My photo
Ontario, Canada
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken, or hamburgers. In other words be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.
--Bobby Flay

For Your Information

Please watch this area for important information like updates, food recalls, polls, contests, coupons, and freebies.
  • [March 19, 2020] - Effective Mar 17, this blog will no longer accept advertising. The reason is very simple. If I like a product, I will promote it without compensation. If I don't like a product, I will have no problem saying so.
  • [March 17, 2020] - A return to blogging! Stay tuned for new tips, resources and all things food related.
  • [February 1, 2016] - An interesting report on why you should always choose organic tea verses non-organic: Toxic Tea (pdf format)
  • Sticky Post - Warning: 4ever Recap reusable canning lids. The reports are growing daily of these lids losing their seal during storage. Some have lost their entire season's worth of canning to these seal failures! [Update: 4ever Recap appears to be out of business.]

Popular Posts

Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Final Leg of Our Kitchen Renovations


 Kitchen Countertop, Sinks and Faucet
March 27, 2015

I have been battling some type of persistent virus for the past few weeks, right on the heels of renovating a spare room into a small home gym.  Every time I think I'm over it, another symptom hits with a wallop, knocking me back down.  Ginger, green tea and water have been my constant companions.  Finally, I caved in an saw my doctor who ordered numerous tests.  While ongoing, I am feeling much better ready to get back into my routine!

Just to keep things a bit more interesting while I was under the weather, our kitchen was torn apart once again for a full weekend in preparation for the granite countertop installation making it the third year in a row the kitchen has been torn apart.  While the main installation only took a day, it actually took a full week to get the kitchen back functional.  The new sink could not be plumbed for 24 hours but hubby couldn't get to it for a couple of days.  Then, the installers had to return to add the backsplash as we decided to keep the old tile on the wall.  During the first install date, they installed new sinks and granite countertop in the upper bathroom as well but plumbing went a little south.  Hubby was able to get one sink fully functional but we had to have a plumber in for the other. 

We replaced the microwave oven, faucet and sinks at the same time. There are still a few smaller projects to finish in the kitchen but this should be the final time for any major renovations. The only remaining features of the old kitchen are the floor, wall tile and refrigerator.  Everything else has been upgraded or changed in some way.  This past week the kitchen joined our home automation network adding to both function and aesthetics.  All in all, we are pleased with the kitchen renovations thus far!