We're up to the letter K at the a2z4u and me meme. Don't forget to check out what the rest of the a2z memers(?) have to say about K this week! (I can coin a new word for people participating in a meme, right?)

K is a strange letter. King, kitten, kit, kindness, kid, kindle, key, kite, kale, Kellogg's, kin, kilt, kink, ketchup, kelp, koi, kvetch ... Knute, as in Knute Rockne, famous football coach at Notre Dame University. (My mother-in-law intended to name my husband Knute. He ended up as John Patrick, thank the Lord.) 


If your house is anything like mine, the K word that gets the most use is KITCHEN. We have an open kitchen/dining room. My desk and computer are in the kitchen, because it seems logical to put my workspace, well ... in my main workspace.  

I write, check email, balance my checkbook, do laundry (just off the kitchen), and prepare meals at the same time. When all four of my kids were homeschooling, which we did at the kitchen table, sometimes I felt like the rest of my house suffered from disuse.

The kitchen is the pulse of the home. Time is marked out in the thrum of daily meals, in the march of birthday celebrations, holiday gatherings, and in the height measurements ticked off in pencil just inside the pantry. It's where you go to satisfy your hunger not just for food, but for security and familiarity and comfort.


The kitchen is the "you are welcome here" room. The living room is too formal, the family/TV room too informal, the bedrooms too personal and the bathrooms ... too small. And that would be weird, besides.


Do you love your kitchen, hate your kitchen, or feel indifferent about your kitchen?