Day 1: The Adventure Begins

The first thing you need to know is that I lost my mother last September, the day before her 75th birthday. It was a terrible shock since we were in the process of moving her into a lovely new assisted-living facility and hopeful about seeing her blossom in its very social atmosphere. Sadly, it was not to be.

The adventure which is the subject of this blog is a gift from my mother. Thanks, Mom; I love you.


So what is this great adventure? We are renovating the kitchen in our lovely little house, built in 1956 (previous kitchen c.1974 . . .) and refinishing the hardwood floors.

My plan was that we'd start this project in mid-April, after we finished teaching. I found a great contractor, he found a great kitchen guy, plans were drawn, and we were all set, except for this one tiny detail: he was ready to start NOW. So, six weeks sooner than expected, we were scrambling to clear our entire first floor of furniture, knick knacks, dog toys . . . and an entire kitchen's worth of stuff.

The good news: we got to throw a lot of stuff away. I actually really like throwing stuff away.

The bad news: we don't have a very big house, and it's not easy to find room for everything from its entire first floor.

And oh yes . . . we have three dogs and a cat, which means that Ray and I, the three dogs, and from time to time the cat will be living on the second storey of our little house, in what used to be the lovely, tranquil "library" my children created for us two Christmases ago. It isn't all that tranquil now . . . .

The adventure began yesterday, Day 1 of what is supposed to be a month-long journey. I'm going to document our progress as we survive it -- in what I intend will be fine style.

The workers arrived at 7:20 a.m., much to the consternation of three protective herding dogs ("There are STRANGE MEN in our house!!!! Do you guys not HEAR that?!?"). As of 7:35, closeted behind a baby gate on the second storey with our still occasionally barking dogs, we started to hear the sounds of cabinets being unscrewed, pulled down, broken apart, and tossed out onto the porch and later into a dumpster (you've got to love having a dumpster right there in your own driveway -- who WOULDN'T love that?).

And by the end of Day 1, here's what we saw:

Did I forget to mention that we were tearing down a wall?

And oh yes, there was this little reminder of an earlier decorating scheme; I think I may choose my colour palette from here (not!):

How did we do through the first day? Well, not too badly. The dogs quieted down, I was marking assignments all day, we managed to make our tea and coffee in the morning, and we still have a fridge . . . in the living room for now. And Ray is absolutely delighted that he finally has a big enough sink for dishwashing:

I think this is going to be fun, don't you? Eh? Fun? Hellooooo?