Garbage and Granite

In the past two days, we have been working on little projects around the house.  We cleaned out the rest of the backyard (or so we thought), we moved in to what parts of the cabinets we could in the kitchen, and we met with the granite people for them to measure the kitchen.

The backyard was a jungle of pepper trees, cherry laurels, overgrown shrubs, and mother-in-law tongues when we bought the house.  We had the crew come in this past June to remove the pepper trees and cherry laurels.  They also were supposed to remove the stumps, but the rest of the garden was so overgrown that they could not get to most of the larger trunks.  We spent the last couple of days digging out the rest of the mother-in-law tongues and chopping down the worst of the bushes.  We called Boen Tree Service to come back in to give us a bid on removing the last tree and making good on our contract for stump removal.  Jeff from Boen talked to us about removing all of the vegetation that was left since the cactus and cherry laurel were both on the fence line that we want to add.  I have to admit that I would love to plant hibiscus, bird-of-paradise, and other colorful shrubs in the back yard.  So all of the remaining trees and shrubs go except for what I thought was a magnolia tree in the corner.  Turns out that is an old-fashioned gardenia bush/tree that Jeff suggested we just prune down to about 6 feet. Proves how much I know about vegetation.  Even with a book on Florida shrubs, I guess wrong.  The rest will go so we can start fresh with the back yard in the spring. Now if only I can get that money tree to grow when we get back to Wisconsin...

The upper cabinets needed Rick's attention
and several more Tapcon screws before I
would even THINK of adding a microwave.

The move into the kitchen still is not complete.  As we became more acquainted with the cabinets,  we found things that were again disappointing.  You must understand that when Rick builds anything, the lumber is solid, thick, and heavy.  These cupboards are NOT of that quality.  Although the doors are nice, the boxes of the cabinets are less than thick and heavy.  We have to remind ourselves that this is a vacation house, and that we will just need to treat the cabinets with tender, loving care. Rick added Tapcon screws to a couple of the upper cabinets which made me feel better about putting things inside them. We are not overly confident in the installer of the cabinets, either.  More screws will go into the walls before we will feel confident in their ability to hold our kitchen goods.  With Rick's intersession,  I know that the upper cabinets now will not fall off the wall.

Another item we have to purchase for the kitchen is a new microwave. We researched over-the-range microwaves and have decided that they are all pretty shoddy.  We have a countertop microwave that works, so we will wait until January to purchase a new microwave for the kitchen. We DID purchase and install a pull-out garbage can for one of the lower cabinets.  If we had bought the cabinet-maker's garbage can, it would have cost us $250.00, but I wanted one like I have in Green Bay which cost us less than $45.00 at Lowe's.

After we met with Jeff at Boen's, we travelled down to St. Petersburg to go to Depot Granite.  We were told when we selected the granite slabs that as soon as they came to make the template for the kitchen, we could come to the company and select what parts of the granite slabs we wanted to use for each portion of the kitchen.  We are so glad that we took this opportunity to choose exactly what we wanted since the bottom part of the slabs had a richer, deeper color than the top parts of the slab.  We both are excited with the results, and we cannot wait to see it all installed. Getting the granite installed also means that we can install the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, and dishwasher.  No more washing dishes in the bathroom sink.  Yeah! The Depot Granite scheduled our installation for Monday, August 6.

Before we left for the Depot Granite, we heard a knock on the door. (No one can figure out that that palm tree hanging on the entryway wall is really a doorbell!)  The person at the door was our neighbor who lives kitty-corner from us across the street.  She introduced herself as Barbie, and she turned out to be a delightful, although somewhat nosey, woman.  She knew that we were teachers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and she shared all of the gossip of the neighborhood.  She said that she would keep an eye on our house and assured us that if anything seems out of place, she is not shy about calling the authorities.  I guess that is a good thing, although I now know that we cannot have any wild parties at a backyard Tiki bar unless we invite Barbie!

Yesterday, Rick took down the 2 x 4 structure that held my kitchen sink and countertop for the last year. That was gratifying for it showed that we were moving forward.  Today we took the sink out of the countertop, cut the remaining countertop into two pieces, and put it on top of the lower cabinets so that we temporarily have prep space in the kitchen.

Gladys is starting to look like the sun-filled house that we envisioned last June.  Most of the rooms are back into livable order (with the exception of the main bathroom that now doubles as a kitchen sink), and we are starting to put things "in their place" so we can actually find something when we need it.

My friend Rose said that as soon as we get Gladys' kitchen installed, all we will need to do is to buy her a corsage.  That corsage will come next year in the form of a purple crepe myrtle tree and pink and white hibiscus bushes in the backyard.