Thursday, May 31, 2007

what's cookin' in the Kitchen? Part I

So, I've gotten lots of questions about this remodel. I guess there's more to that story than just using it as an excuse for not posting. So, I'll post on it a bit. It'll probably take a bunch of posts, but that's how it goes. My horoscope said that today I'd need to keep a positive thought because I would have negative energy today. Well, that was really true. I got my first bill for the first week of work and I had to sit down. Oi, this is expensive. So, in keeping with the bad news, I'll dedicate this post to all the bad stuff.

First, the brain center of your house is your kitchen. When you load out of your kitchen, certain organizational patterns just don't exist anymore. So, you miss a lot of appointments, practices, games, or whatever you have going on. This brings on the next really bad thing: trying to explain being late or just blowing the appointment. You start with "well, we're having this kitchen remodel done...". The incredulous look you get from everyone, and I do mean everyone, makes it worse. You can tell they're thinking "you blow off our date, and now you're throwing this 'Im so rich, Im getting my kitchen done' in my face again". Maybe they're thinking "I don't care about your stupid kitchen stop talking about it". Regardless, your organization goes out the window, and you miss lots of appointments and you don't have a reason that anyone cares to hear. That really sucks and it puts alot of negative pressure on all of your relationships.

Second, there's dust everywhere. Sure, you tape plastic to curtain off the area, but it gets everywhere anyway. Someone told me to just do a cursory cleaning after the construction is done because it takes up to 6 months for all of the dust to settle. I figure the heating vents will need a cleaning, the furnace will need a service and fresh filters will be necessary too. Wheee!

Third, you have no kitchen. Ok, that's pretty obvious, but after eating microwavable pre-packaged foods, or worse, bags of grease from the clown-restaurant, you really miss your kitchen. Your dishes are probably disposable. So, you have either the guilt of throwing dishes away, or you're washing plastic utensils in the sink (see more on that below). Rather than cabinets, you're dining out of boxes. You might read that and sarcastically say "aw, boo hoo for you". Yeah, well after 3 weeks of that, it looses its charm. Sure, we all have moved into a new apartment or house and had to live that way for a few days. Try 3 weeks and you're still looking at another 3 weeks before its over. Yeah - that sucks.

Fourth, for a sink, you use the bathroom. Ever had to shave for a job interview around a sink full of dishes? Probably not since college. Well, I did that last week. Fun. I got the job, though, but I digress. If you already had a crowded bathroom counter (like we did), add a bowl, spoon, and cup for every member of your house to that counter. Now add 2 more cups per person because no one likes washing a cup, much less the whole batch.

Fifth (and last), your house becomes a mouse-maze. I didn't really think about just how much stuff was getting boxed up when we prepared for the demo. Those boxes needed to go somewhere, and it couldn't be the kitchen. So, half of our living room is stacked up with boxes. We have a semi-kitchen in our front entry-hall, with a table on each side with boxes all around. The new cabinets are in our dining room in boxes. As a result, you can't go more than 2 steps without stepping around a box, or something else. Its a bloody mouse-maze, and it slowly drives you crazy.

Basically, you're disoriented because your house is running without a head. You're eating poorly, there's dust and boxes everywhere, and you can't find anything... oh, and it lasts at least 6 weeks.

I'll post some progress pictures and some positive thoughts next time...

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