Kitchen

Before

As usual, I started by picking at bits and pieces, little by little... I think this keeps me from getting overwhelmed at a big job, sort of desensitizes me a bit, and the job gradually gets its claws in me, and then I jump in and finish it off. So, during the week, I picked up things here and there, and filled a bag of trash. Then, that weekend, I got out the gloves and got it done.

Now, I have since mopped the floor, but this pic is from before that.

During

I spent literally an entire DAY washing dishes. The two sinks had been filled and abandoned about 4 years ago. Dirty dishes that wouldn't fit there were left wherever in the house I had last used them, or stacked in piles behind things, or in a big plastic tub. Tin pie plates and cheap utensils corroded into dust in the sink, and left stains on the plates. Since I currently have no gas to heat water, I heated two large pots of water on the electric stove, filled the tub in the sink, and let the dishes soak while I heated another pot in order to be able to rinse the dishes with hot water too. That process alone took about 30 minutes, and I had to repeat it for each new load of dishes that fit in the little tub. Initaily I had planned to wash the dishes in a big tub outside, but as I started to fill that with hot water, I realized it had a major leak!!! So, I resorted to plan B.

So, here is some of what I started with. This is NOT all of it. Underneath that box is a tub about 2.5 feet in diameter and about 3 feet deep, which was also filled with dishes. See all the rusted silverware? yuck!

This was the sink after I cleared the dishes out, after 4 years of sitting there. I was amazed that I did NOT find any sink pudding!

After

And here is about half of the "after" dishes. They are clean, but have some rust stains on the edges. I can live with that until I get around to replacing them.

After having worked really, really hard on the kitchen, I treated myself to a nice, homemade dinner: Maryland Style Crabcakes with sauteed green beans and spaghetti squash, served on real plates with real utensils, with a glass of Chardonnay in a real wine glass. I have not used ONE paper plate or plastic fork since!!!

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