Crabby is putting it mildly

Well, no one is coming to measure for the soapstone today.  Why?  We drove out twice, chose our slabs, paid for half, worked out the base cabinet and apron sink that would be made in their shop.  Right there.  Perfect fit.  I sent emails and photos, received calls asking for cabinet details, and talked to them four times. Yesterday, the day before they were to come out, they inform me that the sink cabinet needs to be in place before they will come out to template the counter.  What?  They're making both.  The opening is exactly 30".  What more do they need?  Almost $1000 to build one 30" wide, plank door, short sink base, before they come out.  Are you fricking kidding me?  After all these months waiting and now they tell me this?  If that's the case, the cabinet should have been built along with the fitted sink and delivered at which time they could have measured for the counter.  The new one will be exactly the same width as the current one and they also want the old top removed in order for them to measure. I don't understand.  I can't tell you how disgusted I am and honestly, I may get Formica and stainless steel which is guaranteed to be installed and completed in a week, and I'll have eight grand to spend on something else.  Sorry to bitch and rant and complain but nearing the end of this frustrating project, I didn't expect another contractor to fail me.  By the time Dominic builds this piece that will be out of square and foreign to his knowledge, it's installed, they reschedule for the template, I will never have it before Christmas. How do you install a cabinet with a plywood platform for a single bowl apron sink, into an existing double bowl/drain without cutting up the platform to get it in?  Remove the sink and water supply and wait for weeks until they fabricate the job?  No.  I'm not willing to do that while needing the kitchen for the holidays, just because they need a new 30" base instead of the 30" existing base in order to measure.  Matches will not be enough, I may invest in a flamethrower.

 

Thanksgiving. 

Yes I have much to be thankful for.  Do I feel guilty for being in this mood?  Yes.  And no.

Do we have to be in a good mood to be grateful?  No we don't.  We have many emotions, hormones or not, and they can't all be squeezed into one neat package of happy for the day.  Sometimes we're crabby and that's OK.
I will get over it, move past it, laugh it off, and come up with a solution.  In the end, it's just a kitchen.  I have a roof over my head and food on the table, clothes on my back, cats on my bed, family, and you guys. 

Ahhhhh. That felt good and the crab is slipping back into the water.  But he won't go too deep, he'll be back.
Thanks.

Be thankful, be yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

 

Box info

Hiya.  I've been receiving emails about the box sale so thought I would update.  The quality of the mache is not what it used to be.  I have to purchase in sets of 3 and when I open the cellophane and see the insides of the boxes, I'm not satisfied.  Locally I have one store that carries boxes (in sets).  Hobby Lobby sells individually by opening the sets, and they won't open another set until inventory in depleted, which means I could wait weeks and get only one box.  Can you tell I'm disgusted?  So the amount for sale will be less than before and except for a special request, will be all Mary Antrim.  They will be listed on the Sampler Box page Thanksgiving morning.

 

I have received three calls so far from the counter top people who are also making the cabinet to hold the sink.  They don't seem to get it.  Photo after photo of the simple inset plank doors on a basic 30" apron sink base, and I got two more calls about it today.  Can't believe it.  Something tells me none of this will go right.

 

My sister is having more episodes of breathlessness and rate problems, won't call for an earlier appointment so she won't be seen until mid December.  I still have to take care of her house which was delayed because of my illness.

 

I went up to take a shower the other day and spotted something large and black on my bed pillows.  I kept trying to determine if it was a sweater or my jeans - until it moved and I almost dropped through the floor.  BUD!!!  How the hell did you get up here!!

 

Right now I am waiting for the garage door opener installer that was to come this morning.  It's almost 2pm.  God help him.  I am a touch crabbier than usual.  For his sake, I hope he's good looking.  I've been lucky for a while now so the odds are getting slim.

 

Have a great day, wonderful Thanksgiving, and safe travels.

 

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The faucet

Hi all.  Happy Sunday of melting snow.  Are you having a busy weekend with all the sales?  "Preview" black Friday prices, but in effect now, a one-day only sale that started two days ago and another one-day sale starting tomorrow that also runs for two days, lowest prices of the season today only - until tomorrow when you'll get the lowest prices of the season.  On select items.  It's the lowest price on certain items and the next lowest price day is on other items.  Give me a break.  Put it all on sale and quit messing with our minds!

 

Let's talk faucets.  No I don't have the countertop yet and he is coming out Wednesday for the final measure which means another two weeks after that for installation.  They are an hour away so I hope weather won't interfere.  I studied all my favorite kitchen designer's photos and found the two faucets they use most often.  Herbeau for $1700 (with side spray, cheaper without).

  Moving on I found several others that I really like but my decision isn't easy.  Since I have to purchase online and have no idea how dark the bronze is or the difference between brushed, tumbled, rubbed, antique, and aged, I hesitated.  But my real question - would the darker browns look OK on a black soapstone counter?  And since I have stainless steel appliances and black hinges and accents, is bringing another metal into the small area a mistake?  Who the hell cares?  It's my kitchen. I won't know how it looks with the sink and counter until they're here yet I need the faucet for the installation.  What to do?

  I found a reasonable faucet in brushed stainless at Lowe's (Wetherly by Moen) in the pump style I prefer, and it goes perfectly with the appliances and also the new and old pewter.  I can live with it and always change my mind later once I see how it all looks. This came in bronze but I didn't like the streaks of red showing that are supposed to age it.  Every manufacturer has a different "bronze" finish and some I do not care for.

 

And this one is Squeak!  He always ends up with food on his nose.  We leaned a piece of plywood against the house for protection and he stays  here once in a while.  I've moved his condo to several places but he is still too skittish to enter.

Hope everyone's week gets off to a good start.  Thanksgiving!!!  Good grief it's only a week to December.

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

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Mary's house

Hiya.  Another weekend already.  I lost two weeks to being fogged up on meds and can't believe the date.  Do you feel the year is ending way too quickly?  I hope winter goes as fast.

 

Mary's charted colors are GAST (not all of which I had) or blends of two DMC shades and because I'm lazy, I chose to use one. Just to make it easier.  I'm ready for the house which looks like this.

 

I have Blueberry GAST which has quite a bit of magenta/purple shading.  I'm not sure if I will use it or a DMC blend of 3860/3768. 

Her Lord's Prayer is not complete, words carry to the next line, rows touch, a little confusing to stitch, but hides a multitude of errors.  She's different and the house is really what drew me to the design.  But she kind of reflects many of my days.  The alphabet starts out uniform and neat (the first hours of my day), then a squirrely line ends that and letters become random and uneven like my schedule.  The bright colors represent the hot flashes and their slant shows I'm going off-balance.  Then all hell breaks loose and my words run together, bumping into one another, sentences aren't completed, and I lose all direction.  Hopefully I will finish her soon because I saw a few Christmas designs that I would like to work on and plan to order this weekend.

 

Have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Just do it

Hello people.  Got snow?  Good grief!  Some areas have been hit hard so am I going to accept my few inches with a smile and be thankful?  Hell no.  I'm crabby and will stay that way.  It's the nature of the bitch beast.  Temps are supposed to rise which is good because every morning my pounding head has to search the house for escaped brats.

 

Yesterday I received a note from Jean at The Attic and the Nash bag is traveling to Mesa as we speak.  It was very quick, not much time to say goodbye, but I'm OK with it.  Adios!  You were a lovely visitor but a little too good looking and neat for me.  So here's the thing - I had a little pang of panic when I realized that really experienced and serious stitchers will see it, maybe look closely.  I think we all feel that our work is never quite as perfect as we would like, our errors are sometimes left in, our placement a few stitches off, the finished seams maybe not be straight.  Let it go.  It's from our hands and no one's hands are the same.  Never be embarrassed or feel it's not good enough.  There's nothing wrong with striving for needlework perfection and many of you achieve it, enjoy competing, and are very proud of your work.  Me?  When it's for my own pleasure, I could care less.  I drop it on the floor, eat while stitching, threaten it with flame, my threads are very uneven and twisted, tension depends on hot flashes......but it's me.  My handwork.  A reflection of my attitude toward stitching?  Yes.  I don't take it too seriously.  A reflection of my style?  Yes.  I prefer things that look old and used.  I've said before, the benefit of primitive pieces is that people don't know if your house is really dusty or if those pieces are old and actually look like that.  Same with my stitchery.  If anyone would criticize your work, just tell them you strive to be as perfect as they are but aren't there yet.

 

If your stitching pleases you - perfect.  If you would like it to be better - go for it.  But if you hesitate because you think it won't be as good as other's - let it go and just do it.  Don't ever think that it's not good enough because as with any work of hands, it will always be different than others.  With many reproductions having error after error of all sorts, we still celebrate it!  Were their stitches perfect?  No.  Maybe after many years they became so, but it didn't make their first pieces any less important. 

 Just do it.  Have fun.  Keep a match handy.

Box blahs

Greetings from a very cold and snow covered street on which a crabby sick lady lives. 

 

 I should have had boxes ready for shipping by now but it's not happening.  One reason is being ill, the other is the dwindling supply of boxes except for a few with warped lids sitting on the shelves.  My dozens of tall ovals are not what I expected, no longer available, and the reason I don't order online any longer.  For the few I have, I went Antrim nuts, modifying to fit shapes (you can see them under the Box tab). The other two are 5" squares with two lid designs.  If a sale will be offered, I will do a blog post with the date and time along with prices before listing them.

The 8" square and 6" round are not in stock at my local supplier and I'm still waiting.  Hobby Lobby breaks the sets apart and sells them individually, will not break open another set for just one or two and I need way too many of one size.  Aren't you tired of these anyway?  I want to do something different and when my brain is no longer fogged, I may come up with an idea.  Because of Jamie at Cricket Bug the only idea in my head right now is peanut butter pie.  I've gained over 5 pounds because ice cream melting in my mouth was the only thing I could swallow.  And I did!  Many half gallons of it but it really did help with the throat pain and burning. 

 

I emailed The Attic a while ago asking if they wanted the Nash bag or my Christmas pear for the auction but never received a reply.  Their newsletter said they were taking donations but I preferred getting the OK from them first before mailing.  They always have such lovely items from their generous customers and stitchers offered for bid .

 

 Time to drink another shot of bad tasting medicine and find a roaming brat.  I heard her jump the barrier so the hunt is on. 

Hope you stay well and have an enjoyable week.

Thanks for visiting.

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