Creating My Dream Kitchen

This is how my horrible kitchen began.  Brown, brown, with some more brown.

Before 

During Renovation

 To break up the brown on the floors from the brown granite on the counter tops I mixed antiqued white and black for the cabinets.  I LOVE how it turned out!

After 

Under Cooktop

My kitchen is a work in progress.  After the painting we installed a new fangled cook top.

Newly installed up to date Cafe Cooktop by GE

I love my bed

Carol Costello and Suzanne Malveaux of CNN make my blood boil

For the record, I don't have a problem with moms who choose to work outside the home.  I especially admire widows, single moms, and women with disabled husbands or unemployed husbands who must take on the role of sole provider for the family.  In fact, after having one particular child of mine, I have grown to appreciate the need for some time apart to help our love grow.  Some moms are really unhappy staying at home and that's no good for the children.  Others sacrifice seeing their children in order to provide the child more opportunities or to live more comfortably.

My indignation with Hilary Rosen was fueled by a conversation I heard on CNN between Carol Costello and Suzanne Malveaux:

MALVEAUX: "A lot of us were talking about this, and we were saying wouldn’t it be great if you had the choice, you know, if you didn’t have to actually go out and work? Everybody kind of wants that choice. They feel like if they could stay home, a lot of people would stay home and --"

COSTELLO: "If you asked Hilary Rosen, she would say that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Ann Romney doesn’t have to go outside -- "

MALVEAUX: "It’s a luxury to be able to choose."

Now ME:  Luxury my foot! It is not a luxury to stay home with my 4 children; far from it.  In our home we cancelled cell phones and cable when I quit my full-time job.  We can only afford to eat meat once a week.  I have had to resort to making my own laundry detergent to make ends meet. I make a lot of our clothes and what I haven't made, of mine and Chad's is around 15 years old.  My everyday sneakers are my mom's old hand-me-downs.  I went a year riding my bike pulling the kids behind on a trailer (bike trailers are great for bringing home groceries btw).  Much of the food we eat came from my garden plot at a city park. To put it in perspective: my husband's job makes so little we qualify for public assistance, yet I still find a way to make it work.  I realize that many mothers work because they want to live more comfortably than that, but it is still a choice they are making.  No one says you must have cable, a cell phone, drive a car, or wash with Tide.

It is not only rich women staying home with their kids.  Where there's a will there's a way, but it's no luxury!

Ann Romney, I've got your back!

What really miffs me is when people tell me how "lucky" I am to get to stay home with my children. For me, staying home, while my children are young, is not luck by any stretch of the imagination. It is sacrifice. I am sacrificing much needed income, adult conversation and individuality, among many other benefits of having a job. However, for me, this sacrifice is worth making because I am doing it for the greater good of society and for the good of my 4 children. Staying home with children is not a choice that only the wealthy can make. Many rich women have jobs, many broke women stay home. Anyone (Hilary Rosen) who might claim (Hilary Rosen) that someone who stays home with their children has "never worked a day in their life" is delusional (Hilary Rosen). Ann Romney, staying home with her 5 boys, has worked harder 24/7 than most folks could ever imagine in their wildest dreams! Don't call me "lucky," call me bold, frugal, courageous, or crazy, but not lucky.

A Nice Clean Room

Take a picture, it will last longer.   So I did. 

Passages: Gunner Cannon

Passages: Gunner Cannon

Introducing Gunner Cannon

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Yep, that's my belly