Embrace The Suck

I think I have stretched out the writing about our kitchen renovation just about as far as I dare. Although there are still a few things to put away, I am, for the most part, finished with both the redo and the telling of it. Now when I walk in the kitchen I get a yummy feeling of accomplishment. And when I read my journal posts I'm proud to feel a little like an Erma Bombeck apprentice - able to find humor in the mundane and meaning in the chaos. For awhile there, the blending of the new with the old seemed daunting. From the day I chipped that first cabinet door off its painted hinges, I had a good idea I was in over my head. Likewise, when I started writing I realized it might not be easy to find the fine balance between humor and whiney drama queen. In my opinion I think I measured up to both challenges. I gotta feel good about that. All in all I'd say it was a good experience. There was a lot to be done and a lot to learn. There were times when my emotions, both up and dow...

Wow! For awhile there I was really turning out the posts. I was on a writing roll. But as some great sage once said, "all good things must come to an end." I'm not sure I agree with that logic, yet I suppose there is some truth in it. I'm of the mindset that when the chocolate cake is gone, it's always good to have an apple pie waiting in the wings. My problem today is that I don't have much time. I'm on the run. So like the commercials for the 11:00pm news here is a little tease of what is to come. 1. The kitchen is done! Woohoo! The final pieces fell into place (or were shoved in a cupboard where history has proven that "out of sight, out of mind" is a 40 year old truism) with little trouble. All I needed was time. 2. I had a colonoscopy. I learned to my surprise that the a-n- t-i-c-a-p-a-a-a-t-i-o-n was way worse than the actual procedure. Of course I copped out at the end, put my journalistic career on hold and opted for what the nurses calle...

"Every project worth doing has a crisis stage." Luther Reynolds One of the more interesting HGTV shows I've been watching lately is called "Mission Organization." The perky young hostess -whom I suspect has probably never lifted a finger in her life or she'd have a job that's more difficult than wading through other people's stuff and saying something inspiring like "Oh, my!" with dramatic flare - leads the cameraman around a room piled high in debris that looks like a tornado blew through. In reality this is the way some poor couple has lived for most of their lives. I am not a pot who would dare to call a kettle black, but I am both fascinated and grossed out by the way some people live. Even my son's teenage bedroom or my daughter's grown-up bathroom would look, if not neat, at least liveable compared to some of these rooms. You get the picture .... After displaying the mess du jour, the hostess turns the couple over to a person ...

I've been so preoccupied lately that I haven't given much thought to things happening in the world outside of my kitchen. But, don't get me wrong. I'm not a complete hermit. I've heard about the new home run king, the miners trapped inside a mountain, and a heat wave covering most of the country. For reasons I've stated before [see June 26 post], I think inhaling paint fumes is somehow more pleasant than spending time processing the perplexing prose of the press. I can't explain why but this morning's story of an earthquake in Peru shook [no pun intended]me out of my self-induced stupor. I guess because it is just beyond my ability to comprehend something so horrific. Not that suicide bombings, ethnic cleansing and starvation in Darfur are not horrific. I think, perhaps, I've simply tuned those stories out. La, la! La, la! That's one way for this paint encrusted ostrich to keep her sandy fairy tale world devoid of reality. But wait! Just when I ...

After the cabinet guys left, I had the weekend to sit back and contemplate how wonderful everything looks. I'm having trouble deciding which improvement I like best: the pristine white laminated cabinetry, the fine paint job (not counting a few semi-gloss booboos), the new drawers or the cupboards with lazy susan swivel shelves. Oohlala, it is just too much to take in all at once. As kitchen mavens the world over know there is no rest for the weary. Monday morning dawned with sunshine and the realization that there was still a lot of work to do. The floor man called to say he'd be here bright and early Wednesday morning (today). That meant I had to step up my pace. I needed to finish the wallpapering and tackle the job of gently placing old "stuff" on new shelves. [Photo: Old floor autographed by Girl Cat] Wallpapering seemed the lesser of two evils. I've done that before, albeit more years ago than I can remember. I trusted my ability to complete the task. I trus...

Wh at a difference a day makes. Okay, so it was more like five days. Five of the hottest days of the season; yet luckily a week with no afternoon thundershowers. While I have no doubt that my very own "Home Improvement" tool men, BJ, Mark and Zack, could have weathered the rain, I suspect it would not have been good for the treasure trove of a tool trailer wet. Brad, the kitchen Tune-up contractor, was right on with his estimates ... number of days it would take to order all the parts; number of days it would take to do the work; number drawer pulls and knobs. His only teeny tiny discrepancy was the fact that the old cabinets were built in place so when the boys started pulling them off the wall, they sort of crumbled. Oops! This was not a problem for BJ, Super Carpenter. It did, however, become a bit of a problem for Dad's wallet. But what we got for a couple hundred dollars is two cabinets that rival any work of art. I'm talking awesome! So now that the carpenters a...

At the risk of sounding years older than I really am, I want to ask, "do you remember when?" Remember when you were a kid and you had to walk to school, uphill, in the snow, without a coat, or some such thing? Okay, okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But in my case, there IS a true story of me trying to get to the bus stop on a blustery winter's day when we lived at Great Lakes Naval Training Center near Chicago. In my memory, the hill was of Everest proportions, but I'm guessing if I saw it today it be more like a molehill on steroids. The snow and ice were, as I recall, something even Eskimos with sled dogs would have tried to go around. In reality it was most likely just a normal Chicago snowfall. The sidewalk I had to climb was right across the street from our house. It led to a set of stairs from which it wasn't much of a walk to the bus stop. I can only say that now with the benefit of hidnsight; I wouldn't have believed you when I was 7 years ol...