GregHowley.com

So, we're having our kitchen redone. Like Ron Burgundy, it's kind of a big deal. It all started in late November. They took down an interior wall, and had to move some pipe in the process. They pulled up the salmon-colored tiles, and found a total of seven layers of flooring beneath, most of it linoleum. They tore down our eighties cabinets, the same exact ones you can see in the kitchen at the beginning of The Neverending Story. They cut a hole in the exterior wall of our house to enlarge the window, which was honestly kind of frightening.

We'd had to clear out not only the entire kitchen area and the adjacent room that Linda had been using as an office, but also the downstairs half-bath, the coat closet, and the unfinished half of our basement which we use for storage. That last bit was huge, because we had tons of plastic crates full of clothing and other junk in there.

Last month, we finally got walls and a ceiling, and they installed the cabinets. Getting a washer and dryer was huge, since we no longer had to bring loads of laundry to my mom's house. Supply chain issues suck.

A week or so later they hauled in the insanely heavy soapstone countertops, and the new four foot sink. Being able to finally put a few dishes into the new cabinets was the first light at the end of the tunnel. Then they put the lighting in the new ceiling and hooked up the new Ring doorbell, which became a whole thing. After I got the app installed on my phone, I got notifications every time someone came nearby, and I now understand how the dog feels when she goes crazy barking every time someone walks past.

It's been like Christmas every week recently. The new stove came in last week. This week, the plumbers should be hooking up the garbage disposal and the water for the second faucet on our sink, as well as the water lines for the dishwasher and new fridge. And the electricians are coming in, so hopefully they'll add the flood light out back so that I don't need to grill with a headlamp anymore. We should also get the stove hood soon. If we get the actual dishwasher this week, I'll be ecstatic. I'm so sick of hand-washing dishes.

The new fridge is going to be one of the last kitchen things. Then we can turn our attention to the new bathroom, which is really turning the half-bath we've always had into a small full bath. The tile just inside the back door is already in place, and it looks fantastic. Having a second toilet again will be nice, and having a second shower is going to be a game-changer. Lia is fourteen now, and Ella is turning ten, so hooray for two showers.