My Kitchen

I'm showing off my kitchen today and linking up to Whisper Wood Cottage's Talent Scout Contest.  It's a chance to have your kitchen featured in Cottages and Bungalow's Magazine.  LOVE!   I've recently made some changes to our kitchen to brighten things up.  Let me show you around...

This is my favorite part of the kitchen.  When we built two years ago, I knew I wanted some glass cabinets to showcase some pieces.  I didn't really have anything to showcase, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.  I picked up some inexpensive dishes from IKEA and filled it with a couple of baskets I found on clearance at Pier One.  I spent less than 50 dollars on everything.  I just recently cut a piece of cardboard the same dimensions of the cabinet and used spray adhesive to glue some fabric onto it.  It lines the cabinet and it can easily be changed out if I decide to change colors or grow tired of it.  So far I'm really enjoying the look of it and love how much more dimension it gives the cabinet.

When we bought our dining table and chairs from World Market, we also bought the matching bench.  The bench fits nicely under the bay window and it's easy to grab it when we have guests over and need more seating.  I recently purchased the pillows from Home Goods.

I made no sew curtains for the window above the kitchen sink using the same fabric I lined the cabinets with.  The fabric was purchased at  JoAnns.

It's difficult to see behind the flowers, but we have a pot filler that I absolutely love.  A small splurge, but worth the money.  I picked up the vintage scale at a local antique shop.

Here are a few more views of the kitchen....

My plan is to paint the chairs at the island cream sometime in the near future.  Just doing the research right now and building up the courage.

This is the small hall where our pantry is located and on the adjacent wall I set up an area to display my twin boy's art work.  Our fridge is not magnetic and I definitely wanted a place to showcase their preschool masterpieces.  There is an A and J on the wall for their initials and I purchased the bulletin board at the Pottery Barn outlet.  It's difficult to tell because the hall is small and it's hard to get a good picture, but the bulletin board is quite large.  

And just for fun, here is a look at our kitchen's past

Planning the details of our kitchen was by far the most stressful part of building our home.  I had so much trepidation about having white cabinets after living in dark wood kitchens my entire life, but we absolutely love it.  It's so bright and airy!  Hope you enjoyed the tour, as I have loved peeking into all of the beautiful kitchens that were linked up.

Linking up to Evolution of Style and Tatertots and Jello. 

You can't put a number on it

I guess I've really been away too long.  Logged onto blogger, only to find out everything has changed.  Life slows down for no one I guess.  Sorta fitting though as my thoughts lately have been focused on how the past five years we've enjoyed this sort of slow paced life the boys have instilled on us.

As the end of the school year draws to a close, so does this chapter in our lives.  It was decided a few months ago in the school district I work in and the one the will boys attend, that next year the schools will implement a full day of Kindergarten for all students.  I knew it was a possibility, but I really didn't give it serious thought.  There's been talk of a full day program for years and it hadn't happened...yet.  I was expecting to continue on with my part time schedule and spend precious weekday time with my bubbies but that is no longer the case.  My little guys will be shipped off to school, 5 days a week all day long.  The prospect of that gives me momma anxiety. 

I know it's legal, I understand it is what everyone else is doing, but us?  We can't do that, we've never spent that kind of time away from each other.  I don't want to give up our stolen moments during the week, while everyone else is doing the grind and we are baking, meeting Daddy for lunch, blowing bubbles, and playing in the tub till their little fingers turn to raisins.  I don't want to jump back in to the rat race, I like it here in my own little world where the clock dictates nothing.  I'm not ready to hand them over and I'm certainly not ready to not be the most influential person in their lives. 

This phase of life will be over soon.  I'll do my best to keep outside distractions to a minimum and to maintain the slow pace of life that we enjoy now.  I don't want to get sucked into a monotonous routine. I want to keep enjoying all the precious moments that come with parenting little ones at this age.  That is to be my focus, not work, cleaning, and meal planning.

Just out of curiousity, I did the math the other day on approximately how much money we gave up by me staying home for a couple of years and then working part time.  It was a quarter of a million dollars.  Know my first thought? You could offer me a million dollars for that time and there is no way I would trade it for the world.  No batting of an eyelash, no regrets just immense gratitude that we were able to it.  It was worth every bit of a quarter of a million dollars and more so.