Whirling Dervish

This is my baby, my first born, the one I used to call Pooh Bear before he told me at the ripe old age of 5 that 'Pooh Bear is a baby name' and to please stop calling him that.

The former Pooh Bear, known to my readers as Whirling Dervish, will be turning 16 in 2 weeks.  I've felt this birthday coming on like a runaway train.  Most of his friends have already turned 16, and many of them already have their licenses.

This impending first adult privilege has had me panicking and counting down the moments left before he flies the nest.  There are only 2 Halloweens, a handful of Christmases, 2 Mother's Days, etc. before he's living somewhere else.  And that, my online friends, is why I've been MIA.  I've tried to eke out every last moment of this summer, because we only have 2 left before part of this family unit might leave.  Lucky for me, summer in NY doesn't end until Labor Day.  We've spent this summer up at the cottage,

down in Georgia,

up at the 1000 Islands,

and camping in the Catskills.

This stage of teenage life has WD annoyed at being forced into family time,

and taking the first chance to go off on his own.

Museums that delight SB,

have WD asking if we're done yet.

But this summer of living out of our luggage has found that elusive WD smile every now and again.

This past weekend, WD and I ran the Warrior Dash at Windham Mountain.  It was the first time in a long time that I've seen WD smile all day long.

It didn't hurt that he kicked my tail.  The course goes 1 mile up a ski slope before zig zagging around and back down, with some walls, ropes, and barbed wire thrown in.

Let's not forget the mud pits,

 and fire jumps.

There are no pics of us running together.  It turns out that WD is part billy goat, because he darted up that mountain faster than anyone else in our flight.  My pride hurt a little watching his backside bound up that mountain while my lungs were burning, but I couldn't be prouder of him.  And I finished towards the top of my age group, so I can't be too disappointed in my own performance.

The little boy that I used to love reading to, when he'd sit still for a moment,

can now school me on a race course.

But that's ok, because he's announced that he'd like for us to try to run all of the Warrior Dashes(there are 49 in the US, Canada, and Australia,) then try a few Tough Mudders and Spartans, too.  He may be planning on widening the gap between our finish times, but all I here is that he's making a multi-year commitment to hang out with his mom.

Summer's almost over and I'll be back to regular posting once the boys are back in school.  Thanks for popping in and listening to me prattle.

Wired

I told you all about my current obsession with cottage kitchens here.  Part of that obsession has me poring over cabinets.  I love the look of painted cabinets in a cottage kitchen, and I love the look of chicken wire inserts too.

Image via

Here's another gorgeous hutch with chicken wire inserts featured in French Country Living by Caroline Clifton-Mogg.

This is one of those details that can be duplicated beautifully by a crafty DIYer like Katie at Impatiently Praying for Patience.  She found this barrister on the curb and gave it some paint and chicken wire loving.  I think painting the inside of the cabinet was the perfect way to showcase the chicken wire.

You can add shirred fabric panels behind to keep out dust or hide messes.

Image via

But if you'd like to keep out dust and show off your dishes, Bendheim Cabinet Glass has just added chicken wire glass to their extensive catalog of cabinet glass.

I receive updates from Bendheim, because I've bought glass from them before.  You may recall the wavy glass in the liquor hutch we built.  I showed it off here.  We also used some reeded glass in our kitchen which I'll show off someday, if I ever declare my kitchen officially finished.  I was so excited to see the new chicken wire glass in my e-mail and have designs dancing around in my head for my in-laws' future kitchen.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my current obsession.  Bendheim Glass did not pay me or perk me for the mention.

Cottage Kitchens

It's no secret that I love kitchens.  I spend a good chunk of every day in my kitchen, and though I may be a bit tight fisted, I opened up the wallet to completely renovate our kitchen.  Here's a sort of after pic.  I really need to take some new kitchen pictures.  This was taken before building the DIY Cookbook Shelves.

Over the years, even after my kitchen reno, I've spent a lot of time over on the GardenWeb Kitchen Forum and there is no better moment of relaxation than flipping through a Kitchen Trends magazine while sipping on a venti coffee.  The official term is TKO - totally kitchen obsessed.  Though I love my cherry cabinets, lately I've been obsessing over the details of white-painted cottage kitchens.  I adore the exposed hinges on these and used similar ones when we built our wine & liquor hutch.

My in-laws have started the ball rolling on their future retirement cottage.  They'll be adding onto the current cottage for a year round home, and the possibilities have gotten this TKO daughter-in-law really excited.  I may or may not have inundated their e-mail inbox with 1001 layouts and elevations of possible future kitchens.

I love the mantel hood and the butcherblock island countertops as well as the soapstone counters in this pic.

Image via here.

 Stacked glass front cabs say cottage to me, and I love the practicality of the solid upper stack for the not so pretty utilitarian stuff.  Does anyone need to see your Halloween bowls in April?  Love the thumblatch hardware, too, though they may not be the most practical hardware for an aging in place situation.

Stacked cabs can add up moneywise, and here's a nice solution for a softer hit on the wallet.  A wider stile at the top emulates that stacked cab look without the hefty price tag.

I'm not loving the proportions of these stacked cabs, but I adore the bleached wood enveloping the island.  You'll notice that I wrapped the island in my CAD rendering above in knotty pine.  Part of the cottage will be demo-ed to make way for the addition, and they'll be saving as much of the knotty pine as possible to be reused.

I love the look of a farmhouse apron sink, especially in a cottage.  This Ikea Domsjo sink is an affordable option for those on a budget.

I love the natural touches with the rattan baskets, and the pops of fun color with the yellow and turquoise in this kitchen reno found at The Handmade Home blog.  My in-laws are experienced DIYers with 2 kitchens under their belts, and I can see them putting in fun personal touches like in this kitchen.



Love the open shelves, blue island, and industrial lights in this pic.  In fact I love the juxtaposition of modern with vintage in a cottage kitchen whether it's lighting, stools, or a fab turbochef oven.

Love the casual feel of this kitchen, even with the great big hulking stainless steel range and hood.  There are no plans for a kitchen table, but don't you love how this table looks with it's flirty skirted chairs surrounding it?  Love the homey feel of the pleated shades, too.

 Love the classic blue and white of this Smallbone kitchen, but with a creamy white Aga range, this kitchen could do no wrong.  I love the large format floor tiles, too.

And finally here's a gorgeous Lauren Rubenstein kitchen that I'm loving for future cottage inspiration.  The architect's plans have the kitchen opening up to the dining room much like in this pic.  I love the wing back chairs and benches used here.  The future cottage's dining room will be much longer and rectangular as will it's table, and there will be a large 7' aisle way between, but I love the way the rooms relate to each other in this pic.  Again, the lamps and pleated shades make this space so warm and homey.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my current kitchen obsession.

Goodnight Irene

We spent another weekend up at the cottage.  This is probably the last time we'll be up for the summer, and what a weekend it was.  We were celebrating WD's birthday and Saturday was spent boating, swimming, and jet skiing.  But then Irene made an appearance.  I've posted several pictures of us enjoying the lake before, but just in case you need a reminder here's the lake before Irene.

The lake on Saturday - calm and great for swimming.

And here it is after she'd arrived.

There were big whitecaps.

The waves were jumping the breakwall and landing in the bay.

The wind was so fast that you could do a trust fall into it, and not fall at all.

We only caught the very edge of the storm, and my heart goes out to everyone who suffered through damage and heartbreak all up and down the eastern seaboard.

Thanks for popping in and checking out this weekend's before and after, a little different than my typical before and after post.  I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.