So Seven is New Kitchen?

That’s what Matt, my turtle forums buddy, said to me today when I came on MSN laughing about how Xander and I both forgot that today was our anniversary.   We didn’t just forget because we don’t care, but because we’ve been sooooo busy with other things it completely slipped our minds.

I’ll explain what we’ve been so busy with a little further on…

Seven years ago today I married the love of my life.   It was such a stressful day even though we had quite a small and intimate wedding.   I was only 24 years old and hadn’t been living in the Netherlands for even a year yet so my entire life was foreign to me.

Even with all my doubts about my choice to move here, I never doubted that he was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.    He is my best friend and the kindest, most gentle and caring man I’ve ever known.  We are polar opposites… I’m hot headed and impatient and he is calm and has what seems like an endless supply of patience.  

Over the past seven years we’ve rubbed off on each other a lot I think.  I’ve taught him that it’s good to stand up for himself and not let people push him around (especially with the Dutch customer service) and he’s taught me that not everything has to be a fight and to let the unimportant things go.

The best thing is that we can totally be ourselves together.  Whether we are telling stupid jokes, screaming, crying, farting or just acting like complete morons… we don’t have to pretend to be something we aren’t and I think that’s what makes our relationship so special.  Having someone who loves us for who we are.

Ok before I sicken you all with my lovey dovey crap, I’ll get into why we’ve been so busy lately.  We’re getting a NEW KITCHEN!!

WITH A DISHWASHER!!! PRAISE JESUS I’LL FINALLY HAVE A DISHWASHER!! *Dances around waving arms in victory*

We’ve been planning this for quite a long time, since we bought the house, and it’s FINALLY happening!  We are completely renovating our kitchen!

We designed the kitchen months ago with Roland from Grando Keukens here in Rotterdam (near the stadium).  In the photo he is standing in front of the display for the kitchen design that we chose.  Well, those cupboards anyway, it’s their ‘country’ design.  You can see a closer view of the cupboards we chose here.  

We chose less obnoxious handles and a darker countertop, a built in afzuigkap (oh my god I can’t remember the English word for it! I call it ‘sucky thing’) with a built in spice rack in the cupboard above… which I think is such a clever use of space since most of the cupboard is wasted from the mechanics for the afzuigkap.

We also got some snazzy new built in appliances like a new fridge, dishwasher, stove, and oven.  The fridge is completely built in and just looks like a big cupboard.  We opted not to get a fridge with a freezer to make more cupboard space in the kitchen, we only have a small galley kitchen so we have to use our space wisely.  Instead we are buying a new deep freeze to put in our spare room which will hold more than the freezer that would have come with the fridge anyway.

Our oven will be built in above the fridge, and we got a special one with a door that opens sideways instead of down so that I don’t burn myself trying to reach over the door to get the food out.

So the last few days have been spent emptying the kitchen cupboards, pulling them off the walls and getting it ready for Jan (the same guy who did our bathroom).  He’s coming today to rip down the old tiles and start plastering the walls.

The kitchen pieces and appliances are being delivered on Monday, then being installed (this was all included in the price of the kitchen thankfully) on Friday.  Hopefully by then I’ll have finally picked out the tiles so we can get Jan to put them up.

I’m really excited about the new kitchen but nervous at the same time.  I worry a lot about unexpected costs or things that may go wrong.  Hopefully it will all go smoothly though and we’ll soon be able to enjoy our brand new kitchen.  

I’ll be making updates with progress pictures so stay tuned!