...because it is Thursday...

I made sourdough blueberry pancakes for dinner

(Yes, WITH my wild sourdough starter!)

Then I sat and read a book for 45 minutes while I stirred

a pot of dye for a little project [I'll tell you about when it's finished].

And finally, I fed my sourdough starter one last time before making my FIRST batch of sourdough! It'll rise for 18 hours and be baked Friday night. Woohoo!

Working Kitchen

I'm so excited that our kitchen is finally all cleaned up and functioning again.

The last task is to find outlet screws that are long enough to re-connect my face plates.

My new project

If you know me, you know that once I finish a project, I must come up with a new one. So, as soon as I'd passed my real estate test, I started fixating on my next project: a new kitchen counter top. After a few weeks of thinking, I've decided to do ceramic tile. Because I can install it myself, it will be cheaper than replacing the laminate (my original idea). We just need to get rid of the 'harvest gold' color in order for our kitchen to be considered 'updated' in an appraisal.

So, this post counts as the "BEFORE" pictures of this project. Last night I purchased all of the supplies I'll need, including my very own tile saw! This is the most exciting part to me. I love new tools and not renting a saw means I can do a little tiling several evenings during the week, rather than having to cram the entire project into one weekend so I can get the saw returned. Granted, it's only a 7" saw, but this project involves 4" tiles, so it will be perfect! My biggest challenge will be cutting off the laminate backsplash so I won't have a ledge when I tile the backsplash. I think I have the perfect saw for that, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully, I'll be posting on my progess in the next several days.

Okay, when I started typing this entry last night, I really thought it would just be "before" pictures. But, I got a little excited tonight after I got back from Lowes and I discovered that I could easily remove the backsplashes with a hammer and chisel, rather than a saw, which scared me to death when it jumped back at me! So, I ripped them out! Here are my "progress" photos for today. Check out the groovy wallpaper! I'm planning to jump in with the tile tomorrow night. :)