Sometimes, Change Is...Everything.

For those who know me, and I mean really know me, I despise change. There is no word in the english dictionary to replace the word despise to describe how much I hate change. The word change is non existent in my vocabulary. Just the thought of change makes me want to cringe. I can take small amounts of good change, but that's about it. But "lets redo the kitchen that Sara has grown up with her entire life?" You can stop right there. Which brings me to todays topic. "The People At Home Depot Said It Would Only Take Two Weeks Starting in June, But Really It's Going To Take Until The End Of August" remodeling of The Gray Family Kitchen: Summer 2010.

    If there is one thing to know about my wonderful mother, :) it's that when she has an idea stewing in her head, she carries around a cute little note pad, has my dad doing way too much research and has that "oh I'm up to something but not ready to freak Sara out yet" look. It was another hot summer Kentucky day and I had come home from a long day at work and was greeted with the infamous face. Excellent. (Insert eye roll.) I knew something was up. "Dad and I are going to Home Depot to go design the new kitchen. You wanna go?" The average American laughs at a good joke. I'm an average American, so I laughed. Ohhh...This was no laughing matter.  The thought of this overwhelming significant change took awhile to sink in, but I was starting to grasp the idea. It would be decided that cabinets would be delivered sometime the first week of July. Before all the kitchen shenanigans took place, Mom needed a quick trip to Florida. Her parting words to me? "Don't be surprised if I call you and say, start unloading the cabinets. The new ones are being delivered tomorrow. Call me if you need anything." REAL FUNNY. Luckily, they were delivered after mother returned home.
     One of the down falls that comes with a kitchen renovation, involves becoming clever for meals. If you ever have out of town guests and looking for places to take them, forget The Yellow Pages. Call me. Seriously. And not having access to a microwave for the midnight to two A.M "you better put your name in sharpie if you want to find your leftovers tomorrow morning. If not, it's free for all,"fourth meal was quite inconvenient.
      Being the genius mother she is, she would plan to have us endure most of the waiting of the countertops while frolicking along the shore of Lake Michigan. Calls after calls, things were progressing. After arriving home from two weeks in Michigan, I thought my nerves would begin to calm down. I had told myself that this was the week that things would fall into place. Epic fail. With plumbing and construction flaws and miscommunication, I bring you to present day. Summer vacation is a time for sleeping in, letting textbooks collect dust, the occasional summer romance, and soaking up some Vitamin D.  I guess construction workers with loud tools don't take in the rule of the earliest you should start your tools is 11:00. (And thats being early.)  So much for the recommended eight hours of sleep.
     You would think that any certified contract worker would know how much voltage can be used before popping a circuit. And that would be true if you weren't dealing with a house having its ORIGINAL wiring from 1956. Just to add more stress to this already change filled project, my change meter rose to an all time high. Kitchen shenanigans would come to a halt for two days while the entire circuit panel for my childhood home received a complete twenty first update. By then, I'd about had enough. Maybe by taking a much needed two week vacation I could forget the inconvenience of the dust, noise, and the "what are they doing to the kitchen today?" Thank goodness for beaches, low humidity, and mile stone birthday parties.
    With just a punch list of minor things left to be fixed, and my first home cooked meal in almost seven weeks, my mind is finally at ease, and am once again learning the layout for the much needed midnight to two AM munchies.

-Sara-