Remodeling Update - The Kitchen

The contract stated that work should take 3 - 4 weeks to complete. Work started on May 6th. We're now 10 days past the deadline. Let's focus on the kitchen for a moment.

~The lights haven't been put in yet, so this is a really dark photo. We will have to touch-up paint on the doors where sanding the new wall behind the fridge caused paint to peel.~

~Same basic shot, just taken with the cell-phone camera. Lights are in & we're very happy there is a dimmer switch!! This is with them as bright as they get, note the fan light still isn't on.~

~This Mexican Star light just got put up today! I've been wanting one for years, and we finally got one after our very antique pull-down, cast-iron lamp got broken. I think the star light looks better there than the other one would've, but that doesn't mean I'm not still mourning the loss of the other light~

The lights are now, FINALLY, all in. Really, I was beginning to doubt they would all get put up! The ceiling is done, minus the molding that will go around it. That should go up at the beginning of next week. Josh is, hopefully, staining the molding tomorrow. So, we'll see.

~Well, at least the new gas stove is in the kitchen and working! But check out the clutter & missing cabinet/counters!~

The stove finally made it's way out of the front room of the house and into the kitchen, where after about a week, it finally got hooked up. The new vent, which will vent the heat outside (the current vent just blows it all back in!) is still sitting in it's box in the front room.
This is my first gas stove. What do I think of it? I LOVE this stove. It's so cool, and it makes me feel like a proper cook. However, there are some downsides, at least temporary transitional ones:
1) Gas stoves put out a LOT of heat!! I was boiling potatoes today and felt like there was a roaring fire in the kitchen!! This fact is NOT helped by 90 degree and humid-as-hell days, nor having a house that doesn't have AC, nor the vent being in the front room. I'm REALLY keeping my fingers crossed that the new, more powerful, vent will suck a lot of the heat outside. Till then, I'm trying to count the blessings of being Southern and sweaty.
2) It friggin' takes FOREVER for water to boil!! The first thing I tried cooking was pasta. I put the lid on the pot (set to whistle when the water boiled). It never whistled, the water eventually over-flowed (which puts out the damn flame but leaves the gas on), and the pasta was very well-done! -- I'm hoping that, with time, I'll just get used to it and adjust my cooking times. I mean, I used to have really slow dial-up on my old computer and I learned to sign on, go make myself a nice cup of hot tea, and by the time I got back I might almost be online. It never bothered me. Hopefully this will be similar.
3) Things take longer to cook on the stove-top. This really isn't such a pain, just an interesting learning curve. But I wanted to include it as a "beware if you're trying to fry an egg or something" and you're not familiar with gas stoves.

I love my new stove though. Despite the current downsides, the stove rocks. The bottom drawer is a warming drawer by the way. That'll come in handy come the holidays!! AND, the stove is a 5 burner stove, with the 5th burner being a long oval burner in the center. The stove came with a cast iron piece to put there that is a griddle on one side and a grill on the other. Oh yea, it rocks.

One thing I am REALLY not liking though is the clutter. It is driving me up one wall and down another and straight into hiding in the closet or bathtub (I hide in weird spots). There is practically NO work room right now. We're out of spaces to store stuff as well because we can't put anything else in the dining room until the pantry cabinet gets put in the back hallway. Can't store it on the extra shelving in the laundry room until the tool cabinet gets put in the back hallway.
Every time I turn around it seems like I bump into something, knock something over, or lose something. It is depressing, aggravating, maddening (and not in the good way), and I am not certain how much more I can take. On my good days I feel like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit.



On the other days my sense of humor about it all is lost and I listen to Johnny Cash & Ray Charles sing "Busted" and I cry and sing along.



Harmon is building the kitchen cabinets this week, and they should begin going in on Friday. He's working on Saturday, which he ought to be saying he took off Monday for personal reasons, and hopes to have most of the tile laid on the counters by the end of the day on Saturday.
Today was a rough day, I wasn't amused and the delays are getting on my nerves. Which leads me to my next point: the extra costs of renovation.

Everyone says to expect it to cost more. So far, financially speaking, the extra costs have come in that some of our older appliances (deep freezer, old toilet) have suddenly had to be replaced. The true extra costs are on your nerves. The effect of the clutter. Of not knowing what is going to be happening from day to day. Of thinking that __x__ is getting done on Monday but it doesn't get done till Wednesday a week or two later.
Of the cost of take-out food!! UGH!!! I HATE TAKE-OUT FOOD!!! I WANT REAL FOOD!! This has proven a lot harder to accomplish than I thought. I thought I could work around them. I was wrong. Real food takes time. From day to day I don't know what I'll be able to access or when I will be able to access it. The deep freezer (where meat is stored) might be pushed with it's door up against the wall (so they can sand the floor under it). No getting meat out early enough for dinner there. The floor might have just gotten another coat of sealant on it. No getting into the kitchen to make some quick lunch today! Every time I drive to McDonald's to get food I am filled with disgust and anger. Mostly all of it directed at myself for not better planning so that we could've avoided having to go there. Excuses can be made, but when it comes down to it, they're still just excuses, and I am full of guilt and self-anger over it. And I long, long, long to make some good ole biscuits in my new oven. For the room to roll out the dough. For real food, slow food, homemade food.

Slowly, it is all coming along. The work that is done is fantastic. It is just taking a lot longer than I expected, despite warnings from those who've "been there and done that" that it would, that it always does. Guess I hoped that a tanked economy that nobody was building in would result in contractors that were happy for the work and would be trying harder to sell themselves.
The kitchen really is looking fantastic and I do love going in there and seeing the things that have been done. The dogs love it too. The tile floor is apparently much cooler than the wooden floors.

I will try my best to retain my sanity and not turn into the mega-bitch that many people know I can be and that my ex-husband REALLY knows I can be.

The Bitch Has An Idea

One thing I get a little obsessive about (I know, I know, just one thing? ha!) is decorating magazines and crap like that. Ok, most people don't likely phrase an obsession "crap like that" but it's me we're talking about so you are not shocked.

I was reading on Natural Home about creating an outdoor oasis. Don't you just love that idea? Doesn't it immediately conjure up wonderful images? Hot tubs, sparkling pools, gorgeous tile work, natural stone that is also a cool waterfall, perfect plants, lounges, throw pillows, and of course the cute couple we think we are in our heads, complete with 6 pack abs (for both of us), bikini-hot bod for me, and sexy accent for him.

........... mmmmmmmm ...........

What was I talking about?

Oh yea. So, I was reading this and looking at all the really neat things they've done around the country. All green of course. All fabulous. All created via hiring an architect.

Well, fucking DUH!!! Of course we could ALL have an outdoor oasis if we wanted to shell out the insane amount of money it would cost to hire an architect to magically turn our ideas into his dream into our reality.
Didn't I already put a toe into this pool once? Isn't that when Structures in Roanoke was willing to gut my kitchen for nearly 10 times the price of my current contractor?? And that was without the ideas. Sorry to be crass, but my sphincter begins to hurt when I think about how much more it would've cost to get the ultra-groovy designer with ideas!

And that is what really pisses me off about these magazines. If someone did it themselves it is likely because they already ARE architects, or designers, or master gardeners, or fucking someone who is.
When is there an article centered around 'The bitch had an idea.'??? Maybe that wouldn't sell. Maybe we need pearls and heels and perfectly coiffed hair. But then would that be real? Seriously .. who in their right minds has an ALL WHITE kitchen, and yes bleached wood does count here, when they have 5 boys?? That snazzy little alcove for sports equipment, perfectly color-coded and labeled is such utter bullshit.

It just ain't real. And obviously I am even less perky and rainbow-kitty-fluff than usual today. Today I was trying to navigate through what was once our dining room & is now a cluttered mess and bumped into a chair. Wouldn't be bad except the chair was holding our antique, cast iron, Lomax lamp. All I heard was the shattering of glass.
It was supposed to have been hung back up on Monday, but the fucking electrician didn't show. Too busy at another job. So it was supposed to be done on Tuesday. Then Wednesday. By the time he got his ass over here on Thursday there were other things he HAD to work on.
So yea, my butt bumped the chair & caused it to fall, but his ass should've had it hung up properly several times over this week. (By the way, in case you're interested in who NOT to call, here is the guy's name -- RON STEVENS. He works in the Salem/Roanoke VA area. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY!)

To replace the entire lamp with a replica would cost $400 + shipping. To get just the glass parts would be closer to $200 + shipping.
But now I am thinking do I want to replace it? Is this a sign to go in a different direction? I've been looking at some Mexican Star Lights and I really like them. I've always been drawn to lighting like that, so maybe this is a sign?
And then we're (because I've talked with Justin about this) thinking: do we hang it there though, or do we want to do this somewhere else??

And this is what brings me back to being irked at these stupid magazines. These magazines that make it look so fucking easy, but if you're actually thinking for yourself and making the decisions for yourself, it is anything but.

Maybe I'll start my own damn magazine. I'll call it "The Bitch Has An Idea Y'all"

Hate & Letting Go

Yes, yes, you've seen this photo before when I was being Primo Bitch. I couldn't find my "angry me" photo, so this is gonna have to be close enough.

I guess I never realized how often I say that I hate something. I tend to hate a lot of things. I'm really not that much of a people person, though I try to be. I just end up REALLY not liking a LOT of people. (Given the number of people that are out there one could make the argument that I'm still left with LOTS of people to like ... but still, and I digress as usual)

Being a parent brings into sharp contrasts some flaws you might not know about yourself. Like things you tend to say. Both boys now walk around saying they "HATE" this or that, particularly Tristan. -- Not good, and I hang my head in parental shame knowing he likely learned it from me.

There are things you can learn from or that you can be doomed to repeat, and I firmly believe if you don't learn from it early on the lesson (and consequences) get rougher each time you repeat it. So, I am going to list some things I would normally say I hate (and part of me still does) and then I am going to do my best to let them go. It is Spring, things are growing anew, life begins again, it is time to let some of these things fade away.

~RSVP - Actually, I LOVE RSVP, what I can't stand is the mass of people who completely & blatantly ignore them.

~"Mouth Noises" - This is something that now I've gotten the whole family hating. And yes, hate is an appropriate noise here. And I feel a little guilty about that. I won't stop hating these noises (and, VERY seriously, don't think it is funny and make them around me please), but I do think it is time to try and find a mantra or happy place or SOMETHING other than anger and outrage. <---- Your ideas are welcome here folks!!

~Drama - Not the drama you took in school, that was fun! No, I don't like lots of drama in my life. Which is not true, I LOVE it. Growing up with divorced parents, custody battles, and younger brothers, I learned to THRIVE in it. But it isn't something I WANT to thrive in. It isn't something I want to love. Justin has been really good helping me learn to at least try and avoid this. So, Drama, it's been a wild ride, but I gotta let you go.

~Idiots, Cruel People, & general Jack-Asses - Over the years I've tend to lose friends for the very strangest of reasons. Someone once pointed out that if you like the freaks and want to hang out with the freaks, you gotta watch out for the FREAKS. You know, there's the "hey, you're a Freak, man!!" and then there's a "oooohh, dude that person is a freak, back away slowly." The two can be hard to distinguish. That isn't just the reason I've lost friends, but when you straddle two worlds (I've always said I feel like I'm living somewhere between a Dead Show and an episode of Frasier), it gets hard trying to find friends who are long-run friends.
There are also the idiots & jack-asses we all know and loathe. The crazy neighbors who no amount of reasoning and common-sense works on. The people who make your fingers cringe mid-air, fixed in the position of choking their necks.

The cruel people who just seem out to hurt you. Or who you thought you were close with only to suddenly be shunned by and dropped from their lives without even the decency of an explanation, leaving you with the haunting questions of "what did we do?"

I've realized these are people you simply can't expect anything logical from, no matter how much you may deserve it or no matter how much the situation begs for it. It just ain't going to happen. And like the driver who cuts you off and you spend the next hour or so bitching about -- you're the one bitching and angry, you're the one carrying about the stress, you're the one ultimately doing damage to yourself.
SO - To those people (and if you read this, you know who you are), I'm letting you go. Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "No one can hurt you without your consent." And, you don't have my consent anymore. Part of me wants to go all Red Queen and yell "Off with their heads", but I thinks Mrs. Roosevelt said it better. Our run is done, you can go on now.

I don't want to end this with the thought of the evil Red Queen, so instead I will end it with this. 1) If you're hating something, I hope you can find the courage and strength to try and let it go. Heal yourself and worry not about the fools.
2) I would REALLY love to hear any ideas you have for ways of dealing with a noise that you can't control but that still drives you batty. How do you find your Zen in those moments?

3) Welcome Spring. Welcome to flowers blooming everywhere and the wonderful things they promise us: beauty, fragrance, shade from the heat, and food to come. - Below is a photo of one of our apple trees blossoming.