Kitchen Remodel....

 ~ Greetings and Warm Welcome to all ~

Thank you so much to those of you who left me such lovely comments and wonderful words! it gladdens my heart, more than you will ever know. 

Thank you!

I'm going to do a series of posts just to "catch you up" on what we have done this summer. 

Today's Post is all about our: Kitchen Remodel

For a period of about a month we lived like we were camping....inside our house. We wanted to do a series of "refreshes" all over our home. Batter #1 up was the kitchen. 

BEFORE: Now many people said: Your kitchen was lovely...why would you want to change it? Well....to make a long story short: our cabinets were custom, made in a woodshop of a local cabinet maker. As soon as we moved in, the finish on them started flaking off, sometimes in large sheets. We called the builder, who in turn called the cabinet maker.....he came and took the doors off and I was 9 months without doors on my cabinets....in a new home. I was fit to be tied. Finally doors were returned and they were better but soon started doing the same thing. By this time the cabinet maker declared bankruptcy...I wonder why?

Anyhoo....I lived with the cabinets for 15 years and it was ready to make them better. 

We stripped the cabinet facings....

and all the doors....

Primed everything and then did 3 coats of cabinet paint in mountain peak snow

While I was painting inside, Keith was sanding and stripping doors to have them prepared for me to run out in between coats inside to do coats outside in the garage on the doors...

and while I was running inside and outside painting, Keith was cutting wood to fit in the tops of my cabinets to make a flat surface AND installing LED up lights along the top and LED down lights along the bottom of our cabinets - I have been wanting these done like this for YEARS!

at the end of 7 days the painting was done and Keith bought me a cake because I was completely exhausted and he knows how much cake revives my spirit....LOL!

here's a shot of how our kitchen appears today....

I have my extensive vintage Ball Jar collection displayed to perfection (in my humble opinion) with the LED backlighting them beautifully...

In 25 years of marriage....I have never picked my own appliances - Keith has always done it and frankly I never really cared but for our redo I DID care and I told him to open up his pocketbook because I wanted all stainless steel appliances. They are all Whirlpool - Keith's Daddy worked at Whirlpool soldering appliances for 50 years in Evansville, IN. We only ever purchase Whirlpool, American made, appliances. 

Our dining room table and chairs and our hutch are all Indiana made furniture. The dining table and chairs are by Tell City Furniture and the hutch is Keller. Both companies are now defunct. I was going to paint the hutch and the table and chairs white....but as I painted the cabinets I kept thinking about them and after I got the cabinets done I had decided that NOPE, I wasn't going to do it. These are fully wood, no wood chipboard. That's hard to come by. The table and chairs (well 4 of the chairs) I ate on from the time I was 4 years old (that makes the table and chairs: 47 years old....) Given to me by my Mom when I married, I didn't want to ruin them. So to make a long story short, I kept them true to themselves, and I'm glad I did. I did do a little refinishing on them - they are really worn in the seat and along the top of the chair backs and spindles. You can still see the age to them - they are nowhere near perfect...but my home has a cozy, lived in feel to it and they fit in.... a little shabby chic. Ha ha!

Until next time....

I hope you enjoyed our kitchen remodel. I didn't really ENJOY it but I sure LOVE it now that it is done!

Big hugs and lots of love in stitches, 

Vonna xxxx

Long time no see...you know what that meant....

~ Greetings and warmest wishes to you all ~

I have been missing in action for MONTHS, I'm not even certain if anyone is around or even cares anymore about this much neglected blog. But I am going to get back to me and finally, finally I have made a very big decision.

Two weeks ago today...I turned in my notice at the quilt shop. I really enjoyed working there, I loved the new friends I made, enjoyed learning more about sewing and quilting. I really learned invaluable information about sewing machines and how to fix them and when to call in the specialists to fix them. It was a wonderful almost 4 years. 

I also turned in notice at church for several of my volunteer jobs there. Half of them in fact. I no longer will be visiting the sick and taking communion to them and I gave up the angel tree coordination position. 

In September.... I had my yearly physical. All was tip top, no problems, but my blood work showed very high (extremely high in fact) Cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone, put out by the adrenals which is located on top of your kidneys. Its the "flight or fight" hormone. When a mouse runs across the floor and freaks you out - that's your adrenals pumping cortisol out that makes you jump up on the table. When you are in a constant state of stress - like you think you don't have enough time to do everything like - clean your house, do your laundry, make all the meetings, do for others volunteering all the time -  your adrenals get fooled into being in a constant state of "flight or fight". When you are in a constant state of "fight or flight" you don't sleep well, have depression and anxiety, your blood sugar will start to rise, you can't think straight/remember things well, and finally if it stays high for extended period of time, over time you will induce a stress heart attack or stroke. My doctor said: I had to give up one of my jobs and half of my volunteer positions and start doing a whole lot more for Vonna. 

I am sure.... most of you who have followed me here for a long time, have noticed that: I have a hard time saying "no" and keeping boundaries. My job at the quilt shop got more and more intensive - I wasn't working full time there, but between there and my finishing job and my family I was never (and I mean never) having any time for me. When I did do something fun I was wracked with guilt and therefore didn't do anything fun for feeling guilty. Church volunteering was out of control too. God doesn't want me to kill myself doing for everyone else and nothing for me. I was losing my quiet, devotional prayer time for helping others. 

I know many of you will say: Well we saw this coming....and to be honest I saw it coming myself. The last couple of years (even not factoring in this pandemic) was extremely hard emotionally and mentally.

Being I worked in the Clinical Laboratory for 25 years, when I saw my cortisol level I knew I'd be getting a call, I knew the ramifications.  Now this doesn't mean that I'm bound to be an invalid, what it means is that I have to take steps every day to do for me. It means I have to say no. I have to have boundaries and I have to stop letting others rule my mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights. 

You know what I want to do: make, create, be. I see lots and lots of people of Instagram and Facebook going all over the place - coast to coast - to cross stitch retreats and classes and all that jazz. I sort of get jealous seeing them. What fun are they having! They are getting all of the exclusive designs! Friends, fellowship, rubbing elbows with the big league people of the crafting world, they are popular and celebrated and wonderful.... then I think: I don't need all of that. All I need is my faith, my family and my needle and thread. All I need is ME and HOME. I AM ENOUGH! 

51 years of living and I still have to remind myself: I am enough. That's sort of sad and reflective of a defect in me that I see myself so much less than everyone else and....that's a note that I need to write in my journal and discuss with my counselor. Of course he knows that I already need to work on that...ha ha :) One ability that I do have is: the ability to note my faults and laugh at myself...that's a gift.

There are several wonderful things coming up in the next year of our lives:

Katie was engaged at the end of June. She will be marrying Austin: 

Ian engaged Edie, his long time girlfriend since Sophomore year in High School (they have been out of school 3 years)  I didn't get a picture of them because they are so private, but here is one of them from last Christmas: