Short Attention Span Girl: March 2011 Archives

Slow Progress

By Marcella on March 26, 2011 3:37 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I think I wrote something last time like - for every one step forward it seems like there are two steps back? That pattern is still the norm around here.

The other exciting thing this week was that the counters were installed! These would be the step forward part of the week.

Here they are on the back and side of the kitchen. I'm really happy with how the windowsill out of the counter material looks. Thanks to the counter man for suggesting this.

This whole side of the kitchen is new for us. It used to be an open area and the doorway into the dining room. Now we have tons more storage and counter space to work.

At the front of the kitchen it looks like this:

The counter goes out into the new bay window which we are very happy with. The sink is in place and looks enormous compared to the bathroom sink we are currently using.

The "two steps backward" portion of the week involved the floors. This week the materials were delivered and the floor men came and prepped the underlayment.

Then they called me upstairs to double check something on the pattern. I took one look at the flooring and realized it was the wrong color. Yep. The two blue/green colors I had chosen had been flipped along the ordering way and that discovery quickly ended work for the week.

Not having the flooring installed also delays having the appliances installed next week.

The plans now for next week are: tiling the backsplash, finding out when the correct flooring will arrive, and hopefully finding out when that replacement cabinet will arrive as well.

Here's hoping we're at the end of the kitchen glitches.

- - marcella

Kitchen Progress

By Marcella on March 21, 2011 10:14 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

However, the hardwood floor man did a very nice job patching our floors. This is the new kitchen entry.

And one corner of the crown moulding is up. One side down, two to go.

Bathroom Baking

By Marcella on March 19, 2011 9:24 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

It's been a week of adventures. A friend is in town for a visit and we've been running all over the Bay Area. On Thursday after a drive, a delay, and a video and photo shoot we stopped in to visit some of her friends. They took us to the Fat Apple for a treat of warm olallieberry pie with giant scoops of vanilla ice cream. My friend had never had olallieberries before.

Friday while on yet another adventure in the driving rain, the olallieberries came up again for discussion. We decided that since I had some in my freezer that perhaps we needed to make a pie for dessert that night. After a quick stop at the store for frozen pie crust and ice cream we were back home baking in the bathroom.

I pulled out too many berries from the freezer, so after filling the pie shell had to put some back in a bag for freezing. Hopefully pre-sugared and cornstarched is OK for later use.

Still not a bad looking pie for being made on the bathroom counter.

After dinner we watched a movie and ate the still warm pie with the ice cream.

It was a little too juicy, but still tasted delicious. Some of us had seconds, others were more restrained.

Olallieberry Pie

pie dough for a 2 crust 9" pie

6 - 7 cups olallieberries

1 1/2 C sugar

1/3 C cornstarch

In a large bowl stir together the berries, sugar and cornstarch.

Line a 9" pie pan with the pie dough. Trim the pie dough even with the edge of the pan.

Gently pour in the berry mixture and cover with the remaining pie dough. Trim the top crust about 1" larger than the edge of the pan.

Fold the top pie dough overhang under the edge of the bottom crust. Crimp the edges. Cut a few slits in the top crust. If desired you can get fancy and brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle it with sugar.

Bake the pie in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes until the crust is golden and the fruit juices are bubbling through the slits in the top crust.

Serve the pie warm with ice cream.

printable version - olalliepie.pdf

- - marcella

Working on the Floors

By Marcella on March 8, 2011 3:40 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

It is amazing to me how little can be accomplished without first making a bigger mess that involves bigger holes.

There was a triangle of area where the wood floor ended and the new kitchen floor begins. However, in order to patch the wood floor, every partial board has to be removed. The triangle is now looking like this.

And where the wall was removed between the dining and living rooms it now looks like this.

You can see the narrow rectangle down the center where the wall used to be. That's a whole lot of floor that had to be removed in order to fix it.

Fortunately the wood floor man was able to find the exact same floor we had originally installed. This was a happy thing because the flooring company has since gone out of business. It's great there were a couple of boxes hanging out in a warehouse for us to use.

Tomorrow he comes back to install the flooring and the other workmen should be here to finish the cabinets and start on the moulding.

- - marcella

In Go the Cabinets

By Marcella on March 4, 2011 8:04 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

The cabinets are being installed slowly but surely. All the lower ones are in and a few of the upper ones too. The goal was to have all the lower ones in by today because countertop man comes to measure this morning.

Here's the right side of the kitchen where the stove and double ovens used to be. The fridge will go to the right followed by a floor to ceiling bookcase for cookbooks and such.

A better view of the sink area and yes, that would be the new sink perched on the top. To the left of that is a very cool lazy susan in the corner where the fridge used to be. I have to say last night we were looking at it and it makes me so happy to see all that new counter space. It was always a challenge to cook with the small amount of space we had before.

Here's the side wall that used to be empty. The ladder is blocking where the new range goes. Now we have tons more cabinets and counter space. Off the left side of the picture will be the wall oven and microwave and then another bookcase. I didn't show the cabinet that is there because it is wrong. My poor husband has had to put up with my crabby self because not only is the finish messed up but "someone" changed the proportions so things are not where they should be. Hopefully they will be able to straighten that issue out quickly and we will get the right cabinet.