The Irish Laurel
IT'S THE SIMPLE THINGS . . .NEWS ON THE GRAND
New Kitchen!
We have a new kitchen!
New cabinets, new refrigerator, new range, new dishwasher, and new sink/faucet!
I was over the taupe paint color on our main level and our cabinets were yellowing along with the finish wearing off, so as we explored how to change it all. With the kitchen cabinets, we decided to order darker cabinets called “Cherry Saddle” in a shaker style cabinet. I know, I know…EVERYONE…well it seems everyone goes for white cabinets. I have seen kitchens with white cabinets and they look lovely. But with our kitchen, our style, and our island, we decided we wanted to go darker. Which we LOVE. Photos below. These photos do not have the finished top of the cabinets, Wayne is in the process now of installing the crown molding on the tops . Also under cabinet lighting will be installed this week. This all was done with a huge savings in labor costs, since we did the whole kitchen ourselves. We gutted it all out and then Wayne did an amazing job installing the cabinets (with just a little help from me) and installing dishwasher, new sink and appliances.
I also re-painted the whole main level of our home, and including the upstairs hallway and the hallway leading to our lower level. The taupe is GONE, now the walls have a warm and blending greige paint color. I also painted the interior of the door going into the garage and the interior of the front door…a deep brown/black called “Espresso Bean”. Which goes so well with the cabinets. We are so happy with it all!
And yes in the second and third photo our cat Tazzie insisted on being part of the photo shoot! LOL!
When you have to gut your kitchen and remove everything from all the cupboards and drawers, it is a great time to downsize, thin out and just get rid of unneeded items that have accumulated over time. I re-arranged my cupboards as I restocked them and really went through everything to downsize. I now have boxes of items to go to Goodwill! Just thinning things out and re-organizing helps make cooking and clean up so much easier!
Next post I’ll be sharing a new recipe and a few great links!
graphic from: knickoftime
2020…
The year 2020. Stunning. Impossible. How has time passed so quickly?! A year yet to be written.
Have you thought how you are going to “write” your year? How it will be lived?
I’m not talking of resolutions. I’m talking of taking planned and definite steps in your journey , in your life. That’s my journey now. Planning on making definite steps, putting together a mission statement for our year. I’ll share that on another post once I have focused in on what exactly it will be. This is NOT as easy process, also very stretching to carry it out and to bring along on my journey.
Christmas 2019. I should say the holidays, since it started before Thanksgiving and the weeks into Christmas, busy with grandkids, shopping, cooking, baking, game playing, wrapping gifts and all the way until Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and our second Christmas celebration on New Years Day with our all grands, even 3 from MO (missing our oldest!). Seems like a blur now with so much packed in, but so much celebrating and enjoying with family!
A few photos of Christmas.
Three, Three, Three..TOP Three!
Going around on social media is the listing of your top 3 things, on a variety of subjects. I decided to play along. Mine are below. Wow is it hard to narrow done to only 3 things!!!
FAVORITE THREE BINGE TV SHOWS
Call the Midwife
When Calls the Heart
Downton Abbey (when it was on TV)
FAVORITE MOVIES (only 3! That’s hard)
The Help
The Lord of the Rings
Captain Phillips
FAVORITE TRIPS
Disney World
Disney World
Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Smokey Mountains
FAVORITE BOOKS (I’ve read hundreds, can hardly narrow it down!)
Suitcases
Little House Series
Papa’s Wife
FAVORITE CITIES IN THE US THAT I HAVE VISITED
Chicago
Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg
Frankenmuth
FAVORITE PLACES TO EAT
Olive Garden
Red Lobster
Logan’s
FAVORITE HOLIDAYS
Christmas
Coast Guard (local!)
July 4th
FAVORITE SUBJECTS I HAD IN HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE
Business Courses
Psychology
Great Books
FAVORITE BLOGS I FOLLOW
Thistlewood Farms
Pioneer Woman
The Shabby Creek Cottage
FAVORITE THINGS TO EAT
Ribs
Chicken
Potatoes
FAVORITE PLACES TO SHOP
Kohl’s
Kirkland’s
Target
THREE THINGS I ALWAYS HAVE IN MY PURSE
Phone
Wallet
Lipstick
THREE FAVORITE MORNING BREAKFASTS
Egg/Toast/Coffee (This. Every Saturday morning breakfast out!) sometimes we split a pancake with the eggs 🙂
Bagel/Coffee
Toast/Coffee
FAVORITE DRINKS
Coffee
Iced Tea
Hot Cocoa
TOP THREE FAVORITE GAMES TO PLAY
Ticket to Ride
Spite and Malice
Euchre
FAVORITE THINGS TO DO
Go for walks
Go to Panera in the mornings
Walking the Pier
PLACES I STILL WANT TO VISIT
Washington D.C.
East Coast
Branson, MO
FAVORITE THINGS TO PUT ON WHEN I GET HOME
my sweat pants
Slippers
Thick socks (in the winter)
FAVORITE THING TO EAT FOR SUPPER
Pasta
Chicken
Pizza
FAVORITE DESSERTS
Pie (any kind!)
Ice Cream
Chocolate
BEST ONLINE SHOPPING
Amazon
Wayfair
Overstock
FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
Romans
Corinthians
John
FAVORITE TV SHOWS OF ALL TIME
King of Queens
Home Improvement
The Walton’s
FAVORITE FAMILY TRADITIONS
Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve service, eating together, and day of games!
Christmas Morning (traditional big breakfast, stockings and gifts)
Attending Coast Guard Festival
FAVORITE THINGS TO TRAVEL WITH
cooler of snacks and water
Power converter for all kinds of things
GPS to follow the route – live
FAVORITE HOBBIES
Collecting/trying new recipes
DIY in our home
Reading
TOP THREE THINGS TO DO ON A DISNEY VACATION
Rides, Rides, Rides
Eating at Yak and Yeti & Liberty Tree Tavern
Just being at the resort
FAVORITE BIBLE VERSES
Roman’s 8:28
Jeremiah 29:11
Philippians 4:13
FAVORITE WAYS TO MAKE TIME FOR MYSELF
Reading a book
Going for a walk
Netflix
This and That
After a long hiatus from posting…I’m back.
This spring brought a desperately needed, heart mending and a soul refresher time. Summer is bringing a continuing of heart healing and of growth.
So I’m back to the blog with a bounce in my step. Also since I’m in a soul refresher time, I refreshed my blog with a bit of an updated look!!
This spring and summer we have worked much in our yard. Flowers and plants and trees have grown, and the green growth is thick this year from a cool and very wet spring.
I have found some great buys and that I want to share:
This Spring Bamboo plant is SO life like and I found it at 50% off in the store at Jo-Anne’s. It is beautiful and just the right size at 16 inches. Here is the link if you want to buy it online: Fresh-Picked Life Like Spring Bamboo plant
Next on the list: I need just a little something for the long sofa table behind our sofa. I have two lamps on it, but just needed a little bit more. Found these items at Hobby Lobby…used my gift card!! Love the look of the bird…kind of “rough” with the look of hand carved from wood. And then these two stones, which reflect the “season” we walked through.. All on sale!
In the mist of all of this, we are enjoying our time with our grand kids…missing our oldest, but she will be arriving later this summer for a visit. We have been busy with many activities and summer projects
- updating our landscaping
- delivery of a load of mulch
- planting flowers
- a “dreaded’ garage sale, only one day but worth it.
- major garage clean out
- purchase of a new garage door, will be delivered next week.
- installing new garage door
- power washing outside of house
- downsizing in many rooms – spring cleaning and sorting still continuing!
The to-do list is NOT finished yet!
Next posting will be sharing a recipe or two. Along with photos of the summer.
Two Easy Recipes!
Do you ever have days where it feels like you are cooking the same ol’ things all the time but you want something easy… EASY…but satisfying but yet different than the “regulars”. That’s where I was a few days ago. SOOO I made a wonderful, satisfying quiche.
- photo courtesy of allrecipes.com (since I forgot to take photo!)
2019…What Word do You Claim for this Year?
You may have seen on Facebook, social media or blogs…people are claiming a “word” for the year 2019! A word that will give you direction…a goal of sorts, a word for growth. I have chosen Joy. But the word itself encompasses more than just a word. To have Joy, to experience it, to claim it really takes more. AND it doesn’t mean “happy”. To have true
Flowers, Apps, and Food!
Though it’s almost the middle of August, school will be starting in a few weeks, flowers are still a’blooming! I’m not ready to give up summer!
Great Apps or programs I have found, just had to share!
Flowers a’Bloomin’ and Organization
We have had some hot days, some warm days, and some cool days, but rain in between! My flowers have loved it all and so has my ground cover.
Great Links:
Organization..wow, found some great ideas!
Free printable grocery list, I love the sections!: Click here
Free printable Pantry Labels! LOVE! Lots of choices, including”chalkboard” and border-less labels for clear sticky paper: Click here
Hanging measuring cups and spoons (WHY didn’t I think of that!) Get them out of the drawers and hang them! MINE are now hanging inside my spice cupboard! Found this on Pinterest!
Can and/or soup stackable can rack for the pantry...wow space saving! I have 2 on order right now! Here is the photo and Amazon link: Click here
Chip Bags! What is worse than a pile of chip/snack bags piled up in the cupboard? Viola’..no more with this handy idea, which by the way I’m going to do in my pantry: Click here
And the last one, not under organization but free printable wall art for the kitchen or dining room. They are 8 x 10’s…I’m going for the one “but first coffee”…perfect! Click here
Ode to the Spruce & an Easy Shrimp Dip Recipe
Our lovely huge Blue Spruce Pine Tree (well once it was lovely) has been slowly dying for the last year and a half. In it’s days of greatness it was thick and beautiful and was home to many birds. But it’s life came to an end this past week. We hired a tree company to take it down and what a great job they did! A few photos of the demise of our tree. The tree company also pulverized the stump and it’s many large roots, which gave us about 15 loads of mulch that we added to all our landscaping in the backyard. We will be replacing that area of our yard with one or two trees. Looking at the varieties of trees that have blossoms in the spring!
Need an easy recipe to take to a get-together this summer? This is a yummy “quick-to-put-together” dip.
Shrimp Dip
(8 oz) block cream cheese, softened to room temp.
3 tablespoons mayonnaise (Miracle Whip)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons celery, chopped fine
1 tablespoon onion, chopped fine
sliced green onions, for topping (optional)
2 (4 oz) can tiny shrimp (it calls for 1 can, I used two…. more shrimp=yummier!)
(the tiny shrimp come in a can the size of a tuna can)
**some variations of this dip call for 1/4 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce
Directions:
- With hand mixer, mix the wet ingredients
- Then fold in the veggies and shrimp
- Serve with crackers, potato chips, or sliced fresh veggies
- Refrigerate leftovers (or chill before serving)
- Enjoy!!
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Kathy’s Faith, Family, Food and Decor. Sharing of everyday moments.
