Tales of the kitchen - or why I'm up at 6 am on a Saturday

It occurs to me that I haven't reported on the kitchen in progress lately.

It's a sad story. The kitchen renovations are done - I love my kitchen but it's still not complete. You see, once everything was done, I realized it wasn't really. The walls are this rather vivid and startling blue - which I will post and the cupboards are white. I have a white dishwasher - only a couple of years old, a white under the stove microwave - brand new and a beat up almond fridge and stove. Well - they just didn't fit in anymore. Friends told me that would happen. I also gave the old table and chairs to the oldest son - to keep them in the family - odd I know. It's not many people that have a heavy plastic table and chairs as heirlooms.

So I happily trundled off one day and scared the hell out of myself by buying all this still needed stuff. The thing was I'm the only one in the house so they couldn't deliver it during the week and I work some weekends so we had to figure out which weekend I'd be home. Today was the day. However, I got a call at work yesterday from the furniture company. It seems my brand new beautiful, flat top, no burners to have to clean gunk out of, stove was damaged in transit. They had to order a new one and hopefully it will be in by the end of April.
ARRRRGGGGGHHHH.
They could deliver the fridge though.

Now being one of the worst procrastinators in the world, I somehow managed to put off cleaning out the fridge - until today. The guy on the phone said if they weren't here by 9:30, to give them a call.
"9:30 at night?" I said.
"No, 9:30 am" came the reply.
ARRRRGGGGGHHHH.
If you could see the state of my fridge!!
I set the alarm clock for 6:00 am.

And now I'm having a wee bit of worries on another score. The space where the fridge goes is confined. There is a wall between the kitchen and the living room on one side and cupboards and counter on the other. And even though, through previous experience you would think I would have learned this...........
I didn't measure.

Now leaving to clean fridge with crossed fingers.
Update to follow

Why I'm having a beer at 8:00 on a Saturday

Well - now here's a tale to tell. I had no sooner finished hitting publish post when I heard a knock at the door.
I answered it - after frantically searching for my house coat, cause of course I'm not even dressed yet. Good thing I don't sleep naked!
The guy at the door asked if I was expecting a fridge.
"Shit" I said - I hadn't started unloading the fridge. And yes - I did indeed say shit out loud. Another thing you should know about me - I'm a hoarder by nature. Even though it's only me in the house, the fridge was jam packed.
"Where do we deliver it?" he asked.
Thinking
"The back door I answered."
So they drove the truck around to the side - see I live on the corner of the crescent and the back door is really the side door.
So the two delivery guys get out and bring the new fridge up to the back door. Now we've reached a problem. It won't fit through the door.
They take the back door off.
Now it won't fit through the door into the kitchen.
They take of every available piece that will come off while I'm frantically unloading everything from the fridge and the freezer. I even put stuff on top of the underwear that I had on one of the chairs that was clean and hadn't quite made it to the bedroom - in case they glanced into the living room and saw my totally non-sexy underwear.
They finally get the new fridge into the kitchen just as I'm pulling the last thing out of the fridge. Good thing I covered my underwear with ketchup and relish and mustard.
I'm sweating bullets that my failure to measure will come back and haunt me. I should have learned I need to measure.
They position the new fridge.
Phew!! It fits into the limited space.
The one guy puts the doors back on the fridge. Now this one is a reversible door opener and OF COURSE he starts putting it on the wrong side.
I tell him I want it on the other side.
He looks at me and continues.
I can tell he's rather pissed off that they had to work so hard to get it into the kitchen, because it would have been so much easier if I'd said the front door but it's 7:00 freakin' am on a Saturday! Who freakin' delivers furniture at 7:00 am on a Saturday???
So, feeling guilty, I shut up.
I go into the living room and try to read (White Lies by Linda Howard if anyone is curious)
Then I hear the back door slam and them working on putting the back screen door back on. And for those who have been reading this for a while - the back screen door is a whole 'nother story I told.
Then I hear the truck drive away.
What the hell I'm thinking???
They aren't done yet! The fridge is still sitting out almost in the middle, not nicely tucked into the space. And it's rocking. They didn't anchor it. Kitchen guy made sure my old fridge didn't rock when he put it back.
I push the fridge and it goes back a bit. And then I push it some more and it doesn't go back any further.
It seems I worried about the wrong measurements. Yes indeed width wise it fits into the tight little corner just fine. But depth wise it sticks out!
It rocks.
The door handles are on the wrong side.
It's 8:00
My counters are covered - totally covered in stuff from the old fridge.
I put the frozen stuff in the freezer - I think - it's all mixed together.
The underwear is still covered.
I grabbed a beer.
I came to post the further adventures of Kristie and her kitchen.
I'm going to finish the beer and go back to bed and hide.

Romance books to movies - should it be done?

I just read a lovely review of Lavryle Spencer's Morning Glory by guest reviewer Aztec Lady at Dear Author. It was mentioned that it was made into a movie (way back in 1993 - Yikes!)
I had read the book a few years before that and adored it. So when I heard it was being made into a movie, I did a little happy dance. My first rumblings of discontent though came when I heard who had been cast into the role of Will Parker. Christopher Reeve was to play this most heartbreaking of heroes. Not that there was anything wrong with him - but when I imagined Will, he wasn't anything like Mr. Reeve. After waiting for what seemed like forever for the movie, by the end I was terribly disappointed. I don't remember a lot of it now - we are talking 17 years ago - Yikes Again! - but I do know they changed the ending so that it was pretty unrecognizable from the book. So not only was it miscast IMO, the movie ending changed the characters of Ellie and Will. Even the real murderer was different.

Then a number of years later, I caught the movie Sanctuary starring Melissa Gilbert and based on a book by Nora Roberts. Again I was very disappointed. I really enjoyed the book, but in the movie they even somehow managed to lose a sister!
With those two disappointments in mind, I've become quite apprehensive when I hear they are making a movie out of a well-loved book.



Sometimes they manage to get it right. The one that stands out most clearly is The Outsider by Penelope Williamson. Although there is quite a bit in the book that isn't in the movie, still I think they did a pretty decent job of it.
A real oldie but goodie is a book to movie Katie blogged about not long ago. Tim by Colleen McCullough was not to shabby and the movie stuck very close to the book. And Mel Gibson was nice too - this being long before his 'lost it' days.
Then there are the English movie adaptations of books. I haven't seen/read that many.
But according to Katie who has both seen the series and read the book, North and South is a bit different in some areas. There is no train station in the book.
And then there are the Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Little Women etc adaptations. I can't say too much because I haven't both read the book and seen the movies well enough to compare them.

I have seen three adaptations of the book Wuthering Heights - and I've read the book a few times. I wouldn't call it a romance though. It's more a a tragedy really - but very compelling! While I love the Merle Oberon/Lawrence Olivier movie when I was young, I think the one with Ralph Finnes captured the book better.



Then there are those ones I've missed completely. I haven't either read The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks or seen the movie. So I can't really comment on them.


But overall, I think I'm more disappointed in romance books made into movies. They seldom get the characters the way I picture them, they feel the need to change is somehow - as if the book weren't quite good enough. They apparently did Quite A Bit of changing in the movie version of For The Roses by Julie Garwood. I didn't see the Hallmark presentation, but from what I've heard that is a Good Thing.




So while part of me is a tad disappointed that at the moment, I don't think there are any plans to bring Eve and Roarke to life, the bigger side of me is glad. I hate when they ruin a good book!

Any thoughts? And rec's? Any you think have been spoiled by being made into a movie?


And in other news completely unrelated to the above topic - today is my day off and I went out this morning and bought myself a new fridge, stove, kitchen table & chairs and a couple of bar chairs. My kitchen is done now but I still have a few things to do. I have to put up curtains, get the stuff I bought today in and a few nick nacks.
You see - my current fridge and stove are about 15 years old and almond in colour whereas my new kitchen is blue and white. I have a white dishwasher and microwave and the fridge and stove in there now look terrible as well as being somewhat beat up. Plus the fridge opens on the wrong side. The new one which I will be getting will be reversible so I can have it open on the other side. And the stove has one of those flat surfaces!!! I've always loved the look of them but they seemed too expensive. But the salesman is the husband of one of the women I've been helping to train so he gave me a Really Good Deal on everything. Still - I'm so not used to spending that kind of money!
But I can hardly wait until it's all done so I can post pics.

The Perils of Kristie and the Kitchen

I came home to the kitchen in quite a messy state. I expected that though. It seems I made a few booboos though. They gave me a list of stuff (more stuff) to get and off I went to Home Depot. At this point I should say that store scares me! So even walking in I was intimidated. My assignment was to get flooring, lights for the ceiling - possible ceiling fan lights, LED puck lights (?????) a light for over the sink, a new sink and possible faucet and an over the stove microwave/range hood. Luckily Contractor Guy's wife wrote it all down for me. Oh, and they will need Electrical Guy to do some rewiring - total just went up when I heard that news! They didn't have LED puck lights so I failed that task. I forgot all about the over the sink light so I failed that one too. I did get a kitchen sink though and a new faucet. I also got the over the stove microwave/range hood. And I got a couple of ceiling fan lights. But I forgot lightbulbs (the one obviously didn't go over my head) And flooring - I also got flooring.
When I got home, they had knocked out all the bulk heads - and there is lots of dust all over the floor, removed the final cupboards and sink. The fridge, stove and dishwasher were all still there though which puzzled me a bit. Kitchen guy called later on in the evening with the bad news. I bought the wrong kind of flooring. It's all wrong. *sigh* I will have to take it back. And the flooring they recommend is twice as expensive but Kitchen guy is going to do some pricing. So it turns out I failed that one too.
And Electrical guy (who I haven't met) is going to get the puck lights. Turns out halogen will work because while they give off more heat than LED lights, LED lights don't have dimmer switches and the heat the halogen lights give off won't be that much.
Do I sound like I know what I'm talking about? Because I really don't have a clue. All I know is the picture above the flooring was a kitchen and white cupboards - which is what I'm getting and it looked good so I just assumed it would be all right. Now how do I tell Brent who lugged them all out of the car that they have to go back in - all 15 boxes - even though they said I only needed 13.
And the reason they didn't move the appliances? Well, it seems that I should have taken the food of it out, so the fridge was way to heavy to move. You know that just never occurred to me to do that, take the food out I mean. And as sister Lisa can testify, I have a lot of Stuff in my fridge. Stuff I'll never use. Like the huge bottle of Cranberry juice. Or the eight pounds of chicken breast I have in the freezer because it was on sale. Although most of the seven tubs of margerine are empty. And I really don't need to keep the three 2 litre bottles of pop I don't drink but I have for company in the fridge. And I suppose the 12 bottles of beer that I have for my own consumption - and guests too - could have been taken out.
Further adventures of the Perils of Kristie and the Kitchen to come.

A time of stress

I always find this time of year very stressful. Every year I say next year will be different but it never is. In fact this year is even worse than normal. I still haven't started Christmas shopping!! I plan to on the way home from work, but we are down a person and we are trying to do our own jobs plus hers. While the day zooms by, by the time 4:30 comes along, I'm exhausted and cranky as all get out. I also suffer from bouts of depression and the fact that things have changed make me sad and more depressed than normal. I've never waited this late to start shopping before and that's making me stressed.
Another stress factor is they start on my kitchen January 4th. I'm excited as all get out about it, but for a life long pack rat like me, the thoughts of emptying the cupboards is rather frightening!! Terrifying to be honest. And when I say do the kitchen, I'm talking TOTAL overhaul. From ceiling to floor and everything in between! I'm even getting a new kitchen sink! (hah hah) There will be walls taken down, doors removed, appliances moved (and maybe even new appliances - haven't decided on that one yet) But I'll be completly kitchenless for a month. That's a bit of a scary thought.
I will of course show pictures, before, during and after.
On the happy front - I'm going out for dinner and then to a Keith Urban concert on Sunday evening. I'm looking forward to that. Even though I don't know his music at all.
And no, I don't have the bookshelves/entertainment unit up yet either. Brent and Ryan are coming over tomorrow to *cough* help finally put it together.

So - anyone else feeling stressed this season?

'til later