Tikuahote's Journal

4:39pm: updated!
some short updates on Confessions and Clean Simple Finance and also Tiki's Tips. 

3:01pm: Mother's Day
update over at Confessions...

9:08am: Kitchen Smitchen
The kitchen is (still) mostly done. DH built a shelf that fits in the corner behind the sink. Before, I kept a little plasticized wire shelf there and put plants on it. With the new shelf, there's more space for plants and it's not rickety nor can things be lost behind it. I'll have pictures soon on my other blog.

Working on my current fiction, working on some articles...

10:21am: Read all about my jam!
Over at my blog!

9:43am: We have ... fire!
So, take a peek at this...we have a working gas range now!!!

Just to calm myself down, still to go: tiling backsplash, painting cabinet doors and drawers, installing faucet (um, yeah, no water in the kitchen sink yet, since we had to order the faucet online), replacing outlets for up-to-date ones, adding outlet covers, painting pantry, re-installing various bits of hardware, finding a bit of sheet vinyl for under the sink, and putting in the shelf paper. Whew!

Still, gas range, man!

12:11pm: Sink! Dishwasher! And best of all, refinished Floors!!!
Check it out! 

10:20am: kitchen
kitchen continues! http://confessionsofahoarder.blogspot.com/ 

and here for the money side of it http://cleansimplefinance.blogspot.com/

5:35pm: Do as I Say or the Dark Side will Consume You!
Just go to Think Your Way to Wealth. Just do it.

12:02pm: Kitchen!
 The kitchen is still coming along. Painting needs to be done soon, since the countertop is going in on Thursday. We've booked the floor refinishers (and arranged boarding for the cats, yes, that's my little fur guy Tikuahote in the profile pic:-). We have not yet found a gas stove, but we've been trolling Craigslist and should find one soon. Range hood was found today, via Craigslist. I need to check on the fridge delivery. All going well. And, only taking a couple of weeks longer than I'd originally planned! 

9:06am: Kitchen updates
More photos available on my Decluttering blog. Go and comment!

10:36am: Kitchen Update
Go on over to my Decluttering Blog for an update on the kitchen and my Finance Blog for an update on that side of the kichen makeover.  

9:39am: Check out the updated kitchen pictures!
Over at Confessions of a Hoarder! Paint is on the walls!! Yay!!

10:08am: Kitchen Makeover Continues
The kitchen makeover continues! I'll be posting updated pictures on my decluttering blog, hopefully today.

3:30pm: Kitchen
It's day 6 of the kitchen makeover. Today, we moved out the dishwasher and range. The dishwasher was easy, it's light and since DH had put it in, he knew how to take it out. The range, on the other hand, is a behemoth! It's a 40" 1971 Avocado green specimen. We had to use a dolly, skids, and ramps to get it out of the house and into the garage. Going to sell it on Craig's list. I mean, someone must be trying to do a period remodel of a 1970s kitchen, right???

Pictures will be on my Decluttering blog.

6:25pm: Going for it!
So, we've been talking about re-doing our kitchen for ages. It's avocado green, last remodeled in about 1970. Finally, something just pushed me and yesterday I started packing up the kitchen stuff!

Today is day 2, and the fridge is now in the dining room, the dining table is in the living room. The range will go out to the garage tomorrow. I've pulled shelf paper, and the next step is to start stripping the paint from the cabinets.

We'll get a new, smaller (but more energy efficient) fridge, a gas range (it's already plumbed for gas, and there's venting to the outside as required), a new, quieter dishwasher, and the whole room will be painted and the floors refinished.

I'll be doing most of the work. DH the dear will handle any electrical issues, and be grunt labour on occassion as needed.

Still deciding on colours for cabinets and walls. Trim will be white, to match the rest of the house.

Before pictures available on Flickr.

8:56am: Australia?
Last night, I had a dream about Australia-bound friend frabjouslinz She's heading off to Australia tomorrow, and in the dream, I and others accompanied her to the airport, where she was still deciding exactly what to take. She looked fabulous, in a flowing skirt, top and long scarf. She had her camera in a small shoulder purse, and was shimmering with excitement. And yes, she made her plane with time to spare:-)

10:49am: Puke Puke Everywhere!
So, Friday evening, after dinner, Older DD said her stomach hurt. And, sure enough just after we'd tucked her into bed, a torrent of puke erupted! Some hit the floor before I could grab the garbage can. Luckily, she missed her bed, so we only needed to pull up the rug for washing. Poor kid.

Later that night, not long after the Little One came crawling into our bed, puke again. This time, a touch hit the sheets of our bed before I woke up enough to grab the Little One and hold her over the edge of the bed. Easier to clean up the wood floor than the bed you know.

There was more puke the next day, Saturday, from both of them. No fevers or other symptoms, and so far, DH and I are doing OK. So I do not think it is the flu! I have Older DD on water, Pedialyte and saltines. Younger has been fine today, and had some breakfast.

If Older DD is still puking tomorrow, we may need to take a trip to Children's Hospital for rehydration. Hoping it doesn't come to that!

10:09am: Seeing Dust
I am seeing piles of dust and debris in my house. This is not good. In fact, this is bad. It means I am losing my focus. How to get it back?

5:41pm: Sooon, it'll be the Easter Time which is the Time of the ...
Cadbury Creme Eggs!!!!!!!!

And only the original. Not the mini (not enough goo), not the chocolate (too chocolaty), and not even the Orange (though they do smell nummy).

9:38am: Updating!
I've been updating my clutter and personal finance blogs regularly, so pop over and check them out!

Go on over to my decluttering blog and to my finance blog. Hey, give me some feedback on the personal finance blog! I'm trying to find a good focus, but mostly, I've been posting about whatever seems interesting at the moment.

There are some new pictures up on the decluttering blog, and more to come. Although I didn't see the shows, Oprah's recent hoarding interventions really affected me. I've read through all 24 pages of comments on the hoarding shows, and watched the video clips on her site: Oprah.com.

Well, that's about all. Oh, I am really enjoying Sarah Dessen's books, and currently listening to Just Listen on my iPod. Check out her LiveJournal for more on a great YA writer!

10:14am: Go ye forth...
Ah, Lent. I love Lent. It's a time of reflection, of prayer, of offering up something to good old God. Anyway, it's officially Lent now, as yesterday was Ash Wednesday.

Go on over to my decluttering blog and to my finance blog. Hey, give me some feedback on the personal finance blog!

4:30pm: So, you know you're a crappy parent when...
a comment from the guy stocking the yogurt at the grocery store makes you suddenly depressed and hopeless. OK, back up you say, well...

Our grocery store has a large bulk section. They offer samples of whatever you'd like to try, so you can try before you buy. The Little One really likes to get a sample. She's allowed to, as long as she asks for herself. Today, she asked, bold as brass and got a sample of a sour cherry gummy. Now, usually she'll say thank you just on her own, but today she didn't. I asked her if she'd thanked C (the yogurt stocking guy, who had gotten her the sample) and she shook her head. I told her she needed to say thank you, that's it's the nice thing to do and part of getting a sample. She still wouldn't. She kept shaking her head and grinning. Finally, I told her she couldn't have her sour cherry if she didn't say thank you. 

Now at that point, I was full of doubt. I am not a believer in forcing kids to say please and thank you, I don't do the whole shaming, in your face "What do you saaaaay?" thing. But we do emphasize the importance of being nice, saying please and thank you and you're welcome. So I was feeling really uncertain. 

I took away her cherry and she still wouldn't say thank you. 

Here is where it gets bad and the parenting experts would have had me nailed up. She didn't really protest much when I took away her cherry. But, I still gave her an out. I offered to let her write thank you (i.e. write something she can write, her name) on a piece of paper. 

Yogurt guy comments: "My mom would have had that away so fast!" and that's when I knew how screwed my relationship is with Arwen.  

She got to keep her cherry and never did have to properly say "thank you".

Some background. If you've read any parenting books, you'll know there are three main types of parent: permissive, authoritarian and balanced. I aim for balanced. I had permissive parents, and the lack of rules was not a good thing. I didn't get into much trouble, but I could have used a lot more guidance. My mom and I used to fight because she thought I was too authoritarian, if you can believe that. She had authoritarian parents who used a lot of corporal punishment and shaming. So, you can see where she was coming from, though her complaints about me were not based in reality.  
 

11:33am: Ah, Memes!
Frabjouslinz has borrowed a meme from </b></a>tbclone47: and thus without further ado...


1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not. 

2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.

5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

Here are the 5 questions she asked:

1. What season do you like best? Ooh, tie between Spring and Fall. They're both seasons of change, of promise not yet come to fulfillment, of renewal. Plus, I love the feeling of the first cool days of Fall...and the going back to school sales. Love those bargain pens at Target! :-)

2. When did you first decide to write novels? Oh, way back in grade school. I still have some early attempts, mostly Mary Janes or pastiches of Trixie Beldens. I have yet to finish a novel, but I have finished short stories. Finishing is very satisfying, which makes me wonder why I don't do it more often!

3. What's your favorite part of your house? The bathroom. It's always tidy, because there's no space for clutter there. I love the way we were able to recreate a 1940's look, with simple tile and a wall-mounted sink with chrome legs.

4. Where would you go for a vacation, if you could go next month? Hawaii! Someplace tropical with gorgeous beaches and exotic fruits. Oh, and drinks with umbrellas in them, that's very important.

5. What made you first realize that clutter, in your house, in your life, was a big problem for you? When I was a kid. I loved my things, they were like lifelines. But I knew there was a problem because I hated having anyone over (the Flylady calls that Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome, aka CHAOS). Our garage was literally full to the front, and piled up to the roof with boxes and bags of stuff, stuff, stuff.

10:03am: Go Ye Forth and Read My Blogs!

 Read my decluttering blog!!!!

Read my personal finance blog!!!!

Leaveth me comments a-plenty!!!!



 

10:02am: Writing
While walking through the bookstore/coffeeshop where I do my work some days, I noticed a book by Richard Bachman/Stephen King on the new fiction table. It said 'Introduction by Stephen King' and so I took a look. I like Mr. King's book On Writing very much, and hoped he'd have some interesting thoughts on bringing out an old novel. In fact he did. He flat out called the new Bachman book a "trunk novel", that is, one that has sat for years in a writer's trunk of discarded drafts and rejected novels. He did rewrite it before publishing it, and, generously, all his royalties from it go to the Haven Foundation, which assists freelance artists who need support.

Whether the book is any good, well, I don't know. I am pretty selective about the Stephen King books I read since I really don't like horror. I like a good story though, and he's a darn good storyteller.