Almost Finished Part 9

A lot has happened around here since the last time I posted.  This could be the last update until the big reveal.  I must say here that yes we are having Thanksgiving dinner here this year.  Things might not be completely finished, but it is finished enough for lunch.  I am excited.  Also, this will be the last post for the week because I have a lot to do this week.  So I want to wish all of you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving. May your turkey comes out golden and your mashed potatoes fluffy.

I am going to start out by showing you our new lights.  We replaced all the old brass lights with brushed nickel fixtures.  This is in the entrance hall.

The recessed lights in the new den.

Outside my utility closet.

Our new entry way from the garage.

My pantry.  It will have tons of light which is great for finding all those ingredients.

I have a ceiling fan with light in the kitchen. My old kitchen would get so hot if I was in there cooking for a while.  Not any more.

These are the two pendant lights over the angled bar.

These three pendant lights are over the sink.  There is plenty of light in the kitchen now.

The ceiling fan in our bedroom

We repurposed this light from our old breakfast nook in my closet.

Our new dining room light.

The upper cabinets are in.

The bookcases are in around the fireplace.  Trim still needs to go up.

Another light.  We replaced the porch lights.

And outside the garage.

We have a generator now.  It might come in handy if it is as bad a winter as they say it is going to be.

We now have gutters.

Most importantly the granite has gone in.  We have a nice raised bar.

My work area.

The backside of the cabinets.

The back cabinets.

We kept the desk area.  We put the granite on top and we are replacing the knobs.

Granite around the fireplace.

The huge ceiling fan is installed.  It is so quite and really moves some air.

My sink with new faucet.

It is very deep.

We had to buy a new ladder to be able to reach all those tall lights.

This was probably the best thing I bought in getting ready for the loss of my kitchen.  A portable ice maker.  This thing saved us having to go buy ice every day or every other day.

And our door is down leading to our cubbies.  That can only mean one thing, we are almost ready to move back out into the house.

Flooring is going to be laid today and they are putting my handles on the cabinets. Still a very busy place but the end is in sight.  I can't wait to show you everything when we move our stuff back in.

Happy Thanksgiving.

French Onion Crock Pot Pork Chops

I hope this is one of the last crock pot recipes for a while.  I so miss my oven and cook top.  I miss baking cookies and breads.  I miss pasta.  I haven't been able to boil noodles.  I really can't complain because I am getting the kitchen of my dreams out of this.  I have had lots of people tell me when they hear we gutted the kitchen well I guess you eat out a lot.  Not really.  More so here at the end because I was just so tired of the same types of recipes. Then they couldn't believe I have been cooking.  I just glad the health department hasn't been by.  I don't think they would approve.  But that is okay I haven't tried to feed the multitudes.  So it won't be long until I am back in the kitchen.  In fact they are installing the rest of the kitchen cabinets today.  I want to thank you for continuing to follow me during this "crock pot" period.

These pork chops turned out so good.

Keep a can of the Campbell's French Onion soup in your pantry there is so many things you can make with it.

Now the recipe calls for browning the pork chops for a while before putting them into the crock pot.  It was too hard for me to do this so I just put them in without browning.  I salt and peppered the chops.

Have I mentioned how much I love these crock pot liners?  I should have bought stock in the company.  Place the pork chops in the bottom and chop up and onion on top.

 Pour the can of soup on top.

That's a lot of onions but they are so good.  Cover and cook on low 4 to 4 and a half hours.  Since I did not brown mine before hand I cooked them a little longer.

Serve with some mashed potatoes and English peas and you have a very nice comfort food meal.

French Onion Crock Pot Pork Chops Recipe

4 pork chops
1 can French Onion soup
1 medium onion chopped.

Cover and cook on low for 4- 41/2 hours.

The Dominos are Lining Up Part 8

These next two weeks we have things lined up pretty tight.  If one thing doesn't get done we are up a creek.  My goal from the start has been to have everything finished by Thanksgiving.  I wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner here at the house.  I don't think EVERYTHING will be finished but enough that we will be able to cook and eat dinner.  So lets see what is new.

They painted the new sheetrock walls with primer to start.

Our old blue walls had to have a special primer.

Then the paint started going on.  We had to have the kitchen painted by last Friday.  Because big things were going to happen Friday morning.

My lower kitchen cabinets were installed.  This is the section on the non kitchen side of the arch.

This is my bookcase for all my cookbooks.

Remember all these cookbooks?  I think they will find a new home.

This is our crazy angle piece that gave everyone fits.  Remember the cardboard cabinets.  The cabinet guy came out a couple of times to measure and make a template. 

Inside the kitchen.  The opening is for the dishwasher.

This space is for the refrigerator.  That was my old pantry. Doesn't that grey look so pretty?

This is the back wall cabinets.  On the right end here will be my double oven. It will take some getting use to my appliances being in different places. 

Our old desk is still in the same place but it will be updated a little too.  Stay tune for those details.

The entrance hall.  It got painted today.  The grey is a nice change from the European White we have had for 18 years.

Our bedroom ceiling fan was installed on Friday.  Oh yes, we have a little spot of color on one wall.  I have gotten all kinds of grief over this wall.  One of the painters said his wife thought he was bleeding. I like it.  It is called Rose Parade.

We just have it on one wall.  The other wall is the grey. 

I liked it so well I painted my closet this color.

We also had our recessed lights installed in our bedroom.  The great thing is they are all on different switches so we can have only two or all on.

Back out in the den.  This is our large art gallery.  We have big plans for this wall.  Can't wait to show you.

This is going to be my pantry.  Next step is the shelves and then flooring.

I have to show off this wall.  The tv mount is there, the speakers, and a bunch of stuff I don't know.

Some of you may know what these plugs are but I don't know.  All I know is I need them for my tv and cable.

My cactus.  I don't know what to call this one.  It has bloomed at Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, and Easter.  It has spent most of the summer and fall outside so I guess it decided it better bloom so it could be brought inside.  I'm am impressed with it.  It has been covered in dust and pretty much neglected but it still managed to bloom.

We have lots going on around here in the next few days.  I hope the rest of our lights are installed.  The granite is due this week.  Painting and trim are scheduled to be finished.  We have been told for three weeks the gutter guys were coming but we can wait on them.  And hopefully flooring soon.  Then it will just be a matter of finding all my kitchen stuff so I can cook.  I hope we have everything connected in there on Friday and I can cook.  I have so missed my oven and cooktop.  I miss pasta, and baking, and roasting vegetables.  I will end now to go dream of that first meal in my new kitchen.  I can't wait to show you all the new things I will have in my cabinets.  There's a lot of neat things you can do these days.