Wescue: Roscoe

Roscoe is a very good dog who lived in northern New Jersey in a family with  two kids. The kids grew up and went away to school, and no one is left at home to give Roscoe the affection and attention he needs.

Enter Westie Rescue and Wescue, Kitchen Magic's dog rescue charity. We found him a nice new home in Massachusetts, where he will be with people who will also love and care for him.
Your local animal shelter has many deserving pets looking for a new home. Please support them today. You may not be able to change the world, but you can change the world for one lucky animal.

 This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Going to Musikfest?

If you’re headed to Bethlehem, PA’s famous Musikfest, which runs from today through August 9, please be sure to stop by and say hello to Kitchen Magic. We’ll have our booth there. You’ll also see more than 300 performers from around the world, sample mouth-watering food treats, and enjoy children’s fun activities.

You’ll find us in New York at the Great Neck Plaza Summer Fair in Great Neck (natch!). The event will go on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
We’ll also be at the Manhasset Summer Festival in Manhasset, NY from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
If you’ll be attending the 60th Annual Goshen County Fair in West Chester, PA, be sure and stop by to see us. Other attractions will include a Lady Human Cannonball, rides and live music.
In or near Atlantic City? We’ll be part of the Atlantic Food & Wine Festival, along with a bevy of celebrity chefs including Emeril (Bam!) Lagasse, Tom Colicchio (above) of Top Chef fame, and Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes.
We’ll be at the BJ’s Wholesale Club, Riverdale, NJ, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Stop by and see our trailer and samples.
Kitchen Magic will also be at the Stormville Airport Antiques Show & Flea Market in Stormville, NY, in Dutchess County.
In New Hampshire, we’ll be displaying at the New Hampshire Mall Home Show, while in Connecticut, we’ll have a booth at the Podunk Bluegrass Festival in Hartford.
Closer to home, we’ll be at Warren County, NJ’s Farmer’s Fair, which will feature hot air balloons, carnival rides, a demolition derby, an Elvis impersonator, vendors, food and more. We’ll also be at the Golden Nugget Market in Lambertville, NJ.
And flea market fans will find us at Jake’s Flea Market in Barto, PA or the Raynham Flea Market in Raynham, MA. Stop by and say hello!
Every year, Kitchen Magic attends more than 400 events. You can find the schedule here, or visit us at one of our convenient locations. You’ll be glad you did!

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Where Were You in 1979?

Since 1979, Kitchen Magic has provided quality kitchen refacing and remodeling to our customers at an affordable price. You've helped us become the largest kitchen refacer in the U.S. We will celebrate its 30th anniversary in November of this year, and to celebrate, we'll look back at some of what made 1979 special.

Can you guess what the number one song that year was? Nobody’s had the correct answer so far. Send your guesses here.

To help you warm up, here are the #11 through #20 most popular songs of that year, as compiled by Billboard magazine. Remember where you were when you heard these?


11. Too Much Heaven, Bee Gees
12. MacArthur Park, Donna Summer
13. When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman, Dr. Hook
14. Makin' It, David Naughton
15. Fire, Pointer Sisters
16. Tragedy, Bee Gees
17. A Little More Love, Olivia Newton-John
18. Heart Of Glass, Blondie
19. What A Fool Believes, Doobie Brothers
20. Good Times, Chic

For #21 through #30, go here…

For #31 through #40, go here…

For #41 through #50, go here…

For #51 through #60, go here…

For #61 through #70, go here…

For #71 through #80, go here…

For #81 through #90, go here…

For #91 through #100, go here…

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Rain Doesn't Dampen Kitchen Magic!

Rain may have postponed last night's Somerset Patriots game, but the fans on hand enjoyed meeting and greeting the Kitchen Magic gnome.

Thanks to our cabinet shop supervisor Morgan L. Betsy for hard work on a muggy wet night.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Kitchen Magic in the News!

Learn all about Kitchen Magic in the Allentown Examiner, thanks to interior design expert Jeffrey B. Allen.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Kitchen Magic at Ledgewood Mall

Kitchen Magic’s sales rep Kelly Hammel was one of the three judges for the recent Superstars of Summer Talent Show at the Ledgewood Mall in Ledgewood, NJ, where performers from 12 to adult participated.

Seen above at the event are (left to right), sales rep Terry Magura, Michael Hammel as the Kitchen Magic gnome, and manager Vera Allen.
Kitchen Magic goes to over 400 events every year. Find an upcoming one here, or visit one of our convenient locations.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Recipe: Waikiki Meatballs

From Carol M. in Framingham, MA, a family favorite:

1 -1/2 lbs ground beef
2/3 cup cracker crumbs
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ cup milk
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp corn starch
½ cup brown sugar
13-1/4 oz can of pineapple chunks in syrup
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup chopped green pepper

Mix beef, cracker crumbs, onion, beaten egg, salt, ginger and milk. Shape mixture into 1-1/2” balls. Add oil to large skillet and cook meatballs over medium heat, turning until done.

Remove meatballs from skillet and keep them warm. Drain skillet. Mix corn starch and sugar in skillet, and blend in syrup from the pineapple, vinegar and soy sauce until smooth.

Return skillet to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Boil and stir one more minute. Add meatballs, pineapple and green pepper, and heat to desired temperature.

With rice, it serves six.

Thanks, Carol! We’d love it if you shared your recipes with us. Send them here.

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Monday Morning Snark: Swimming Lessons

What better way to cool off in the summer?...

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Come Visit Kitchen Magic This Weekend!

Kitchen Magic will be at the Monmouth County Fair in New Jersey this weekend. Above, our new sales rep Bryan Young meets the public at our booth. Rob Lepone and Joanne Laux will be on hand this weekend to help answer questions and provide information. Other attractions at the fair will include animal shows, racing pigs, lumberjack shows, and home and garden competition, and stage entertainment. Tonight is Circus Night until 11 p.m., with a barbecue competition and a Springsteen tribute scheduled. Tomorrow from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. is Children’s Day, including kid races and R&B, Soul and disco entertainment. Sunday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. will be Senior’s Day, with free admission for those 65 and older, a swing band and an antique auto show. The fair is at East Freehold Park on Koslowski Road in Freehold, NJ.

You’ll also find us this weekend at the Barnstable County Fair on Cape Cod in East Falmouth, MA. There will also be animal shows, 4-H demonstrations, petting zoos, horticulture displays, rides, games, live music, arts & crafts, and food. Brian Howe, former lead singer of Bad Company, will entertain on Saturday, July 25.  The Fair will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. all weekend.
Also in Massachusetts, we’ll be at the Raynham Flea Market at the corner of Judson and South Street, Raynham. The market will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. all weekend.
In Pennsylvania, you’ll find us this weekend at Jake’s Flea Market on Route 100 in Barto, now in its 69th year. The market opens at 7 a.m., with no set closing.
We’ll also be at Rice’s Flea Market on Greenhill Road in New Hope, PA on Saturday, July 25. The event was founded in 1860 and covers 30 acres, so bring your hiking shoes! Hours are from 7 am to 1 p.m.
Kitchen Magic goes to more than 400 events every year. Check out where we’ll be any time, here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Where Were You in 1979?

Since 1979, Kitchen Magic has provided quality kitchen refacing and remodeling to our customers at an affordable price. You've helped us become the largest kitchen refacer in the U.S. We will celebrate its 30th anniversary in November of this year, and to celebrate, we'll look back at some of what made 1979 special.

Can you guess what the number one song that year was? Nobody’s had the correct answer so far. Send your guesses here.

To help you warm up, here are the #21 through #30 most popular songs of that year, as compiled by Billboard magazine. Remember where you were when you heard these?


21. You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond
22. Knock On Wood, Amii Stewart
23. Stumblin' In, Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
24. Lead Me On, Maxine Nightingale
25. Shake Your Body, Jacksons
26. Don't Cry Out Loud, Melissa Manchester
27. The Logical Song, Supertramp
28. My Life, Billy Joel
29. Just When I Needed You Most, Randy Vanwarmer
30. You Can't Change That, Raydio

For #31 through #40, go here…

For #41 through #50, go here…

For #51 through #60, go here…

For #61 through #70, go here…

For #71 through #80, go here…

For #81 through #90, go here…

For #91 through #100, go here…

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Kitchen Memory: Haunted, Part Five

Blog reader Jenny C. has been kind enough to send us a very detailed and suspenseful kitchen memory that also includes the bathroom, the rest of the house and the yard. We'll be running it in installments on Thursday afternoons. In part one, Jenny took a Polaroid of her family. When a blurry shape appears in the photo, Jenny teases her family by pretending it is a ghost. In part two, more Polaroids show a blurry shape that appears to be an actual ghost. In part three, Jenny and her infant daughter were locked in a bathroom out of earshot of help. And in part four last week, a friend’s skepticism about ghosts causes a ball of energy to appear in the kitchen, killing all the lights.


WHOA! Karen, Gene, Amy and I all begged Gary NOT to say that again. He yelled back from the back hallway to just simmer down- it was a blown fuse. He'd already grabbed a flashlight and made his way to the fuse box and replaced the fuse within seconds, releasing the lights to light again.

But the kitchen crowd was abuzz. In the month that we had lived there we had blown dozens of fuses- about one a day. But never, I say never before, had we had a lightning bolt fly out of our kitchen sink.

The smell of ozone still heavy in the air, we tried to convince Gary that it was a ghostly act. The engineer in the guys and myself tried to explain it away any other way. The phone lines are usually grounded on the cold water pipes. Thus the water pipes stored up enough energy to shoot big lightning balls out of the faucet as if Thor himself was in charge of the plumbing. The non-ghost theories were more far-fetched than the ghost theory ever was.

None of this conjecture was making any sense. So we blamed the lights and lightning incident on the ghost and Gary's mantra of disbelief, which we all felt was annoying the ghost as much as it was annoying us.
Some of us hypothesized that this mantra was a direct challenge to the ghost to prove himself. The light show may have been the ghost's chosen form of proof for all we knew.  And of course Gary just had to say it again, even though we begged him not to. We guessed where he was headed, with the conversation having been there already many times that night. But he did it anyway. He said it.

"I keep telling you guys, that there's no such thing as ghosts!"

No sooner had the words parted his lips, than the faucet returned an exact replica of that first lightning bolt into the kitchen sink. The next sound I heard was the slam of the back door as Gene and Karen yelled a hasty goodbye and "We'll call you in the morning to see if you all are still alive."

It was very difficult to get Amy to bed that night. She begged to sleep with us on the floor in our bedroom rather than in her room- the maid's quarters just above the kitchen. In order to convince her that all was well, we looked in closets, under beds, on the balcony, locked the balcony door, pulled back the shower curtains, and more than one round of this was demanded. Finally, she was calmed down and tucked into bed and we retired to our master bedroom where Gary reached for the maid's bell button on the wall. My pleas fell on deaf ears- really.  He grinned a devil's grin and pushed the button.

The sound of Amy hitting her door to open it inward, when she so desperately wanted to go outward, rang through the house. The thud of her feet pounding down the hallway into our bedroom had Gary doubled over in laughter. But Amy was hysterical.

While Gary recovered composure enough to demonstrate the bell to Amy and he "recleared” her room, I put Noel back to sleep. Finally we all went to bed and I know I slept. In fact I slept fairly soundly.

The next morning the phone rang as it was now working just fine, although no one had done anything at all to fix it during the night. Gene and Karen inquired on our state. I replied "Michigan" and Gary replied "Confusion” and our friends thus knew we were both normal as ever.

Joke about it or not, Gary will tell you he is now a believer and there just might be such a thing as ghosts.

Well, now you know when I became a true believer.  A believer with proof. It was during the summer of '79 in a house in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. One such event and you too will doubt no more- if you doubt at all, that is.

Sleep tight!
Thanks, Jenny!
Readers, we'd love to hear your kitchen memories, even if they don't involve ghosts. Send them to us here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Kitchen Magic on YouTube!

Want to see the latest Kitchen Magic videos? You can find them on our new YouTube channel here.

Feel free to subscribe or leave a comment.

 This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Come see our visit to a recent Somerset Patriots game here.

Kitchen Magic goes to more than 400 events every year. Check out our upcoming events.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Memories & Moon Facts

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the daring voyage of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, here are some moon facts.

The moon makes its closest approach to the earth tonight, just 222,117 miles away. Coastal areas will experience higher than usual tides. The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century will also occur tonight, as the moon blocks the sun for nearly seven minutes. Unfortunately, it will only be visible in India and China.

NASA's Apollo 11 photographs can be seen here.

NASA currently has the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter circling the moon with a high resolution camera. The bottom stage of the Eagle can still be seen in the Sea of Tranquility here.

Where were you July 16-24, 1969?

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Kitchen Magic Blueberry Fun

Here's genial sales rep Rob Lepone manning the Kitchen Magic booth at the recent Blueberry Festival in Bethlehem, PA. Doug K. of Macungie, PA, and Diedre S. of Bethlehem won custom cheesboards at the booth.

Festivities included a horse-drawn carousel, a petting zoo, a pie-eating contest (of course!) and live music. A video of the event is also available.



Kitchen Magic goes to more than 400 local events a year; watch for one in your area here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Wescue: Jane Doeg

Poor little Jane Doeg was found abandoned on a street on Long Island, bloodied & red. Someone had abused her terribly. Her skin was covered with sores, and she had only one little knot of fur on top of her head.

Despite all that she's been through, she's gentle and loves to be around people. Wescue, Kitchen Magic's animal rescue charity, will be taking her to Massachusetts next week to a new family that will give her the care, love and attention she deserves. In the meantime, the Kitchen Magic staff will be thinking up a new name for her.

Lots of animals are abandoned every day, and need a caring owner. Support your local animal shelter today.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Where Were You in 1979?

Since 1979, Kitchen Magic has provided quality kitchen refacing and remodeling to our customers at an affordable price. You've helped us become the largest kitchen refacer in the U.S. We will celebrate its 30th anniversary in November of this year, and to celebrate, we'll look back at some of what made 1979 special.

Can you guess what the number one song that year was? Nobody’s had the correct answer so far. Click here to guess.

To help you warm up, here are the #31 through #40 most popular songs of that year, as compiled by Billboard magazine. Remember where you were when you heard these?


31. Shake Your Groove Thing, Peaches and Herb
32. I'll Never Love This Way Again, Dionne Warwick
33. Love You Inside Out, Bee Gees
34. I Want You To Want Me, Cheap Trick
35. The Main Event (Fight), Barbra Streisand
36. Mama Can't Buy You Love, Elton John
37. I Was Made For Dancin', Leif Garrett
38. After The Love Has Gone, Earth, Wind and Fire
39. Heaven Knows, Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams
40. The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

For #41 through #50, go here...

For #51 through #60, go here...

For #61 through #70, go here…

For #71 through #80, go here…

For #81 through #90, go here…

For #91 through #100, go here…

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Kitchen Memory: Haunted, Part Four

Blog reader Jenny C. has been kind enough to send us a very detailed and suspenseful kitchen memory, that also includes the bathroom, the rest of the house and the yard. We'll be running it in installments on Thursday afternoons. In part one,  Jenny takes a Polaroid of her family. When a blurry shape appears in the photo, Jenny teases her family by pretending it is a ghost. In part two, more Polaroids show a blurry shape that appears to be an actual ghost. In part three, Jenny and her infant daughter were locked in a bathroom out of earshot of help.

Noel was crying so hard now she was sobbing. I finally decided that I had to calm down to keep her from being scared. But now every additional second that I was "trapped" brought an ever-stronger sense of evil intent. Finally out of desperation, I grasped the lock mechanism from the top of the sink, jammed it into the gaping hole from which it had originally been extracted and…

The bolt shot back into the door. Without any time for a plan to materialize, one popped into my head. I grabbed the doorknob, stuffed it in the appropriate hole and turned and pulled. The door opened as easily as if Ali Baba had just said "OPEN SESAME." The frozen door had thawed. Noel and I made good our escape.

Dashing with baby in arm, we burst into the back yard blurting and babbling our story the whole way. The very real level of upset on both our faces convinced Gene and Karen and Amy that something quite wrong had just happened.

Needless to say, the talk at the supper table went right into everyone's belief or disbelief of ghosts. Karen told stories of her Mom's family's haunted house in upstate New York.

Then stories of bouncing tables that could tell family secrets were shared. A game they called "Up Table Up". We thought we'd give this game a try after supper. But alas this Victorian parlor game did not work for us. The three women at the table tried for over an hour to get that card table to play with them while the men, Gene and Gary watched. The minute the mood at the table started to get at all serious and just about "right", Gary would reach down, grab a close table leg and shake it just to watch us ladies jump with surprise. We eventually tired of the pursuit, mainly because Gary did not.

Gene offered to make a phone call to Karen's WWII veteran father, Jack, as proof that "Up Table Up" really worked. Gary agreed that if Jack said it worked then he'd believe that the game worked, but that didn't prove that there were ghosts. "Because there's no such thing as ghosts!" He'd repeated this after every shred of evidence we'd given throughout the dinner and continued saying it as his mantra into the evening.

Finally, he agreed to call Jack to get his testimony. But the phone line was dead. Now this was of very dear concern to me.  I just happened to be, at that time, the manager of the engineering group that was responsible for making sure that telephone exchange had adequate capacity. My personal phone was supposed to be protected from outage.

Just to be sure that there was not a general outage at the switch, we sent Gary over to the neighbor's to see if their phone still worked.

The report back to us was that their phone still worked. We stood around the kitchen kanoodling this predicament. Well, if their phone was working, why wasn't my protected phone line working? Of course the believers in the crowd used this as further evidence of a ghostly hand. That line of logic of course just brought another of Gary's mantras, "There's no such thing as ghosts!"

But this time, no sooner had he said it than a three-foot ball of blue electrical ozone smelling explosion shot into the kitchen sink from the faucet. Oh, and the lights in the house went dead.
What is the mysterious blue energy, and what will it do next? Watch this blog next week!

 We'd love to share your kitchen memories, even if they don't involve ghosts. Send them to us here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Come See Us This Weekend!

Kitchen Magic will be holding a special event at the BJ's Wholesale Club at 300 State Route 17 in East Rutherford, NJ, July 16-19 from 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM each day.  

We'll also be at the Blueberry Festival at Burnside Plantation in Bethlehem, PA, July 18 from 11 AM to 8 PM and July 19 from 11 AM to 7 PM.  We'll be giving away custom chopping boards to four lucky families. There will also be a horse-drawn carousel, a petting zoo, live music, and craft and cooking demonstrations. Attendees who join the Historic Bethlehem Partnership at the event will get free blueberry pie and ice cream. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $4 for kids from 12 to 18, and younger kids are free.
Come join us and say hello!

Kitchen Magic goes to more than 400 events every year. Fnd out where here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Monday Morning Snark: No More Dull Bananas!

New frontiers in fruit storage...



And now you, too,  can open a banana the way that monkeys do, quickly and easily...



 This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Visit Us at Black Potatoe!

Not a terrible recipe, but a cutting edge music festival in Clinton, NJ!

Kitchen Magic is one of the sponsors of this exciting event. Stop by and say hello!
Artists will include Chris Smither (seen above), Cheryl Wheeler. and many more.
For schedule, directions, hours and admission, click here.

Kitchen Magic appears at hundreds of events throughout the year. For a full list of where we are, go here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Where Were You in 1979?

Since 1979, Kitchen Magic has provided quality kitchen refacing and remodeling to our customers at an affordable price. You've helped us become the largest kitchen refacer in the U.S. We will celebrate its 30th anniversary in November of this year, and to celebrate, we'll look back at some of what made 1979 special.

Can you guess what the number one song that year was? Nobody’s had the correct answer so far.

To help you warm up, here are the #41 through #50 most popular songs of that year, as compiled by Billboard magazine. Remember where you were when you heard these?


41. Lotta Love, Nicolette Larson
42. Lady, Little River Band (seen in all their glory, above)
43. Heaven Must Have Sent You, Bonnie Pointer
44. Hold The Line, Toto
45. He's The Greatest Dancer, Sister Sledge
46. Sharing The Night Together, Dr. Hook
47. She Believes In Me, Kenny Rogers
48. In The Navy, Village People
49. Music Box Dancer, Frank Mills
50. The Devil Went Down To Georgia, Charlie Daniels Band

For #51 through #60, go here

For #61 through #70, go here…

For #71 through #80, go here…

For #81 through #90, go here…

For #91 through #100, go here…

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Kitchen Memory: Haunted, Part Three

Blog reader Jenny C. has been kind enough to send us a very detailed and suspenseful kitchen memory, that also includes the bathroom, the rest of the house and the yard. We'll be running it in installments on Thursday afternoons. In part one,  which ran two weeks ago, Jenny takes a Polaroid of her family. When a blurry shape appears in the photo, Jenny teases her family by pretending it is a ghost. In part two, more Polaroids show a blurry shape that appears to be an actual ghost.

Something happened the day that Amy showed up at the new house. Troubled teens reportedly bring poltergeists. Or maybe Gary had wakened the dead with his incessant garage hammering. Regardless of what shook the house and its spirit occupant into life, to life it was. Chairs moved on the hardwood dining room floor when we were upstairs and when we were downstairs in the den watching TV in the evening -- baby finally asleep-- was when it truly got strange.

We'd be listening to Ed Asner rant at Mary Tyler Moore, just to be interrupted at the punch line by the punch of little footsteps in the nursery above. We'd take turns being the one to "put the baby back in bed."
But the baby was never out of her crib. Usually, she was fast asleep and happily kissing the angels. We were both in denial about this. Gary accused me of having "mother ears," a term I think he invented just for me. And I would accuse him of needing a hearing aid if he couldn't hear THAT! (Years later I was proven correct on his needing a hearing aid issue.)

We would banter about the haunted nursery and teasingly laugh. He was a non-believer; none of my "evidence" was ever going to turn him. Until that night,  that Gene and Karen, Noel's Godparents, came over to visit.

Amy and I had been trying to finish painting the fifth bedroom and private bath -- the maid's quarters -- complete with a private balcony and separate stairway downstairs to the back hallway. This room was where the maid's bell still clung to the wall. The foot button was no longer present in the hole in the floor under the dining room table. The other call buttons that were still in place had ceased to function- that is all except for the one in the master bedroom. If you pushed the call button in the master bedroom, the bell in the maid's bedroom still rang. This little bit of architectural nostalgia never failed to amuse our visitors.

Amy and I had run out of paint and decided to stop playing interior decorators for the day. Our friends were due to arrive at 4 pm for games and supper so we headed to clean up and start something to serve for supper.

The usual family redecorating rule was one room at a time. The designated room would be stripped- redone and then we'd head to the next room. Given that all the materials we needed were on hand, we could finish a room totally-- carpet torn up-- old curtains tossed-- old light fixtures and switch plates off-- room painted-- new curtains hung- light fixtures and new switch plates all new and installed- all could be done in about one week per room. This was after our day jobs. But what else would two hyper-actives do?

Our guests arrived and we started the entertainment for the afternoon-- volleyball of sorts by using the brick wall for the net we didn't have. Enough beers and it was quite a challenge.
Noel watched sometimes from her blanket but mostly from a position under the ball, and part of our job was to play the game and save the baby while doing it. Eventually she needed a change and I needed to make room for another beer and retrieve beers for my guests. So I swooped the baby up under an arm and off into the house went.
I dashed into the downstairs half-bath, Noel still under arm, and backward kicked the door shut. I needed to use the facilities so urgently that the sound of the door bolt shooting into the jamb didn't really register until I'd washed my hands, grabbed the baby from the floor and tried to tug the door open. It had locked Noel and I inside. The door face was nude, since the entire door trimmings were strewn across the top of the sink. The knob, the lock, key plates and knob plate were all lying idle on the sink. I tried to pry the door open with the available screwdriver. That failing I looked about for anything else that might help free my baby and me. But there were few resources available.
Having just been to see "Amityville Horror"- the baby-sitter locked in the closet scene fresh in my mind- it didn't take me long to start to freak out. I began to panic. I needed to get out of that room now.

Beseechingly I reviewed what the window might offer. It was a six-inch wide jalousie affair, meaning once cranked open it left four inches of opening into the front yard. The only escape it offered was for me to stuff Noel out of it and drop her into the bushes of the front flowerbed. What would a nine-month-old be able to do? Nothing of course, so there was no baby stuffing going to go on.
I screamed out the window to no avail. The rest of the residents were four or five brick walls away from my frantic screams, which did have some result however. That scared Noel enough that she started crying. She was reasonably upset that the one person entrusted to keep her alive had now gone mental.
Will Jenny get out? Watch this blog next week!

 We'd love to share your kitchen memories, even if they don't involve ghosts. Send them to us here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Countertop Choices: 6 New Zodiaq Colors

Kitchen Magic now offers six new countertop color choices in DuPont Zodiaq.

Zodiaq is a man-made stone more suited for countertops than granite or marble. Natural stone is porous and needs to be sealed with volatile chemicals regularly in your home. Zodiaq is non-porous and keeps its beauty even with extended wear and tear.

Nutmeg is a combination of 3 types of colored stone, sourced from around the world, embedded in a medium brown, background. Flecks of reflective mica add sparkle, while Savory is a  mixture of colored and translucent stones, within a mocha base.

Four of the new colors are ecologically friendly, with 25% post-consumer recycled content.  Licorice features recycled glass combined with a dark, almost black quartz base. Coriander is a mixed stream of brown and clear recycled glass, with a hint of green, combined within a light tan base. Wintergreen features recycled colored glass in a light green quartz base, while Flax has brown, clear and a scattering of green recycled glass embedded within a light, almost white background.

For more information on Kitchen Magic's countertop choices, call 1-800-237-0799 today. You'll be glad you did!

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Happy 4th of July from Your Friends at Kitchen Magic!

(Image courtesy of petswelcome.com)

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.  

Wescue: Amos & Andy

For ten years, Amos & Andy lived together with the lady who took care of them, until she became to ill to live alone and had to be hospitalized. The two little Westies had never been apart, but it's difficult to find a person who wants one elderly dog, much less a pair.

Fortunately, Westie Rescue and Wescue, Kitchen Magic's pet rescue charity, were able to find a new owner for the boys, who are delighted to stay together.

You can;t change the world, but you can change the world for one dog or cat. Support your local animal shelter today.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com. 

Where Were You in 1979?

Since 1979, Kitchen Magic has provided quality kitchen refacing and remodeling to our customers at an affordable price. You've helped us become the largest kitchen refacing and remodeling company in the U.S. We will celebrate our 30th anniversary in November of this year, and to mark the occasion now, we'll look back at some of what made 1979 special.

Can you guess what the number one song that year was? Nobody’s had the correct answer so far.

To help you warm up, here are the #51 through #60 most popular songs of that year, as compiled by Billboard magazine. Remember where you were when you heard these?


51. Gold, John Stewart
52. Goodnight Tonight, Wings
53. We Are Family, Sister Sledge
54. Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy, Bad Company
55. Everyone's A Winner, Hot Chocolate
56. Take Me Home, Cher
57. Boogie Wonderland, Earth, Wind and Fire
58. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away, Andy Gibb
59. What You Won't Do For Love, Bobby Caldwell
60. New York Groove, Ace Frehley

For #61 through #70, go here...

For #71 through #80, go here…

For #81 through #90, go here…

For #91 through #100, go here…

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Kitchen Memory: Haunted, Part Two

Blog reader Jenny C. has been kind enough to send us a very detailed and suspenseful kitchen memory, that also includes the bathroom, the rest of the house and the yard. We'll be running it in installments on Thursday afternoons. In part one,  which ran last week, Jenny takes a Polaroid of her family. When a blurry shape appears in the photo, Jenny teases her family by pretending it is a ghost. Here is part two:

Before those gaping holes of disbelief could utter anything, I continued. "Yes, the neighbors told us all about him, while he was alive that is. He lived here almost fifty years. Until he was eighty-two years old. Raised five daughters on this third acre of the world. " Drama usually worked best with this crowd.

"The neighbors said that they would tease him about his advancing age and he would reply not to worry that he planned to outlive the wall. " I gestured to the four-foot tall brick fence that encircled the sunken back yard; complete with rock garden surrounded birdbath, as clarification.

"That’s your dad," Mom was having none or this without a fight.

"Wish it was, really. But our ghost doesn’t mean any harm. He's just concerned about his property."

"He didn't die in the house, did he?" My sister Amy's eyes were big as saucers.

"No. He died one fall up North in his cabin during one of his traditional hunting trips." I paused for effect. "The brick wall fell down six months later."

"That's your dad," the stuck record insisted. So I agreed to take another picture. This time with witnesses. A bluff I figured would backfire all over me and my rouse would be short lived. Without the testimony of my photographic entourage my mom would go to her grave saying that that was dad crouched down in front of the house. So I took the second photo, all four of us balanced on the curb. Dad was at my right shoulder. I had two more relatives balancing on the curb next to him to testify that he was not in the picture.

The second shot and a third for good measure were stolen from the energy of the universe and we went back to the picnic table to watch the magic appear. I figured the joke was over until mom pointed to a spot on the surface.

"See, there he is again. Your dad is standing this time and has moved closer to the sidewalk."

Amy helped me out, "Mom, that's not Dad. Dad was standing on the curb next to me."

I bent over to look at the fairly clear image and Gary crowded in too. There was the same image, dressed in identical clothing, on a slightly different spot on the two pictures and in different positions. But he had on the same short sleeved, white dress shirt and long dress slacks. His face was blurred and non-existent really. But you knew he was there. My jaw dropped.

"Holy s___!" My infant daughter was within ear shot so I kept the rest of that thought to myself.

"That's your dad! Virgil! Girls! What do you think you are trying to pull?" Mom laughed but Gar, Amy and I all looked at dad who just shook his head and shrugged in disbelief too. The photo had been passed from hand to hand by now and this photographer was as impressed as any one with the results.

Next week: The ghost grows more intrusive.


We'd love to share your kitchen memories. Send them to us here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.

Meet Us At the Fairs

Join the fun and meet the Kitchen Magic folks this weekend at the State Fair in New Jersey's Meadowlands, or at the Nassau County Fair in Uniondale, NY.
The Meadowlands Fair will run through July 12, and has over 150 ride and attractions. On July 12, it’s combined with an auto and bike show. Hours are Monday to Thursday, 6 p.m. to 12 midnight; Fridays, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m. to 2 a.m.; and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 12 midnight.
The Nassau County Fair will run through Sunday and will have fireworks every night this weekend. Attractions include performing poodles, a menagerie of exotic animals, including lions and tigers, and a circus complete with aerialists and clowns. There are also racing pigs! The fair will open at 5 p.m. on Friday, and at 1 p.m.on the weekend.

Kitchen Magic goes to over 400 events a year. You can find where we'll be in your area here.

This blog hosted/created by kitchenmagic.com.