Let there be light!

Back in December I asked if you knew anyone who might want to decorate their house like the Olive Garden, but we never received any leads on takers for our kitchen light fixture. Well, I am posing the question again - any takers?This is your last chance, because we're selling it. That's right - we're selling it. Which means that we took it down, got a replacement, and now need to get that Italianate object out of our house.

Doug was quite the busy bee yesterday - he installed the new kitchen light fixture and he installed a new ceiling fan in the office. Neither of these projects he had ever done before. I was very, very impressed. The kitchen light fixture was installed while I was at the grocery store. I have a photo of the beginning of the process: and a photo of the (awesome) end result, but nothing of the actual installation itself! Doug said it was easy, and I believe him, because I wasn't at the store that long, and if it were difficult he would have been still installing the light when I got back, right? Or lying on the floor electrocuted?

But when I got home, Doug had already moved on to installing the ceiling fan in the office. Why was he installing a new fan? Because our old one broke. Literally. Two of the fan blades snapped right off and Doug found them lying on the floor one evening. Good thing they didn't land on me while I was sitting here blogging, but even better that they didn't drop onto one of the poor unsuspecting kitties! We actually could have bought new blades and just put them onto the existing fan motor, but because the office has only one small sconce for lighting (and a small lamp), we decided to replace the fan with one that had a light in it, too. So Doug, having never done anything like this before, got out the instructions and set to work. He took the old fan down and put the new one up.Just like that! Presto-change-o! This process I know was more difficult, however. I know this because I left Doug in the middle of installing the fan to get more supplies for my on-going craft project (and also to pick up a volunteer application at the local Golden Living facility, which will deserve a blog unto itself) and came back and it still wasn't completed. But, it's done now. Doug's goal was to have both projects finished by 2pm and he made it with a few minutes to spare. Good job! So now we have a lot more light in the house, or at least light with more appealing fixtures. And score for Doug on the electrical work. Nothing's blown up yet!

I was feeling left out by all the improvements Doug was making to the house, though, so I tackled a project of my own. I took down the old, disgusting, not-even-retro-cool door to our pantryand put up a curtain instead.Now the food can be hidden in a bit more style. We are saving the old door, though, because you never know - it could be an asset to have it just in case.

As if that weren't enough activity for one day, I finished the day by baking Doug a peach pie. He deserved it, number one, and number two I was inspired by Betty Draper (season one Betty).Even though this photo is of the pre-cooked pie, I'm surprised at how similar it looks to the cooked pie. I remembered all the ingredients in all the right quantities, and I didn't burn this pie. Didn't cause a great smoke-out in the kitchen, and the fire alarm didn't even go off this time. Definitely a success. And now that I'm thinking of this pie, I think I'll go have a piece. I cannot resist pie.