Coffee Drinking Kitchen

"This is a coffee drinking kitchen"

Thus our kitchen was admired as one of our friends set foot into its open, bright expanse. It couldn't be more true. I adore the new kitchen, even with its cheery, floral, and dated wallpaper. Even with it's elderly and feminine roe-patterned linoleum. Even with the ancient and vaguely yellow colored appliances.

Sunlight permeates every nook and cranny of the capacious and airy interior.

It is cheerful. It is spacious. You can dance in our kitchen, after enjoying your coffee of course.

And it becomes beastly hot.

But I absolutely adore the new space. The windows sighed welcome home as soon as I set foot on the gleaming floor. The cabinet groaned in approval as I loaded them full of our pryex, pots and pans.

Many, many a meal will be joyfully had in this new kitchen. Already it feels like the anchor of my new abode.

Welcome Home

We have yet to lay out a mat on the doorstep with such a salutation, but the plump raindrops rhythmically dancing off of the rooftop the first night we slept in the house were welcome enough. OUR rooftop.

I am home...

Much Ado

My six week lay-off was retracted to a one week layoff upon learning of what our fall season had in store for us. During the last two weeks, admit the housing frustrations and packing, I've been frantically dying yardage and stringing beads for the falls second slot, in order to clear the path and focus on the bigger challenge:

Much Ado About Nothing.

Among these classic plays, Much Ado falls near the top for me for it's witty banter, sweet romances, meddling in-laws, conniving cousins and comical constable...

And Fabio, the genius behind the costumes for HMS Pinafore returns for another run.

What's in store?

Ten of these lovely Italian Bersagliere hats:
And much much more, I'm sure...

F*ck Deadlines, Become a Contractor

Our closing has been postponed. Not because of the government shut down, like we had originally feared. But because of the a work order on our pending home ordered by the appraiser for the approval of our FHA mortgage was not completed in a timely manner.

There is a sidewalk that abuts the northern side of the house. This side walk, due to the ravages of time, has begun to slope into the house as opposed to away. Granted this does present a troublesome grade and potential flooding issue. We understand the need for the problem to be corrected. The frustrating thing is, we had planned on just ripping up that sidewalk and regrading that portion of the yard ourselves.

Apparently the powers that be who oversee the approval of our mortgage decided it was too much of a liability and needed to be corrected prior to closing. A lot of back and forth negotiations happened over the weekend before a contractor was hired to fix the problem. They were to have all day Thursday and part of Friday morning to pull up the sidewalk, re-grade the corner and pour new concrete. Apparently the rain prevented them from even attempting to begin the process.

One cannot get wet while busting up concrete....

So our Tuesday closing has been postponed until Friday. Thank God we had the flexibility to accommodate the change.

But now I start to wonder if I may not be in the wrong industry. Who else really gets to put off deadlines, and put off deadlines, without any major repercussions. They will get fully paid for the job in the end.

Oh wait...so do politicians....

I'm still in the wrong business, apparently....

HMS Pinafore docks at PBS

For those unable to attend a liver performance at the Guthrie of the HMS Pinafore, tune into your local PBS station on October 14th for a broadcast of the show. The broadcast kicks off the PBS fall arts tour which will also feature a Pearl Jam documentary,dance performances by Bill T Jones, the Miami City Ballet and San Fransisco Ballet and a new opera out of L.A.

PBS won't actually be filming the performance for some weeks yet. The costumes, while in glorious shape, are likely to start showing their wear and tear by then.

So in the meantime, here are a few of the items I crafted for the show, prior to them ever seeing the stage: