Kitchen Remodel, Day 5

 November 8, 2020

Well, it's been quite a week.  Biden/Harris are projected to be the next administration (election not certified yet), Katherine Johnson and Alex Trebek (legends) both passed, it just started snowing (I hate snow) and our remodel progresses.  Whew!

Remember when I said the hardwood had buckled under the refrigerator when it sprung a leak?  Well, when all of the cabinetry was removed we discovered black mold!  The contractor assured me, as he poked at it, that it was dead but we liberally poured bleach on it anyway.  That fridge had been leaking for a very long time.

My friend, Patsy, has a workshop in the back of her long arm quilt shop.  She needed cabinetry.  I needed to clear out my garage.  Patsy's nephew and his good friend to the rescue.  These two charming young men are perfectly delightful and very hard workers.  They grabbed pieces like they were lifting empty shoe boxes.  Amazing.

 

This is a 20 foot box truck.  It was stuffed when they were finished.

I could barely lift one end of this.  He grabbed it like it weighed nothing.

Flooring!

Gary is happy to have his side of the garage almost empty.

The plumber confounds me.  The first time he came and shut off the water, the next morning when I jumped in the shower I got scalded.  Our shower has a temperature setting on the main handle and you just turn it on/off.  The temperature button has always been set at roughly 10 o'clock.  It now sits at 4 o'clock.  The second time he came (because the electrician accidently poked a pin hold in the copper pipe when he was tying down the wiring) he forgot to plug the circulation pump back in and the hot water wasn't hot at all.  Thank heavens Gary knows enough about the equipment to recognize that it just needed to be plugged back in.  

We've had only a few minor issues which are happily overlooked when you take in the entire project.  So far we are doing great!  Enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Mary Ann and Cal's Friday night.  They are delightful hosts and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Tuesday we'll go out to Prescott Valley and enjoy a meal with brother Bill and his wonderful wife, Mindy.  And then Wednesday cabinetry arrives!

And it's snowing.  Good grief!

Kitchen Remodel, Days 3 and 4

 November 5, 2020

Wednesday was the plumber.  He came, he plumbed, he left.

Scary moment:  the contractor and his carpenter were looking at the electrical box at the end of the L.  "Hm, says one, it says MICRO on it."  I've only ever used it for a motion detector night light.  The microwave requires a dedicated circuit and is wired directly to the breaker box.  Once the cabinets were removed we could see that the microwave box power line lay on the floor and draped from that box to the wall, made a turn was incased in ROMEX (not conduit) for the 18 inches behind the dishwasher and then back to naked wire to the spot where the microwave was located.  If a mouse decided to chew on it I shudder to think what would have happened!  Can't believe it got past inspection.  Did the owners move the microwave during construction?  I don't know.  But my house could have burned down!  I'm grateful that Mikey is an amazing mouser.  

Today was electricians.  We had three of them.  Morning meeting w contractor included comments:  HIM: we should move the box three inches to the left.  ME:  no, leave it where it is.  But I will need power to the KitchenAid lift cabinet.  ELECTRICIAN:  What is that?  ME:  Just the most amazing thing EVER!  Once he understood what it was and how it works he was quite impressed.  Oh, yes, and to the trash compactor (Gary is so pleased to get a compactor, which I had nixed because I wasn't giving up space for my lift.  We got both.

CONTRACTOR:  Well, Gary and I got what we both wanted (the window will remain and we moved the hutch to where the pantry was) so you get all the rest.  ME:  I get what I want, if you can make that happen and keep the window, so much the better.  So Gary gets not only his sainted window, but a trash compactor as well.  He's a happy man!

Electrician was going to have to run conduit on the outside of the house to get the dedicated line to the new location of the microwave.  But turns out he's a really smart guy.  He decides to drop the line down the wall into the lower level (dirt room) below so that all the wiring can be inside.  His first thought (out loud, not so smart) was, "Well, we could tear out the ceiling in the room downstairs."  ME:  "NO!  You will NOT impact my quilt studio.  The end!"  Electrician doing the smart thing (and not thinking out loud again.)

Moving the lower L lights to align with the kitchen lights as the lower L is gone forever.  The new location of the lights will be on the end piece of the island.

Workers are gone, Mikey is inspecting their work.  His butt is now white, wonder who's been sitting in chalk dust.  

So I'm sitting in my neighbors Arizona Room (enclosed outer deck) and I suddenly blurted out: "Next Thursday I'll have the start of my new cabinets in!  Oh my, I'm so excited!

And for those of you who disapproved of my attire during the wall demo . . . . I LOVED IT!  Thanks for your love and caring and I couldn't have cared less!  Every day I'm grateful that we can get this done, every day I have to soften and calm the cats, every day we are one day closer to an amazing kitchen, every day I give thanks that we can make this happen.  

I send you blessings every day that you can also achieve your dreams.  Trust me, it's satisfying!

Stay tuned!

Kitchen Remodel, Day Two

 November 3, 2020 (Election Day)

Yes, I pulled out my mother's high school graduation set of graduated pearls and wore them with my T Shirt and jeans.  RIP RBG.  Yes, we voted, as did our crew (I know because I asked!)  (see my FB page for a picture of me in Tshirt and pearls!

New crew arrived at 8 am (yes, in the morning, good news, they don't start at 7!).  Sam, Rob & Cornelius.  Great crew!  We moved a few things around, fridge moved in front of the window (the one I wanted to remove) and dishwasher to the garage.  Then dismantling began in earnest.  

End of day two, only thing to remain untouched is the hood (the clouds parted, the angels sang):

They were discussing that when removing this L shaped piece of granite they were concerned that it would break before they could get it into the garage (possibly injuring one of the crew). "No problem," I said, "break it at the corner groove and the new owners can super glue it in their shop." Sam & Rob were much relieved. Yes, I'm pretty reasonable and am anxious that they do things safely (no I didn't ask about safety goggles, I just assumed they knew how to do their job. However tomorrow I will inquire as I've been beat up a bit by friends commenting on my destruction of a wall that I failed to wear eye protection. Turns out my contacts aren't good enough. And sandals ... Oh well, I survived, got to break into the wall, had a Chip Gaines moment and then returned to my quilt studio, satisfied that I had done my part!) Continuing work on a beautiful quilt. It's a gift so I won't post it until it has a new home.  Tried to upload the Chip Gaines movie but Blogger wouldn't accept the file.  I'll post it in the comment section.

Peninsula almost gone.  Look down that hall at the door.  That teeny tiny space inside that door is the pantry.  Well, WAS the pantry.  

With the elimination of the small hutch on the living room side, and the teeny tiny pantry, the space expands and will eventually be a real honest to gosh hutch.  Gary's happy that I'm happy.  And boy howdy I'm floating on air!  It's going to be AWESOME!

Gary's truck used to be in this space.  Roger will receive the peninsula in the next few days, the rest of the cabinetry will go to Patsy's workshop on the 10th.  Gary is parking next door in our neighbor's spare space.  Great neighbors!

Speaking about great neighbors, a big shout out to Roger & Jan for feeding us on our first night without a functioning kitchen.  That meal included left overs which will be consumed tonight.  Love our neighborhood!

These guys are professional, polite and more than accommodating.  If you need an amazing contractor with a great crew check in with me!  Well, I'll hold off singing his praises publicly until this project is complete.  But after Day Two, I can already tell that we'll get along.  Sure, he tries to talk over me, yeah that doesn't work well, but I do enjoy a good try :)

More will be revealed!

s

Kitchen Remodel, Day One

 November 2, 2020

It's been a year in the making and now it's finally happening!  

How many meetings did I "enjoy" with the cabinetry people?  How many times did we change the layout?  I wanted so badly to remove one (seriously, people, only ONE) window and how many times did we change that layout?  Spoiler alert, the window stays, unchanged!  Tried HARD to win that argument, failed.  Moved the hutch to the pantry necessitating moving the pantry to what was supposed to be "empty wall".  

Let's back up.  Here is the kitchen we moved into:

Yes, I am aware; it looks like a very nice kitchen.  

• WHO puts hardwood in a kitchen?  Turns out several of my friends have done so.  Well, not me, that's for certain.  We had been in the house maybe two weeks when the freezer dropped ice cubes and the water hose to the icemaker developed a slow leak.  Know what water does to hardwood?  Yes, and the former owners had refinished the floors as soon as they moved out, so they were LIKE NEW.  Well, not when our fridge was done.  That Viking Professional built in fridge (which I thought was the cat's meow) didn't last two months!  Thank heaven the former owners were willing to purchase a one year home warranty service (should I have suspected there might be a reason for that?).  Well, the warranty company was not willing to replace with a like model so they gave us a generous $$$ toward our new one necessitating some adjustment to the hole as the built in was 3 feet taller than the new one.  Good neighbors to the rescue.
• The dishwasher and microwave were both on their last dying legs and have been replaced.
• My dishes are too big for the cupboard.  Dishes are not abnormally large, inside of cupboard is abnormally short by an inch!  
• The cooktop was an ENORMOUS affair with only four burners but included a griddle (I have a pan) and a grill (also have that).  It was HUGE and all the knobs were exactly at belly level which means anytime I brushed up against one of them going one way or another, they would turn on.  Made me crazy.  New cooktop is a five burner and knobs are on top where they belong.
• I notice the upper cupboard in the middle is losing the inset facia board.  Yes, it's falling out!  My neighbor, an amazing woodworker, takes the door off and repairs it.
• I flip a drawer or door close and IT SLAMS!  Now this is a custom home.  Who fails to install soft close doors and drawers?  Gary to the rescue, he purchases about 100 inserts to fix the doors but the drawer inserts are prohibitively expensive and Shon wants handles (never understood people who don't want handles).  I've learned to carefully close drawers while anxiously awaiting a fix to that.
• What you can't see to the left of the picture is a peninsula with a wet bar.  Never cared about a wet bar but thought the peninsula was a great idea.  Well!  Try putting on a large party (pre pandemic) and walking around that damned thing 3,000 times in the few days during party prep and 100's of times during it.  After our first big party I was ready to take a sledge hammer to it.  I've been patient but now it HAS to go!
• There is a small (useless) hutch next to the wet bar.  It's outta here.
• That frees up some much needed space to insert a real hutch on the other side (facing the kitchen)  
• New hutch will require removing the pantry which will move to a different wall and match the new cabinetry.  
• The lower part of the "L" will be completely removed allowing the island to no longer be a "step up" -- completely useless.  New island will be 5' x 10', all one level.  It will be amazing.  We'll go from being a two butt kitchen to being a least a four butt kitchen, which is as it should be.
• All of my serving pieces have been stored in boxes in the garage since we moved it.  Looking forward to getting them out and using them for more parties; I do love a party!

Most of the party stuff and things way up high that were used only occasionally have been packed up for weeks.  I evaluated the remaining stuff and decided it would take two 3-hour days to complete.  Right ... wrong.  It took 2 SIX hour days.  This morning I dashed off to the post office to send out a Lori Box and realized I was in extraordinary pain.  On the drive home I called my chiropractor and asked to be fitted into his schedule.  The amazing Brandy said, "When can you be here?"  I responded, "Two minutes!"  I'm happy to sit quietly and politely (unusual for me) until he can see me.

When the doc opened the door to usher me into his workroom he announced, "Brandy misspoke, we're closed!"  "Ha! I intoned, Brandy NEVER misspeaks, now it's time for you to fix me." as I marched into his exam room.  POP, CRACK, Crackle.  What a mess.  When I stood up my pain level went from a 5-6 to a zero!  I could lift my knees high with no pain.  I no longer shuffled.  Yea, that was a lot of work.

Then Travis arrived.  Here he is dismantling the island which will be reassembled in my friend's workshop.  Travis is an animal, I already like him.  He's a hard worker and is anxious to please.  I'm pleased so far!

Oh yes, we're keeping the hood!  I love that hood.  I hope you find time in your busy lives to come out and enjoy our new kitchen, I'll take you for a test drive around that hood, it's amazing!

So to those who think this is a lovely kitchen: so did I!  And it was nice to the uninformed eye.  It simply didn't work for me.  This is my last house and  my last kitchen  It want what I want.  I worked for more than 40 years, saved carefully so that I wouldn't have to be on a budget during retirement.  Well, this remodel will put me back in budget land but it will be worth it.  We're very excited, me because I will get what I want; Gary is excited because he will no longer have to listen to my bitching and complaining.  The boys (Harvey, Tommy and Mikey) are excited because soon their crystal pitcher of water will be on the counter and their world will be as it should be.

Stay tuned!

Paris 2019, SHOES!

Okay, what is this obsession with European shoes?  I don't know, I just know that I often can't help myself and I march up to people with "ParDONE!" and motion to their shoes and then to my camera.  They seem pleased when they realize that I appear to be harmless and just want to photograph their shoes.  Most of the time I can convince them to "pose", but not always.  Sometimes I just sneak a picture ... but that's not as much fun as asking outright.  I enjoy the facial expression as it goes from surprise to uncertainty to amusement to pride (obviously they think I think that they have good taste, unless they suspect that I'm making fun -- which I'm not.

But, seriously, are these cute or what?!

Caught on the Metro, she never suspected I got a shot.  I remember she had on a cute jacket, but the shoes reminded me of Lori so I focused on her shoes.

We're at Les Halles wandering around one of the Christmas Markets when these two darling girls approached and I knew I had to have a shot of these boots!  The one on the left immediately went into a shoe pose and I had to instruct the girl on the right to follow suit.  Great!

White tennies in Paris?  Unheard of, except this year it's a real thing.  I particularly liked these.

Her coat and shoes matched!  Yikes, she was weary at first and then she seemed pleased.  I wanted to get a picture of her coat as well, but she only barely allowed me to photograph her shoes.

And then there was impossibly handsome HIM.  No way was he going to pose his shoes, but I HAD to get this shot.  Great shoes, not so great attitude.

These cuties (and the rest) were spied on one Metro or another, so didn't have to go through rejection for these pics.  Really like this pair because of the velcro!

I've never seen high top checkered tennies.  I've only seen Vans where you can special order them.  These really spoke to me.

 These look so comfortable.  But really liked who chic her overall look was, check out the slacks with the bottom touch.  So cute.

And these.  Eek!  They zip up the middle of the front!  Poor dear I wanted to tackle her and rip off those boots.  Just love them!

Paris 2019, Day 6

This morning we were off bright and early to catch the opening of the final Christmas Market at Abbesses.  Egad, it opens at 10 and only 4 stalls were open by 10:30!  They arise late, eat late, go to bed late ... and all I want to do is shop the markets!  Well, we bought close to nothing this entire trip.  Only thing I drooled over was the 650 euro purse.  But, heck, the key chain wasn't included, so it just wasn't worth it.  How, I ask you, could she even say that with a straight face?  Bought a few trinkets, some pepper (of course), but really, nothing of consequence.  I may yet go back to La Defense and get that Yak scarf -- I hear it's pretty cold in Prescott!

So we decided to go to Bastille and look around (we have a card for that).  Nope, changed our mind, got off at the Tuilleries and walked.  Sharon said, "Let's walk around the Tuilleries then down along the Seine to see if the street vendors are open, we can grab something to drink along the way and get back on the Metro to the Bastille.  Great plans ... rarely get followed.

This ferris wheel is located at the Tuilleries Christmas Market.  It is impossibly high.  Sharon asked me if I wanted to go aboard.  Yea, no thank you!  My stomach churned at the very thought of it.

 There are so many ponds and fountains along the Tuilleries.  Strangely enough this pond smelled bad, but it is sure beautiful.  If you look down first you see the Egyptian plinth in the middle of "Concorde" and beyond it the Arch de Triumph and beyond that La Defense (the giant Arch).  Directly behind us is the smaller replica Arch:

I love how we just "left turn" in the middle of a great plan ... when the urge strikes.  So we didn't do that, instead we wandered along the river, stopped at a bench to rest a bit and people watch, continued on until we both spied a Crepe restaurant and called for a stop.  Sharon wanted a crepe fromage (cheese) and I was interested in a tomato salad (and vin rouge).  Nice lite lunch, great people watching and generally a nice rest from the bitter cold.

Continuing on along the Seine, we stopped frequently trying to purchase those small oil paintings of various locations in and around Paris.  But the price has doubled since the first time we bought them.  Drat!  I'm just to cheap to pay 15 euro for something I paid 7 for just two years ago.  Let's all sing like the birdies do:  cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap!

Sharon is a nut for the architecture and insisted on taking my picture in front of this building.  For once, I'm having a good hair day (thanks, Jen!).

Hahahaha!  I can't fathom what's inside, I started sharing my thoughts and Sharon was like:  Stop it!  So I'll just leave you with this picture and you can make up your own mind!

Along the way I spotted a woman with great shoes.  I asked her if I could take a picture of her shoes.  She looked at me like maybe I was a lunatic (maybe I am).  I told her that she wasn't any fun and for that she would not make it into my shoe blog.  She didn't speak English.  Too bad for her!  I've got a great shoe photo collection going, blog to be published tomorrow evening.  She blew it!

This is new street art that I'm seeing everywhere.  This is the first series I saw, but individually this stuff is everywhere.  We saw it yesterday at the Louis Vuitton shop and today along the Seine.  I particularly like this series.

More walking until we came across a frontal view of Notre Dame:

What you see off to the far right is a crane which takes "parts" from a smaller transport (which you can't see in this picture and moves it up or down depending on what the people in the transport want or need.  Love this view of the cathedral.

We crossed, played around in the flower shops and then separated.  Sharon wanted to see Saint Chapelle again and I was ready to return home.  How nice that we've been there enough that we both feel comfortable separating when we feel the need to do different things.  Sharon says she is not a good navigator but she has had no problems doing her own thing when I'm ready to do something else.  So glad we travel well together.

Now back in the room, chilling.  Thinking about Japanese tonight ... right across the street.  Vietnamese last night, Italian the night before, we've never been this adventurous before!

Turned out we went back to the Vietnamese place for ravioli soup ... which was delicious.  Sharon was speculating about the ravioli filling.  Don't tell me, I don't want to know.  Just know that it was very good, a very mild spice and it was hot -- warmed my bones.  Yum.

Headed to the barn, tomorrow is our last day.  It's been a great trip and I'm ready to return to the states. 

Hugs,
S & S

Paris 2019, Day 5

Another lazy, rainy day.  Supposed to experience a high temp of 39 degrees.  Yes, Barb, it's mighty cold here in December!

After our usual breakfast (today my egg was perfect!) we decided to visit the street everyone raves about and is the star of Instagram.  Rue Cremieux.  Okay, it's a cute street but nothing like was I had envisioned.

The street is blocked at each end, you can only ride your bike or scooter to your home.  These tiny homes (I understand that they are all one bedroom residences) are colorfully painted with lush trees and greenery along the sidewalk; the owners obviously take pride in their little lane.

As we walked down the lane we approached this:

How much fun the painters must have had!

As you see, it's a short lane but so sweet.  We did not stand in front of a door and take a selfie which the neighbors find abhorrent and have petitioned the city to put gates on either end of the street to stop the tourists from doing just that.  So I'm glad we got to see it before we were locked out.  The few people on the street this morning were walking down the center, politely taking pictures but not peering into windows or interfering with the residence's privacy.

This street is so sweet, even the closed restaurant windows are beautifully painted:

Back on the Metro to window shop in our neighborhood.  Hello, it's Sunday and everything is closed.  No matter, we can still look at the real estate ads in the windows.  One bedroom flats are around 1 to 1.5 million euros!  Nope, can't afford to live here.

So back to the room for a cup of tea and rest up.

I checked Amazon for this tea.  No dice.  Lori!  Mommy wants!  I swipe a few from the breakfast room every morning to have in the room during the day/evening.  Sure warms my bones.

Decided not to take the hop on/hop off bus tonight as it's just too darned cold.  We'll take the metro to Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up and whatever else we can see.

My father had a saying: "It was colder than a witches tit."  Now how he knew how to compare the weather to a witches anatomy is beyond me, but by golly after tonight I tend to agree with him.  Sharon and I have been wearing our scarves around the neck, leaving our ears unprotected.  Until tonight.  I would never have survived the open air bus (our original plan), it's currently 38 degrees, brutally cold.  We stood at the Trocadero for only a few minutes then it was time to go back to our neighborhood for Vietnamese food (a restaurant two doors from our hotel). 

 

It was just beautiful from across the Seine.  Neither of us had ever seen it lit up at night, quite the scene!

So nice to get back to our neighborhood and have a delightful meal with our warm hotel just right over there!  Time to settle in.  Pleasant dreams, more tomorrow!