Creative Cooking - without a Kitchen

A few months ago I posted about how we bought a house and that it might need a little work....

A month ago (plus...) we got these delivered...

But we weren't really ready for them, with permitting and contracting and all, plus a little prep work to do...so my living room became a kitchen full of boxed cabinets.

After getting the sticker shock of our lives with what a contractor wanted just to install the cabinets and pull an electrical line or two, we regrouped.

Poured a glass of wine or three...

Then a friend (professional cabinet installer) said, "Hey why are you hiring someone?  If you'll do the prep, I will help you put those cabinets in."

DEAL.

So we started knocking down walls and stuff so the electrician could fix the wiring mess...
If he would just show up, which he didn't do for three weeks.  (insert exploding head here).

After about three months of planning and 6 weeks of "prepping," our kitchen looked something like this.

 

 Um remember us joking in August about how we "better have a kitchen by Thanksgiving?"  Turns out the joke is on me.  Now I'm PRAYING (and yelling and freaking and drinking gallons of wine stressing about) having a kitchen by mid-December when the hordes begin to arrive for the holidays.

Meanwhile, you can't eat out all the time, so the Captain and I have gotten creative.

Here's where we prep the food - who says you can't have a kitchbathroom?

What do you mean you don't have a refrigerator in your family room?  Works great - if we had TV we wouldn't have to walk far for a drink.  But alas we don't have TV (what?!)

And here's the Captain grilling in a rain storm with his headlamp.  Yum Grouper and veggies.

And after dinner where to wash the dishes?  Why the bathtub of course!

 

Yes, someday we will have these gorgeous countertops on which to prep and serve food:

 

 

Until then?  We will continue to step over boxes on our way to the kitchbathroom, fruitlessly dusting the drywall dust off of EVERYTHING, enjoying the new "Killz" colored highlights in my hair, and explaining to my colleagues that no I can't bring one of the Captain's awesome key lime pies to the party I have no kitchen.

 

Please pass the wine.

The NO SHOP Thanksgiving Challenge

I'm back so I must be really emotional about something.  This time?  THE GREED OF AMERICA AND SHOPPING ON THANKSGIVING!

Well, now you know how I feel about that.

Our country needs family time, thanksgiving time, time to share and be together.  We don't need small shops in malls forced to open for 26 hours straight whether or not they want to or have the manpower just because Macy's and Bob's and JCPenny said, "You Must Open."  If they don't?  $150/hour fine.  We don't need parents away from kids because they can't risk the job they need so desperately and the overtime they can't say NO to.

It would be different (MAYBE) if the stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Sears, KMart, Macy's, Bob's, JCPenny, Kohl's said "work if you want on Thanksgiving - no penalty if you don't!"  But they are not saying that.  I've heard from too many people who are forced to work and will be missing time with their families.

So what am I doing about it?

• Posting on this blog

• NOT SHOPPING on Thanksgiving at Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Sears, KMart, Macy's, Bob's, JCPenny, Kohl's OR ANY OTHER STORE PERIOD.

• NOT SHOPPING AT ALL until maybe 2014 (or beyond?!) in those stores that are open on Thanksgiving.

• Posting lists on social media of those stores that are open.

• Posting lists on social media of those stores that are NOT open and encouraging people to shop there instead.  (Love you Costco and Bed Bath and Beyond!)

• Writing letters (emails where I can find them) to executives at stores that are open and letting them know they just lost all my business AND I am encouraging others to follow suit.

• Pleding to help those small stores pay their fines and STAY CLOSED on Thanksgiving and encouraging them to get out and get fundraising if needed to STAY CLOSED.

America, we need to take a stand.  And no this isn't akin to hospitals and such that are open.  I understand some things must be open - the Captain has worked MANY holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas (he's on a medical team).  No, this is greed for greed's sake. 

And this Blog post "If you shop on thanksgiving you are part of the problem?  Says it all beautifully.

If this keeps just ONE person from shopping on Thanksgiving and helps boycott just ONE of the nasty stores listed above, then it was worth it.