I am one parent who is very excited that Wichita County's spring vacation begins after school tonight! School will not resume for 10 whole days!!! Stan will be off for the last 5 of those days!!!
VLE-B
Thursday, March 11, 2010
This REALLY ticks me off!!!
A friend of mine just sent out the federal government's new remedy of ridding Americans of excess weight. They're thinking of making us pay extra taxes for soda pop, fried foods, ice cream, etc. Next step will be to make those items and others a crime to purchase and eat. Remember the days of prohibition??? Looks like we may be headed back in that direction...
Let each and every adult be responsible for what he or she puts into his/her body. Of course, I am not including illegal drugs with that statement.
More and more, I am more agitated with what our current government is trying to put on us. I think that it should be more involved in fighting REAL crime such as child molestors, murderers, child and spouse abusers...
Another of my opinions, like it or not.
VLE-B
Let each and every adult be responsible for what he or she puts into his/her body. Of course, I am not including illegal drugs with that statement.
More and more, I am more agitated with what our current government is trying to put on us. I think that it should be more involved in fighting REAL crime such as child molestors, murderers, child and spouse abusers...
Another of my opinions, like it or not.
VLE-B
Monday, March 8, 2010
Almost done!
As of late this afternoon, each and every kitchen cabinet and door has been painted! Tonight, Stan and I hung all but 9 of the doors. I'll take a real close look at them tomorrow. If I see something that I do not like, I will re-do it. Once everything is just like I want it, I will do the final step--applying a few coats of polyurethane. After that, the knobs and drawer pulls will be put into place.
I am at that point that I hate--the point where I become painfully aware that I have absolutely NO patience--NONE!!! I feel so sorry for Stan when that happens! Why is it that when I watch my shows on HGTV that it only takes 30 minutes to re-do a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a bedroom??? If they can do it, why can't we??? Ha! Ha!
One week ago this morning, Monday, I began my 7-day adventure of "Tuscanizing" our kitchen cabinets. For the most part, I am very pleased with the results. The bad result of all of the work that I did was the fact that I neglected laundry and other cleaning around home. That is par for the course of renovating at our home. I always promise myself and everyone else that this time will be different. Alas, everyone knows that I will get absorbed by whatever project I am working on and forget everything else. That is one of my many faults. I would like to find someone else to pin this responsibility on but no one taught me this behavior.
My parents were never people who could only concentrate on one thing at a time. They were both able to work on a variety of things at the same time and all turned out well. Shoot! Mama could teach full-time, take weekend educational workshops and still managed to take care of her family.
My sister, Lori, is a stay-at-home mom who home schools her son, is on the Leoti City Council, serves on two major state and national mental health boards and donates time to helping animals find forever homes in a local association. Wow!!! Wish I could do things like that instead of having tunnel vision! LOL!!!
Oh, well... This is the way that I have always been and probably always will be. I just need to learn to accept me for who I am and to really, REALLY practice a little bit of patience here and there...
VLE-B
I am at that point that I hate--the point where I become painfully aware that I have absolutely NO patience--NONE!!! I feel so sorry for Stan when that happens! Why is it that when I watch my shows on HGTV that it only takes 30 minutes to re-do a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a bedroom??? If they can do it, why can't we??? Ha! Ha!
One week ago this morning, Monday, I began my 7-day adventure of "Tuscanizing" our kitchen cabinets. For the most part, I am very pleased with the results. The bad result of all of the work that I did was the fact that I neglected laundry and other cleaning around home. That is par for the course of renovating at our home. I always promise myself and everyone else that this time will be different. Alas, everyone knows that I will get absorbed by whatever project I am working on and forget everything else. That is one of my many faults. I would like to find someone else to pin this responsibility on but no one taught me this behavior.
My parents were never people who could only concentrate on one thing at a time. They were both able to work on a variety of things at the same time and all turned out well. Shoot! Mama could teach full-time, take weekend educational workshops and still managed to take care of her family.
My sister, Lori, is a stay-at-home mom who home schools her son, is on the Leoti City Council, serves on two major state and national mental health boards and donates time to helping animals find forever homes in a local association. Wow!!! Wish I could do things like that instead of having tunnel vision! LOL!!!
Oh, well... This is the way that I have always been and probably always will be. I just need to learn to accept me for who I am and to really, REALLY practice a little bit of patience here and there...
VLE-B
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Just an update...
As you know, I have not been on here much lately for a week since we began our amazing kitchen renovation. Just wanted to let you know that the work continues and that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, there is just a glimmer of light. It'll be great when it fills the entire kitchen! LOL!
I have managed to do 3/4 of the work on about 3/4 of the cabinets. Today, I will tackle the other 1/4. There are 4 steps that must be done with this particular technique.
1. After the cabinet doors are removed, sanding needs to be done to ready the wood for everything. So far, this project has killed my original electric sander. It was working well until I lifted the sander up one evening when I was sanding. All of a sudden, parts started flying EVERYWHERE! Even after Stan worked on it, it never returned to normal. So...I had to buy another sander. It is working well.
2. After the sanding, two coats of light colored paint must be applied. In our case, a light yellow had to be used to look good with our new countertop tile which looks like a gorgeous stone. When they are throughly dried, you're ready for step 3.
3. This is where the fun really begins! A cocoa shade of brown was chosen. Some of it was mixed with equal amounts of glaze. I was taught to use a very CHEAP paintbrush, the kind that has a wooden handle and bristles that are not the same length. It is used to apply very light amounts of this mixture onto the solidly painted surface. The same brush is then dipped in the can of uncolored glaze. It is then used to spread the cocoa-colored paint around until it looks like wood. With the paint colors that we chose, the wood looks like a beautiful oak. Since we are going for an old Tuscan look, nothing is supposed to look perfect. For instance around the edges where fingers would come into contact with the cabinet door and around where the door knob will be, extra cocoa paint needs to be applied so that it looks like hand oil, dirt, etc has been there.
4. This is the final step. Several coats of polyurethane must be applied to protect the doors from any kind of damage. It is up to the homeowners to decide whether they want to use satin or gloss finish. In our case, we went with the satin because these cabinets are supposed to look antiquish.
Yesterday, I did these steps on the portions of the cabinets where the doors are hung.
That is the work that I have been doing. Stan has definitely been doing his fair share of work also! He has had the un-fun job of removing the old formica from the countertops and the old backsplashes. I am very happy to say that he is now ready to attach the tiles to the countertops! As soon as the countertops are in place, he will put the new backsplash on. For me, this is the EXCITING part!
Last night, we had to finish our shopping for the kitchen re-do. New undercabinet lights were purchased along with more cabinet and drawer knobs and pulls. Many interior decorators consider the knobs and pulls to be the jewelry of the cabinets and drawers. I now see why! They really perk the room up! We chose products that look nothing like the ones that we had before. By the way, there is nothing wrong with our fomer ones so if you are interested in having them, just let me know. They just didn't have the style that we needed to look Tuscan. They're yours free-of-charge. I hate to throw anything away if someone else can use them. You know...one man's junk is another mon's treasure.
When we're finished, the only things that will look original is the ceramic tile floor that Stan and I added about 9-years-ago and the refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and overhead microwave oven. All of them were added in the past year. So, it'll basically be like a brand new kitchen!
When everything is completed, I will try to post some pictures of it here so that you can all look at them if you want to. Or, give me a call and you can come and take a look at the kitchen in person!!!
Well, more work is beckoning to me so I'll close for now.
VLE-B
I have managed to do 3/4 of the work on about 3/4 of the cabinets. Today, I will tackle the other 1/4. There are 4 steps that must be done with this particular technique.
1. After the cabinet doors are removed, sanding needs to be done to ready the wood for everything. So far, this project has killed my original electric sander. It was working well until I lifted the sander up one evening when I was sanding. All of a sudden, parts started flying EVERYWHERE! Even after Stan worked on it, it never returned to normal. So...I had to buy another sander. It is working well.
2. After the sanding, two coats of light colored paint must be applied. In our case, a light yellow had to be used to look good with our new countertop tile which looks like a gorgeous stone. When they are throughly dried, you're ready for step 3.
3. This is where the fun really begins! A cocoa shade of brown was chosen. Some of it was mixed with equal amounts of glaze. I was taught to use a very CHEAP paintbrush, the kind that has a wooden handle and bristles that are not the same length. It is used to apply very light amounts of this mixture onto the solidly painted surface. The same brush is then dipped in the can of uncolored glaze. It is then used to spread the cocoa-colored paint around until it looks like wood. With the paint colors that we chose, the wood looks like a beautiful oak. Since we are going for an old Tuscan look, nothing is supposed to look perfect. For instance around the edges where fingers would come into contact with the cabinet door and around where the door knob will be, extra cocoa paint needs to be applied so that it looks like hand oil, dirt, etc has been there.
4. This is the final step. Several coats of polyurethane must be applied to protect the doors from any kind of damage. It is up to the homeowners to decide whether they want to use satin or gloss finish. In our case, we went with the satin because these cabinets are supposed to look antiquish.
Yesterday, I did these steps on the portions of the cabinets where the doors are hung.
That is the work that I have been doing. Stan has definitely been doing his fair share of work also! He has had the un-fun job of removing the old formica from the countertops and the old backsplashes. I am very happy to say that he is now ready to attach the tiles to the countertops! As soon as the countertops are in place, he will put the new backsplash on. For me, this is the EXCITING part!
Last night, we had to finish our shopping for the kitchen re-do. New undercabinet lights were purchased along with more cabinet and drawer knobs and pulls. Many interior decorators consider the knobs and pulls to be the jewelry of the cabinets and drawers. I now see why! They really perk the room up! We chose products that look nothing like the ones that we had before. By the way, there is nothing wrong with our fomer ones so if you are interested in having them, just let me know. They just didn't have the style that we needed to look Tuscan. They're yours free-of-charge. I hate to throw anything away if someone else can use them. You know...one man's junk is another mon's treasure.
When we're finished, the only things that will look original is the ceramic tile floor that Stan and I added about 9-years-ago and the refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and overhead microwave oven. All of them were added in the past year. So, it'll basically be like a brand new kitchen!
When everything is completed, I will try to post some pictures of it here so that you can all look at them if you want to. Or, give me a call and you can come and take a look at the kitchen in person!!!
Well, more work is beckoning to me so I'll close for now.
VLE-B
Thursday, March 4, 2010
First Wichita County dome school is erected
Yesterday, Thursday, the first dome school was inflated. It really looks good! It is located just barely north of the Wichita County High School gym. Go by and take a look at it!
VLE-B
VLE-B
City of Leoti Website (NEW)
The Leoti City Council has decided that it is time to start their own website. I am very proud to say that Council Woman, Lori Elder-Christensen, my younger sister, is currently getting it set up!
Please go to http://leotikansas.org/ to check it out!
Earlier this week, test results showed an unhealthy increase in nitrates in our local water. Parents with small children were advised NOT to let their children drink our water. Today, it was discovered that a mistake was made in the compilation of the nitrates. Now, the City has been told that the nitrates are well within allowable SAFE limits. Our water can be drunk by young and old alike.
The City apologizes for any problems that this may have caused anyone.
VLE-B
Please go to http://leotikansas.org/ to check it out!
Earlier this week, test results showed an unhealthy increase in nitrates in our local water. Parents with small children were advised NOT to let their children drink our water. Today, it was discovered that a mistake was made in the compilation of the nitrates. Now, the City has been told that the nitrates are well within allowable SAFE limits. Our water can be drunk by young and old alike.
The City apologizes for any problems that this may have caused anyone.
VLE-B
A cute observation
The census workers are now at work in the Leoti area. Today, we saw something that really gave us a good ol'chuckle!
We live across the street from a small trailer park in town. A year or so ago, one of the mobile homes was moved about a block away.
Today, while we were watching WHEEL OF FORTUNE, Stan and Leighlyn watched a stranger walk up to the abandoned tool storage building just behind where the mobile home once stood. The man knocked on the door. When no one answered the door, he tacked census paperwork to the one and only door. He then walked across the street to our house to give us paperwork to fill out.
The man asked Stan how many people live in the "house" across the street. Stan couldn't help but laugh a little when he told the man that the building is only for storage of such things as lawn mowers.
The man was embarrassed, walked back across the street and retrieved the paperwork from the door.
Too cute not to pass along...
VLE-B
We live across the street from a small trailer park in town. A year or so ago, one of the mobile homes was moved about a block away.
Today, while we were watching WHEEL OF FORTUNE, Stan and Leighlyn watched a stranger walk up to the abandoned tool storage building just behind where the mobile home once stood. The man knocked on the door. When no one answered the door, he tacked census paperwork to the one and only door. He then walked across the street to our house to give us paperwork to fill out.
The man asked Stan how many people live in the "house" across the street. Stan couldn't help but laugh a little when he told the man that the building is only for storage of such things as lawn mowers.
The man was embarrassed, walked back across the street and retrieved the paperwork from the door.
Too cute not to pass along...
VLE-B
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