Two Truths and a Lie

Truth: Apparently my Uncle Morris, who has worked in construction for many years, has a hypothesis for determining how long a project will take.

X*2+10%

What you think it'll take, multiplied by two, plus 10%.

We have proven this hypothesis true.

The kitchen project is more or less (we'll go with less) on schedule. We've been very busy tackling both anticipated and unanticipated projects. I have learned that our kitchen is as complex as an onion, the floors at least. The more layers we peel off, the more we find and have to peel up. For all of you who think you have a clean house, have you checked your sub-sub-sub floor for dust bunnies?

Truth: My mother has a theory that when your husband sends you on a "simple" errand to "just buy this" or to just "have this done to the car," he cannot be trusted. Inevitably, the sales person will stray from the script you've rehearsed, making your handwritten shopping list from your husband worthless. They will not carry the screws you are looking for, and they will grill you on which drill bit you have and if it's the correct one, because the Phillips 2 bit will not work with this torq screw that uses a T20. You will sheepishly insert the self-defeating "All my husband told me..." They will likely roll their eyes at you. Not that I hold any ill feelings towards the sales man at Ace's Hardware on Winnetka Avenue.

Lie: I cannot operate a power drill.

It's a lie, it's a lie! Cause I can! I am a drilling machine and have sore forerms and blisters to prove it!

Well, time for the Easter bunny to do a few preparations. Happy Easter! :-)

[No pictures today. The pictures would be deceiving in that you wouldn't be able to see any progress (like shiny new appliances), and knowing how hard we've been working, my ego can't handle that.]

Here We Go!

An update on the kitchen project, for those of you who have been curious:

Last weekend I packed up the kitchen (I'm getting pretty good at packing after living in 9 different places in the last 7 years), then this weekend we gutted the kitchen, scraped the popcorn texture off the ceiling, vacuumed, sanded the ceiling, vacuumed, took out the laminate flooring, found 2 layers of classic 1970s linoleum, pulled up 2 layers of classic 1970s linoleum, vacuumed, scraped the floor, vacuumed. Did I mention we vacuumed? And Kevin did some other odds and ends that I don't understand. Wires? Phishing? Fishing? Better him than me.

Living in a construction zone is quite the feat for a germ-a-phobe such as myself, but I/we are surviving. We have a make-shift kitchen set-up in our front room, the fridge in another room (just a quick trip outside -- we're struggling to get above 20 degrees still -- through the garage and mud room since the kitchen is plastic/taped off), sink in the basement...We do have a freezer full of leftover food and are still managing to keep a fridge stocked with fruits and vegetables, so I really can't complain. Add to that a few bags of Easter candy, which we dug into early, and we're all set for a busy month or so!

It was a busy and productive weekend, and quite gratifying. I say that now, showered, sitting, breathing (relatively) dust-free air, and in clean clothes, although in the midst of tearing up the linoleum, I remember asking Kevin to remind me of ripping up linoleum when I'm in childbirth, just to see which I'd rather be doing. (Mothers, don't harass me for that comment. There's a good chance I'd jump at the chance to be back in Demo. It'll be interesting to see).

Kevin is a super hard-worker, so he keeps me going. I've learned all kinds of new things this weekend and have a few blisters and lots of sore muscles to show for it. Tomorrow I learn something new again when I start my first day at a high school, where I'll be working one day a week through the end of the school year, a contract placement through my current employers.

So lots of new things and a bit of instability, but we're hanging in there!

Thanks for checking in!

Back when life was "normal"

The Zone