Woo... the kitchen!  Not much happens here in the spring and summer, naturally, unless you count generic fruity pebbles and grocery store brand skim milk as a notable event.  In the fall and winter, however, I use the kitchen to make tea and bake all sorts of holiday goodies like coffee cakes and cinnamon muffins... 

Most people would think that I read a lot of science-fiction/fantasy novels, and they would be right, but what I really read a lot of is vintage Harlequin Romance novels (pre-1970).  That is, in fact, what you can see stacked on top of my kitchen cabinets, forty books high and two rows deep.  I've had to slow down on these lately, unfortunately, because the local used book stores don't seem to want to stock them any more (or else I've just bought all of them in the area), but I hope to find some online or in other cities when I have more time and a larger book budget.  One of the nicest things, I think, about my kitchen (and something I've never had in my own apartment before) is the island... kitchen islands are so cool!  My oven actually works, as opposed to the one in my old apartment, and there's even an adequate amount of kitchen storage... well, adequate for somebody who only buys groceries that contain sugar and cholesterol and eats off of paper plates with plastic utensils.  Ichimu loves the new kitchen, too, as you can see... she can be found in the kitchen sink non-stop whenever I can be convinced to run the water for her (what a strange cat, eh?).

You may have seen the vintage Halloween cards and other decorations in some of my other rooms (such as the bedroom and living room) that came from my aunt's old fashioned Halloween website... well, these vintage style Halloween magnets came from there, too!  I was feeling sad the other day because I was having company over and didn't have any refrigerator magnets (and everyone knows that only a loser would fail to have refrigerator magnets) and she suggested these... aren't they darling?  Now all I need is a box of those obscene poetry magnets and I'm set... or maybe not.  As far as what's actually inside my refrigerator, generally there's nothing and when I'm lucky I have some skim milk, some cinnamon raisin bagels, and a container of cream cheese that may not be expired yet.

On the other side of my kitchen is my chinchilla cage, another one of Rick's masterpieces (this time constructed from a hollowed out dresser).  The chinchillas live on a cheap-o Wal-Mart rug so I can just dustbuster it whenever they're messy (and also throw it away as soon as it gets to raggedy), and for the most part they're pretty quiet (except when they can hear the raisin container being opened).  There's a really nice (and large) storage closet behind the chinchilla cage, but I can't get to it with the cage in the way and I've long ago forgotten what I actually keep in there... this way it will be a nice surprise for me someday when I move!  There's also a crazy little window along that wall, which I also can't open... this time because the window opens directly onto the roof and doesn't have a screen, and all of my cats would love to be roof-crawling, outside-running escape cats at the first opportunity.  The ceiling fixtures in my kitchen are especially nice, I think, and they would be nicer if I could remember what size light bulb they take... I believe they take the tiny kind and I think I have a large collection of the normal-sized kind that just keeps getting bigger every time I get back from the store... bleargh!

Well, since I can't remember what size light bulb my ceiling fixtures take, I suppose it's a good thing that my mother keeps me well-stocked in nice-looking table lamps.  You can't see it so well in the picture, but on top of the chinchilla cage (did I mention that my fabulous friend Rick made this for me out of the kindness of his heart?) is a particularly attractive lamp with a black and pale-pink enameled base (I think it may be an antique...).  It could use a new lampshade, probably, but my apartment could use a lot of new, and it's not going to get any until my wallet gets some first.

The thing I like most of all about the kitchen in my new apartment?  Linoleum!  I don't know how many people were aware, but my old apartment was wall-to-wall carpeting, even in the kitchen!  How mentally challenged is that?!  Of course, since I never had linoleum before, I didn't have a mop when I first moved in, but eventually (okay... months later) picked up a Swiffer (or rather, some generic version of a Swiffer, but at least I got the kind that sprays out - again generic - cleaning solution) and now nobody has to worry about sticking to the floor any more...

I just don't know how to top linoleum, so that's it for the kitchen tour... now, if you like, you can move along to the office nook or the bedroom, and if you haven't already you may want to take a look at the living room or bathroom...