The countertops will not get installed until after Thanksgiving so DH had to fabricate a countertop (plywood, very stylish)  and reinstall the old sink and the dishwasher this weekend. 

It is quite surprising how much I have come to rely on running water.  I tried pretending that I was camping for the last two weeks - even did some dishes in a dishpan leaning over the bathtub but I AIN’T gonna do it for three more weeks.

I’m so lame.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband…to distraction but we’ve recently started a kitchen remodel and it is straining things.  We both work so the remodeling is being done after work and 24/7 on the weekend.  This is how it started

First there’s the discussion: Him:”Maybe we should finally get rid of the 1950’s metal cabinets in the kitchen, wood cabinets would be more saleable when we sell the house..”

Me: I think so too, should we start looking at cabinet prices?

Then more discussion: Cabinets agreed on

Him: “No way am I going to pay over $1000 to have someone else install the cabinets, it’s not rocket science”.

ME: OK, where do we start?

The prep work: pull out the kitchen cabinets and install them in the garage; when we removed the sink base we discovered that there had been a leak at some time prior to our purchase of the house and the wallboard was disintigrating; moving the electrical outlet (for the disposal & DW) which was under the sink (not code); repair the walls after removing the tile backsplash; continue the tile floor all the way to the wall now that the cabinets are out; move the stove; plug the stove back in to make coffee; move the stove again; where can I plug in the microwave to make oatmeal; I’m really tiredof fast food – will I have a sink by the weekend cuz we are now eating off paper plates.

Discussion: Him: what do you want to do about the countertop? I’m thinking granite and an undermount sink.

Me: I like granite but it is probably pretty expensive…. (we’re getting granite).

Note: Discussion, in this instance, mostly means the hubby making statements and me agreeing. My job has mostly been driving to the local hardware store several times a day on the weekend to get things we need that we discovered we don’t have and priming the new walls…oh and staying out of the way because he HATES it when I watch him work…

Mom: I sent you an email with the coolest link to it, it’s a machine created at some college that makes the most amazing music, it took them something like 13000 hours to create it (here is the video)

Me: Yes, I’ve seen it, it’s really cool but it is a computer animation

Mom: no, that must be something else because I received it from someone in an email…

Me: I checked it out last year when you sent me the link, it is really cool, but it is digitized, you can look at the video and see it is computer animation (Snopes debunks it here)

Mom: but it was on the internet, why would they lie?

Me: hmmm

If you can survive a DIY kitchen remodel and all of the associated stress then you can survive anything!

I used this recipe (tutorial) http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/canning-101-and-strawberry-jam-part-1/ to make strawberry jam this weekend. Once I had all of the tools laid out, it only too about 3 hours (with some reading breaks while water came to boil) from start to clean up!  And it turned out wonderfully!