Crying in Home Depot

Did I ever tell you about the time I cried in Home Depot? It was not pretty. Back when we were planning our kitchen remodel, I had found the perfect cabinets at Home Depot. The perfect mocha glaze on the perfect maple cabinet. They came out and measured the kitchen and then they came up with the design. It was perfect.

I had a final 2 hour meeting with them. It was August and the kids came with me equipped with books and snacks. I sat down with the Remarkable Robert, and older gentleman who used to remodel homes and had retired to designing for Home Depot. He was so kind. When I told him we would be installing the cabinets ourselves, he made sure to tell me exactly how they would be packaged, and what to look for with the toe kick, the crown molding and the fridge cabinet pieces. He made me diagrams and explained in great detail how to install certain parts. I nodded and said "hmmm....yes..." like I was committing it to memory so when Morrie was in the middle of holding up a cabinet and said "Son of a NUTCRACKER!" I could come in and save the day with Robert's word for word explanations. We finally finished every detail, it was perfect. I took the bill and went up front to pay. The kids were tired, we wanted nothing more then to finally go home.

I handed the cashier the paperwork and she asked for my first born in payment. When I could not bear to hand over Isabelle, I handed over my debit card instead. I recently transferred the money for the cabinets. She swiped the card...said hmmm...swiped again...and said it was declined. My heart raced. What? Declined? I knew the money was there. I KNEW IT. We stared at each other. I explained that the money was there, I wasn't trying to pull one over on them. We sat in silence.

I came up with an idea. I would just drive to the other side of town and get a cashier's check from my bank for the exact amount. She breathed a sigh of relief. That sounded good we decided. The kids and I packed ourselves into the car and drove to the bank. We waited in line and then finally explained in great detail our troubles to the bank teller. She said she didn't know why the debit card didn't work, she showed that the money was there (see? I knew it!). She printed me a cashier's check and back we went.

I sighed again as I got out of the car. I really just wanted to crawl under the floormat and take a nap. Instead we went back to the service counter and said "Here's your stinkin' check". Then I said under my breath "See? I told you I had the money". She ran the check through their check scanner. A message popped up that a phone number needed to be called. Really? REALLY? She called and was put on hold. Then she spoke into the phone. Then she looked at me and said the cashier's check was denied. WHAT? I started to tear up and my heart raced. I yanked the phone from her hands and strangled the person on the other end. Then I politely explained that it was a cashier's check and that means it is just like CASH. Nobody believed me. A supervisor was called over. They couldn't take the check.

I was crying. I was tired. The kids kept asking what was wrong. I had an idea. It was crazy, but it was the only thing I could think of that would work. I said I was going back to the bank and I was bringing them CASH. How do you like them apples? They shrugged and said ok.

If you know anything about kitchen cabinets, they are not cheap. I limped back to the bank, tearfully explained to the same teller my plight. She was angry that the check service that Home Depot used was full of morons. I agreed. She snickered and gave me cash and we discussed how I should throw the bills at them when I went back.

I went back. The cashier I had been using was gone. I was now starring at a 20 year old who knew nothing about home repairs. She also freaked out when faced with large sums of cash. A supervisor was called over. I had to sign additional paperwork. I was fuming (it is the second stage of "Home Depot Depression"). At one point my head fell off and rolled across the floor. We finally were allowed to leave.

I never want to buy kitchen cabinets again.

World Trivia To-Go:
The world's largest lake is the Caspian Sea

We're working on it!

Well, the kitchen is coming along. We now have handles on all of the cabinets, we finished painting the kitchen, and the front room (which included the ceiling no less) and the floors got started today. Since I have officially started my new job, and only the dog will be home now, I don't know how fast things will go, or really, how clean things will be (this was my morning thought).
And then the afternoon happened and my thoughts changed a bit...the kick in the pants that we have now received is that my brother has decided to come for a surprise visit, and will be here in 9 days!!! I think Morrie and I need to start having coffee with dinner! Let's get a move on!!!!

A door! A door! A door!

I have been waiting 9 years for a sliding glass door that works! In Kingston and in this house, the sliders were very old and came off the track easily. The lock even broke on the door in this house a few months ago, and it has been ghetto! Here is our NEWLY installed door, and I am in LOVE! Especially since they put trim around the inside, and the outside! They didn't replace it mind you, there was none there before, they just did it. I am so so so happy. The floors start on Monday and it just keeps getting better. These highs really make up for the remodel lows, that's for sure!

I got a bargain, are you surprised?

We finally found a new kitchen table. I had 2 picked out at 2 different stores, but wasn't totally happy with either the quality or the prices. Our last table has lasted over 12 years, so I knew this one would have to last a long time as well. I also wanted to love the chairs, something that doesn't always happen. I have looked at craigslist countless times...been to store after store after store. I went to "Stupid Prices" (for those of you that don't know, that's where Costco sells their clearance or banged up merchandise). I had been there before and had not liked anything, but that was a few months ago. We went again yesterday and found the perfect table! The chairs in the picture still have the plastic wrapped around them - we're are still messy and dusty here! Bye the way, does anyone like the devil cat in the background?

So not only was it $600 off the original price, but there was a 3 day sale and we got an additional 10% off. Bonus, I LOVE the chairs! they have a farmhouse look about them, and I love farmhouses. We got 6 chairs, but I will find a place in the house for 2 of them, as all 6 in the room is a bit much. It also came with 2 leaves, which extend the table to an INSANE length, probably to be used twice a year, but they are there if we need to seat 12 - or if the 4 of us really need our own personal bubble to eat in.

Counters!!

What a day!

I liked the rustic plywood look and everything, but this rocks! How do you like the paint?

Coming soon, a faucet and cabinet handles! Hold on to your shorts!!

A Bargain!

Shoot, I just wrote a whole post and I somehow made it vanish.

We were discussing whether to build a stub wall or a 9 foot railing between the kitchen and family room. A railing seemed to be the most popular choice so off we went to price it out. Turns out they are not cheap to build. Darn! So we went home empty handed and mulled it over for a few weeks. I checked craigslist and let people know we were looking for spindles. Nothing. Nadda. It was getting to the point in our drywall construction that we needed to know if we were going with a wall or if we were going to suck it up and build a railing. I mentioned it to Loren and he said he saw some spindles out by the road near his house and he would go home and see if they were still there. They were! We checked them out the next day. Hmmm. wouldn't you know it, exactly 9 feet of solid fir spindles!! I scrubeed them off and Morrie cut them so they were all even and now we have the free supplies to build our railing!

I have also spent the last 3 motnhs trying to figure out what to do with the powder room vanity. I was advised to go with a pedestal sink as it is a small room. I wasn't happy with the harware store choices: ugly and around $350 for the cheapest one. So yesterday when I was picking up the handles for the kitchen, they had 2 pedestal sinks that were display models on sale. I thought it over for all of 20 minutes and went back and declared this one ours! Turns out it is a $725 sink, that we purchased for $200!! Annie even approves.

Pretty Kitchen!!

So here are the new and improved photos of the kitchen! Morrie even made me a lovely plywood counter to use while we wait for the real counetrs to be made. They came and measured for them today and they will install on the 21st!! Do you know what that means??? I will have a real, live kitchen SINK to use in 2 weeks, and I can't tell you how GREAT that will be. We have been without a sink since early August. The powder room sink just doesn't cut it for doing dishes! Floors will be coming soon, as will a new microwave for above the stove. I have to get the new sliding glass door ordered this week as well so they can eat up our perfect walls (oops, guess I should have thought about that one!).

We also odered hardware for the cabinets and that should be here in another week or so. Currently we are using the very formal blue painters tape as pulls. Notice the ceiling? It looks 1000 times better without all the holes, huh? My hubby is the BEST!

Right Now...

Favorite Song: Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis
Book I'm reading: Three Cups of Tea - amazing
Funniest Thing my kids said: "Mom, can we just make something? I'm tired of eating out."
Most Overwhelming Moment: Hmmm....I'm going through a kitchen remodel, every moment lately is too much!
Ah-Ha Moment: If a dog with wet feet walks into a house covered with drywall dust, it will make a hard shoe like object attached to the dog's feet
Worst Smell: My house at 78 degrees with the heat on full blast and smelling the mud dry (yuck!)
Best Smell: Outside, someone else's house, clean clothes...

Weekend Update, Part 1

Maria's First Soccer Game!

Well, it's not her first game ever, just for the season! She did awesome, as you would expect...and the pictures don't lie...is that my kid vs. the whole other team??
Here she is taking on the biggest player she can find. She kept really awesome field position, which means a lot when the girls are still running around in a scrum. Maria held back and played a very good forward position, taking several breakaway shots. She also loves to run, so she ran back a few times to be the first on defense when one of their players had a breakaway down the field.

Several parents complimented me on Maria's playing skills and even said "This must really be her thing". Well, it's 3rd on her list of sports she really loves!! Gymnastics and cross country are above soccer. Now that I am done BRAGGING, I was amazed at the skills of the other girls on her team. They will be a lot of fun to watch as they get older.

And here's the dog playing with her very dusty toy bear in the "kitchen". Do you see what I mean when I say everything is white?? I don't even want to consider how much drywall dust I have eaten lately. Stay tuned for Isabelle's game pictures, it was a rough one!

Breakfast At Our House

This is a day in the life at our house...welcome!

This is the deck, and the table on which I have set up the griddle. I have it plugged in to an outdoor outlet. It's way more fun doing it this way than the more conventional methods.

This is my "counter" between the pancakes and the eggs (see them on the bar-b-que?).

And of course, here I am making said breakfast, which Morrie though HAD to be documented. Leaning up against the table is the frame for the stub wall between the kitchen and family room. We can't decide between putting the wall up and putting in a railing (which are not cheap to construct). If anyone has a line on a 9 foot long railing ,let us know!

Holes...

Isabelle had to read "Holes" for her summer reading fo school, but I have a feeling it didn't involve ceilings...This is our kitchen ceiling in the middle of getting the electricity wired in. We only had 2 light fixtures...so between the kitchen and living room, we have added 18 more fixtures!! Sometimes Morrie and I catch ourselves just starring at the lights, we're so excited to be able to see in the evenings now!

Maria gets in on the work. She is putting in all 20 light bulbs for us, she's just the right height to stand on the boxes full of our kitchen cabinets! Notice the new window in the kitchen picture, way to go Morrie!!

These are out kitchen cabinets!! They take up a lot of space. There is one cabinet sitting on the top of the boxes there is you were wondering what they looked like...

Morrie and Loren finishing the new floor where the kitchen table will be...
Do you see how the plywood is all yellow...well, it's now completely white from all the dut, even though we have run the shopvac over it!

Morrie all decked out in his gear to cut the holes in the ceiling...Anyone wondering why I had to take the cat to the vet because he was breathing funny?? We have dust everywhere...it's terrible...but in a good way.

Voila!

The top picture is looking into the kitchen from the family room. The red cooler at the far end is my "counter" where I usually cook pancakes on the griddle. The griddle hardly ever slips off. The garbage can in the back right corner is useful as a counter, and with the slanted lid, the paper plates we use fall right to the dog's feet. The black part if the wall is where we have taken out the drywall and the new window will go right there.

Morrie is expanding the kitchen floor into the family room (which is one step lower so we have to raise the floor). Do you like our plastic "walls"? They are super handy and the dog never gets stuck in them...

Maria is handy as a weight when Morrie needs the floor framing held down. Isn't she cute? She only tripped on it once today, and then right afterwards went in the kitchen and tripped over stuff in there. You are not allowed to have bare feet anymore in here. Although, I try to do a really good clean up job so the cats and dog are safe.

Ask and you shall receive...

Okay, here's a picture of the "kitchen". I didn't have my regular lens on the camera, so it's a sub-par shot. I promise I'm going to take more, but for those of you who HAD to see something, here you go! No cabinets, no floor, no nothing! A few appliances though, that's always a plus.

Shoot, Wednesday already?

On the house front we are looking everywhere for a window to install. Checking prices and time frames...this is a blast! Isabelle is having fun at soccer camp this week with her team. Today Maria and I got pedicures while Isabelle was at soccer. It was great, except for the part when the lady cut my toe...hmmm...maybe I should look into nicer places from now on!

I am going a little crazi with the upstairs are messy as the downstairs. We have lots of things packed away and stored in our bedroom, so there is not a single place that is clutter free, or pleasant to be in. So this is what it is like, huh? Ok, ok, so we will be super grateful when it's all done. I'll try to keep that one in mind. The dog keeps licking the sub-floor, and I am afriad she will cut her tongue. The sub floor that seems to be the tastiest are the parts that have jagged gouges. Yummy.

And to top it all off, the children are hungry. Again. Sheesh.

Who needs a kitchen??

We don't!! Our kitchen has been demolished, yay! I'm working on the pics, and all the flooring is gone too, no kitchen floor and no dining room florr. Today I am tearing out the bathroom floor (because why not?). Morrie is moving on to tearing out part of a wall for a new window and the demo part should be somewhat complete and they can have their ridiculous dumpster back. Oh, and I'm loving watching the Olympics in between "cooking" meals for the fam and ripping out carpets!

Ohhh, a dumpster!!

We got our demo dumpster delivered today!! We are really tearing out the kitchen tomorrow and I haven't finished packing the kitchen yet, oh yay! I've been working on it all week, this hasn't even begun to suck yet and I'm overwhelmed??? Nahh...just easily side tracked I guess.