it was a go go go kind of day

Have you ever been so busy that you didn't have time to sit down? That would describe my day yesterday. It was go go go from the word go in the morning.

The cabinets arrived yesterday and wouldn't you know it, the last one that is unloaded off of the truck is seriously damaged. I saw it and said "Whoa Nelly, this one goes back". Actually it was two cabinets and on one the entire back was broken out- seriously I do not see how anyone could have missed that...from being on the sales floor, to putting it on the loading dock to loading it onto the truck and especially the crew bringing it into my house- Grrr! I was nice about it and let them know that the 2 cabinets will be going back on the truck. These guys know about my last unhappy episode of damaged goods being delivered by Lowe's (apparently they heard it from management). Get this...they took the damaged cabinets back to the store and in an hour (give or take a few minutes) they were back with my replacement ones- now that's the customer service I'm looking for!

The counter tops look terrific! I can hardly wait to have everything installed! Last night my husband and I installed the wall cabinets in the scrapbook nook. Let me tell you that the instruction sheet makes it look a lot easier than it is. I was so afraid that I was going to mess up and not have them level.

So here it is, Wednesday- eek! I'm having the scrapbook group over tomorrow and I'm hoping to have my scrapbook nook finished with the rest of the cabinets and the counter top in place. My new work area is going to be so seriously cool! There's tons of hidden storage and none of those Rubber-Maid wire racks in this scrapbook nook! I am very excited about this, more than anyone will ever know. And now that fold up card table can come out, I forgot how difficult those are to work on. Wobbly and that soft top, well it's not a very good work surface. I'd much rather work on one of those hard plastic top tables. I think that I might buy one just to have when we have a dinner party with extra guests...and large crop parties :-)

I've been so darn busy since moving here that I've not had a chance to visit my favorite websites and see what's going on in the scrapbooking world. I can't wait to take pictures of my new scrapbook nook and post them. I still have not found any fabric for valances...then again I haven't really looked. I've glanced here and there but nothing has struck me ( you know...like an apple falling out of a tree). I'll get something going on in there as I can't stand a naked window, LOL! Which reminds me, I do need to get the valances up in our bedroom, then again it helps to install the curtain rod, LOL!

We have the natural gas grill up and running and I'll be cooking on it today :-) Meanwhile I'm putting together 2 other meals for later on in the week. Cooking is such a stress reliever for me. With that in mind, today I'll be preparing meals that take time, one is of course my marinated pork roast with pancetta and fresh herbs and the other is BBQ pulled pork. The pork has to be slow roasted and then I let it cool and take out all of that fat and gristle by hand and then smother it in yummy BBQ sauce. There's something about cooking foods that take time that makes me feel good about what I do in the kitchen. I have beef tips marinating since yesterday, I'll be making cheesy potatoes (a family favorite) this little treasure of a recipe is one that I got from my dear friend René. She would make this dish and it was always a hit! Lets just say it makes your mouth smile with the first bite! It's a true comfort food :-) Another recipe from René is her cornbread...the trick to it is that you HAVE to use a well seasoned cast iron skillet for it to come out the way hers do. My skillet was one of those casualties of our move from TX to VA (mysteriously missing with a few other items from the kitchen). So when I go home to see my folks this summer I'll be bringing home my Mom's cast iron skillet (won't that look funny in the x-ray machine viewer at the airport while it's inside of my suitcase).

It's time for more coffee and to get things in those cabinets in the scrapbook nook!