Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Bad and the Good of Mother Nature and Something to SMILE About!


I imagine most of you have heard about the fires in California this past week and I thought I would share some of what it is like with The Foresthill Fire right in the vicinity of my home.  It is about 30 miles away, thank goodness!  I can't even begin to imagine how it must be to be right in the middle of one, much less have a home or ranch in the area. So far they are 50% contained and no one has had to evacuate...Yet!


I walked outside the other day and looked to the north-east of my house and saw this horrendous cloud of smoke.  That smoke is 30 miles away!


So I scurried back into the house as the smoke makes the air smell "smokey" and TV people advise staying inside...even 30 miles away!  But soon I had to go out again and when I looked up into the sky this beautiful PINK cloud almost covered the sky!  It took my breath away!  So I grabbed my camera...


Over my house


A beautiful Brighter Pink


and this one looked like "Cotton Candy!"


So they finally started to dissipate and I had things to do...


So back into the house I went, wondering all along how 
"something so bad can be so beautiful" for a few minutes.
But then, I laughed when looking at my "workplace that day" because
instead of seeing the beauty of Nature like we should all do and appreciate, 
these are some of the things we are constantly seeing.
What's wrong with this picture!!!

Have a great week, friends!
Don't forget a COMMENT, Please! 



Friday, August 16, 2013

A New Kitchen for Joy...

Hey, wanna see my new kitchen...at least it's mine for a while, but we will talk about that another time!
Here is my OLD kitchen table area...

And here is my NEW kitchen table area.  I repainted the front wall from Red to Benjamin Moore's HC-43 Tyler Taupe to match the rest of the walls.  We tore out the old light-colored wood floor that was really beat up and added a new laminate floor that is very close to what is in the rest of my house.


This is the black cabinet you can see on the left side on the "before" picture.  I love black but was going for a lighter, brighter, cleaner look so I had it painted Benjamin Moore HC 26 Monroe Bisque to match the kitchen cabinets with (as you can see) a RED interior.  (Need my "fix" of red!  HA!)


But, as you can see in the "after" picture I removed the TV from the corner and another small stand from the opposite corner.  Well, I wanted the TV on this cabinet and it was a bit too tall, so my wonderful contractor, Mike, came to my rescue: he raised it several inches and then he didn't like the way it looked so he added the beautiful trim molding to it.  What a guy! He is a sweet Christian man with a darling family who does so much for everyone.  He even took my old appliances to Habitat For Humanity for me!  Am I lucky or what! 


So since I cleared out the corners I still needed a little "display space" and wouldn't you know it but my good friend, Arlene (see my May post-her new kitchen) had this BEAUTIFUL Pennsylvania Bench she wanted to sell!  Again, how lucky can I be.  It is 96 inches long (front window is 100 inches) and it is a lovely old blue with a wood top.  Oh my heart, so perfect for the space!


OK, back to the old kitchen...don't get me wrong, I did like it but after several years of a LOT OF RED decided I needed to "neutralize."  So here's the "stove area...


and here's the "sink" at the end...


But here is the "NEW" look...so clean, simple and "today" looking.


And here is a shot of the area above the stove and microwave.  There are lights up there and I cleared several  things off.  Much neater now...all the main items are white.


Here is another situation Mike corrected.  When the appliances were delivered I noticed that the side of the Stainless Refrigerator was an ugly gray!  UGH!  Looked terrible and that is what you could see from the great room!  MORE UGH!  So Mike suggested he build a "wall" at the side and (this was a bonus!) that he would pull the cabinet that was above the Frig. forward so I could reach it!  I never could and always had to get a ladder to get into that cabinet.  Well, now only about 4 inches of the "ugly" gray is showing (just enough for a small memo pad) and I am so happy!  I thought Stainless Refrigerators were stainless all over..what do I know...I have to get out more!  HA!    


And now, instead of "getting out more" I am home reading how to work all these lovely appliances.  When I first ran the dishwasher I kept leaning down to hear if it was running and today I couldn't figure out how to use the timer on the stove (I was baking for the first time) and so I used the timer on the Micro.  Well, I was in the other end of the house and didn't hear it go off with it's lovely little chime so I burned the brownies...Anyone for Rock-hard-chocolate bars???


So there you are; what I have been busy with for the past 3 weeks.
Before I go I want to thank all of you for leaving a comment, Readers, and Followers!
You really make my day!
{{HUGS}}
   
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