Show Us Where You Live- The Kitchen

What fun I'm going to have with this post! Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting a new, fun "carnival" of sorts on her blog called and today is the inaugural post! It's called "Show Us Where You Live Friday" and each Friday she will choose a different room of the house to feature. Well, this week she is featuring Kitchens! What's that you say, since I'm a renowned kitchen designer who never makes mistakes and always has great decorating a girl who is learning the art of kitchen designing and making a career of it, well then this ought to be right up my alley, right?

That's what I thought too.

Until this happened.

YES that is a hole in my ceiling.

YES that is major water damage on my ceiling.

YES that is subfloor exposed due to wet carpet. (see below)

So, since I'm keepin in real here on this blog, as we

Cruise Through Life with the Collins' Family....

Please allow me to show you what my kitchen currently looks like!

Let me catch up a bit.

Last Thursday after picking up the kids, I came home and was locked thought I was locked out of the house. Aaron was turkey hunting 3 hours away. I said a quick prayer. "Please let the back door be unlocked"...and guess what- He answered my prayer and the door was unlocked.

I came in, feeling relieved, and saw this. (And please pretend my kitchen was clean when this happened- had it been, it would've made things much easier- work with me!)

Underneath, was very wet carpet. From the foyer, water was running down the walls onto the hardwood floor.

Our toilet in the upstairs hall ran over. All day long. Like for 9 hours!

I called hubby and he rushed home stayed and shot a record size turkey and thought I didn't figure out it took him way longer to get home!

So...after a long, hot weekend of water restoration fans and dehumidifiers, I present to you

MY KITCHEN

(ON A REALLY BAD DAY WEEK MONTH)

I found it intriguing how many of the gals, and maybe some guys- (I didn't read them all)- that posted links to blog posts about their kitchens- had obviously tidied up before photographing their . Unless of course, their kitchens look like showhouses all the time, which some may- I mean mine has that potential seeing as it is not used much :)- anyway, I thought....

well ladies....and gentlemen, I can't make mine look good right now- it's just not possible, and not worth it right now! So, above is a picture looking in from our family room. I decided it could just be fun to be real!

How many of you can say that you have a duck call laying on your kitchen counter....and on the microwave...and on the refrigerator....and.....who knows where else in my house.

Looking closer at the top of the stove...we have a mismatched halloween sock, a spelling test (100%-go Harrison!), a CD, applesauce, and a cheap little whisk broom I found in my van!

In one corner you see my collection of cookbooks. There are more in a cabinet. Not sure why I have so many- as they are seldom used :) One day.....

This, as you can see, is my sink full of dirty dishes because the dishwasher is waiting to be unloaded. Oh, and my sink is dirty too!

And now we take a closer look at the far corner- the corner where lots of "stuff" gets stuffed. In this corner you are likely to find bread turning green and moldy. You also see a stack of baseball clothes. I was trying to be all prepared for the game tonight- which was cancelled because it's been raining now for 40 days and 40 nights. Lucky for all of us, the "cup" was not on the counter (and I'm not talking about a drinking cup if you get my drift) .

Below is a close-up of the outside of my refrigerator. I do enjoy these magnets that are given out at childrens church. They each have bibles verses on them. I usually try to keep Harrisons' spelling test up through the week. When company is coming...I clean off the refrigerator so it's nice and clear.

And this is the inside of my refrigerator. Let's take a look.

Oh wow! We have jello jigglers that I made April 8th and forgot about for Haydens' birthday party. There is a bowl of boiled eggs, boiled late on April 10th so that they could be colored for Easter....never got it done! Surely, my children will be scarred for life! And, you can't tell it- but the shelves really need cleaned! Am I the only one out there with a messy refrigerator???

This is the desk in my kitchen. We never should have put it there! I really need the cabinet space. I'm seriously considering taking this out and replacing it with a pantry style cabinet. The scary part is that it looked even worse yesterday. This is the place where everything that needs to find its' place gets piled when I am cleaning the kitchen. You'll find bills, school papers, Christmas cards never sent, a "to-be filed" folder, and a file for my husband that he never looks at. There's obviously lots more on that desk! Above is a little cubby that keeps the bills, postage supplies, notepads, and a whole lotta crap!

Ahem.

This is a view into the dining room from the kitchen. Now...it doesn't always look like this. Let me explain.

When the water restoration folks came in, we had to clean off the kitchen table, the end table, the bar counter, etc. and it ALL landed on the dining room table. Add to that all the "stuff" that needed put away from Haydens' birthday party, my husbands video camera equipment, and once again who knows what else...you get a really cluttered dining room table.

However, we are considering selling our table and hutch (that I love) and converting our dining room into a "command center". Homework, crafts, toys, etc.

The thing is...I have an issue with being able to see all that- or at least not be able to close it off. I saw on some other posts that other gals have done this so I just need to get over it!

This picture is of the microwave cabinet area. Since it's not a "built-in" microwave, hubby uses it as a "storage" place for all his junk! Lovely! I am determined to get a "trim-kit" so that he can't continue as it really bugs me!

And just for fun...Hayden is showing off new uses for the dishwasher! Silly girl!


When clean, my kitchen is really nice. I have custom hickory cabinets. Not what I'd choose if I were starting over, but they are really nice. I'm looking a new paint color- any advice? We have boring laminate countertops...I long for granite, but someday will re-do my kitchen, so I'm not going to make that costly change. Our flooring is fairly new- tile looking laminate- installed by the handy hubby and his trusty partner- me!.

So, there you have it. Kudos to all you that have it more together than me and could post pictures of your beautiful large, sometimes cute and quaint, kitchens.

All I have to say is...Kelly, can I please have a do-over?

I really wish I could've really participated in the way Kelly intended. It would be such fun. But this week, it just wasn't meant to be. But that's just life, right? (Judging by the looks of the place, I'm not feeling real confident next week will work out either!!)

If you'd like to join Kellys' fun, check out her blog http://www.kellyscornerblog.com/ and join in- or just read other peoples posts and look at pictures!

One good thing....I really needed new carpet. Guess what?

I'm getting it...and it's not costing me a dime! (and no, I didn't clog the toilet on purpose!)