The Un-Remodel

I have been hatching a plan in my head for a few months now for improving my kitchen and dining rooms. While much of this 1920's house has been modernized or re-modeled, the kitchen has remained a cobbled together mess. Stove, tiny; oven, no temperature gauge, requiring a great deal of guesswork in baking; frig, over-sized, inefficient, and falling to pieces. First the frig's pan for catching defrost water fell off, and we would hear it peeing on the floor in the middle of dinner. Next, the interior light shorted out, and recently, the door stopped closing automatically, meaning that it was often left slightly ajar, making it even more of an energy guzzler.

While thinking about a replacement frig which would not dwarf the small kitchen, I got the idea of using some somewhat useless space in the dining room to house the frig, thus opening up a spot for a kitchen cart to provide much-needed storage and counter space next to the stove. By moving the dining table to the opposite corner of the room (and eventually adding a bench for more seating), and relocating my small secretary desk to the living room, I opened up a corner for the new, smaller frig. Amazingly, a frig ordered at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday was delivered at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday. The delivery people were wonderful (thank you, Lowe's) and there was no charge to haul away the old frig despite the fact that it was at least an hour's work for them to maneuver it through the narrow doorways, out the door and down the steps. Given that the new frig cost not little more than I might have had to pay someone to remove and dispose of the old one, I was extremely pleased with this service.

As I was unable to budge the frig on my own, and it had possibly never been moved for cleaning, I was expecting to see a very disgusting floor underneath. It was more nasty than I could have dreamed of, and apparently the most recent paint job occurred after the frig installation and without any movement of said frig.It was quite a workout washing the walls, behind the stove and of course peeling up the layers of nastiness on the floor. The kitchen cart is due to arrive in January but so far the new frig location is working out and the smaller size is forcing me to be more discerning when it comes to my jars and bottles. Anyone with a PCC across the street does not need a very large frig.

A little more about me . . .

We did an early Christmas today, in part because of our travels plans, and in part to enjoy the time off before we leave with new things to do rather than frenzied anticipation.

Adelaide's gifts to us included some fabulous pirate telescopes crafted this morning at 5:45 a.m. (after an hour of telling her it was the middle of the night, I gave up and told her that she could be up if she stayed in her room with the door closed) and several lovely and touching school projects enclosed in this envelope:My favorite gift was a book Adelaide wrote about herself. I loved every page, but I will edit myself and just show you some highlights.Not sure I agree that she has a flat-top, but her hair is about this long:
My favorite page:

When we laughed at the 50 grandmas and 30 grandpas, she explained that she wasn't sure exactly but she knew there were lots of them. And really, she's just off by a factor of ten, as she has 5 grandmas and 3 grandpas. And hers are all worth 10 regular ones, so in fact she got it exactly right.

Holiday Wish List, Revised

To: Santa
From: Adelaide's Mom
re: update to "Dear Santa" letter posted 12-10-09

Santa, excuse the last-minute email, but there have been some additions to the "Holiday Wish List" per Adelaide, who has now been given another format to express her desires and those she feels the rest of the family may possess. For the visual learner, we have the following:
That would be candy for the girl (represented by, but not limited to, the classic m&m), a sword for the boy, a cat for the dog owner, and chicken for the dog (represented by, but not limited to, the drumstick). As this cartoon family does not exactly match our nuclear family, perhaps we can merely ignore the bottom half of the drawing?

I leave the matter in your capable hands, Mr. Claus. Thank you.

Silk Nog, Holy Nog

Can I just tell you one thing I love about this time of year? Egg nog. Really, can you get more decadent than egg nog? Okay, having lived with a roommate in college whose mother created baked goods with such combinations as M&M fudge marshmallow pecan brownie caramel coconut peanut butter squares (or something along those lines), and having a childhood which included a dessert consisting entirely of whipped cream, oreos, butter mints and tiny marshmallows, I am familiar with decadence. Cheesecake? Yes. Cheese croissant? Definitely. Chocolate mousse, mm-hmm. But perhaps because these items are available year-round (and many just a short walk across the street from 7 am to 11 pm), I find it necessary to resist them, as I wish to button my pants on the first try. Egg nog, on the other hand, just magically appears sometime around or after Thanksgiving, and then by the time I am getting a bit sick of it, makes its merry way out of the refrigerated section by New Year's at the latest.

I am not a straight-up egg nog drinker, not a spiked holiday drink sipper, or even a grande extra hot no-whip egg nog latte guzzler. I am a soy latte with a splash of nog, a chai tea sweetened with nog, an afternoon decaf with nog instead of half-and-half fan. And, while the real stuff is excellent in these capacities, let me just give a shout-out to what is normally my least-favorite brand of soy milk, Silk. I am not a fan of their soy milk in general but this time of year they have Silk Nog, which basically is the sugar and flavor of egg nog without the arterial plaque. I don't know how it would be straight up (but then again, if you like straight-up egg nog you and I probably don't overlap on this issue anyway), but as a hot beverage holiday cheer booster it rocks.

Must sign off now and put the water on for tea.

www.northpole.net

Dear Mr. Claus,

Now that my five year-old is literate, I fear that you are going to disappoint this year. I actually pretty much gave up your identity last year in the hopes that this year we could transition to the "tradition" of Santa (nod, nod, wink, wink, "Santa" is coming tomorrow). But the five year-old is insistent that she not be a part of any stocking-stuffer purchases for her Dad, because it is Santa's job. Okay, fine, I won't be a grinch and I am glad my kid is not the Kindergarten Christmas spoiler, but then again unless you are checking blogs for wish lists and doing some online shopping, the following will not be under the tree on Christmas morning:That would be "a candy canes [sic] and a clarinet and a dog and a sword."

I can handle the candy canes, but let me make it clear that my Christmas list includes the absence of any additional living creatures, noise-making items and weapons in our household.

Thank you for your attention in this matter, Mr. Claus.

Sincerely,

Christine

Candy Fever

Last night was gingerbread house night for the Kindergarten classes at school. The kids had a lot of fun creating their sugary castles, and showed remarkable restraint in not eating the construction materials. It is a strange kind of torture to be allowed to handle all sorts of fabulous treats but not eat them, and of course then you have the finished product to drool over for weeks afterward. Adelaide's creation is living on top of the refrigerator for now, with the excuse being that the cats might try to get it, and the reality being that a certain candy-deprived child cannot be alone with such temptation at a height easily reached. My guess is that even on the frig some of the landscaping and trim may go missing . . .