In Other News....

First, THANK YOU, all, for your support and words of encouragement.  It means more than you can know.  That last post was tough to write, tougher still to publish, but I'm glad I did.  Thank you, thank you. I feel better when I stick to a routine, so I'm going to try to post more regularly.  On that note.....

 

I decided, back in May, to remodel my kitchen.  It’s not horrible but the dishwasher is on its last legs, and it’s a smaller-than-standard model with no room to install a bigger one.  Plus the veneer is coming loose on some of the cabinetry, and the counter top is warped over the stove.  There are a few other issues, too.  Little things, but lots of little things, so it was time.

I contacted my carpenters, the team who did the updates in my living room last year, and they stopped over to take measurements and discuss what I wanted to change.  A couple days later, they sent me a computer generated image of what we discussed, and I gave the go-ahead to get started.  The first step was to have new light fixtures installed by an electrician, and that turned out to be a royal pain in the butt.

It cheeses me more than I can say to make an appointment with someone, only to have them stand me up.  No phone call, nothing.  If you don’t want my business, just say so, and we can both move on.  But they don’t do that.  Around here, it’s a problem with all the trades, not just electricians.  Plumbers have been even worse.   Compound that with the fact that I work nights, and often have to set my alarm to get up after very little sleep to keep these appointments, and you can imagine how irritated I get when it turns into a no-show.

I let the carpenters know that they would have to bump us down on their schedule, and kept trying.  Finally, at the end of July, I got ahold of a reputable electrician who  happened to have a small window in his schedule, just long enough to install some lights and add a couple wall outlets.  While he was taking care of that, I went to a supply place and chose my cabinets and flooring – on sale, no less!  Then I started packing up, so as soon as the cabinets came in the carpenters could get to work.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  When we bumped the carpenters, they started  a job that turned out to be a lot more involved than originally anticipated.  It’s looking like they won’t be able to get to us until the last week in October.   Meanwhile, my kitchen now looks like this:  

Holes in the ceiling ~

Holes in the walls.  Sigh.