In my Tiny Little Kitchen

I have always considered today the first unofficial day of fall. We bid farewell to summer yesterday, and are ready to welcome the cooler weather, autumn leaves, and pumpkins galore! Even though I don't go back to school in September anymore, Hubby-to-be does, and it allows me to enjoy this as a new beginning too. This time of year I always want to get into the kitchen and start whipping up all kinds of comfort foods. But, I have a dilemma. I cannot get inspired to cook in Hubby-to-be's kitchen. No offense to him, he's tolerated his 1950's kitchen because in the past the most he's done is stick a frozen pizza in the oven. But for someone who loves to bake, hauling a Kitchen Aid in and out of the basement gets old - fast. I've been lucky in the past to have beautiful and open kitchen plans to entertain and cook my little heart out. But this, my friend, is not a kitchen that I can happily work in. That is all the counter space there is!

So we're left with some options. 1. Sell this place and find a place of our very own. 2. Rent this place and find our own apartment together (maybe he'll come back to the city with me?). Or 3. Muster up all the patience I can stand and stay here. Unfortunately it looks like #3 is the one that makes the most sense (as much as I don't want it to). Like a lot of other people, Hubby-to-be is upside down with his mortgage and home prices are decreasing in this neck of the woods. No financial advisor would advise us to pay $20K+ to get out of a home that we don't have to. Boo.

Now that this is the case, I am desperate to renovate this kitchen. I have done everything I possibly can to this house so far. This includes painting every room, rearranging furniture, updating window coverings, and decorating. Everything else is foreign, as much as I'd like to know how to do it all. So now we need someone to refinish floors, replace a floor, knock out a wall, add a new storm door, remove a window awning, & install new cabinets, countertops, and a sink. Fingers crossed we can complete this before Christmas!

But getting back to today, I am a preparing a "back to school" dinner and dessert for tonight. Because today was Hubby-to-be's first day back with his students. There are a few things I love about this. We both go back to our "regular" schedule, I have the house to myself for a few hours before work (and he does after work), plus fall is right around the corner. To celebrate all of this, I think a favorite dinner, freshly baked dessert, and festive spirits (the alcoholic kind) are in order. So I crammed myself into the tiny kitchen, dusted off the Kitchen Aid and got to work. I realize there are bigger things to complain about, and luckily this is the biggest problem at hand, so I say, let's solve it! Until I have pictures of my very own beautiful kitchen, I will leave you with some of my favorites....