Not Sure What to Title This Post...

Here are some of my ideas on a title:

1. My Mudroom/Entryway is going to be sooooooo Cool!
2. WOW! This Kitchen Is Going to Be Big!
3. "I saw an Central Air/AC circuit breaker"
4. Scott's Parting Words Were, "I'll Call the HVAC Guy"
5. Scott is My New Hero
6. Day 50

A lot happened got done today; some outside work (on things I can't spell like fasia and sophets), the plumbing from the old kitchen is now totally gone, a 5 inch header was put in and is necessary given the old roof line, we have the wall separating the mudroom from the kitchen in, pocket door wall was installed and some electrical mysteries were solved.

I'd love to post pictures but Brian is right...there is something wrong with our camera/computer connections and downloading. I'm bummed, it looks like the problem lies with my computer. So, long story short, no pics today.

Today the men came to work pretty early. The first person here looked strangely familiar and once Kevin introduced us it was evident he knew me too. He was the first contractor we met with back in January or February. We felt it was obvious to that he didn't want the job since we were quoted $120,000 and we had to keep our cabinetry. Just as an FYI, that's not nearly what this is costing us and we are getting all new cabinets. Later in the day, Scott (one of the partners with our company we are using) filled us in on the contractor's story and I will no longer refer to him as, "That Jerk."

It was hot today. The boys and I hunkered down at my parents house and enjoyed the coolness of Central Air. When we came home the living room was 87 degrees. Imagine my frustration when I couldn't get the AC window unit on. After sweating profusely I determined that it didn't work because there was no electricity in the living room. Scott quickly took care of that. Before Scott left for the day he asked about the AC/Central Air switch in our circuit box. He hadn't realized that we had Central Air but just couldn't use it because it was disconnected to make room for the addition. Scott told us he was going to call the HVAC guy right away and see what could be done. Scott is my new hero.

Day 48 - No kitchen

Well, they were supposed to come on Tuesday. They didn't.

Wednesday came and went, and we were disappointed.

Thursday...we thought we heard something in the morning like a car door slam, but it was only the grounds keeper across the street at the school. I swear Andi and I have been like little kids waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. For the most part we have still been using the kitchen. After all, they only took the cabinets hanging up, we could still use the counter tops to set stuff on and even prepare.

Friday, as a family we planned on going to German Fest. So, Andi and the boys were going to take me to work with the intention of picking me up and heading to the big German party. About the time Andi got home, I got a call at work.

"They're here."
"Really?" I asked apprehensively, because I wouldn't put it past her to yank my chain.
"Ya, there's three trucks here, we couldn't park. J.J. (demolition guy) said it's going to be a whole day of work. Kevin said they're going to put in the door too.(big loud noise interrupts the phone and i can't hear her)
"What was that, I couldn't hear you."
"That was a big sawzall. They're cutting out the wall. They've already cut the window out. I have to go buy a door knob."
"You're right, we don't have one."
"I'm going to finish feeding the boys, and then we're going to Home Depot to get a door knob. Then we're getting out of here. I think we're going to the zoo."

Just like that, we officially have absolutely no kitchen. We have a fridge because they couldn't fit it through the doorway, but everything else is gone. We don't know when they'll be back, nor what will be done next time. But, if they decide to put a door in, at least we'll have door knob. I just hope it's not like when we built the garage and one day four Russians showed up and build it in a day.













This is where our new back door is going to be. The sink used to be on the left in the corner, the dishwasher was right there and the fridge was just to the right.









This is looking out the old window into the new kitchen. The fridge will actually be sitting just a few inches to the left of where it is now. Where the two new windows are is where our eating area will be.









This is looking into the old kitchen from the new. The doorway you see there leads from the side door. That whole area will be walled off, with a pocket door to create a mud room off of the new back door.










One of the things that makes the kitchen seem so much larger is that they tore down the soffits that were running along the perimeter. It looks a lot bigger with them gone.









This we post for posterity. As you can see, when they ripped out the old cabinets, the originally linoleum was able to make an appearance into this new century. I can only imagine our house with this floor and the green siding. It must have been the toast of the town.

Some Thoughts About Leisure

While in college I took a handful of Women's Studies courses. One of the things that I found very thought provoking was the emergence of hobbies and leisure time throughout history. It seems that with every generation, women have more leisure time than the generation before. This has been made possible with modern day conveniences like the microwave, dishwasher and I would even argue that Super Wal-Marts and Target with their Market Pantry have made me more efficient. Going back further in time, as the middle class began to form ordinary people could afford housekeepers to clean. Hence, more free time. We, here at Ranch Renaissance, have taken a step back in history.

Granted, we did spend the morning and part of the afternoon doing family things or spending time with friends but at 9:30 pm we finally declared it was time to stop doing "stuff" around the house. The "stuff" I speak of is laundry, preparing food in our meager excuse for a kitchen, cleaning up around the house, preparing a grocery list and washing dishes. Yes, that last one is my least favorite. I miss my dishwasher. We hate doing dishes so much that we had to make a committment to one another that no one could have any fun after the boys go down until the dishes were all done. I really shouldn't complain, it's not that many dishes. We have switched to paper plates and plastic silverware but it still stinks.

I was hoping that Brian might write about what he worked on today while the boys were sleeping but he's been dying to dig into Harry Potter. I'll sum it up: He installed a new bathroom fan (and there were a lot of problems so this was quite an ordeal but only a one Lowe's trip and that was to purchase it so it doesn't really count). If he was to write about it the title would something like: "I AM A MAN!" or "Gosh, It's Quiet Now That Andi Has Stopped Nagging Me and the Fan Isn't So Damn Loud" or "Super Cool Man Installs Super Cool Fan" or "Ah, It's Down! Now I Can Have Some Leisure Time!"

Day 39, 40 & 41

!%#^en microwave.

I'll get to that in a minute. So, luckily while Andi was gone all week, absolutely nothing was done to the house. There was no adventure for the boys to have, exploring new cracks and crevasses or regaling carpenters with tales of juice boxes and McDonalds.

On Monday, the contractor from OAR called and asked if the lumber yard had been there yet? They were coming by to pick up the unused lumber and they should have been there by now. As I had two boys and a grandma ready to leave for haircuts, I really didn't care if anyone was there. He told me on Wednesday the remaining window would be delivered, and on Thursday the dumpster would be there. Most likely on Thursday someone would be there to start some demolition.

Well, just like clockwork, as I was stepping out of the house there was a flatbed truck backing up the driveway. On Wednesday, a Ryder truck stopped in front of the house and two dudes got out and rang the doorbell. They were there to deliver a window from Pella. On Thursday after the boys and I returned from play group, there was a gigantic red dumpster in our driveway (we're definitely not parking in the garage now.)

The boys and I met a new man, J.J. He was there to do demolition. He was tearing out the old exterior of the house down tot he studs. Today, J.J. and another 'guy' showed up and started more demolition. They managed to clean up the large pile of stuff that had accumulated on the side of the house and removed the rest of the exterior siding where the new door is going to go.

The following pictures I took after we moved entirely out of the kitchen along with the cabinets they tore out today.

As a little side note. As of today we have no functional kitchen. The water and all the plumbing were cut. While the fridge and stove remain, they really don't help all that much when we're washing dishes in the bath tube and drying them on the bathroom sink.





















You also might be wondering about that !#%en microwave. After I had cooked the sweet corn for about 15 minutes, it decided it was done working for the night and just blinked out. Screaming expletives I ensured that I hadn't blown a fuse. Everything else worked, coffee maker, toaster, but not this $40, P.O.S microwave. I gave it the finger and unplugged it, vowing to sacrifice it to the god Shiva later that night. After the boys went to bed, I plugged it in just to see. And with a smug little beep. It came to life.

!#%^en microwave.

Day 32 & 33 - Our first set back

On Thursday this week, the windows were delivered. Immediately Andi suspected something with the windows, as they did not look exactly the same. It was easy to tell, as we have two large windows and two small windows. We had two small windows delivered and they looked alright. There was also one large window delivered, and that looked ok too. However, the last windows...well, I'm not sure what it looked like, but it wasn't the right size.

Well, what do we know? We're not window people, still something about them didn't look right. Any way, when I was inspecting the windows I noticed that none of them had finished woodwork. WTF? I asked Andi about it and of course the conversation went like this.

"It says in our contract that we are responsible for painting the window trim. They aren't finished."

"Why the hell would I order unfinished windows? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, we did. Go check the contract."

"!@#% you're right. !%$^ this is going to be a lot of !#$%en work to stain these. They're freaking pine. That's a crappy wood for staining. You're going to help me. This is going to be a lot of work."

I think that we'll try to finish the staining/painting when we have to paint the walls. That way we don't have to mess around with counters and cabinets. Andi called and spoke to Kevin since the whole window thing was bothering us. As it turns out, the one odd window, was from one of our previous orders that we changed. The correct one should be delivered, Monday (tomorrow.) He also said that his partner should be there on Tuesday to start removing cabinets.

I spent the rest of the night removing the rest of the stuff from the kitchen. Here is the picture of the addition with 3 out of the 4 windows installed.

Day 27 and Temporary Kitchen

Much to our surprise the roofers showed up Saturday morning at 7:00 am. They told us that they had a big condo job (complete tear off) that they really didn't want to start with the projected heat were going to experience that day. Our job was easy; only a few hours and they'd be done.
This weekend has been spent finishing up packing the kitchen up and relocating down the hall. We decided not to have our stove for the summer, which I think will be just fine. We bought an electric frying pan and we have skillets for the grill. I imagine that the refrigerator is going to be moved into the living room in the next few days.

Packing had been going really smoothly. I was able to easily categorize everything and all my boxes are well labeled. However, there were some areas that were tough. Having minimal moving experience (April is probably laughing at me right now :) ) there were things I couldn't categorize. Every house has it, a drawer or cupboard where random crap seems to end up. Well, we had both; a cupboard and drawer. I had been avoiding these two areas and today was forced to address them. Rather than addressing what I kept, here's some of what I threw away:

1 cell phone charger for a phone we no longer have
4 hands free ear pieces for cell phones we no longer have
appr. 1000 twist ties
couple dozen chop sticks
2 coupon books full of coupons that expired in 2005

Rather than try to sort the rest of the stuff that I deemed important (like two rolls of undeveloped film that must be from before the boys were born), I put it in a basket to address another day. That day will probably be when I decide what new drawer it's going to end up in once the kitchen is done. We had a cork board for the front of one of our cupboards that has hooks for keys. We both felt that if we loose this door to the construction we'd be screwed...those keys would always be lost. Therefore, Brian just took the door off and hung it on the wall. Perfect!
Here is our new "kitchen." I think we tripped the circuit four times this evening. I think if only one appliance is being used and no air conditioners are being used we'll be okay (oh, it's going to be a long couple of months!). Basically, we have three areas where kitchen stuff is. One is in the pantry closet in the hallway, our third bedroom which housed the treadmill and finally the living room. I packed away all my china and we are using the hutch for some food but mostly the stuff I couldn't categorize from our "junk" drawers and cupboard.


What I didn't photo document was the dozen or so boxes in the basement full of stuff I thought I could live without for a few months. I also didn't take a picture of under our bed where all the china is!

Day 26 - Preparing for the Heat Index of 100

Brian called earlier this afternoon and asked if the shingles had been delivered. I said no and we went on with our days. This involved me moving the car just in case a big truck showed up with the next load of materials. As I was walking back to the house I noticed piles of shingles on our roof along with other materials up there. I quickly called Brian to let him know that something did happen - the delivery is on top of the house.

Kevin said that the roofers will be here Monday or Tuesday and asked when we'll be out of the kitchen. Sunday night we'll be out for sure. I find it difficult to be highly motivated to work at packing because we are still using the kitchen and the addition is clearly NOT weather tight. I'll take some pictures of the "set up" that will have to work for the next month or two.

With a heat index projected to be 100 this weekend Brian is stopping to get another air conditioner. This will bring the total up to 4...one in each bedroom, one in our temporary kitchen (although I don't know how much that one will be on) and one in the living room. Hopefully the one he's borrowing today will fit in the living room. Those windows are new and don't have as large of a clearance as our older windows do.

If you leave a message on our answering machine, please indicate the time you called. We've given up resetting the time after every time we blow a fuse around here.

Day 25

The carpenters left this afternoon and I'm guessing they aren't coming back since they took the trailer with them. We now have a roof! Far from being weather tight, you can still get a good idea of what the finished product is going to look like. It is a little disturbing how dark everything in the house is now. While disturbing, the overhang is going to be awesome for casting a shadow over the windows. Our current kitchen is VERY steamy since there is no shade. We had once tossed around the idea of doing Solar Tubes somewhere in the new space but then decided to put it off and wait to see where the dark spots were going to be. Well, I think we'll be saving like misers to eventually put in the Tubes.

Thanks for the votes on the sink...however what about WATER SPOTS? I hate, Hate , HATE cleaning the scuff marks off of my white cast iron sink, why would I want to clean water spots, daily, off of my new black sink? See, these are the things I need to know before I return the stainless steel sink we already bought.

It's Day 24

Our dryer situation was fixed Monday - thank the Lord given the flu bug that struck the boys Sunday and the loads of clothing and bedding that needed to be done. We also had to make a decision in regards to the length of our eves because our current kitchen walls are a foot shorter than the rest of the house (not really but it has to do with the stupid sophets in the existing space). I can't really explain it, but if you were here it would make total sense. Anyway, our overhang on the addition is going to be larger than "normal" but right in line if we were building a "green" house. How trendy...our house is environmentally friendly.

Over the weekend we devoted almost the entire day to shopping for things we need to get. For instance, a garbage disposal, new back door and storm door, dishwasher, faucet, lights, etc. I've already changed my mind about the sink. At least I think I have. Initially I declared we were getting a stainless steal sink because I hate the cast iron one we currently have. I hate how every time a pot goes in the sink I have to bleach the walls. Well, we purchased a stainless sink and now I think I might like a black cast iron sink. The reason being this is the faucet we picked out:
I can't put this on a stainless steel sink...can I?? Please readers...pontificate to your heart's desire about the pros and cons about a cast iron sink. Right now I hate mine. But, it is who knows how old and white. The new one would be new and black. Our new dishwasher is also going to be black (it's awesome...the buttons are on the top and not visible on the front. Take that little boys! No more stopping the dishwasher mid cycle or randomly starting it!) We are keeping our stove and fridge - both white and not in the budget to replace so it will have to do for right now.