Well, I am

completely thoughtless. Not as in, rude, uncaring, arrogant or unlovely. As in WITHOUT. ONE. THOUGHT. WORTH. BLOGGING.ABOUT.

It's a sad testimony to the current state of affairs in my life. Nothing remotely interesting, even to me! The saga of the kitchen remodel is going to go on forever so I don't even want to THINK about that, let alone write about it. (Latest tragedy problem is one of the outlets is dead.) How does one go about fixing that you ask? You rip a big fat hole in the wall - the same wall you spent an entire weekend putting up tile. The thoughts in my head are not pretty at the moment and so you see why I cannot share them.

We are finally having a "normal" summer in the metroplex. This means it is 110 degrees in the shade. It IS mid-August after all, but all that rain and cool weather (trust me, 92 degrees IS cool for summer around here) I have been woefully spoiled. It's too hot to even move outside. Saturday we went out to eat with friends that live at the end of our street. I would not even walk to their house. They came and picked us up in their car. I'd already decided we were driving to their house if they didn't. I do not like to sweat.

Last night (Sunday) darling hubby and I went to the Majestic Theatre in downtown big D and saw "Defending the Caveman". He has an incredible ability to make you laugh uproariously at your own behavior. He nailed the differences between male and female down. Funny, funny stuff. You should definitely check it out. Thomas had gotten these tickets for me for my birthday. He definitely outdid himself - our seats were ON THE FRONT ROW. AND we had valet parking. So Happy Birthday to me all over again!!

There you have it - the comings and goings of the C family. Perhaps my relaying of these events will trigger some writing mania and I'll get beyond the writer's block that is paralyzing me at this time. Until then -- see you!

Progress

Well, I'm a little less crazy today than I have been. And to celebrate that mood I cooked dinner today. We had steak, baked potatoes and corn on the cob (please don't point out there are two starches and no green leafy vegetables in that menu) AND we had all that because I could cook it on the grill. We still have no appliances in our kitchen, other than the refrigerator which was ours to begin with. The range, microwave and dishwasher were to be delivered yesterday between 3 - 6 p.m. I got a call about 3:00 p.m. saying "your range was damaged in transit so we have to order another one". Ugh. So it's still paper plates and plastic forks (the steaks were tender). I won't have countertops for at least two more weeks because they have to make it. They came out and drew up the template on Friday so one more thing I can check off the list. My cabinets are SO pretty. I just love them. My floor is gorgeous, I just love it. Except it sure shows every little thing. Ugh. Not so good. Here are pictures, taken from the same vantage points as all the others have been. Ignore the folding table in the middle of the room that is currently my counter. And
the sheetrock dust (six weeks' worth) on the refrigerator. Oh, and the lovely red folding chair.

Oh my aching back.....

There isn't any phrase that brings my Dad's face to mind more than the title of this blog. That was his phrase for all occasions frustrating or maddening. Traffic, relationships, kids, church woes - whatever. They were all met with "Oh my aching back!" if they rose to the "just too much!" marker.

However, this is truly an aching back day. Twenty two boxes, five tiles in each box - that is how many tiles I laid this weekend. Did I forget to mention one important detail? They were 16 x 16 pieces of slate. Each tile weighs about five pounds I think. This morning I was so sore in places I obviously don't use on a regular basis that I could hardly walk w/o groaning. My back, stomach, butt, legs and arms are crying uncle. Tonight I have to grout all 110 tiles and tomorrow I have to seal all 110 tiles. If it weren't for the fact that I am beginning to see a faint light at the end of the tunnel I would be royally ticked off right about now.

I'm tired. Tired of the mess. Tired of the complaints from the put-upon children who are inconvenienced by it all. Tired of not cooking (who would have thought I'd say that?). Tired of filling my coffee pot in the bathroom sink. Tired of dust being everywhere and impossible to stay ahead of it. Tired of thinking about how much money this is costing.

If all goes well, Katie-bar-the-door, the cabinet installers should be at my house Thursday morning 9:00 a.m. The template for the countertop will be made on Friday a.m. and the appliances will be installed Saturday a.m. I don't know how long it takes to get the countertop done - I've forgotten. They'll install the countertop whenever it is made. My sink is an undermount so they'll take that with them when they go. But at least I'll have a dishwasher! I'll still have to tile the backsplash and I haven't picked out the light over my dining table or sink. We're getting there!

But I'm still sore. And sick of it all.

Update

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So here is two thousand worth:

The kitchen that was....

I'm living in my worst nightmare right now. At least, the way it seems at this moment it is surely the worst nightmare. WHAT A MESS!!! We are now down to bare studs. We learned after tearing the ceiling out that about half of the attic above doesn't have a floor -- so we see clear to the rafters at the moment. Well, we could see to the rafters if there wasn't so much junk piled up there. There is dust everywhere in the house. No matter how many times I wipe it off there is more the next day. So my new plan is - don't dust, draw pictures in it. I would like to think we are nearing the beginning of the end but I'm afraid we aren't even near the end of the beginning. This weekend we need to go get lights (like I care what the pot lights look like??) and hopefully, the tile. Apparently slate is popular at the moment - I've not been able to get it anywhere because it is sold out. We think we have located enough and will pay for it tomorrow so that it will indeed be ours. After the electric stuff is done and the gas line is in, our good friend Victor will come and sheetrock, tape, bed & texture. Then we'll paint, lay the floor and only then will we call the installers who will come and put in the cabinets, Home Depot will come and install the appliances, the countertop people will come and make the template, the countertop will be made, they'll come install it, then we put in the backsplash and FINALLY we're ready to have a kitchen. Doesn't that sound like an hour or two of hard work??? Ugh. I hope I get a kitchen before retirement age. I'll put up pictures so you can feel like you are really there. Here you are, looking north.... and now, looking south...........

NOW do you feel my pain?

Dreaming...

I'm trying to figure out if we can afford to remodel our kitchen. I HATE that room....never, for one hour of one day have I liked my kitchen. There isn't enough counter space, there is definitely not enough cupboard space. Right now we are in the looking and gathering information stage. Man things are expensive. Yikes! We spent an hour today in Home Depot talking with the designer. She was helpful in telling us where we need to start. She also said "you need to know if you have a $100.00 budget you are going to spend $1000.00." Oh, that's a real great thing to tell someone who gets physically sick at the idea of spending money. But for now, dreaming is taking up my time and I'm okay with that. These are the cabinets I think I want.