I don’t know why I always end up posting about my weekend on Tuesdays.  I typically have Monday’s off so why can’t I sit down to drop a few lines about my weekend then?  Usually I’m trying to get laundry done and run any errands that need to be done before the work-week begins.  Yesterday I went to my grandmothers nursing home and gave her a shampoo set.  Every other week my mother brings her to the shop to get her hair done with her; it’s a way for her to get out and socialize.  But my mother had surgery on her hand a couple of weeks ago and has not been able to really drive much and I didn’t have time last Friday to go to the nursing home after work and pick her up on the account that depending on the day (in particular how she’s feeling that day) it can be a hour long process and I had clients so time was not on my side.  So I made arrangements to go to the nursing home and use the salon on premises to do her hair.

I had calculated that I should be ther for about 2 hours, but nope…it was closer to 3.  I needed to get to the house before Kristian got off the bus, but I had…I repeat had to go to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday to get the magnetic knife strip to finish off my kitchen utility board.  I had a coupon for $5 off and if you don’t know, I’m a sucker for a bargain.  I got the magnetic strip for ~$12.  I think I need to add another strip (which explains why I’ve left a space on the right-hand side), what do you think?

 It’s also light maple in color…is that messing with my blue theme? 

OK…on to the weekend.  My sole goal of this weekend was to get my cabinet polyed.  I knew I had to go to the grocery store since I hadn’t gone the week before, but my goal was to get that cabinet POLYED.  I took my mother with me to go shopping and between the two of us we made five stores and I finally made it back home around 12:30 pm after having left my house at 7:15 am.  Of course once I got home and was ready to start polying my cabinet it started to rain (a light rain, but rain none-the-less).  NOOOOO!!!!  Not to be detered, I decided to put down newspaper and get to polying.  I got the first coat of poly on and set down for a light lunch.  My sister and nieces were supposed to come over for HARRY POTTER WEEKEND later that evening, so I wanted to get as much work done on the cabinet as possible before my company came over. 

Just a quick note about HARRY POTTER WEEKEND.  I lllooovvveee all of the Harry Potter movies and own all of them.  So on occassion I have what I call a HARRY POTTER WEEKEND; which means that I sit (or lay in bed) in front of the tv for the weekend and watch the Harry Potter movie series starting from the first to whichever movie I can get to if family and friends don’t intrude too much.  I also have TRANSFORMERS WEEKEND.  If Spike tv happens to have a Star Wars marathon going on, I watch it too.  So when my sister told me that she and the girls hadn’t seen The Half Blood Prince I said “girl come on over…ya’ll can watch it with me”.  She offered to bring margarita mix and popcorn and I said even better.

I was successful in getting the two coats of poly on my cabinet and with the patio door open to allow for ventilation, I chilled out with my snuggie (not the janky snuggies, this was the ultra-plush version from Brookstone that was a Valentine’s Day gift from my hubby earlier this year) until my company arrived.  It turned out the girls had not only missed The Half Blood Prince, but the Order of the Phoenix as well so we started with that, they fell asleep during the middle of Half Blood Prince.  I sent them home with my number six with the threat of bodily harm if they kept it too long. 

Sunday I got up early to get ready for church.  I messed around and let my brother get into the bathroom before me so I had to wait…and wait…and wait.  I cleaned up the kitchen, washed down the stovetop and oven, and picked greens for dinner before he came out and then I had to race through my preparations to make sure that I made it to church in a reasonable amount of time.  Church was so awesome and I made the decision to make a Sparkling Wine Pound cake for dessert.  It was Sunday and I couldn’t buy sparkling wine so I settled for sparkling cidar instead.  It came out excellent!  I will be keeping this recipe for future use.  Here’s a picture of a slice.  Man is it moist.

My cabinet was completely dry and I happily put the door pulls and knobs on the appropriate pieces and lined my drawers with waffled contact paper and put everything together.  Boy was it a beautiful sight to behold.  I’m so proud of my finished project.  It’s rustic enough to match my table (the whole point of stripping it, staining and painting it, and polying it).  Look guys…it’s beautiful.

The table that I’m coordinating this cabinet is a pedestal table that I found at a yard sale for $5.  Yes you heard me…the pedestal table that Pottery Barn sales for $689 (for the small one), that I have been coveting for the past three years was at a yard sale and I lucked up on it for $5.  God meant for me to have that table.  I had to strip it and paint it, because it had a white base and light maple top (too country for my taste).  I painted the base black and the top same color as my cabinet.  The knicks and dings in the table top gave it great character and that is why I left some of the stuff on the cabinet.  

Dinner was delicious: mustard greens, candied yams, roasted bone-in chicken breast, and cornbread.  I opened up a new bottle of “Twisted” Zinfindel wine and read a little more of J.D. Robb’s Fantasy in Death.  I have to say all-in-all; it was another busy one.