I’m in Vacuuming Hell! (Kitchen Renovation Part 3)

(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2003)

This is how the kitchen renovation is going:
Demolish kitchen
Vacuum kitchen
Vacuum basement
Cut out old plumbing
Vacuum basement again
Vacuum kitchen again
Lay down tar paper on floor
Vacuum basement again
Lay down subfloor
Vacuum basement again
Install pull-down stairs to attic in cellar stairway
Vacuum basement again
Vacuum kitchen again
Find problems in ceiling-have to tear it down
Vacuum kitchen again
Install French doors
You guessed it…vacuum again
And so on, and so on, and so on!

If I thought I would be going to hell when I die (I won’t because I have heaven insurance. I took my grandmother and mother-in-law to see the Friends of Lawrence Welk years ago so I now have a speedpass straight to the pearly gates) this would be it for me.  Even though we are behind schedule and seem to take 1 step back for every 2 steps forward, thing are progressing.

The porch is enclosed! It looks amazing. The minute the guys left I moved the folding table and chairs out there. I have to share the porch with the appliances for now but I don’t mind. The porch is awesome! I painted the porch ceiling before the guys came to enclose it thinking it would be easier and I would not have to be too neat. You should have seen me up on the ladder on the porch (which is about 5’ off the ground), with a bucket of paint and my roller with the extended handle, trying to paint the roof while facing the setting sun, with the dog running around on the porch trying to catch the hornets buzzing around us. I can see the headlines now “Woman and dog found unconscious in driveway covered in white paint…Story at 11”.

We finally picked out kitchen cabinets and the granite for the countertops. The cabinets are due to arrive the first week of June (we won’t be ready) and the granite installation is probably 8-9 weeks away (we have to be ready). We are at the point now where I am not able to do be of much work (like plumbing and electrical) so my life is getting back to normal. Gabe's, however, isn't!

We are never as far along as we hope to be. The dumpster is gone and we got charged another $50 because we were over the weight limit. I'm not surprised with all the junk we stuffed into it. Gabe put down the plywood subfloor and worked on leveling off the walls. You'd be surprised to hear that nothing is straight in this house! We also have problems with the ceiling. When the wall between the dining room and pantry was removed we found that the ceiling heights did not match exactly. Gabe has not been able to get the ceiling leveled so he ended up tearing it down (more vacuuming). We were hoping to just restrap it and plaster over it. Aren’t we silly?? When he tore down the ceiling Gabe discovered that some of the ceiling beams were running parallel to the roof peak instead of perpendicular to it. We have no idea how this happened or why someone would have done it. By the way, the ceiling beams that were running the wrong way were not attached to anything either. Gabe can’t believe the roof has not collapsed on our heads! Unfortunately for us this is something that has to be fixed immediately so that takes time away from progressing on the kitchen itself. Another setback was realizing that once we plastered the ceiling there would be no access to the attic so Gabe had to install pull-down stairs in the cellar stairway (yes, more vacuuming).

As I said, the subfloor is down and the walls are ready to be insulated and covered once the electrical work is complete. I’m pretty good with an exacto knife and a staple gun so I can put up the insulation. Aren’t I a big help? Also, the French doors have been installed  Of course they hung those last week during the snowstorm. I am told they dropped the doors trying to get them off the truck. Oh, and the doors fell on Gabe. You know him, the guy with the bad back? Good thing I was not there to see it. I would have had a heart attack.

My major headache is trying to figure out what to get for takeout every night! You would think this wouldn’t be a problem, huh? I feel like every time we finish a meal it is time to start thinking about what to buy for the next one. Who knew eating out all the time would be such a big deal? And I am starting to gain weight too. I guess I will just have to work out more. Since I won’t let Gabe work on anything but the kitchen I have made myself responsible for all yard work and painting the house this summer. I would also like to seal my driveway. How hard could it be??? Ambitious, aren’t I?

One Week Old

My name is Midnight. I once had a family of my own. They loved me but not enough to get me spayed; and not enough to keep me when I got pregnant. They did love me enough, however, to bring me to the MSPCA. The shelter staff ran tests to make sure I was healthy and sent me to this great foster home.

My babies and I will be here for at least 2 months. It was a big relief when my foster parents made me fell so welcome! They even gave me a private room. Being pregnant makes me a bit emotional so it’s nice to have a separate space away from the resident cats and dog. I’m sure I will want to meet them eventually but right now I have to focus on my children. I am a very attentive mom and keep the babies spotlessly clean. I don’t often leave them but if I hear the slightest peep I rush right back to the bed. I don’t mind if my foster parents touch the babies but I always keep an eye on things. You can’t be too careful these days!

I was here less than a week before I went into labor. I have lots of soft beds to choose from but decided to have my babies under the bookcase. Once I had thoroughly cleaned each kitten from head to toe, my foster mom moved them to a soft bed right next to the radiator. It’s a big, cast iron radiator so it’s nice and warm. Labor was quick. I had a kitten about every 20 minutes. There are 4 in total – 2 boys and 2 girls. The girls are gray and calico. One boy is white with black; the other is black with white.

Nothing much happens the first week. The babies just eat, sleep and poop. (That’s about all I have been doing too!) Their eyes are not open. Their ears are folded over. At 1 week old each is about the size of a sausage and weighs a little over 7 ounces. The most exciting milestone so far is their umbilical cords have fallen off. They sleep quite a bit. I like to watch them snuggle together. The little black one usually ends up on the bottom of the pile! They often appear to be dreaming. They will wiggle around, and sometimes hiss. It’s awfully cute! They are only a week old and have not had any life experiences yet. What could they be dreaming about?

The Babies Are Here! The Babies are Here!

Boy, Midnight has been such a pain! She never shuts up! She doesn’t like to be alone so whenever Mom or Dad leaves the kitten rooms she starts to cry. She just thinks everyone has nothing else to do but sit around and rub her big, fat Buddha belly! I don’t like it when Mom and Dad spend time in the kitten room with Midnight and leave me locked outside. I have been watching how they unhook the latch to open the door. I have been trying to do it myself but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. When I do, they won’t be able to keep me out!

Midnight has only been here for a week so we don’t know her very well yet. She has been talking and demanding attention the entire time so we thought that was her natural personality. At around 4:00pm last Friday we discovered there was another reason she was being so vocal. She was in labor! Mom and Dad were very excited (this is our first birth). Mom was posting updates on Facebook and Dad was on the floor on his stomach trying to get pictures of the event. Midnight, the black cat, decided to give birth on a navy blue blanket under the bookcase. Yup! A nice small, dark space where they could barely see her. Under the circumstances Midnight was very tolerant, but she did draw the line when Dad said wanted to get the flashlight. This is all second hand info by the way because, once again, I was locked out of the room.

Midnight squeezed those babies out pretty quick! There was one about every 20 minutes. There is 1 black and white, 1 black, 1 gray, and 1 calico. At one point Mom and Dad thought there were 2 black ones, then realized they had counted the same kitten twice or they accidentally mistook Midnight’s foot for a kitten. Mom says she thinks there are 2 boys and 2 girls but she will check again when they are a bit older. I don’t understand what all the excitement is about. Who cares what color they are or whether they are boys or girls. They are about the size of Marshmallow Peeps and just about as active. That’s all they do right now is sleep and eat. Borrrring!

Oh Oh, She’s Preggo…

 

Hi Guys. It's Peaches. I have been lonely since my friend Bella (a.k.a Stormy) left. She wasn’t any fun when she arrived but once she was feeling better we became best buddies. We wrestled and played tag; I showed her the best sleeping spots (currently the sweatshirt drawer and, yes, I can open it all by myself.). Now she has gone to her forever home – my Nana adopted her – and I’m trying to get used to her not being here. I try to play with the Siamese but I just get hissed at and smacked on the head. Uma plays sometimes but she usually gets carried away and ssteps on me. Mom and Dad play with me too but it’s not the same as having a cat of my own.

Looks like I’m going to be alone for a while. Mom brought home a pregnant cat. Yea, she’s going to be fun to play with…NOT! I’m trying hard to introduce myself but she just hisses at me. Uma wants to be friends too but Midnight (that’s her name) likes Uma even less than she likes me. Mom says she doesn’t know when the babies will come or how many there will be. Midnight seems to be getting bigger every day so they better come soon!

And She Lived Happily Ever After…

Don’t you just love a happy ending? Well, have I got one for you! Stormy, our latest foster kitten has made a complete recovery and found her forever home. 

Stormy was surrendered to the MSPCA at Nevins Farm on December 31. At the time she only weighed about 2 ? lbs and was near death. The staff feared she would not live to see the New Year. They gave her fluids and medicine, and kept a close eye on her. The volunteers rallied around Stormy. They gave her warm baths, fluffy blankets, and yummy food to eat. It’s a miracle she made it through those first few days but she did.

She was still quite ill but it was decided she would come home with me. There was not much more they could do for Stormy medically so a nice, quiet foster home was the best place for her to continue her recuperation. She rallied almost immediately. She was skin and bones but was eating well. With medicine to combat her upper respiratory infection, and delicious food to stimulate her appetite she slowly but surely gained weight. After about 6 weeks she had tripled her weight, and was bright-eyed and playful. How exciting! Every time we went to the shelter for a checkup the staff and volunteers were thrilled to see ho much better she looked.

Stormy did have a minor relapse but that was to be expected under the circumstances. Another few weeks of antibiotics and she was in tip-top shape. While here, my mom and her boyfriend Erick fell in love with Stormy and decided they wanted to adopt her. Each of them had rescued a stray cat in the past that looked surprisingly like Stormy. My mom’s cat Nermal, was a starving little kitten living under her rhododendron bush. She took him in and he was her special companion for years. Erick’s cat Purrcilla is also a stray and she looks amazingly like Stormy. Stormy has moved to her forever home and is not having any trouble settling in. She has not met Purrcilla yet but has met Dakota the lab and Suzy the poodle mix. Her new name is Isabella (Bella for short because she is so beautiful!) and she loves her new home. How’s that for happily ever after!

Lordy, am I tired… (Kitchen Renovation Part 2)

(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2003) The big kitchen demolition was this weekend. We were ready to go. We had extra pairs of goggles, masks, gloves, and lots of tools of destruction. What a project! I was up at 6:30 Saturday morning (Gabe was up at 5:00am) chomping at the bit to get started. There was a big, orange dumpster in my driveway just waiting to be fed. I told everyone who had offered to help that we were starting at 9:00 but by 7:45 we could not wait any longer. I had no idea how loud a bang you can make throwing cabinet doors into an empty dumpster! I probably woke up a few people in the neighborhood.

As soon as help started to arrive each person was issued a mask and safety goggles and sent to a corner of the room to start tearing down walls. There were a few times throughout the day where I would be working so hard on my section of the room that I would "forget" what we were doing. Then I would turn around and receive quite a shock (see photo). I may have actually stopped breathing once or twice! By the end of the day the dumpster was filled to overflowing (and we thought it was going to be too big) and everyone was covered head to toe in plaster dust. What a great day! Special thanks to all our friends who were able to help out. With their assistance we completed the demolition 2 days ahead of schedule. We are truly blessed to have such people in our lives. 

I spent the next 2 days vacuuming insulation, plaster dust, nails, etc. from the kitchen (Yes, you have to clean the kitchen after you destroy it. Can you believe it??) and the basement. It did not occur to us that all the dust and such would sift down through the floorboards and into the basement. I hate vacuuming and here I am spending half my weekend vacuuming an empty kitchen and a dirty, old cellar!

Oh, and not to add any pressure but the patio enclosure guys called and will be coming weeks ahead of schedule to enclose the porch. So now we have to have the porch ceiling painted before next Tuesday. 

And have I ordered kitchen cabinets yet? Oh no! I'm not even positive where my appliances are going to go! I spent hours last night looking through catalogs to determine what the best configuration of cabinets would be. We have a follow-up appointment with the kitchen designer this coming Saturday. I hope what I have laid out will actually fit otherwise it's back to the drawing board!

And So It Begins...

No new kitten stories at the moment so I have decided to republish a series on our 2003 kitchen renovation.  Here's Part 1...

For those of you who don't know, Gabe and I have begun a major kitchen renovation. Major meaning we are ripping everything out to the studs and starting from scratch (my heart palpitates just thinking about it). We finally sold the condo (thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou) and have some extra money in our pockets. The big debate was whether to use the money to remodel our bedroom or the kitchen, which are the last two rooms in the house to be done. Initially we were leaning towards doing the bedroom. It would be less expensive, easier to do, and we could probably get it done in a short period of them. After much discussion Gabe and I decided to go with the kitchen instead. We thought it would be best to do the kitchen while we had the extra money and while Gabe still had the energy!

 

You know us - all our projects seem to grow as they progress and take on a life of their own. Poor Gabe has to do most of the work, and there will be an enormous amount of it. Originally we were leaving appliances where they were and sticking to the interior of the kitchen. Well, we went to a home show. Boy is that dangerous! At the home show we saw a company that would turn our screen porch into a 3-season porch (our first unanticipated expense). We decided that would be a good idea because some people were suggesting we actually knock out a wall and expand the kitchen to make it bigger. As much as we like a challenge that was more than we were willing to take on so we decided to enclose the porch instead. That way if we were entertaining a very large crowd we could expand out onto the 3-season porch. Of course, changing the porch means I now want French doors between the kitchen and porch instead of sliders (our second unanticipated expense). Also, to make a smooth transition between the rooms Gabe will have to raise the floor of the porch to the same height as the kitchen floor. And while we are at it let's make an exit off the porch so we have to add steps and a landing to the outside of the porch.

Listen to me. I say 'we' like I am going to do any of the carpentry work. The joke around my house is I am not allowed to use any sharp objects that have motors. I am, however, great at destruction and my favorite tool is the wonder bar. You should see me in my work boots, coveralls and filter mask! It is quite a sight! Speaking of destruction, the dumpster arrives Friday, April 12th and demolition begins Saturday morning, April 13th. Please feel free to come by and help us tear the place apart!! Refreshments will be served throughout the day. I don't know where they will be served but I’ll figure out something!