Tuesday, May 30th - it's seriously June this week? How can that be...

Time's flying by but things have finally started happening out in our Wee kitchen.  Monday was a holiday but Tuesday things got crazy. We'd been waiting on the plumber and the gas fitter and wouldn't you just know they both arrived on the same morning. Fortunately the plumber had work to do in the basement so he was able to work out there while the gas fitter did her work in the kitchen. Wednesday morning they were both back again to finish up the jobs and by the end of the day we have water and propane! YAAAY. Still a few things to be attached to walls ie. paper towel dispenser, soap dispenser, racks for knives, utensils, etc. Once those things are in place we can get down to some serious cleaning. Up to this point cleaning was an impossibility as every time something needs to get installed it entails drilling into the ceramic tile, causing all manner of very fine dust.

But, with any luck another day should do it. Then we can get our inspection done, which we are hoping to have done next week. I sometimes still can't believe we've actually gotten it done.

The weekend was spent working out in the entrance into the kitchen. For all intents and purposes it is really an extension of the kitchen. New flooring has been put down and beaded board installed on the walls. Saturday was a painting kind of day. The walls are painted a soft grey, similar to the ceramic tile in the kitchen and the trim and doors are all white. It actually looks quite nice in there now.

We've moved a couple of things around and are looking at where we can put storage and have a look at exactly what needs to be stored. 

It's all very exciting but also extremely scary. Everyone else has much more faith in my abilities than I do but I guess at this point its sink or swim.  But I'm going to try to do my very best to make this work. But as Lloyd points out, if it doesn't turn out to be worth while, we have a great second kitchen for making sausages and cheese!  Takes some of the pressure off for sure. The other plus is that it's on our own property so it's not like we have a rental payment to make each month. It's all good!!!

Hopefully next week I'll have pictures of the entire finished results of our labours over the past few months.
 
I've been playing around with recipes in the house the past little while. I came upon a recipe for hamburger buns that turned out really great. The buns are not the light fluffy ones you get in the store but they are very soft and delicious and can stand up to the juices of a nice fat burger and it's toppings without getting soggy and falling apart in your hands. . One of our upcoming events is a BBQ burger lunch for 10 people  . You can be certain I'm going to be making the buns for that one. I'm really pleased with the results.

In the midst of all this, I had to decide if I was going to find time to put in a veggie garden this year - yet one more thing to look after. Our neighbour came by a short time ago and ploughed our garden patch and that made the decision much more difficult. But ironically one night a really neat idea popped up on my computer. I thought it's worth a try and may help keep weeds at bay.

Step 1: Start with a patch of freshly prepared soil

Step 2: Gather together all the old pallets that are hanging around the yard (we have lots as our neighbour collects them, fixes them and resells them and they've come in handy for oh so many uses)

Step 3: Put pallets in place on the ground

Step 4: Fill spaces with soil

Step 5: Plant seeds and see what happens, hopefully something like this:

Looking at the final result (or what I hope will be) I see that I've been digging down and putting my pallets in the ground, but perhaps I'm making this more difficult that it really needs to be.  I'll have to look at this again. So far I only have three in place but the others may not be quite as much work. I'll get back to you on that one!

Of course it's always easier if you have lots of help. Lloyd was working on building an outdoor pen for the chickens and the goats were constantly under his feet, checking out just what the heck he was doing. There's lots of lush grass on the other side of the fence so they were let out to graze. But being the curious beings that they are, they had to come over and see what I was doing. And there just happens to be some pretty great grazing over on that side of the yard as well.

And finally, we're shocked to report yet another heart attack this week. This time it's Lloyd's brother- in-law, Kim. He had triple by pass surgery yesterday in Saint John. Last we heard all went well. Please keep him in your thoughts as well. Greg is doing well although probably getting a little bored being at home, but so far it'sl good news on all fronts.