Take it for Granite...

... but it's really a metamorphic rock that was transformed from sandstone by tremendous pressure and heat.  I am so excited about this that I'm tossing out a quick sneak preview of our new countertops.  Installation began today in the kitchen.

I had selected the specific slabs myself, and Bruce and I had been over at the slab yard to help position the cutting forms for the best display, so we shouldn't have been surprised when we first saw them actually in place in the kitchen.

However, just between us girls, I jumped up and down and screamed like I hadn't done since the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show.

This stone is surely Nature's finest hour and most supreme creation...  Millennia of layers of sand and sediments laid down, and then compressed, twisted, heated, folded, and hardened into this treasure we'll be in gaping awe of for the rest of our lives.

Do stay tuned for the rest of the story, coming very soon.