Making Decisions

Good evening! I'm here and doing much better than I was before. I was SHOCKED to call the doctor's office at 11:30 and get a 2:15 appointment for this afternoon. So, I was in and out of the office in under an hour and the meds she prescribed are doing their thing! My back is feeling much better and I'm feeling pretty happy. On a related note, I'm so happy that I cannot be held responsible for what ends up in this blog! Lol!!

So, we finally made some concrete decisions on the kitchen besides the paint colors. Here is our kitchen a few days before we closed on the house.






Note the BLACK trim and the fabulous Coca-Cola wallpaper border. We have since pulled down the border, primed and painted the trim and painted the walls an avocado/olive green. You may remember all of this from my first post.

Well, the paint colors have been nailed down for a while. I believe the True value idea card has been hanging in the kitchen for over a month. The walls will be re-primed and painted Chamois. The cabinets will be painted Rojo. We'll be using the green in a limited way for accents.




Picture: True Value

So, while in Midland, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up some Christmas gift cards and took advantage of the trip to look at things for the house. I picked up some samples for counter surfaces and Jason and I looked at them and agreed on the same one!! I wanted to be SURE that this was the way we're going to go, so I ordered an additional 15 samples from the manufacturer. They came in today and Jason and I again picked the original sample. We're going with WilsonArt HD laminate counters in Sedona Bluff. I know, I know. Laminate?! Yes, laminate. This is going to be a budget remodel on an average home in a very slow market. Going with a natural surface just wouldn't be worth it here. I'm still planning on putting a butcher block island in the center of the kitchen, so I'll still get my preferred counter-top surface in the room. So, here's the sample:




Photo: WilsonArt.com

I've seen the commercial for this stuff several times and doubted that it would look great in person, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm excited to get started on the kitchen redo! I'm hoping to start priming right after Christmas!!

Gallery Night is this weekend in Alpine and I'm hoping that I feel up to going tomorrow night. This year I'll be shopping for a cut glass dish to hold my dish sponge on the kitchen window sill, art for anywhere in the house and a cottage-y side table for either the living room, master bedroom or guest room, or all three!

Well, it's been a long day and the second round of muscle relaxers feels like it's starting to kick in.

Thanks for reading and many blessings!

I was late to work today

Want to know why...because I HAD to wash the dishes. Isn't that CRAZY?!?! I was so worried about the dishes in the sink that I had to stop, put my coffee down, take off my rings and bracelet, roll up my shirt sleeves, grab an apron and scrub away. (I have to mention that if I had walked out the door without doing so I still would have been late, but 5 minutes, not 20.) Apparently I am so CDO (obsessive compulsive disorder, for those of you that don't have it and can say it in not alphabetical order), that I would prefer to be late to work than to leave a sink 1/4 of the way full of dirty dishes. It's shameful, really. Oh well. At least I'll be going home to a shiny sink and clean dishes.

Tonight will probably be a busy night tonight. We're having blackened salmon with gnocchi and pesto sauce and I may bake some acorn squash to go with it for dinner. Yum! I'd like to get most of the laundry finished by tonight and also get at least a room or two clean. Addam's Family Values starts at 7pm and I hope to be sitting on the couch working on a ridiculously useless beaded bookmark on my new beading loom. It better turn out this time or else. I HAVE to mail off my swap package tomorrow morning. No if's, and's or but's!

I'm not sure what the weekend holds. I'm sure there'll be a trip to McCoy's, as usual, and I'd like to go to one of the general-store type places to browse for some more goodies to throw in the swap box. I'm sure Jason would like to go to the shooting range, but I also know that he has to start some stamping on a leather knife sheath he's making for a customer. I'd also like for him to start on a belt for me, but he has to take care of the paying customers first. Typical...

I may have mentioned that I'm reading Bless Your Heart, Tramp: and Other Southern Endearments by Celia Rivenbark. This book is hilarious. Jason is getting tired of me laughing out loud as I read in bed at night. I'm definitely not as "Southern" as the subjects in her book, but I do recognize each and every character. Her story-telling is admittidly a bit crude, but I haven't read anything overtly offensive. It's not something I'd read to my kids, but it definitely covers topics that every woman goes through, whether they're a Southern Belle or not. I'm about halfway through that and then will move on to my new Sarah Dunant.

The Simple Life...West Texas Style

I'm hoping to find a place to recount the week to week adventures Jason and I experience out here in the "last frontier" of Texas. We're loving life right now and are completely content with where God has led us.

We started doing "The Prayer of Jabez; Breaking Through to the Blessed Life" by Bruce Wilkinson this afternoon. We're planning on doing it weekly from now on. After that we'll be looking for another devotional to do that will be appropriate for couples. The first chapter of the book really ignited a desire in us to pray the prayer of Jabez and also to immerse ourselves as much as possible in the Word of God. I'm hoping that the next few weeks will be a spiritual awakening for both of us.

On my own, I'm planning on starting "What I Learned From God While Cooking" by Cristine Bolley. It is a book of 52 devotionals that include recipes and cooking tips, so it seems like it will be perfect for the budding chef in me. I imagine that the devotionals are meant to be done one week at a time over the course of a year, but I'm planning on doing at least 5 a week. They're short so that shouldn't be a problem.

Right now, we're revelling in the awesome Fall weather here. It is just perfect. We're also feeling very productive around the house. Jason worked in the yard today and I did the house cleaning and laundry. The house looks wonderful, if I do say so myself. Yesterday was our day of BIG accomplishment as we installed our new ceiling fan together. The light fixture on the old one was broken and it was hideous, so we had to get rid of it and get a new one. Now, can you guess which one is the old one and which one is the new one?!




Next, I'm hoping to move on to redecorating the kitchen. I have to admit that I'm taking my inspiration directly from this beautiful kitchen. She has got exactly the look I'm going for. This color palette is the one I'll be using. I am planning on painting our cabinets red, which some people find appalling, but we're dealing with fiberboard cabinets, so I'm not going to deviate from that plan. If they were real wood cabinets, I'd reconsider. This is the kitchen in it's current state.


The paint color is a compromise that went horribly awry. We've already replaced the sink with a stainless one and the faucet with one in rubbed bronze. First on the checklist will be priming and then painting the kitchen walls "Light Chamois". The next step after that will be painting the cabinets black, then red. I'll sand down the red in natural wear areas and then apply a glaze over them. I'm hoping to have those two projects done soon, but I'll have to see what happens.

Well, that's life as we know it for now. I hope to be back soon with an update!