Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

The famous “roses are red, violets are blue” line originated from Ritson’s poem has been used in so many phrases, jokes, poems and quotes. 

If roses are red and violets are blue, what do you call this clematis that I grew?

I have few red roses but I wish I have blue too, what shall I do?

If I tell you I meet a new friend, would you feel blue?

Just random thought that popped out my mind out of the blue.

One thing for sure, whether it's red or blue, flowers makes my world colorful!

What if I tell you, everyday is a learning curve.  A chance to change, a time for drastic change.

Nobody is perfect, everyone of us has demons we battle each day.  It's always good to be kind and nice to people.

We need more kindness in this cruel word, we need peace to enjoy the red roses, the purple clematis, the blue forget me nots, and the yellow daisies.  If all of us practice kindness everyday, the world is a much better place to live.

Roses are red, violets are blue, if you are reading this, I hope you're nopt feeling blue.

Succulent Obsession

Succulents.. I love them but I can't sustain them to live longer in my care. I still buy them from time to time when they are on sale although they die on me when the season changes. It's either I overwater them or underwater them. I just can't get it right.  

I guess my obsession with them has no end lol.

I made a bunnyland with succulents one time but most of them died.

The only thing that survive is the jade so I'll just sticks to them from now on instead of collecting the other pretty ones that doesn't survive.

I have to admit, I can't look away when we go to the nursery.  There's just something magical about succulents that draws me to them everytime.

These are some of the pretty ones that I planted in some of the cute pots I have but most of them are ded now.

It looks very easy to care for when they are in the store but when I bring them home, they become unhealthy.

I still have some that I am trying to keep alive and hope that they don't die.  This Haworthia Fasciata is one of the hardy ones that I luckily keep alive.  I have four of these and they seem to be doing fine.

Demolition of our Old Kitchen

 I took photos of our old kitchen before the demolition started last year.  It looks completely different now that the wall separating the kitchen and the dining room was removed.  Our kitchen looks a lot bigger now although we lost some cabinet storage.  

I have to admit that these old cabinet are very sturdy compared to the new cabinets that they used in our new kitchen.  If it wasn't for the layout that we do not like, I would just keep these cabinet, but hubby thinks that we should just do it all including the floors.  We had the floor replaced with new ones before we moved in in this house 5 years ago but we didn't like the materials that Empire Today used so we decided to replaced it again to match the new kitchen.

The thing about renovation is the hidden issues you will encounter especially with old houses like we have.  When they uncovered this part of the cabinet, the contractor noticed that the pipes of the plumbing are sticking out so they had to replace it with new ones.

When having a renovation projects, there will always be delays.  There were few times when the workers can't show up because they are sick or had emergencies.  There was a time also when the material they need did not arrive so they have to wait, hence, caused another delays.

With the kitchen renovation going on, we had to buy a portable stove so we could cook our food down the basement.   The unbearable part for me was the dust that was floating around.  Even though we were cleaning everyday, the dust is too much.  

I was debating whether or not to agree with my husband on having the floor replaced because we  spent  over 5 grand on that when we had it done five years ago but I eventually said yes since they agreed to do the whole floor for a reasonable price.  

To make up for the lost  cabinet space  from the wall  that was removed, they had to use this part of the kitchen to  put a full cabinetry.

The project was done in 14 weeks.  It went a little over  than what they have predicted but we were so glad when it was finally finished.   Here's our new kitchen after the renovation.  

Newly Remodeled Kitchen

Exactly a year ago today, we started with the renovation of our kitchen. It was a long process but glad it's over now and we love the result of it.  Home improvement is inevitable when you are a homeowner especially when you buy an older house like ours.  We moved into this home 5 years ago and so far, we have new windows installed, new doors, new floors, renovated the bathrooms, and renovated the kitchen.  We did the kitchen last because it required a  big amount of money to do.  We  hired a company to do it this time because hubby and I can't handle this big of a project that  required knocking a wall and installing beams.  Here's what our old kitchen looked like.

We decided to have the wall that was connecting the dining room to the kitchen knocked down to have a bigger kitchen.  I always wanted an open concept kind of kitchen so I am happy to be able to accomplish that through this renovation.

It took 14 weeks to fully complete the renos and we're so relieved when it was over.  Whew, that was a long time to not have a kitchen.  Luckily, our basement is big enough and it serve as my temporary kitchen in cooking our meals.

We now have a big island instead of a wall.  We lost some cabinet space for knocking down this part of the wall but I'm happy that we did.

We got a new set of bar stools for the island and a new table and chairs that matches the stools.  We bought this at an Amish store in Ohio.  It took them a little longer to finish our order but it was worth the wait.

There was also a little delay to the  granite counters but it all came together well.  Our contractor ordered it from a company in Pittsburgh.

We chose the combination of gray and white  colors for our new kitchen because hubby likes gray but I wanted white so to compromise with what we both wanted, we combined it which turned our great.

Our old  china cabinet is out of place from the new look of our kitchen but I didn't want to get rid of it.  I'm planning of  sanding it a little bit and paint it this summer.

We decided to use the open space connecting to the family room to the kitchen with a full size cabinets to compensate the space that we lost where the island was built.

I think my least favorite of this project is the garbage cans that were installed the cabinet.  It wasn't the kind that I was looking for or expecting.  It's a little hard to pull and push but I can live with that.

I love the farm sink!  I think it is my favorite part of the whole kitchen lol.

There's plenty of lightings installed which I love.

We bought these pendant lightings at Home Depot.

Our kitchen caught on fire before it  was finished when the electrician was installing a new electricity box to replace the old one.  Luckily, my husband was home and  put the fire off before it got big.  

This is how it got caught on fire.  They have to cover the counter with a paint cloth to avoid  the oven  being scratched and somehow, the knob was turned on and when the electrician turned everything back on, the cloth burned.  That was a scary situation but glad my husband was home.

This project  would have not been completed without these great crew.  Mike and Tanya and the rest of the crew were awesome.  We became friends with these friendly folks.  They were fun to work with.

I admire this lady, she's a bad ass.  Tanya, you rock!

I mean, look how she can  cut those tiles and still manage to protect her long beautiful nails!

Nothing more sexier than a lady who can use these kind of tools!  I wish I could!

They  installed the cabinets and laid the tiles by themselves.

These Chinese guys were the ones who installed the granite countertops.

I definitely gained  friends through out this process.

Greg, the long haired guy, which hair is prettier than mine (lol), was the one who installed the pendant lightings.

This guy was the one who finished the painting of walls and also do the mudding.

After a long ordeal, the kitchen is finally complete.  It cost an arm and a leg but glad it is over.

Thanks again Mike and Tanya for doing such an awesome job in renovating our kitchen.