It's Hairy

Our life. It's hairy at the moment.

Just a couple weeks before I left for Serbia, we decided to refinance the house and remodel the kitchen. (blog post about the kitchen designed for the kids is already in the drafts folder!) We have the best timing EVER! I knew I was going to dread becoming "basement people". The last time we did it, we were putting in hardwood floors on the main level and there was just Angela here. We spent a month in the basement, and it just about drove me crazy. That was nothing.....

Anyway, we signed a contract with the cabinet guy the beginning of January, and now the kitchen is officially under construction. This weekend the last of the cabinets, the ceiling, and the last of the wall between the kitchen and dining room will come down.

And you know how I mentioned that timing? Well our appliances have great timing too! We had to put 1/2 the money down for the cabinets when we signed the contract. The rest of the funds are sitting waiting to be paid out. The stove was the only thing we were replacing now, and it was ordered on Friday. We were going to keep the rest of our appliances and purchase new over the next year or so. Well, our appliances had other plans!

On Sunday night the fridge died. Just plain died. It's the 3rd time, and the last time the guy came out he said he wouldn't touch it again. Thankfully it's not only winter in Minnesota, but we've finally hit semi-normal January temps so the fridge food was able to be moved to the front step. I never realized how often I got to the fridge every day until I had to go out the front door to get the milk. LOL Anyway, Monday night found us ordering a new fridge. When we were ordering the fridge, the guy said that since we'd just ordered the stove on Friday, if we went ahead and ordered the dishwasher along with the fridge then we could get a package discount. Hmmmm....we had to think that one over a few hours. In the end, that's what we did. The only thing left to get is the microwave (ours has been working intermittently for a year now. LOL) and it has to meet certain measurement criteria based on the new cabinets. The stove will be delivered next week. I wonder where we'll put it? It can't go in the kitchen, and fridge is currently 1/2 in the entry and 1/2 in the dining room. And there is NO room in the garage! Why? Because yesterday the window guys were here to install the large basement window that was ordered back in September. They were also going to blow insulation in the attic. Apparently they didn't get the message that they CAN'T do the attic now because the kitchen ceiling is coming down. (see below) So the garage is now full of insulation in addition to all the other "stuff". While I was discussing with them what to do with the insulation, the new fridge arrived. While the fridge was being brought in and the window being installed, Asher decided to jump down the stairs. Nice. Fortunately I was 1/2 way up them and was able to lunge just enough to catch him by the arm so he didn't fall all the way down.

In two more days I will not have a stove to cook on. The plumbing will be disconnected and the power not yet connected. The cabinets are due to be installed the end of February, so that means I have one month to keep the kids out of the mess. Although the new stove will be here on Thursday, the floors will not be done and the wiring for the new stove will not yet be complete. Joy of Joys.

Amongst all of the mess are the normal daily routines that will now take place in the basement: Breakfast, dressing, doing hair, managing meds, managing dogs, showering, doing laundry, and every thing else that our family does on a daily basis. And of course, there is still the shuttling of kids here, there and everywhere. (and no, I will not blog about how I forgot Angela had floor hockey the other night and she scored her first goal EVER without me there!)

So lets add to the mayhem, shall we? Next week on Tuesday, Axel and I will leave for Philly to meet with his spine surgeon at Shriners on Thursday. Angela and Asher are both staying home with Dean. Well, Angela will be in school, so I guess it'll be Asher and Dean. LOL Oh, but Dean has a sales meeting one day while we're gone so Asher will attend his first sales meeting ever. YAY Asher!

Then there is Asher's upcoming surgery, which is scheduled for Feb 24th, followed by a weekend in the hospital. And, not ALL of the parents in this household will be in town. ;-) One of us is taking a much-needed vacation and it's not me. Unfortunately, because we're trying to get four doctors scheduled at one time, it didn't leave much (ok, not ANY) room for flexibility.

It's entirely possible that my posts over the next month will be a bit discombobulated, just like our house.

Tomorrow I need to clean out my car. Dean will not like to drive my car in it's current state. Pretty sure about that one. I also need to empty the rest of the kitchen cabinets in preparation for the crew coming on Saturday, take Angela to get a birthday present, shop for my family Christmas (What? It's the end of January?). Saturday run Angela to wherever, keep the other two out of the way all day/evening, Sunday Dean has to work a trade show, then my family's Christmas. It'll be a busy weekend!