Hard-wearing on me

My little bungalow home was built in 1941.  Its many loved features include hardwood floors, beautiful fluted woodwork on all the doorways and windows, and sweet hardware on the doors throughout and in the kitchen.  One thing that has bothered me though, is that one of the doors and one of the drawers in the kitchen were missing their original hardware.  Most people haven't noticed (until I have pointed it out) but for me, it's the first thing I look at when I walk into the room.  When my parents came over to start helping me paint the inside of the cabinets and drawers we were lucky enough to find the missing door pull, but that still has left the one drawer.  So when I started painting the faces of the cabinets and drawers I had to find a replacement for the missing drawer pull!  I scoured the internet following lead after lead.  It turns out that the hardware was produced by an Illinois company, Amerock, which has been making hardware since 1908.  Having the name of the company, of course, made it that much easier to search and locate the missing pull, and I ended up finding a couple of possibilities on ebay... and then the one.  It arrived just last week; it has been installed; and it looks fantastic.   

With the final pull in place, the kitchen project is almost complete!  The floor has been replaced; the backsplash has been tiled; the walls and the cabinets have been painted; and last, but not least, the hardware has been cleaned and polished.  The only thing left is painting the trim around the doors and the small hanging light in the breakfast nook.  I am so excited to almost have this project done.  

It's snowing, again...

Well, today I had my first real "harsh" reality of being a homeowner... shoveling!  Last night, this morning, and tonight, again.  I have to laugh, when I bought the house two years ago, I made the conscience effort to make positive environmental choices.  I had the best intentions to get a push mower, but I ended up getting a gas one.  When it has come to snow removal, I have been able to work with the shovel very well.  So here I am wondering if I should once again give in to modern technology and save my back!