We are all a little cranky
Apr 28, 2005 The Story of My Life
On Tuesday, we had our cabinets delivered. Tuesday was not a good day for it so we decided to reschedule but it turns out that when the big box home improvement store told us we could choose the day of delivery, this is only true if the day you choose happens to be the day they want to deliver it and so when we called to reschedule they pretty much laughed at us.
Tuesday the boxes arrived and the particularly big one they had to leave outside under a tarp because we don’t have a garage and they couldn’t get it in the door we left open for them (since we couldn’t be here). Brett put it in the back of the van instead. Wednesday the contractors came to count the boxes and make sure everything was in good shape (all but the corner unit since that was in the van and Brett takes the van to work).
As they were leaving they said, “So we’ll be here tomorrow to put it all in!”
“Ha ha,” I said. “You guys are pretty funny.”
“We are funny,” they answered. “But we’re totally serious. Think you could squeeze us in? Or else we could come back in a week.”
I know my husband and I knew he’d say yes but I told them I would have him call and when he did call, he of course said yes. My husband, he’s insane. You’ll see why in a minute.
To save money, Brett committed to tearing out our old kitchen — cabinets and countertops — so he had to do that and we were supposed to have two major appliances that we didn’t yet have. What this meant is that last night he went back to the big box home improvement store, bought the two appliances, moved everything out of the cabinets to the basement, tore out the cabinets, tore out the countertops (that was really noisy), yanked out the sink, pulled up the flooring where the cabinets would go (the original laminate from 1961), moved the debris out, moved the enormous corner unit from the van to the demolished kitchen, and moved the two appliances in (one of which clearly stated, “Do Not Move Alone — Serious Back or Other Injury Could Result”).
I sat on the floor in the hallway (since he also took apart and removed the kitchen table) typing up a book review, cleaning up some work messes and listening in case all of the banging, cursing and chaos woke either child.
I slept rather well, by the way, but Brett was too jazzed up to come to bed until sometime after 4am; he has to be at work by 8am this week.
The guys showed up after 9am but we weren’t here to greet them. I decided that we’d have to hustle out the door and give them room to work. I had the cell phone with me in case they had questions only I don’t actually know how to work this new cell phone so when they called, I juggled the phone around, pushing a lot of buttons and missed the call. Oh and I don’t know how to check voicemail. So back home we came (a little after noon) for some minor question to which I guessed the answer seeing as how I’m not the one who’s going to put the flooring in (ambitious Brett is going to do that, too, as well as the painting and changing out the ceiling fan). Then I took the kids back to the big bedroom where we scarfed down some barely nutritious lunch and I checked my email in case some other work mess was building while the baby pulled all of the clean laundry out of the dresser as is her wont.
Luckily work was fine however Noah was not because Peanut was in her crate and whining to come out and harass the seven men in our very small kitchen. Noah began to cry and told me he felt he was not being a good owner to her and that the whole thing made him feel guilty and depressed so I gathered him and Madison up and we went to the park, stopping on the way so he could buy some licorice.
(We stopped at one of the two convenience stores by us. They are little better than a Kwik-e-Mart except that neither are franchises. Noah came out smiling and said, “That’s the kind of place where everybody knows your name!” Apparently the guy behind the counter was very nice.)
Lots of other inconvenient but not major things happened, too, and more questions to which I guessed the answers. (”I don’t know,” I finally said. “But you probably know because you’re the professionals so why don’t you tell me what you want to do and why I should want you to do it.”) But now the cabinets are in and it’s a vast improvement. The problem is, however, that I pretty much hate change to my environment even when the change is positive. That’s just how I am. Brett knows this is how I am. I know this is how I am. But neither of us is ever quite prepared for how easily I come unglued when we make major change happen. For example, I have twice the cupboard space now. And twice the counter space. This remodel is a good thing. But I sat in the middle of the floor and cried because I felt homesick for my old, awful, ugly kitchen with too little space because at least then I knew where everything went and I didn’t have to think about it.
It will take 2 to 4 weeks to get counter tops so Brett will put plywood up top until we get that. We also have to get hardware for the cabinets. The sink isn’t back in yet and the dishwasher isn’t hooked up. Brett said maybe tomorrow night when he’s feeling better. We still have to pick out flooring and we can’t think of a color for the walls that we like. And there’s that fan that needs replacing.
I’m sure it will all be worth it when it’s over if I don’t go nuts by then.
April 29th, 2005 at 8:12 am
Oh I think I know whatcha mean. I silently gripe every day I cook in my little no counterspace hardly any storage space kitchen. I fantasize about vast countertops, numerous drawers and cabinets far as the eye can see… but really, if it changed tomorrow I’d have a breakdown crying, missing being able to have everything within arms reach.
Hang in there!
April 29th, 2005 at 9:50 am
I’m exactly the same way about change in my environment. During a major depression when I was 15, the apartment manager wanted to re-carpet our apartment, and my mom told them not to do my room because I couldn’t deal with it. Naturally, they did my room anyway, literally throwing EVERYTHING that wasn’t furniture into a large box. I thought I was going to die.
It’s nice to be grown-up, and have some control over this stuff.
April 29th, 2005 at 10:52 am
We just went through a minor kitchen reno…new floor and some new cupboards etc. I had to avoid the room like the plague while it was in progress…which was hard to do, because well, it is the kitchen! It was just an unsettling experience. I love it now though. A lot.
Just not the inbetween, unsettled part. That was yucky. I loved that Noah had a good corner store experience though. That is a nice thing.
April 29th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
Remodeling is incredibly difficult. I don’t think people realize just how much it can uproot your whole family and disrupt your routine. I’ll save you my horror story but will tell you that once it’s all done, you’ll feel so much better! Hang in there.
May 1st, 2005 at 1:09 pm
please oh please– post a picture for us home improvement hounds!