our faith based kitchen

We had a pleasant Easter - church in the morning and then went to Hillary's Aunt Janet's in Albany, NY for lunch. After that her Dad came back with us to CT for a few days. It has been fun having him here. We've done some home repairs, shopping, and various sorts of things. Dad was helping us work in the kitchen. We had a shelf which wasn't really supported well and could easily have toppled if anyone put weight on it and dad remarked that we're definitely running a faith based operation here, saying that's the only thing holding our shelf up. I then showed him 2 of our cabinets which we haven't finished yet. They have doors with handles but no hinges. If you set the doors in the cabinet just correctly they'll stay there and look normal but if you pull on the handle the door comes flying off. This happened to a friend and was quite a surprise! Once dad saw these he made was cracking up laughing about our faith based kitchen.

before and after

This is the kitchen when we first bought the house. Notice the knotty pine paneling and imagine this replicated on cabinates on the other walls. It felt like we were in the appalachian mountains or something. Now, check it out. We've redone all the wood paneling and cabinets, removed lots of shelving, and added some lovely yellow paint. This has been the project without end, but it was finally completed this Thursday - Huzzah! Below is a picture of the cabintes and stove. You'll notice the faux wood front to our dishwasher. Sadly, this stands out even more now that everything else is white. We might repaint it also, but we're not sure how it would work.
On a totally different train of thought, we went to the Opera this Tuesday night and it was a lot of fun. The singing and acting worked very well together and there was a lot comedy to the production. The venue was cool and we were in the third row on stage right. It was a good time and I didn't fall asleep.

people and the opera

Last week was a pretty good week of work. My weeks kinda fluctuate between being people oriented and task oriented. Last week was a good mix of both as I was able to connect with different folks over coffee or a meal, as well as move forward on some tasks. I've been getting together with a group of different women who are all experienced in working with children and it has been very helpful. They are full of great ideas and it is encouraging to work together versus working on my own. I also had some good meetings with a few different teenagers. I am getting to know them better and have had some cool opportunities to speak into their lives.

This Tuesday night Hillary and I are going to the opera. There was a special deal where we able to get good seats for pretty cheap. I've never been to an opera before and I'm curious to see what it is like. When were were talking to my parents, my mom was rather surprised that I was going to an opera. Her main points of reference are all those dance recitals of my sister in which I could barely sit still. It was quite a chore getting me there and she is curious how I ended up going to an opera. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to try and be well rested so that if it is somewhat dull I don't fall asleep - hahahah. You'll find the basic info at http://www.ctopera.org/