:: Adventures in Daily Living ::

4.21.2014

Easter Week

Easter Week
by Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1875)

See the land, her Easter keeping,
Rises as her Maker rose.
Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
Burst at last from winter snows.
Earth with heaven above rejoices;
Fields and gardens hail the spring;
Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices,
While the wild birds build and sing.
You, to whom your Maker granted
Powers to those sweet birds unknown,
Use the craft by God implanted;
Use the reason not your own.
Here, while heaven and earth rejoices,
Each his Easter tribute bring-
Work of fingers, chant of voices,
Like the birds who build and sing.

4.20.2014

Easter Morning

Easter Morning
Edmund Spenser 1552?-1599

Most glorious Lord of life, that on this day
Didst make thy triumph over death and sin,
And, having harrowed hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win;
This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin,
And grant that we, for whom thou didst die,
Being with thy dear blood clean washed from sin,
May live forever in felicity:
And that thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love thee for the same again:
And for thy sake, that all like dear didst buy,
With love may one another entertain.
So let us love, dear love, like as we ought;
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

4.18.2014

Good Friday

Good Friday in My Heart!

Good Friday in my heart!

GOOD FRIDAY in my heart! Fear and affright!
My thoughts are the Disciples when they fled,
My words the words that priest and soldier said,
My deed the spear to desecrate the dead.
And day, Thy death therein, is changed to night.

Then Easter in my heart sends up the sun.
My thoughts are Mary, when she turned to see.
My words are Peter, answering, ‘Lov’st thou Me?’
My deeds are all Thine own drawn close to Thee,
And night and day, since Thou dost rise, are one.

~ Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

3.28.2014

Akurum Adel IKEA Kitchen Tweaks

So, we have ordered a full set of IKEA's Akurum frames with Adel fronts. In addition, we are adding the following tweaks:

Extra shelves. For almost every cabinet I ordered one extra shelf so that I can fit more in and so that I have a back-up shelf for the future.

Costco's Slide-a-Shelf pull-outs for the baking pantry and for under the sink. Why not just use IKEA's Rationell pull-out? Because I want real wood for these oft used and/or dampish locations.

TIP: If you use the Integral hinge dampers your hinges will use up 3 inches of your width (1.5 each side), so keep this in mind if you are ordering inserts for your cabinets.

From Lowe's I ordered Rev-a-Shelf's false front tip-out adaptor hinges and trays.

I will use these to turn the false panels of my cooktop base cabinet into wooden spoon trays.

I also ordered Rev-a-Shelf 's pegboard system for the plate drawers. I think it is much prettier and more durable looking than the IKEA offering.

And last, I ordered Rev-a-Shelf's Bread Drawer kit to keep all our yummy loaves fresh.

And because I used eBates, I got 2-5% back on all of this!

3.27.2014

The Floor Is In!

We have a ceiling and a floor now. Very exciting. Alas, we lost the sink in the process: collateral damage I suppose. We disconnected it to put in the floor and when it was time to put it back all the valves leaked. They were at least 20 years old, so it's not terribly surprising, but distressing nonetheless. All that is left in the kitchen now is the fridge, a wee bit of doorless wall shelving, the bit of countertop in the bay window, a card table, and the frame of one cabinet which I set up in order to visualize and measure the baking pantry arrangements. Fortunately we have a laundry room sink, so we are not quite to the Dishes in Bathtub stage.

The floor is Harmonics Brazilian Cherry laminate click flooring which we bought at Costco ten years ago or so. This project has been in the works for a long time.

We are very lucky that the floor coloring is flattering to Nutmeg. It would be a pity to have to take it out and start over.

In spite of all this I am still cooking! Where there is a will (and a hungry husband and teenager and tweenager) there is a way. Tonight we are having Chickeny Bacony Spicy Cheesy Rice which I made this morning in the electric skillet and will set to heat up in the crock-pot when we leave for lacrosse practice (4 days a week!).