I’m sitting here quivering with anticipation of yet another day lulled by the gentle sounds of hammers and saws with the underlying murmur of strange men’s voices emanating from our kitchen. Ah, the joys of home improvement cannot be captured by mere words – they must be experienced firsthand to truly be appreciated. Yesterday saw the total demolition of said kitchen, including the proverbial kitchen sink. No less than one hundred times did I consider doing something in there last night that would have required a flat surface, such as, oh, say a countertop, only to remember that the only flat surface remaining was the floor. Needless to say, it was a long night.
It would be nice if today would rectify that situation, but the repairs today are only another step in the journey toward kitchen-hood. The falling tree that prompted this endeavor was kind enough to not only destroy the ceiling in the kitchen, but to also let in enough rain to pretty much decimate the walls with water damage. Today, they are replacing ceiling and walls, and preparing them to be painted (which we will do ourselves at a later date, perhaps this weekend). Thus, we will have another day without counters, cabinets or appliances (except our trusty refrigerator which was not damaged and will have to be replaced when funds allow).
This has certainly been an adventure, one which we would not have undertaken without the impetus of a tree crashing through our roof. We’re not the kind of people who can save money towards home improvements. We’re more the kind of people who barely manage to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck. We’ll start to get a bit ahead when some catastrophe or other drains our back accounts, and May and June certainly provided more than their share. So, yeah, completely remodeling the kitchen would not have happened except through an act of God.
Part of the adventure has been the multitude of decisions that have had to be made in the course of remodeling. Decision making is not our forte – it sometime takes hours for us to decide what to have for dinner – so this has been agonizing. It started when they brought us this chain from which dangled a couple hundred laminate chips from which to choose our cabinets and countertops. We would settle on one pair with a sense of relief, only to have someone suggest another pairing that would also appeal to us. Then the contractor threw in the possibility of wood cabinets, just to stir things up a bit. We finally just clenched our teeth and picked something that we thought we could both live with and sell to someone else should we ever decide to move.
So, tomorrow the cabinets, counters and appliances we have chosen should be installed and we’ll finally see the results of these decisions. Our overriding fear is that what looked good on two chips held side by side will NOT look good in full-sized glory. We picture ourselves standing in our new kitchen, looking at each other and exclaiming “Yuck” in disgusted unison. I actually doubt this will occur. Even though we’ve been counter-less for less than a day, we will be too thrilled with the ability to set a glass on a counter again to worry about the color of the countertop. And don’t even talk to me about microwaves – how on earth did we survive without them!
The saga is almost over and I’m thrilled with the prospect of our lives returning to normal – or at least as normal as it ever was. I’m sure that in the fullness of time (like 10 or 20 years) we’ll look upon this time with fond memories. At this point, we’re willing to settle for survival of the experience. So far, so good, but the worst has yet to befall us. What we’re awaiting now is the “butcher’s bill” for the Battle of the Kitchen. That, more than the memory of this experience is most likely to ensure that future home improvements will also need to be spurred by disaster – unless another tree falls through a roof, we’re just going to have to live with the house, just the way it is.
1 Feedback.
Really enjoy your blog! Hope your kitchen remodel is soon done. Focus on the way it will look - maybe that'll help. (And a trip to Hawaii wouldn't hurt 
by sometime soon 
Thanks for dropping in, sweetness - it was great to see you! 
Take care of that arm, my friend, and talk to the doc if you need to... 
Just wanted to let you know I've subscribed to your blog so I can keep up with you more easily. 
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