It's Real Life~ Store It- Kitchen

This weeks theme is Store It: Kitchen over at Farm Fresh Jessica's.

I am late this week because my husband decided to work from home yesterday and took over my internet and basically the whole house. I don't know why he thought he could work from home and have it be a quiet work environment with an 18 month old running around. Obviously he is laking in the common sense department some days.

I have a huge kitchen with so many cabinets that I don't even use them all. However that doesn't mean that they are organized. Especially since this kitchen was made for a tall person and that I am not.

All these photos where taken by the rules of no cleaning before snapping. Everything is still relatively clean considering we just had Thanksgiving last week and I am having a PartyLite party this week. Otherwise I am sure it would have collected more clutter than what is seen here.

So here is my kitchen in all its glory.

Top of the fridge. I don't give this area too much thought because I am short.

Most of this stuff is Austin's.

Kitchen utensils are kept in this apple crock on the stove or on the table so that they are handy.

Under the table. Generally just the toaster is kept here but Austin likes to put anything on it that he doesn't know where it belongs.
At the moment there are some duh things on it like the fish tank filters and Mason's swim floaty.

These are the very top cabinets by the ceiling. Just misc junk and my corelle baking dishes.
NOTE~~ I am standing on a chair and still have to be on my tip toes to get to the top shelf.

Glasses, plates, bowl, measuring cups, mixing bowls, sippy cups and the ever important tea.

Cabinets above the windows. Stand mixer, extra plates and bowls, waffle maker, a really ugly cat candle that Austin got me for my birthday many many years ago.

More cabinets above the window. My blender, cookie jar, and open paper towels.
Everything else was left by previous owners and I just didn't care.

Even more cabinets up by the ceiling.

Baking goods, fry daddy, a pampered chef chopper that I've had for 5 years and it hasn't been out of the box yet. Austin's extra new gloves.

The actual food cabinet. I did have this organized but Austin thought it need some improvement and I just haven't changed it back yet.

Junk drawers. Literally JUNK.

Drawers to the left of the sink.

Hot pads and can opener.

Misc kitchen utensils. Measuring cups.

Cook books and cooling racks.

Pie and loaf pans. Custard bowls.

Under sink. The water bottle is my Windex. Austin broke the bottle.

The kitchen sink cabinet lock.

The silverware drawer. The silverware that breaks all the time are the ones with the brown handles.

Today is towel laundry day otherwise this drawer would be full.

Cake pans and cutting board.

Baggies and wraps.

Austin's junk food drawer and important receipts.

Yet another misc junk drawer. Just how many does one family need.

Misc cabinet by fridge.

Coffee maker, Scentsy warmer, flower pot with impatients.
Impatients don't do well in the house from about November to March. As soon as the days start to get longer they do really well. Until then they look like this.

Water cabinet. We added some insulation so hopefully it doesn't freeze this year.

Pots and pans.

Kitchen sink. I leave the strainers out because otherwise I would be constantly putting them away and getting the back out again.

Why??

Why is it that my day goes good until Austin gets home? When he gets home I am usually in the middle of some project and he thinks he has to interrupt. Well not really interrupt but detain me from finishing.
Take yesterday for example when he got home I was in the middle of moving everything from the dining and living room into the kitchen so that I could shampoo carpets. Yeah... I didn't get to shampoo carpets and everything is still in the kitchen... in the way... in the kitchen. But I'm not bitter. No that wouldn't coincide with my 'good wife' ways now would it.
I know your wondering what I did instead of the carpets. Well naturally I had to run to town and run the errands that Austin didn't/wouldn't do on his way home because obviously I wasn't in the middle of anything. Some days I just want to beat him.
I had to go get Hyde dog food at the farm store; Wal-Mart for painters tape, metal roller tray, roller liners, and a 9V battery; Jimmy's BBQ for supper. I get home and he asks me what took so long. I get to ask him why he didn't change Mason after nap. We are nowhere near even to my thinking.
So we eat and then watch Big Bang Theory (my husband doesn't see it but I see a lot of him in those guys; socially awkward) and How I Met Your Mother. No Monday is complete without watching these.
After those I was planning on doing the carpets. Didn't happen because Austin goaded me into playing Wii. Then it was time for some lovin bed. I wasn't in the mood to get back out bed to stay up late and do the carpets so here they sit this morning. Still dry and dirty and on my to-do list.
I have a million things to do today but knew I would be useless from stewing if I didn't get this off my chest. Sometimes I really think it would be easier to just put him in a highchair to keep him contained like I do Mason when I am trying to do something. I think he would throw a little more of a fit though. I warned him that the consequences today are death. I don't think he believed me. For some reason he never believes me when I use the 'good wife' voice.

Not As Planned But Good None The Less

Before

After

Well my weekend plans didn't go as I wanted. Saturday Mason and I went to Marianne's for Jesse's birthday. We ended up staying the night and coming home on Sunday. I dropped Mason off at Grandma Robin's right at one. I got home at 1:30 ready to get to work on the basement. Austin didn't want to work on the basement so while I was in the basement he was tearing out the carpet in the kitchen. It looks totally different in there now. Hopefully we can decide on a paint color today or tomorrow. We have quite a few to choose from. I cannot wait until it is done.

We want a paint color that won't clash with or blend into the color of the cabinets.

I like the middle green. The light one is just too light.

I like the middle one. It doesn't blend in like the darker one but it doesn't shock you like the light one.

I liked these in the store but when I got them up on my cabinet they tend to look too pink.

I grew up in a country blue kitchen so these were way too close for my comfort.

This is Austin's pick. I personally think it is too greeny blue and will clash with all my apple stuff and the grass on the other cabinets. I had to pull out the veto on this.

I love the dark brown but Austin pulled out the veto on this. I think he did it more in retaliation.

My gross kitchen

I hate the position of the stove. I have been begging for some cabinets to be by it on both sides.

This is the table Austin made for me while we lived in Indiana. He put the shelf in as decoration. I couldn't believe it. He didn't want me to put anything on it. He threw a huge fit the day he caught me using it as a foot rest while I was peeling potatoes. Now it holds Mason's formula, cereal and water.

My welcome wall. Everything hanging down either says WELCOME or GREETINGS. Austin's contribution was the 3 meat grinders. I didn't think I would them at first but they have grown on me.

My last kitchen was done in apples so I have a lot of leftover stuff. This is one that I still like. It only took us 3 tries to get them straight.

My cabinets.

The people that lived there before had a different definition of 'country' than I do. They do make the kitchen feel warm and inviting. Lets just say noone has ever asked if they need to take their shoes off.

My sink. It really finishes the kitchen. I like it but it is a pain in the butt to keep clean. Hopefully one day I will talk him into putting in a dishwasher.

The pig cabinet freaks me out a little. It has no legs and it feels like the eyes follow you. I could really do without that cabinet. This picture also shows the blue carpet I wrote about yesterday. I cannot wait until it is gone.

I don't mind the cabinets above the counter. Plain and serviceable. I wish the shelves were adjustable. That and that the inside wasn't painted a pukish red color. I guess it could be worse the inside could be the same color as the paneling.

I actually like the little shelves beside the window with the mirror behind them. I have found good cow and chicken figurines. I have yet to find a good pig one, so if anyone finds one let me know.

Another view of the stove. There is probably a good 4 feet beside the trashcan before you get to the door. Plenty of room for cabinets and maybe even the fridge. I told Austin that he could even put the dishwasher over there. He said we would want a sink beside the dishwasher and I said. "What you couldn't put another one over there. The sink wouldn't have to be very big." He looked at me like I was crazy.

The view from my kitchen window. Austin recently put up a platform bird feeder right under the window and didn't tell me. So all the birds would fly to it and it looked like they were flying into the window. I could have killed him, he thought it was funny when he caught me off guard ducking because of the stupid birds.

This house has a lot of little updates we would like to do to it. We have painted almost every room but the kitchen paneling, the dining room and bathroom. I can live with the dining room. I am counting down the days until I get to paint the kitchen paneling. We already painted the walls. The people before us smoked so there was the smokers shadow on the walls. They said they had painted everything the year before. There is no way, you could tell right where the pictures were hanging. It was really bad. It was years of shadow, I know my dad is over a pack a day. So glad I quit.

Front Door View

This is the view out my front door. It was snowing at the time. This was taken about a week ago. We have gotten about another 4 inches since then.
Saturday we went to Fort Dodge and were on our home and it was fine out. No snow. Driving 60. Literally 1 mile down the road and there was 2 inches on the highway and our top speed was 30. I had never seen anything like it. By the time we got home we were scrapping snow. Usually it happens that you will drive into it but it is gradual. Not this time. There was a definite line.
We had gone to Menards to pick out floor tile for the kitchen. The floor in there now is rather disgusting blue carpet. We have to do something before Mason starts crawling. As it is when he is in his walker in there the bottom of socks get so dirty. I have tried everything I can do to get that carpet clean. I can't. I don't know if they had dogs in here at one time or another but that carpet is gross. There are stains that go away for a day or so after I shampoo it and then they come back. That and I keep getting my sock caught on something in the carpet so we can't risk Mason getting his hands or knees scrapped up. No telling what kind of disease is in there.
Hopefully after we get the floor done I will get to paint the trim. I have no idea what color. Austin and I have to argue about color. I just know that the green (think granny apple green) that is in there right now is leaving. I would like a warm brown or maybe a warm red color. No green or blue. I grew up in a country blue kitchen and the thought of my kitchen being blue makes me sick to my stomach.
At least for this color choice I am not pregnant. The upstairs hallway is red trim. I have americana theme going up the stairs and in the landing. I was 7 months pregnant and Austin suggested red for the trim in one of my hormonal rages I decided that that would be ok. Now I think he took advantage of me. In fact I know he did. That is not a color I would have chosen without some proding.