the old dining room and kitchen

In case you never got to see the old kitchen and dining room (or have blissfully forgotten what it looked like...) here it is...

dining room (wall behind table is what was opened up for the breakfast bar)


doorway into kitchen from dining room


peninsula area that got removed


previous fridge location, and door to hall on left edge that was closed off to make pantry (also not the ducks on the wallpaper border...)


breakfast area


nice light...

the NEW kitchen!

I know, I know...I've been meaning to post these pictures forever...but here they are! It looks a little more tidy here than it does in everyday life. :) Wahoooooo!


from the bar into the kitchen/breakfast area


another view from the bar


from the breakfast nook into the kitchen


another view


breakfast nook


"floating shelves" and door into pantry

Zucchini Lemon Loaf

Just added this recipe, mainly for Kat...whose garden overflow-eth with zucchini grown by Chris! You can also scroll to the bottom of the page and see the recipe (and other favorites)...

Looking forward to cooking in our NEW KITCHEN...granted, it won't be done until (knock on wood) Thanksgiving...demo starts on our 13th wedding anniversary (September 20, in case you're interested...). Many thanks to architect Michael Howells for the design, and Mike at ReCraft for taking on the project! Whaoo!!!

Happy 2010!

We've been enjoying settling into our new house...

We even had some snow, a few days after Christmas...

As long as we've been together, Bret and I haven't been big on presents for each other...but this year with the sale of our house in Wyoming we treated ourselves to a used pop-up camper (to replace the Airstream)...

We found it on Craigslist...bought it from a family who was upgrading to a small RV. Can't wait to explore more of Oregon in it! (Sabine and Vivian are happy exploring it in the yard!)



And a piano...

we bought it from The Piano School for the Blind -- the only school in the world that teaches blind and visually impaired people to tune and repair pianos. They take donations of pianos that their students fix up then they sell them -- partially to raise money for the school. The piano we got used to be a school piano. I've wanted a piano for a long time, and am looking forward to learning and playing with the whole family.

We went to the farm of some other homeschoolers to cut down our Christmas tree (reminding us of Wyoming)...




We had a small New Year's Eve party (at which I completely forgot to take pictures!), and enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the wood stove when the snow fell!

All in all a lovely end to 2009 and beginning of 2010!

This is the house...

in Portland...we'll be there on the 31st of Aug. Wahoo!