Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Here's the truth.  I wrote this post earlier this afternoon and then tonight we went to someone's house that we'd never been to before....and they have an amazing kitchen.  AMAZING.  Gorgeous.  A newer home with quality materials and beautiful craftmanship.  Wow, I was in a bit of shock. Coming home tonight the contrast kind of hit me.  I realize my kitchen is modest.  But it's a happy place for me where we share life together.  And so I will post because I'm documenting real life.  Here & now.  Ugly, old fridge and all.  

I thought I'd post, six months after the fact, that we painted our kitchen cabinets.  This happened back in August. It was labor intensive, so much that I stopped tracking our hours, but it was at least a week.  Dozens of hours, mostly spent in the garage.  It didn't seem like we had that many cabinets but once the doors and drawers were in the garage it seemed an enormous amount.  

I love the look of white cabinets and I'm happy with our finished project.  Our cabinets were in great shape to begin with.  I was inspired by Young House Love's blog and we mostly followed the process they outlined here.    

Here's the short version of the steps:
1. Took off all the cabinet doors and took out the drawers [numbered] and put in garage.  
2. Continued inside the house by sanding the cabinet frames/boxes.  
3. Removed all the hardware from the doors and drawer fronts.
4. Sanded the cabinets doors and drawer fronts [1st pass 60 grit and then 180 grit].
5. De-glossed everything.  
6. Primed [Zinsser].  Primed everything again.  [We used a paintbrush for the raised trim on the door fronts and then rolled the rest with a small foam roller.]
7. Applied 2 coats of paint.  [Behr's Popped Corn, semi-gloss]
8. Spray painted all the hinges.
9. Rehung the cabinet doors.  [Wasn't as easy as it sounds.]
10. Added new knobs and pulls.  

By this time, we were ready to be done and out of the garage but if I were to do it again, I think, I'd apply a 3rd coat of paint to the door fronts.  Six months in, they still look good and are wearing well but we have a few knicks from abuse like Addie driving her little, metal shopping cart into the doors. While I do tell her to stop, I'm ok with a bit of natural patina.  

"A welcoming home is where real life happens.  It's where personalities are nurtured, where growth is stimulated, where people feel free not only to be themselves but also to develop their best selves.  

That caring, nurturing quality- not the absence of noise or strife- is what makes a home a refuge."

~Emilie Barnes~ 

[I saw this quote on this blog]

the grossest day of her life

As she sipped her hot apple drink from Starbucks, I drove around town and talked to my daughter [more] about sex.  I think it's a little less intense if I'm not giving her constant eye contact.  

If I read her correctly, it's a bit of a shocker. She said it was the "grossest day of her life".  Even grosser than the day her toddler sister puked.  

She said she's going to need some time to process this.  

We ended our talk with a stop at the Salvation Army.  She has been asking for a typewriter for weeks with her left over Christmas money.  [She is so my daughter].  She couldn't wait to move on and get home to work on her book..."The Adventures of Piano-man and the Great Monster-man."

Talking to My Daughter about Sex

I posted last year about my talk with our then 9-yr. old daughter about sex.  I continue to bring sexuality up and let it flow in our everyday conversations to show her I don't have a problem talking about it with her.   

I want to keep the conversation open and continue to fill in gaps.  She's happy about reading together so we have been reading about puberty in The Body Book for Girls.

She is in 4th grade in the public school.  This week they have "Human Growth & Development" class. The curriculum begins this year and goes further next year.  It's optional for elementary school.  We requested Grace to not participate.  Mostly because we want the conversation to be open between her and us, as parents, so hopefully conversations with her will continue naturally as she grows older.  

If we're not going to have her participate in sex ed in elementary school I feel I have the responsibility to make a plan to educate her.  If I never have "the talk" with my kids, they are going to find out.  Experts now say "sex [ed] by eight or it's too late".  Far better to have her go to the class in elementary school than leave her to find her education on her own. 

The other night I asked her if she wanted to talk about sex.  And she repeats this line from a movie she likes where the mother is embarrassing her son with her dancing moves...."You're hurting me, mom!" You're hurting me!"  

I think she's ready for more details.  I've been on a hunt for a good book to help but I've been totally disappointed.  I found a few reject books on the subject that either are too vague [the man & woman "fit together"] or silly [pictures of old, naked, cartoon characters in the bathtub together], or written before I was born.  Is this all there is to work with?  Makes me want to write and illustrate a sex ed book for kids.  Plain, straightforward answers that approach the subject like it's interesting and wonderful and has decent illustrations.  

Let me know if you've got something that would help this mom out.  

Turn me on [Lights]

How do you say Happy Love [Valentine's] Day to your wife?   

I suppose there are many ways.  

Here at our casa it was dust and traces of pink insulation as my husband decided it was the perfect day to put in recessed lighting in the living room and entry.  

No sarcasm in my tone, as a practical person, I appreciate these gifts.  I must say there is something attractive about a husband hard at work, fixing things. 

Somewhere in the mumbling talk of red wire, black wire, white wire and multiple 3-way switches, he lost me.  He also liked to continue to repeat the phrase "in theory".  

The dust has settled, the snags have been ironed out and the living room is now lit.  He put the living room lights on a dimmer switch for ambience, so, I'm thinking there's romance there.  

We're also still getting along which is never a guarantee with home improvement projects.  

It was a sweet Valentine's Day.  We gave hand crafted love notes to the kiddos and each other. Vanilla cupcakes and milk were shared around the table before bed.  Last night we went to a Valentine's dinner at church.  We got 2 out of 10 possible points on the Newlywed Game, coming in last place of all the couples.  The only two questions we got right were ones we had a 50/50 chance of getting because the answer was either "him" or "her".  My conclusion: we just need to date more. Much more.  

6 months in: a confession

I must confess.  I bought a new pair of jeans.

Which is fine except for, you know, I'm on this year long fast from buying new clothes [more here].  

I made it six months so I'm thinking of a way to justify my purchase.  

Maybe it was my celebration purchase of making it half way.  

As for the shirt I bought?  Oh, yeah, I hadn't mentioned that yet.  It was my Valentine's Day gift to myself.  I'm feeling the love [for myself].  I was a little nervous after bagging it, as if I would get caught in the act.  It's a good thing I don't smoke or I might have been tempted to chain smoke right about then.  

I'm hoping due to the circumstances and the holiday...I get a "get out of jail free" pass.  

After falling off the wagon, I contemplated whether I should call off the fast at the 6 month mark but I am going to continue on.  

Wish me luck.  I always feel like shopping the most in the spring. 

This is the outfit.  Was it worth breaking the fast over?  I don't know but it sure is going to be nice having another pair of jeans in my closet that fit [I have 5 pair less then when my fast began...which means I don't have many!].    

Ten on Ten: February

Finding much life and beauty among the ordinary things of our day

Today I'm linking up with a bit of sunshine.

Intimidation

Jude's been asking for a cold lunch to take to school.  [He's been having the school's hot lunch.]

Last week I joined him for the first time at his school for lunch and it all became clear.

He has this friend.  He seems like a good friend for my boy from what I could tell over our 1/2 hour together.

We're lined up at the cafeteria table...me, Jude, and his bud.

Jude and I are sitting there with our hot lunches.  Then his friend pulls out his lunch box.  THE lunch box.

Jude's friend opened his ultra cool lunchbox, lifted out two ice packs, then his organic chocolate milk, a Lunchable, drinkable yogurt with curly straw, string cheese, and an organic fruit rope.

When I told a friend the story later she said...was it like light beamed down from heaven when he opened it? Yes, exactly.

I think I was staring.

Wow.

And then I felt it.  Intimidation by the packed lunch.  Big time.  Funny how a lunch can bring up the mom insecurities.

I've never delivered a lunch like that one.  Not even on my best day.

Later that night my husband was saying he was going to pack a cold lunch for Jude for the next day.

I wanted to say...don't do it!  We're not up for it.  I don't want Jude to set his lunch next to his friend's and realize. Realize...I've got a hack sandwich and a clementine and 30 cents for the milk machine.  But indeed he headed off with his lunch box.

He came home happy as always.  I think all is well.

It's just a lunch.

$20 in your pocket

I was over on Young House Love's blog and read about their $20 Thrift Store Challenge.  An invitation to thrift? I'm in.  

The 3 things they asked?

#1.  Go to thrift store with $20 in your pocket.  
#2.  Spend the $20 and photograph your spoils.
#3.  Find one item referenced in the song [btw, not mom-approved lyrics] and take a pic.  

It went down like this...

My score= the "EPIC desk".  I asked the Goodwill employee why it was labeled the "EPIC desk" and she said most likely the employees thought it deserved the name because it was so cool.  That made me feel even better about it.  

As for something from the song lyrics, I'm not sure what "gator shoes" are but I think these must come close.

"Gator shoes...are green"

I even tried them off for the full effect.  I could have asked an employee to take my picture for extra credit on the challenge but I didn't take it quite that far.  

I was a little distracted with the beauty I found in this.  I thought it would be great hanging as wall art.  I resisted and didn't look back.   

The desk, however, is safely at home in my son's [6yr.] bedroom. 

I'm going to go wash my hands one more time.  Good night! 

Linking up with Young House Love.