It's Here

Yesterday we finally got the last piece of the kitchen remodel puzzle. The wood panel for the dishwasher door was finally made right. The third time was the charm.  Don't worry about the red light on the floor below the dishwasher, it is there to tell us when the dishwasher is running, yes it is that quiet. The picture is at the bottom of the blog post. 

I started the day with running the first load of laundry and running the dishwasher at 6 am. Then at 8 I dropped Eric off at his day program. Then I did a drop off at Goodwill. Then I ran to Frys to pick up some protein bars for Lisa, the ones that they did not have at Target yesterday.  Then it was more laundry and more loads of Tupperware through the dishwasher.  Not all the Tupperware that I packed before the remodel will go back into the kitchen.  I will pick out the pieces that I want, then Teri will go through and take what she wants, followed by Lisa.  So far it looks like I am elimating some where between 50 to 66% of the Tupperware.  I will also start another box for Goodwill.  

At the same time that I am putting away the kitchen, I am getting ready for the living room remodel. I think it will mostly be the carpet but might include some new doors.  So I have to pack up yet another room. Would anyone one be suppressed if I said that I found more yarn and fluff in the living room? I just don't know where all the furniture is going to go.  I would also like to thank Teri for letting me use her room for a staging area for all the boxes again. 

Now I either must wind down for the night or get some more unpacking done. My gut feeling tells me that I should try to get some sleep.  

A Change of Pace

I am making a lot of progress in reorganizing the kitchen. I have almost all the boxes empty, which is a good thing, because I need to pack up the living room next.   As I am putting things away I am still paring things down. I have enough drawer space to see exactly what I have.  Since I have started putting things away I have managed to fill an entire box for Goodwill. 

Eric went to program today. I took part of the day off and found sometime to knit with friends.  I also found some time to do some shopping. I found a perfect gift for Eric's birthday later this month.  I cut my shopping trip short so the remodeler could put on the new dishwasher panel. It is finally right.  I will take a picture tomorrow when the light is better.  

The New Kitchen

I am showing the mostly finished kitchen.  The dishwasher door will be changed and 1 shelf is still missing. Meanwhile I unpacked 5 more boxes and found new homes for everything.  I still have not found the box with the kitchen knifes. Sorry Lisa it was not in the box with the baggies. We also have way too many wine glasses, so the running joke at dinner was how were we going to break some, we are a little behind in breaking them.  We have an even dozen that we still have from wedding gifts.   

The kitchen came out well.  It looks like it might have come straight from Pinterest. Everything was a total colabration, give and take on all sides.  We are a great team.  

Finishing Work

Today the bathroom sink was finished. The floor boards were also finished.  The only thing left for the kitchen remodel is the new dishwasher front panel. The repairs to the master bathroom and a little dry wall in the bedroom start at 7 am tomorrow.  Followed by repainting of the bathroom. 

Meanwhile I am starting to put the kitchen back together. I also cooked dinner for the first time since the start of the remodel today.  A nice pot of chicken soup. The only glitch I ran into was that I could not find the kitchen knifes. I forgot to note which box that I put them into. So I put the soup together with only a paring knife and peeler. Three other boxes were emptied and put away.  

Mean while Eric and I continue to try to recoup from this yucky cold.  While we did not give John permission to get the cold, he got it anyway.  So we will try to stay away from everyone until we feel better.  

Today's Progress

Eric has the crud de jour that is going around his day program. He was up until the wee hours this morning and then was up again at 5am.  The thing that I don't like about this bug is that his fever is still going up. There is also a lot of congestion and coughing. At least he slept most of the day. Unfortunately I could not nap as work was going on in the house.  

I spent part of the day decluttering the house.  I managed to get a nap when John came home.  Afterward we started deciding where things are going to go. One of the first things we did was put all of Eric's breathing equipment in its own special cabinet.  The Scoba also got its own special place in a cabinet, so he is no longer a tripping hazard.  John is great at finding the boxes and up packing.  We started with dishes, cups and spices.  John worked on the dishes and I did the spice rack. 

The last of the construction should be finished on Wednesday.  Including the fixed dishwasher panel.  The panel as it is now does not match the rest of the cabinets. 

Not as Planned

A little more house cleaning got done today. John found a glitch in the Comcast cable connection for the new cable line we are using.  He managed a patch that should work until we can schedule a service appointment. I did laundry, cleaning the craft room and taking care of Eric.  

I look forward to an interesting week. Eric has some kind of bug with a low grade fever and a wicked cough. The house should be finished this week. Although I do have to ask the contractor why one kitchen panel is not beveled and the color is not like the rest of the doors and drawers. It looks like it is from someone else's kitchen.  The replacement bathroom sink was not the same model so the drain we ordered did not fit. A replacement will be here Wednesday, so that is when the guest bathroom will be done.  

I can't wait until I start putting everything away. There will be major changes.  The old pantry will now be a storage closet. Eric's smart vest machine will no longer be in the middle of the floor. Formula will have its own storage place.  The box clutter will be gone, so will the temporary plastic storage container we have had for a decade.  

Chocolate and Spice

Today the spice rack was put in. I have more room than I thought, with two pull out trays. John also wiped down the new fridge while I was at knitting.  So we cleaned out the old fridge after dinner and loaded the new fridge.  The new fridge is smaller than the old one. I am sure that is a good thing since there are only two of us using the fridge.  The chocolate shelf is also much smaller.  This is also a good thing, I will have less chocolate in the house.  Did I mention we also got the wood panel on the dishwasher.  

Getting There

Today was spent doing bits and pieces on the kitchen remodel. The counter was polished.  Bits of missing grout, electrical plates were put in place. The exhaust system was put in place. The exhaust system can be a little different with an electrical range.  Excess grout was washed off. The back door and base plate were repaired. 

I on the other hand found that that if I put my phone on my left ear everything sounds all squeaky and funny.  I am using the medicine that I got yesterday. I was very tired all day and only got about 5% of my to do list done.  Hopefully the ear will heal fast.  I still have a lot of work to do.  John started the Bookman's runs. I made the first trip to Goodwill for this project.  

Saturday's Progress

The first part of the morning was spent cleaning and organizing the craft room.  I managed to. combine to jewelry supply boxes into one box. I am cleaning the room from left to right.  I am about halfway done.  Right now I am going through all my books, deciding which ones to keep. 

Part of the kitchen remodeling project involves reorganize all the srounding rooms.  So those of those who know me know that the bookcase in the den was 3 deep with books and other stuff. So the second part of the day involved going through all my. Cookbooks and fiber arts books. I am going to let some books go. The knitting books will go to the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild for their raffle prizes.  3 cookbooks have already left the house with my friend Lisa.  I have 2 boxes and 2 bags for Bookman's. This is the picture of today's progress. The top shelf is being reserved for for the TiVo, since John will move the tv to the other side of the den when the kitchen is finished.  

No Workers Today

Today was a day without contractors in the house. So I tried to catch up with laundry and cleaning. I almost got through Eric's laundry today, all 5 loads. I am happy to say that the new larger counter is a great folding table. Apparently no matter how many loads that I wash and fold in a day, tonight's aide determined that I did too much of Eric's laundry and only put away 3 loads. Since Eric is asleep, I will put the rest of the laundry away tomorrow. Eric did manage to make another load tonight. I am debating putting on before I go to sleep so I can start with the fussy loads tomorrow.

I packed up the back splash tile that we did not choose, John will return the samples tomorrow. I also worked on the bookcase and have one shelf finished. I managed to fill another bag of books for Bookman's. The recycle bin is now half full, I hope to fill it by Sunday. I also sent a few bags to the trash bin. With so much tile, I also did a quick dust mop, I think that may now be a daily chore. Not bad for 5 hours of house cleaning.

I managed to get to Target for a few things we were out of. I seems like ages since I went shopping with coupons. I forgot to use my Cartwheel app in the store and left about $1.00 on the table.

I have made a decision tonight to go through all my knitting books and donate the ones that I no longer want to the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild for the monthly raffle prizes. Another great reason to join Tucson's only knitting guild.

I am hitting the 16 hour make of my day, with most of it working, so I think I will call it a night. 5 am comes very early, but I seem to be waking up at 5 am with no alarm like I did when I was younger.

Back on Track

The down side of remodeling is the deep cleaning that goes with it.  Today I started a third box for John to bring into Bookmans, our local used book store. I am going through all the books before they get put back on the shellfs. Tucked underneath some books that are leaving was a picture of Eric and some of his friends from so last century at the Manzanita Roundup, the school carnival for the kids.  It made me want to cry at all we have lost over Eric's lifetime. He was sitting up so straight in his chair and looked so cute.  It makes me want to hate the ML4 even more.   I guess I can not sit here and cry.  I need to go back to deep cleaning and I hope not to find anymore buried pictures today.  

The backsplash also got finished today.  The grout that I picked with the pink under tones was discontinued so we have a wheat colored grout which brings out more of the green tones in the backsplash.  The last of the tile was placed today too.  

New Appliances

Today we got the new fridge in, it replaces a 21 year old fridge. I hope it helps lower our power bills.  The new microwave is now in too.  We also picked out the back splash tile. You can see it in the background.  

I also got a lot of hand knit items tagged for Wednesday's fund raiser at the Tucson JCC.  This gives my row count a big boost.  

The Yarn Sink

I used the yarn sink for the first time this afternoon. I had half a pound of Cherry Tree Hill Roving that I spun and finished plying last night. There was plenty of room in the sink for all the yarn. To speed up getting hot water to the sink I started a load of hot water wash first.  There is some multi tasking that is good.  I like using soak when I wash my hand spun yarn. I will have to come up with another method of thwacking the yarn.  I am afraid it made the whole sink shake and I was worried that I might break the sink. Too bad they did not have a cast iron sink for a laundry sink.  Check with your local yarn shop or Raverly to get some Soak.

Kitchen and Craft Room Remodel

Today Kevin finished installing the dish washer.  It runs very quietly. We just need the panel for the insulation to be complete.  John also installed the first phase of the craft room remodel. I worked on organizing the craft room until I was too sore to move. I really wanted to do more tonight, but if I want to sleep I need to switch to knitting or spinning. This is one of those times that I really hate the arthritis.  

Positive Progress

You can see by today's picture that the cabinets all have handles,  but most importantly the dishwasher now fits under the counter.  We may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We are still waiting for the bathroom counter and sink.  You also may notice that there is no front panel on the dishwasher, that is coming soon.  

Remodeling Irony

Today I woke up with a really bad tension headache at 5am.  I keep running through my thought process what could cause such a bad headache so early in the morning. Then it dawned on me Irony. This might take some explanation.  On the bathroom sink it was just a matter of turning around and asking me if they had the right faucet before they started drilling the granite.

The long kitchen counter is a bit more complex.  There was one worker whom was making a lot of mistakes. The other guys would cover up for him and try to fix the mistakes before they were discovered.  They would give him simple tasks whenever possible.  They would count out one, two, three, four put the peg here and let him go to work. Then they would go back and fix the mistakes, no big deal.  But it became a big deal when the long counter was laid down.  '

To cover for the other worker who placed the support wood too low by 1/2 of an inch, it was decided among the other workers to tell the cabinet guy he screwed up, because it was his first lead job.  So 1/2 of an inch was trimmed off the cabinet and the counter was put in place.  I totally understand why the other workers covered for one of their own. Here is is, the next however. However if they would have just said let's check this measurement. And then moved the support wood up by 1/2 of an inch, the cabinet would not have been cut, and the dishwasher would have slid into place without a problem, and we would be one step closer to being finished. 

Now I will hurry to get dressed, because I do not know what time the contractor will be here to fix the boo boos. Then I will go ply some yarn so that I can test out my new fiber sink.  I think I will spend the rest of the day designing jewelry for next week.  

Today's Boo Boo's

The first picture is what I walked into this morning.

At least I was not home for the discovery of today's remodeling boo boo. It turns out that the kitchen counter to fo low to slide the dish washer in place.  I think I am getting really tired of a boo boo a day.  So the current count is 2 counters that need to be fixed.  However I am really excited that I now have a deadacated sink to wash yarn and fiber in.  

The shellfs also arrived for the craft room.  I wonder how full I can pack them? This means that the next phase of remodeling will start before the first phase is finished. I think I will just go along with the craziness for now. 

Painting and More

Today I started off working on a contingency plan for the guest bathroom. I was looking for a possible base plate to cover up yesterday's boo-boo. The contractor walked in at that point and apologized for making the mistake yesterday. He also reassured me that he had enough "leftover granite to make a new piece for the bathroom. A new sink had been ordered since they could not remove the other sink since they used epoxy to attach the sink to the granite. 

Eric was home sick today, although he is on the road to recovery. He finished his pedialyte and started back on formula.  Eric defiantly did not like the painting. He jumped every time the compressor went off. So I spent a lot of time in his room today. I did not take pictures of the painting because I was so busy with Eric. Basically all the furniture was moved to the center of the room. Everything that was not being painted was covered in plastic. 

Once the painter left and Eric calmed down I got a much needed nap. I have been so stressed out that I find myself knitting in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping. I left Eric in charge of Elmo, Snoopy and Champagne Bear, while they watched TV. I felt so much better after a 2 hour nap. 

I have also been fascinated with the Ruffled Lace scarf’s, but could not find lace that I could work with until now. Red Heart makes a Boutique Sassy Lace in Nylon. So today I started my first ruffled lace scarf. It is slow going but fun. Pictures will follow. 

The Good and The Screw Up

Most of the day went well. The granite was installed.  It looks a lot less pink then our sample, so we will have to revisit the back splash.  Most of the cabinet work was finished.  The tile work on the floor as finished.  I spent the day bouncing between a sick Eric, keeping up with the work in the kitchen.  I also emptied the pantry. John and I emptied part of the craft room.  A dozen pair of earrings were made.  Amber came over to help me empty the pantry and part of the bookshelf.  

The one major screw up of the day came when no one asked me where the bathroom sink faucet was. The workman and contractor decided to use the 2 hole  utility sink faucet to drill the holes in the beautiful granite and not the single hole faucet that John and I had spent hours choosing.  

Tomorrow the painting starts at the back of the house.  Eric will be home another day.  I will also need to prep for Thursday.  

More Progress

More progress was made on the kitchen today. The crown molding was installed.  One cabinet was adjusted for Eric's percussion machine and nebulizer.  After more than a decade of use it will finally have a home of its own, not in the middle of the floor.  More electrical work was done too.  We now have power to where we are moving the tv. Hopefully the electrical will be finished tomorrow. Along with more finishing work. 

On the crafting front I did the finishing work on 2 rag rugs and made almost 2 dozen pair of earrings for the fundraiser on October 21st. I have another 18 layed out and ready for assembly.  I am not working on the earrings right now because I am sitting with a sick Eric.  So I guess that I will do some more knitting.  After all you can never do too much knitting. 

With Eric being sick and the granite being installed tomorrow it should be very interesting around here. My wish for all of you is to have a less interesting day.