Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Les Objets du Jour.......

We have finished painting the kitchen. The floors have been refinished and we have spent the last few days moving things back into the cupboards. As I was putting everything back into the cupboards I thought that you might enjoy a quick game of "what the heck are these"?

For the first round:

Yes, it is a plate rack (and a black cat snooping around) and yes it is upside down. Why is it on the floor? Well......when we took it off the wall, someone (I'm not saying who) did something with all the screws and we haven't been able to find them. Let this be a lesson to you all (Lesson #1 du Jour) - put screws or nails into a little baggie and TAPE them to the item....trust me.

For the second round:
You are right again - it is an old pine cupboard. Can you see the four panes of glass that are missing? Well - Lesson #2 du Jour.....when painting, try not to knock over a high cupboard with glass panes - otherwise, in the middle of painting, you will have to pick up shards of glass everywhere and then - when all the painting is finished - you have to try and find old glass to fit into the panes.
The third round starts now:
Well, when I said that I had packed up boxes of items for the Salvation Army I meant it....lots of things that hadn't been used for years were sent off. When I was telling my first-born daughter and heir that I was discarding things like forms to make popsicles, doll-shaped cake pans and salmon shaped jelly pans she was shocked - "you didn't throw up the Kool-Aid pitcher did you?" Hmmmm...who knew it had sentimental value? So....the pitcher missed the second purge (evidence above). I also wanted to show you cookie cutters - the metal ones from my childhood (that I couldn't throw out) - and some sentimental ones from my children's lives (obviously the newer plastic ones above). I could never have thrown out the rocking horse cookie cutter - it reminds me of the beautiful hand-made rocking horse that my older mean sister and her husband sent to my firstborn. The children always loved the rocking horse and they loved it when I made rocking horse cookies. The black cookie cutters? Batman of course. My second born, son and heir was a super-hero maniac - how could I in good conscience, discard Batman cookie cutters? You might also notice the smushed-up box for the Combination Cookie and Cake Decorating metal tube......that was from my mother's kitchen - she used it to make pressed cookies at Christmas. I have never used it, but the smushed up box and gizmo won't be discarded by me........

Now, for the last item:

Aha - the kitchen table (with the sparkling new refinished floors in the background)...... you might ask - why has all the finish been stripped off the table? We had to strip the finish off because the table got damaged. Why did the table get damaged? Well, Lesson #3 du Jour ......when you need to move some furniture outside while the floors are being refinished, make sure that the tarps and coverings you use are waterproof. Otherwise you will need to strip your furniture and refinish it (when it didn't need stripping and refinishing before said rain fiasco).

Martha Stewart probably wouldn't have made any of these mistakes - and I'm sure she doesn't own a plastic Kool-Aid pitcher. The kitchen is finished in our distinctly non-Martha way ...... now it is time to start fixing all our mistakes.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Martha Stewart would probably sell her prized chickens for that Kool-Aid pitcher. I love it!
Wendy

Anonymous said...

That Kool-Aid pitcher is crying out for a big bunch of daffodils! Kilby

Anonymous said...

It is always a comfort to see that others have difficulty parting with things and then others find wonderful uses for them.
My goodness please keep posting the problems that occurred, it will help with some of the projects that need to be done once the weather gets better.
Nora