The new curtains are up--yay!  Karl had time yesterday to implement 'the fix,' which involved extra wood, glue, drills, screws, clamps, etc.  The hem is very long, so someday when we replace the sink and countertop, I'll be able to lengthen the curtains accordingly.  Anyone know a good place to get a porcelain farmhouse sink?  I have a few ideas, but I'm open to suggestions.  Oh, and Karl absolutely puts his foot down about installing a pump faucet (if I could even find one).  He says I can fix the old stove, but no humongous cast iron faucet sitting by the side of the sink. ...I'll take the stove.

Albin and I made dinner last night.  He found a great recipe in Cook's Illustrated that involved chicken breasts, bacon, and a rosemary garlic sauce made with the chicken stock and bacon grease.  Of course it was delicious.  Elise only had an infinitesimal taste and declared that she could taste the pepper (there were a few shakes from the dispenser into the flour which dredged the chicken before cooking).  We told her that now we know for sure that she is a princess, so we'd better not even try to put peas under the mattress : ). 

We also made cookies while dinner was cooking, so I got out my very special cookie jar to use.  This jar sat in my Grandma Rosella's kitchen for many years, and I associate it with fond memories of my grandparents and visiting their house.  Now it is time for my kids to have good memories with it, so we will actually put cookies in it....and be very careful when getting the cookies out.

I also had to take a picture of the dining room table because it's been weeks since we've seen the surface, the whole surface, and nothing but the surface.  In nice weather, we usually eat out on the porch, and when rearranging the dining room so much, of course we put all the misc. items on the large, handy, horizontal top.  So we haven't had dinner at the table in quite awhile.  To celebrate, we got out the good china and glasses, and lit  all the candles currently in a holder (eleven).  It was so bright, you could almost see to eat by.