Purple Pea-ple

Finally!  Something else ready to pick that seems to be healthy.  I checked on the purple hull peas I'd been eyeballing ever since they started to grow, patiently waiting for them to turn the exact perfect shade of deep purple.  As there are only maybe twelve plants, I know I won't get massive amounts, but I'll just be happy to get enough for a good meal or two.  Today I picked about twenty to twenty-five pods and, when shelled, almost filled a cereal bowl.  They're in the freezer now, awaiting more of their friends to make enough to cook for dinner.  When I was little, I used to help my mother pick and shell peas; bushels of them.  What I didn't remember about that experience was this:

World's most expensive Boston butt in the background

Purple fingers!

It didn't wash off with a regular hand washing, but it came off when I did the dishes.  Thank goodness.  People at work think I'm odd enough already without wondering if I'm morphing into Grimace or Barney.

The past few days I've been looking around the house and am beginning to get inspired to start working on it again.  I can't decide if I want to start patching plaster cracks (I despise drywall work) or ripping up the kitchen floor.  The kitchen floor has about 1/4" particle board topped with gen-u-ine asbestos-laden linoleum and God only knows what else lurks in there.  But, it's over the original hardwood floor.  I pulled up about a 1.5' x 1.5' piece of the particle board a while back to snoop, knowing that the floor definitely couldn't be made 1/2" to 3/4" thicker by putting down tile over everything already there.  The hardwood doesn't look too bad in that small square.  If there's a large area in poor shape, it will get the same tile as the bathroom floor since that was my first plan.  It's a big decision; tile is kind of permanent and if you've ever had to tear any out, you'd never want to do it again.  Whatever I choose is the way it will be for as long as I live here.  At this point all I can do is the tear-out, which has to be done regardless of keeping the hardwood or tiling.  I'm very short on cash and wouldn't be able to go ahead with the whole job, including re-working a cabinet to accomodate an 18" dishwasher (courtesy of my mommy 'cause that's how she rolls).  I refuse to buy a new cabinet base, instead choosing to re-work the existing one.  I'll also build and tile a new countertop and get the sink reglazed since it's one of those neat ones with the built-in drain board and probably weighs 150lbs.  Keeping and refurbishing an old kitchen is trickier than starting anew but anyone that's had kitchen work done will tell you two things right off the bat:  1)  it's expensive, even if you do it yourself.  2)  it's highly inconveniencing no matter who does the work.  Kitchens aren't really something that can easily be done bits at a time and keep your sanity, especially when you're an organization freak like me.

I think my decision has been made.  It looks like the plaster cracks are getting first dibs.

Hello HEPA filter vacuum, plastic vapor barriers, and a respirator.  Goodbye crackety-cracked walls, restful days off and evenings, and a halfway decent manicure.