I really wish

Paul had put this sign up before I went in the kitchen at 6:30 a.m., ran a staple through my heel and then proceeded to bleed all over the house.  After that, shoes were the order of the day.

The speed limit was posted because some of us (okay I admit it - mainly me) kept charging through like a herd of elephants and ripping the plastic down from the top. 

And for your viewing enjoyment, more shots of Construction Central in process:

Construction Central Day 1

This has been a hard post to write.  I don't know why.  Maybe because the day I have looked forward to and dreaded the most has arrived - demolition.  It's been written on the calendar for months, we have packed things up, baked and frozen food, purchased items, donated items.  But I guess a photo says it best.

What is behind Curtain No. 1?

Wait for it, wait for it - This - Demolition at the Havens household.

FYI, as my husband says, the plastic is up as a deterrent to dust.  Between you and me, I'd hate to see how much dust there would be if we didn't have it up there, because there is a LOT of dust.   Now, you may ask, where did we put all the trash from the demo?  Well we handle this in two ways, one we put it out for bulk trash at the beginning of every month and two we hit the dipsty dumpsters (construction rolloffs) in the dead of the night.   It's always interesting, I ride shotgun as the lookout and Paul dumps stuff in.   Now maybe it is poor form to do this, but like Home Depot we always stack it neatly.  So remember DIYer's, if you are going to use somebody else's rolloff, because you are too poor or cheap to rent your own, stack it neatly and plan to patronize the business that you stick stuff in. 

Unfortunately, I did not get to help demo the kitchen to get rid of some of my inner anger since I was at work.   I did however, help carry stuff out to the trash and the car for the "run for the border" as my husband says.  And it was bloody hard to carry it through that slit, I can tell you.  

The last vestige of civilization

The kitchen has been packed up, the stove and the dishwasher have been donated to Soul's Harbor, a charitable organization in Dallas (which is good because the dishwasher broke about 2 months ago, however, it makes a dandy drying rack)  and I am washing what will be my last load in the kitchen sink, before I move myself to the utility sink in the laundry.  Yes, I am lucky, I don't have to wash pots and pans in my bathtub. 

So I said to Paul, "we are not washing any more dishes, silverware or glasses since we are switching to paper and plastic for the duration, right?"   Paul looks at me and says, "I am not drinking my Jack Daniels out of a plastic cup."   Now my husband drinks Jack Daniels Black on the rocks, sometimes while eating a grapefruit. He has special heavy glasses that he drinks it out of.  The glasses in question:

 

There were four, but two broke long before we started this project.    I just didn't want you to think that I broke two of them so I would only have to wash two. 

Now my first inclination (the pissy part of me that comes out sometimes when my meds aren't working) was to say "not on your life buddy."  But since Paul does most of the heavy lifting on these projects, I kept my mouth shut, put them on the window sill with the bourbon and will wash them gladly (or at least to keep the peace).

Next stop, Construction Central. 

A side note

Since my husband thought I was crazy with the title on my cabinet post, he said an explanation was in order.   It was from Sumer Is Icumen In, a traditional English medieval  round and possibily the oldest such example of it in existence. It is translated into "Summer has come in" or "Summer has arrived"  (thank you wikipedia).   I first came across this in an Anne Rivers Siddens' novel where the hero was using this an invitation to the heroine's birthday party.  I personally that it was appropriate.   When Paul googled it and saw the UTube version of it, he thought I had gone cuckoo.   

Catch you on the flip side.  

Packing up

The one thing I have dreaded the most is now here.  Packing up the kitchen. 

The worst part is trying to figure out what we are going to need over the coming months.  Dishes, silverware, glassware, that was a no brainer, but spices?  Am I going to need fennel, rosemary, etc. and if so where I am going to put them?

Pots and pans - which of these do I use the most.  Baking sheets - well that was out, cake pans, probably not. Tupperware/plastic storage - of course. Small appliances - my food processor and my electric can opener (I had no idea how much I took my electric can opener for granted).

You take all of this for granted every day you cook in a kitchen even though you may not like the kitchen you're in.

Plus I hate to pack AND I hate to move even worse.  When we moved here in 2005, I told Paul I was not moving again (unless it was to a retirement village) and I had movers pack and move me. I was dying in this house.   As well as being DIY'ers, we are DIY movers also.  Laugh all you want, but it's not easy moving a large fridge into a sunken living room on its way to the kitchen.  

So, I scavenge boxes from work, from Sam's, etc. (because I am too cheap to go buy boxes) and start to pack.   But I did go through stuff and threw some old rusted pans away.   

Here's my interim pantry:

Here's my interim kitchen (or cooking on the campfire as Paul calls it)

And here's where stuff is waiting patiently to go to its new home.   Sad isn't it. 

The cabinets is icumen in, Lhude sing cuccu!

The cabinets are on their way!  So we are patiently (yeah right) waiting for them to arrive on a truck between the hours of 12:00 - 6:00.  Tick, Tick, Tick.  

It is now 7:00 - where the heck are they?  V is here waiting patiently to check everything in and make sure we received everything. 

7:30 - Finally.  The big truck arrives and while Paul and V are working with the movers and checking everything off, what I am doing?  Walking around like the commercial in Mervyn's going "open, open, open."

I will give you a sneak peak in one of the boxes that Paul opened for me.

Here's the garage after the cabinets were delivered:

Then the next day we moved everything from the garage to the sun porch (staging area) in the order in which it will be going into the kitchen (Paul's idea to make it easier).

WITH THE EXCEPTION of the lazy susan. It won't fit through the gate or any of the doors (well maybe the front door).  We'll just have to figure it out when we get there.

Next top, how to pack up your kitchen and not have a nervous breakdown (or at the very least not one anyone sees).