Used Kitchen, not for sale

I am excited to participate in Teachers Write virtual writing camp hosted by author Kate Messner. If you haven't heard about it, check it out! Join in! 


My Two Minute Description:


My kitchen is my favorite room. Not because it's fancy or well-decorated or even spotless. It's not any of those things. It is a well-used, functional room that happens to allow me to crank out delicious meals for my friends and family. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than feeding my family a home-cooked meal. The green counter tops are rather ugly and worn. The stove is my pride and joy, but it's seen better days. The button that turns the fan on and off is completely gone, the knobs are caked pretty thoroughly with smudges. One day soon I hope to replace our beat up hulking white refrigerator. 




Revision - After relocating w/ my laptop to my kitchen, this is what happened:


The humming dryer in the nearby laundry room causes the floor of my kitchen to vibrate. Pulling that door shut, I can focus on the music. Always music playing here. If there's anything as important to me as food, it's music. It's my lifeblood. This is my domain, this giant kitchen. We may not have known much when we picked out this house (sucky, death slopey back yard, next door neighbors in our laps, master on main bullcrap), but we got ourselves a big ol' family kitchen.


It'd sound fancy if I said it had been preserved in its original condition, and that's the truth, pretty much. But fact is, we've been here since this house was born 14 years ago so the original stuff is looking a little worn. There are fingerprints on everything and I can't blame just our kids for that. They've lived here half the time my husband and I have and they can't reach those up high cabinets after all. There are scratches and dents and scuffs and dings. And don't ya know it's because this kitchen is USED. 


I could clean those stove knobs. I know how to soak them in warm, soapy water and make them look like knew. I could finish touching up the paint on the cabinets that have been dinged so many times over the years. I could organize the mess of plastic containers I keep in a basket under the butcher block. I could do lots of things that would change this kitchen, but why would I want to? 


All of those marks are reminders. The chunk out of the floor in front of the stove, for example, that happened when one of our cats got a stove grate stuck on her collar when jumping off the counter top. Ah, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy...she was a dumb, sweet cat. And she damaged our kitchen. 


The dents in the counter top near the sink? That was all me. Trying to remove a very stuck, very hardened candle from it's heavy glass holder I messed up our counter top. Fail. 


This place is the hub of our home. Frequently junked up with detritus from the day, art projects, evidence of snacking, laundry spilling out from the adjacent laundry room. It's not tidy very often, but it's always loved.