utter randomness at the end of the year

I. The Kitchen.

Around this time last year, I had finally had enough of the kitchen cabinets. They were cute, at first. But they smelled a little mildewy, and the wall cabinets in particular were inconveniently short, with shelves that couldn’t be adjusted. There was also a microwave that dated from…maybe the early 80’s at best.

Before (May ‘07)

If you know anything about me, you know that it was a personal milestone when I learned the difference between a flat head and a Philip’s head screwdriver. Translation: I am not handy.

So imagine what an accomplishment it was to figure out which IKEA cabinets would fit in our kitchen as a replacement. That’s right: I used a tape measure, and graph paper, and looked at product lists, and figured out we needed two of these, and two of those, and one of those, and maybe one of those, and four or five of those…

We called Michael – that’s Deck Michael, to blog fans – and he said he’d install them for us. So last January, we rented a moving truck, and went down to New Haven, and bought everything. (I’ll make the story short and not describe the New Jersey IKEA trip, and the two subsequent trips to New Haven to pick up out of stock stuff and return extra bits.)

Mind you: aside from helping move boxes around, I barely lifted a finger when it came time to install all this stuff. Kevin and Michael did all the Actual Work. Yay! Thanks again, guys!

So, by popular demand from the out of town crew, here’s where we are today. Sorry for the mess, I didn’t clean up first.

After. (Yeah, the stove was the very very first thing we did – we replaced it a month after I took the “before” picture.)

And turning slightly to see the other side…we have not only taller wall cabinets, but this really cool pantry thingy (right next to the fridge) that absolutely rocks. We have way MORE room now, and I’ve been able to bring lots of stuff out of storage. It’s a small kitchen, but super efficient, with plenty of room for everything we like to use and do.

II. The Pope

Did you know that you can get a bottle opener with the Pope on it?

Who knew, right?

III. Would you like to see another picture of the deck?

I thought so.

IV. Anything else, Sarah?

It’s been shockingly cold lately, plus I had a cold – then there’s the matter of the Nutella Kevin gave me for Christmas, which I started in on yesterday. I need to get back into running, is where I’m going with this.