to be wet tomorrow so I harvested most of the dry lavender.

I think I am supposed to remove the heads. I had no time for that today so I have stuffed the lot in a cloth bag and hid it behind the living room door

The house smells a bit medicinal.


I noticed T's ear was a bit red in the week, she said it was fine. Later I thought it was dirty. It appears she had a clash with someones head in the playground.
You should see it now that it has had some arnica cream on it.

The resolution for this academic year is too keep the dining room table clear so that T can do her home work without being bothered by a mountain of crap.

I am keeping it clear but I am up and down those stairs like a yo yo trying to make sure that everything goes away, I supposes that is what must happen if you don't want piles of stuff everywhere?


So as P doesn't have a preschool to go to this year and I don't want to put her into one of the many local nursery's I have decided to home preschool until she is old enough to attend the closest one to us which is joined onto the school that T goes to.

The children there have to be four in the September and she isn't four until the December so will have to wait until 2013 to attend for one year before she starts school proper, although the admissions told me that they might takes her early, next summer depending on child numbers.

Got that?


So I decided to make a 3D nature table where I could focus the learning and I will probably follow the seasons.

Last week we found our tree on a walk, thank you very much Ma Stumbletrip for your sharp eye.
G poured post mix in the pot for me and it is ready to go.
The box holds work that T has from school, thank you FMH and the basket holds what ever toys I select for P, this week it's a Noah's Ark, brightly coloured eggs and threading animal beads.

We've been focusing on pairs and groups of colour.


I baby sat last night! Some of my oldest friends will say "REALLY, you?"
I thought I'd start some Christmas knitting for G, well, I must have cast on 6 times, not happy, at one point I got 20 rows done and then pulled it back.
Got going again but looking at my work this morning I am still not happy and will start again.

Is it the wool or is it me?
I think it's the needles.


P had some trouble sleeping the other night. This is her threading beads on our bed around 11:30 pm.
No great drama all very peaceful until G wanted to get into bed and disrupt the craft.
I joked and said, 'you are stifling her creativity!'
She didn't even look at him and said 'yeah daddy, don't stifle me'

Off to make dinner and get the washing in.

CM

New Shoes

T has to wear brown school shoes and there is only one shop in town that sells them.

For her Reception year the shop sold me a beautiful pair with stars on the bottom.
With four weeks to go in the summer she had pretty much grown out of them but she assured me that it was ok, I didn't need to buy another pair to see the year out.
God bless those Italians and their choice of leathers because these shoes grew with her.

Anyway we went back to get the same pair but they've stopped that style which is really rather annoying because the metal loop that holds the cross strap is located lower than the edge of the leather so there is some protection against 'diggin in' but in the replacement shoe the metal loop is at the end of the leather which has caused some irritation on T's over sized chunky toddler foot shape.

Damn the British and their cost cutting

The pink inner is I feel some consolation in this matter and being 5 means it's all about the pretty.

Can you see the metal loop?
All about the details people.


I on the other hand wear my shoes out from the inside, always have.
A few years ago I bought a pair of leather shoes in one of those discount stores and no matter how much I wore these pumps they always made my fat feet look nearly elegant. They seem to hold their shape better and they looked nicer on the inside than other really cheap pairs I've owned.

So a couple of years ago I bought a leather sandal in the sale with a view to wearing them and no other through the summer and chucking them in the Autumn when they had well and truly had it.
Only buy leather and only own what I need.

I broke my ankle and due to the swelling when the cast was off, the summer was nearly over before I could do the zip at the back up so they became this years sandal instead blah blah...
The leather meant that I couldn't kill them despite what I tried to put them through.
I managed to loose a big chunk of beads at the science fair and finally I thew them away this week!
Hurrah!
Mission accomplished, only wore these for weeks and no guilt at putting them in the bin.

I felt a little sad!

So the theory is to buy next years pair in this years sale so at a reduction of over £140 this box arrived in the post.

I also bought a pair of shoes for now and in the Spring.

It is better to try shoes on.
But I HATE shopping and visiting more than one shop especially in the sale so I went online.

It would have saved me making the following mistakes if I had made the effort.
Such a dunce.

The Beaded sandals were CARVELA, love this brand, made for the more mature lady me thinks who wants a bit of comfort over fashion. How amazing that they have them in my size I order a 40, I am a 39? I never got that wrong before.
I am going to wear them with skirts and 3/4 length trousers in Autumn and Spring.
I own neither skirts or 3/4 length trousers of any kind.

They appear a little lower cut than the description on line.
I am going to buy a blue rinse, a grey nylon skirt and a lawn bowls set.

These are next years sandals. If I had trouble getting my foot in last years pair, these are going to take some hiking socks before spring is out.
My mum says they are narrow and I should consider ordering a bigger size. I tell her when did anything ordered one size up get bigger it just gets longer and anyway, I did that already by again ordering a 40.
What is wrong with me?

They are tight but everything I ever ever bought has always managed to work it's way loose and baggy I am sure it will be the same with these and they are Italian so I have faith that it will be fine.

Lets just hope I don't trip over the length and break the other ankle.
Into the cupboard they go until next year.


Got out an old Nina Simone album whilst typing finding it very difficult not to sing or cry or both. Such history with her.
CM