Saturday Shopping

The day started off lazily with coffee and the paper. With no Atkins breakfast food in the house, Carolyn and I went to Snooty Fox around 10 a.m. for a late breakfast. Omelets with ham and cheese or cheese and salsa and sides of sliced tomatoes and no toast or potatoes.

Then it was off for a full day of on the "Kitchen Remodel Excursion" as we headed up the 405 to the appliance store where we finalized decisions about the dishwasher and cabinet depth refrigerator (know anyone who needs a one year old 25 cu. ft. refrig?). Oh, we decided we needed to redo the powder bath at the same time since the flooring is going to be consistent with the entry and kitchen, so we ordered a new toilet as well.

Then we headed off to Kitchen & Bath Solutions to speak with Kathleen about her proposal for the cabinets on the back wall. It will have lower cabinets and drawers, a countertop, and the upper cabinets will be enclosed in stained glass along with a wine rack in the center. The cost of the glass doors surprised me! We adjusted a few items and then put our payment down on the cabinets. The process has begun!

Next, we headed to Newport Beach and the New York Hardware Co. which houses every kind of knob, pull, door knocker, etc. that you've ever seen including old style glass door knobs. We were checking out pewter furniture style handles and round pulls but it took a looooonnngg time! I think we're close to a decision.

Back up Newport Blvd. to Light Bulbs, Etc. to look (once more) for pendant lights. We reviewed several books and I think I found our final choice. The manager, Melvin, was extremely helpful and eager to show us how down lights with black baffles are less obtrusive than those with white baffles and which light bulbs are best (Chinese are too yellow, Japanese the brightest white). They're giving us a contractor's discount, too.

We finally got home around 6 p.m. and I was exhausted. Men are just not programmed for 8 hour shopping excursions. Carolyn made a great salad for dinner which included artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, avocado, red onion, goat cheese and chicken which we devoured. But we were both too tired to attend an art showing of one of Carolyn's friends up in Orange.