The noise level was almost ear busting, dust so thick you choked and forget about seeing anything till it settled! A new gaping hole is now staring at me from the kitchen floor! Where moments before the stove had once stood with dinner simmering and THEN.......Just Kidding!!
Actually the hole is where the sink and cabinets once stood, or at least stood the best they could on a floor sooo rotten it was like walking on a swinging bridge! OK, not quite that bad. But bad enough this poor short gal was bending over more and more each day just to reach the sink! :-)
So, that's what we've been up to lately, or rather down to. Reconstructing the kitchen!! Yea!!
It started when I got this really great idea to put a want ad for used kitchen cabinets on Craig's List. Michael, my husband was working on the down stairs bathroom putting up walls, doors and all that good stuff, he wasn't really looking for another project and since he was skeptical that I would find anything anyway said he would check out any REASONABLE priced "finds" that I could come up with. I was about to give up hope, "new to me" cabinets and a solid kitchen floor was fading fast when I finally got an answer, someone in a town nearby had some used oak cabinets sitting in their garage waiting for me! For a REASONABLE price of course!! A few days later I'm moving the living room furniture around to make room for this wonderful find while Michael watched me with that "you owe me" look! ;-} Of course he wanted to wait and......I don't know why he wanted to wait. But anyway, I started tearing up, tearing out and causing all kinds of destruction to my kitchen. It was really stress relieving, very nice. It wasn't so nice when I bent his hammer though, word of advise...."DON'T TEAR UP YOUR HUSBAND'S HAMMER!!" It makes for a not so nice look on his face when he finds it, not to mention that you'll "owe" him again!
I was all prepared to tackle this project and be the push behind the man (well I couldn't do it all alone! ) and help make this kitchen a reality when.......Aren't friends wonderful!.......GREAT! really!......a truck pulled up and out came a great friend who started helping Michael finish the destruction I had started. While his wife and I kept the dining room chairs down and all the kids out of the way, the men went to work behind the sheet I had hung up to keep the dust contained. In they went with all manner of tools and contraptions, banging and loud noises came forth from the "operating room" while we waited. Soon another wonderful family happened by and soon he and his boys were got caught up in the excitement, his wife too took a chair and we talked and waited. In went more tools and lumber and out came loads of debri and dust. It began to get late and I was beginning to wonder about the guys, I slid glasses of tea and brownies under the curtain to keep up their strength, the soup and cornbread had gotten cold on the table.
Finally, the noise stopped and quietness buzzed in our ears. The proud dirty men emerged from behind the curtain, they were tired and hungry. We peeked into the kitchen to find a wonderful new floor where the gaping hole had been just a few hours earlier. They had torn out half the floor replaced the rotten joices and flooring and it was now ready to take on and hold up the "new to me" cabinets! I was sooo impressed with the amount of work done in one evening!!
A few days later the truck pulled up again, and as Michael and our friend began to work he mentioned that his wife was waiting for me and the kids at their house. I quickly pointed out the food, brownies and tea grabbed the kids and ran. I could only imagine how much work they could accomplish without the distractions!!
They installed half the cabinets that night and while the work isn't completed yet, I'm one HAPPY Momma! The old early 1940's homemade cabinets are being replaced with more modern custom built one's from the 70's with a few new plug ins thrown in for fun! What MORE can I ask for!!!
Michael is groaning, he knows I'll think of something!! :-D
Photo: My wonderful husband, laughing at me about something. I forget now what, but I'm sure it wasn't funny!! :-)
7 comments:
I continue to be amazed that you have time to keep a blog. Your family photos just blow me away. Is the cloth that you are cut from for sale or must it be inherited. Mom of two, feeling stressed by life:)
Hooray for new (to you) furnishings! You definitely want to get your own hammer, though. I've learned that every man has a certain taste in hammers, and it has to be just so. Woe be to the woman who breaks or loses the special hammer!
Hey Betsy! No problem, I can teach you how to be lazy, sit around and ignore your kids!! Just kidding :-)
You probably hear a lot from parenting sources that "mommy time" is important, I try to give myself a few moments here and there throughout the day to grab a computer moment or read the next paragraph in a book...whatever. I use the "engage,walk away and return" technique a lot. I get the kids involved in something, school work/project, puzzle, coloring...etc. I start out with them doing whatever it is with them then as they get involved I say "I'll be back in 10 mins. stay here and play." Then I get 10 mins for me to do laundry, dishes, clean the bathroom, or mommy time. Then I go back and be with the kids again, sometime the activity will last long enough for me to get two 10 min. moments. Nothing is stress free around here but my stress levels improved greatly when I made a daily schedule and purposed to stick to it as much as possible. It doesn't rule me, but it helps to guide the day and keep things rollings instead. It may take me several "moments" to finish a post or a book, or even the laundry but it helps me to know it's in progress. Time is a crazy thing, if you don't harness it and make it work for you it just slips away!! So, I'm not sure you would want my cloth, it has crazy patterns all over it! :-P
I'm just rambling on....... :-)
Glad you liked our photos, trying to get everyone to look at the camera can be sooooo hard sometimes! :-) I loved the pictures you posted a couple days ago, fall can be sooo pretty and peaceful especially in the morning fog!!
Thanks for your comment!! :-D
Hi Evenspor! Yes!! I think I better go find some "mommy" tools! Nothing pink ya know, just "mine". That way I can stay out of trouble!.... Yeah right! :-D
Wow...you have a lot on your plate!!!! I do not have any idea how you manage to get everything done!!!! I'd like a little bit of that cloth that you are cut from also!!!!! You are definitely 1 in a krillion!!!!!!
Katie, post a few pictures and then put up a link at Momformation if you want to enter my contest to win a year subscription to Real Simple magazine. Wait. Do you have time to read magazines? ;-)
Hey Kathy! Your so sweet! You write like I do, lots of exclamations!!! ;-) Thanks for the comment, I'm not getting much house work done right now though, I'm sitting in a pile of sawdust!! Michael came home early and started the kitchen project up again. I might not have a stove for awhile, this is bad and good I guess! :-) Rome wasn't built in a day!!
Thanks Kim, I'll see what I can do for a picture. Maybe I can find a before picture of my old kitchen cabinets. Then all I have to do is figure out how put in a link!! :-) I'm a little on the blond side!! Michael says I don't have time to read magazines anyway!! haha
Oh, I'd have given you my 1958 cabinets if you'd have asked! LOL. Awesome for you!!!!!!!!!!!!
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