Another Day in Paradise

Did you think the kitchen fiasco was over? Nahhhhh. I don't think we will ever stop paying for this dream kitchen with blood, sweat and tears. Oh, and a whole lotta money!

Back in March, yes March, another--ANOTHER--leak sprouted and just about ruined the cabinets, AGAIN. I kept hearing this hissing sound and when I opened the cabinet doors to see what it was, there was more water everywhere.

Thank goodness, I'm a hoarder and had all kinds of tea pots, coffee presses and miscellaneous jars in there because the water filled them just about to the tops! If they hadn't been there, we would have had the ceiling damage in the basement. Remember this HERE!

Ok, so far, BOTH water filters have leaked (see above), the instant hot water unit leaked (and was replaced by Insinkerator at no cost), the ice maker leaked and ruined our wood floors (U-Line replaced the ice maker and gave us a settlement on the floor damage); and so I'm just about done having everything replaced. 

Today, after having everything turned off for over seven months, I finally got our plumber to come in. I told him to just replace all the hoses, lines, filters--whatever he could see and touch, REPLACE IT! Lawds have mercy.

Now, the only thing left (well, I should NEVER say that) is to have the cabinet doors replaced which were ruined by the last leak. Wonder how much that will cost?

Maybe I'll get to that next year. Maybe I won't.

Ok, enough sour grapes. I am feeling better!! Yay. Yesterday was the first day I didn't have to lay down after I got up! I felt almost normal. Ok, that's about three weeks being sick. I'll be well by the time the hub gets back. Last night was the first night I did not wake up hacking! I is so thankful!

Alright, that's it for the day. Stay calm and carry on!

Labels: Kitchen Redo

Sabotage!

I heard the Beastie Boys' Sabotage today and can't help but think, "Yup, gotta be." K, get this y'all (in my best Brittney voice), know that ice maker that leaked and just 'bout "rurnt" my kitchen floors?

Yup, these'ns.

Oh, and PS, the entire back side of the house has to be re-sanded, stained and polyurethaned. AGAIN. Because of these'ns.

Remember having to do just that only a couple of years' back? And how long it took to get the fricken' job done? I certainly do, toots. My saving grace  was/is having "my" floor guy--the same one who has done all of our floors since we moved here. Thank you big guy in the sky for at least giving me enough sense to insist on using my guy when the kitchen was being remodeled. Pheeewwwww! Ha, remember this rant? Ooof, who could forget? Hisssss.

Alrighty then, let's just move along, shall we?

Well, shaaaaaa. Looky at what I found last night after our instant hot-water dispenser began spitting at me. (And by the way, ouchy.) Yuuuuupp, I found another leak. Another LEAK!

Are you freakin' kidding me? This is the THIRD leak in two years from this "new" plumbing.

Is it just coincidence, or are you thinking what I'm thinking? I'm thinking it's the wonderful plumbing work the KITCHEN IDIOTS did for us. Hmmmm. Ya think?

Sabotage? Although I wouldn't put anything past themat this point, pro'lly not. I think it to be more of the same shoddy workmanship we received throughout the entire hellish project. Yup. That's what I think!

Sigh. I keep looking downstairs in mom's kitchen to make sure this isn't going to happen again. This was the first leak caused by the water filter. Wha??? Oh, and we caught that one pretty early also. Ugh.

-SMILE- We did, however, wake up to a beautiful, snowy morn here in Middle Tennessee. -SMILE-

Labels: Kitchen Redo, Snow

This Week

We had a beautiful sunset this evening. It turned out to be a warmish day; a door and a window were even cracked open. We're pretty fortunate to be able to do that during the winter months down here. Gotta love the fresh air wafting through the house most of the time.

We did have a few days of frigid air come through Middle Tennessee this week though. Even had some snow on Thursday! Yay! Didn't amount to much more than in the photo. Regardless, schools were closed on Friday. Yay! I heart the South!

I can now officially say to the hub, "Why, yes. I do drywall." An old family joke from early in the marriage. Of course, he thinks I can do anything. Ha. Well, the ice maker is on the blink, again. It had a leak; and my floors began to warp. After the entire fall trying to figure out what was leaking, we finally traced it back to the ice maker. Loverly. Long story short, it is defective and needs to be replaced, again. Geesh, Louise. But . . . I do give U-Line credit; they certainly do back their products. I have not had to pay for any repair work on this appliance. Cheers to that! And it seems, they are even going to repair the floors. Those types of companies are few and far between these days, unfortunately. Don't EVEN get me started on the KITCHEN IDIOTS! Braaaawwwhaha! See, I can finally laugh AT that saga! Amen.

I've been rehashing my blog this week, if ya haven't noticed. After spending a LOT of time on the header  (comme ci, comme ça), I then learn about all of these new free layouts available out there. And I mean some really nice ones! Wow, who knew? Ok, I know, sorry... I'm the last one on the planet to get that memo. (Yea, yea, I more-or-less took last year off from blogging, 'memberrr?) I still work in Photoshop and Image Shack and HTML code, etc. etc. UGH! Not for much longer, though. Well, maybe. I still enjoy fiddling about with all those PNGs.

Who knows what you might find next time you visit.

More cowbell, baby!

Baby Steps

I'm slowly adjusting to the boys being back in school. I was pretty ok until I pulled my car out this morning to go visit mom and the teenager's car wasn't there blocking me in. Sniffle. (Here are his new apartments stairs to the two bedrooms downstairs. How many times do you think someone will fall down them in a year? Don't want to know.)

It was a beautiful drive. I drove with the teenager--his little car barely blowing cool air out the air conditioner. In spite of it, the three hours went by pretty quickly.

His apartment is pretty basic. No, I couldn't live there, not even when I was young and desperate! But boys? They don't seem to care. It was kinda clean but has seen it's share of wear and tear. Four college guys? Ooooof. Gives me the heeby jeebies!

And it wasn't even on the second floor. A real life saver. I felt sorry for all the parents having to climb these babies umpteen times!

After leaving, we stopped for an early supper. Our pub had just closed for the day so we opted for Sullivan's Saloon. Not a soul in the place but us which is always kind of unnerving.

No worries. I walked around taking snaps of the place. Didn't seem to bother the college kids working there one iota.

I'm sure there is a lot of history here, but I'm too tired to delve in.

When I got back from mom's I had my second (or third) cup of coffee and then it was time to get to work.

Of course, the teenager left all of his towels dirty. But, to my amazement, he did bring them upstairs to be washed. Far cry from last year when I had to dig through his disastrous room and find the nasty things. I'm on my third very large load, here it is 5 p.m.

The new sink is prettier than the first. Hmmm, that's a good thing. Tomorrow the arbitrator will decide if all of this is put behind me. I'm hoping it is. They (kitchen idiots) have yet to fix the ice maker, but at this point, I'm ready to say goodbye. Every time they come in, it leads to something else needing fixed. I hadn't planned on my brother having to insulate the cabinets after this was installed. I'm hoping that is it in this damned kitchen! Breathe in bad, breathe out good. Sigh.

Speaking of brother Jim, he found some polo mallets in 'bama. Now, I have to ship them. I'm kinda loving the look of them sitting against the wall.

Both he and my niece play, so I guess I'll have to give them up at some point.

I found this copper sun to hang somewhere in the kitchen. It was too bright and new looking so I put it on the stove top and heated it up until it turned the most beautiful color. I have an idea of where it's going but don't want to put a hole in the wall there. But, you know, I will anyway.

Hope all is well!

xo
ro

Time Has Come Today

I've been busy catching up as much as I can. Enjoying the little time I had today. (Here, "grandpa" is working! My great grandfather's (Bailey) clock who has not worked since we moved to TN. Hmmm. I worked for quite a while tonight until I got him just right. All is well in the world when he is chiming away. Yay.)

We had our last dinner out tonight before the teenager heads back to university. Been such a fast-moving summer with him. We've enjoyed every fleeting moment.

The kid is off to his wonderful sophomore year in high school. Where does the time go?

While mom was still in bed, sleeping, when Jim and I visited yesterday, she opened her eyes, with a wonderful angelic smile when she looked up at her youngest son. A precious moment. Table's turned. They are both precious. Along with you too Johnny. You are always here with us.

A luscious last breakfast with brutha @ Dotson's.

Then we shopped at Lowes; and he worked for over an hour fixing what the kitchen idiots had left behind. Another goof. We had arrived home from Riverside with a heavy mildew smell throughout the entire house originating from under the newly installed sink. I love my brutha. I told him, "If we lived next door to each other, not only would we have two beautiful houses (me) but they would both be in full working order (him)!" Gaarsh, I miss him.

Abby is happy that we're all home and settling in. The teenager spied her in all her glory this afternoon. Had to take a snap.

And, while it was a tad over priced--in my world--I splurged when I saw this little Bella pillow in a Franklin storefront window. Wouldn't you have? A perfect cat bed, even though Dave is the only one who seems to enjoy it here.

The boys are off to see the last of the summer movies--District 9. Gonna wait until after the premier. Looks good though. But I'd rather stay home on premier night. I'd rather look at the light's shadows.

Woodstock, 40 years? Daig. For some reason, I still have this photo, Woodstock, from brother Johnny's August 1969 experience. Who's on stage brutha? I'll have to send this last hard photo to you. But, tell me why it's in my recipe box. A good, safe place, I suppose.

And this one too. Cousin John John. Funny thing, Don't Think Twice is playing on my iTunes. This is with his ex --but his wife in '69, in our living room. (Dunno who is playing the slide electric. ???) He told me once that this was their song when they were separating. Sad. War wounds of the 60s I suppose.

Time.

It's been good to me.

I wish I had a pair of bongos.

xo
ro

I Woke Up Screaming!

The kitchen idiots are here once more. Let's hope this is it. They are replacing my soapstone farmer's sink which they cracked last time replacing the countertops.

Think of me, will you?

UPDATE No. 1: Installers forgot to write appointment on the books, so we're still waiting for them. They were supposed to be here at 8 a.m, it's now 9:20.

Monochromatic Peace

The weekend is here which means I'm perusing Apartment Therapy with a vengeance. I came across this bedroom shot which I just adored. When it comes to our bedroom, the hub's and mine, I've always preferred the scheme to be light and airy with some nice color pieces thrown about. The bedroom is such a personal space that I fill with with all of my nostalgic pieces that really mean something to either myself or the hub--my grandmother's quilt hanging over the bed, my baby clothes hung on peg boards, the boys' pottery made in preschool, and the like. I enjoy being awoken softly in a gentle-to-the eyes sloom.

While the rest of the house is quite the mishmosh of color that peaks the curiosity of the child within me, the bedroom, I feel, should be soothing to the soul. Most all of our wood pieces throughout the house are a very heavy wood, a lot of antiques and just plain dark. After we were married, I got so tired of all the old dark art deco bedroom furniture we had collected that we finally moved it to other rooms of the house. I first worked with the iron bed that we purchased on a trip to Atlanta visiting my mom's sister, Aunt Mary. It now proudly slumbers guests in the downstairs bedroom. (We upped to a king this past year!)

Then there was a closing sale at the then Woodward & Lothrop's where we found this perfectly cheap armoir in a pickled oak. I loved it. (The upholstered off-white chairs came from the same going-out-of-business sale.) Perfect for that light bedroom feel I was looking for. From there came different sales, piecemeal, that somehow fit in with the scheme over the past 20 years. While nothing truly matches, it works for us quite pleasurably.

I feel the same about the kitchen space. It, being the heart of the house, should feel open and airy and inviting. Over the past ten years, I planned almost every aspect of the kitchen I desired. For it to come to fruition (well, almost) is a dream come true. I clipped pictures and articles of everything I liked--again the monochromatic cleanness came into play. I hadn't even realized it until I took all my folders, ideas and clippings to the kitchen remodeler (the idiots that they are) and spread it all out on the table.

I'm pretty darn happy with it overall. I'm trying to release the negativity that came with it because it is such a darn gorgeous kitchen, if I do say so myself.

Which brings me to my latest endeavour. I am truly trying to teach myself how to meditate. I have never been able to! I remember in Lamaze class, I would giggle when the teacher would ask us to find a peaceful spot in our minds. It was ridiculous! Breathing, I'm ok with. Trying to get thoughts out of my head? Not so easy. My niece Madeleine is enamoured with Buddhism which thrills me to no end. I purchased this book, really, for both of us. I will be passing it on to her this week in the hopes that she too will enjoy learning to meditate. Perhaps if I had started out when I was a wee teen, that would have helped. lol I so want to get this Tonglen practice down.

If we all could breathe in the darkness and exhale with only light and goodwill, what a wonderful place it would be. I'm trying.

Happy weekend everyone!

xo
Ro

You've Got to be Kidding Me

Do-di-do. The kitchen idiots strike again! OMG! If anyone had told me before I started this kitchen renovation that it would take over a year and a half, suing, being sued and making me lose much faith in human beings, I would have left the damn thing alone. This renovation has taken me to dark places that I am still trying to pull out of. Yet, the saga continues.

After replacing the countertops, only because they were court ordered, they cracked the soapstone sink. Do-di-do. They finally got around to ordering a new replacement and it finally arrived. So today was the day it was supposed to be installed.

The idiots came in, took all the plumbing fixtures out, undid the caulking on the countertops and were bringing in the new sink. Do-di-do. Wrong sink. Mine has all rounded corners, the new one had straight corners. Of course, they tried to talk me into keeping the new one. No go.

But get this, the owner calls me and tries to talk me into keeping it. He says they can't order another one. Well, I think you can. It's not a custom sink. He then had the gall to tell me that they would fix the crack then. Uh, I don't think so. THEN, get this, HE HUNG UP ON ME. Now if there is anything that gets me going, it's being hung up on. Uh uh. Momma taught me better than that. Yes, of course, I have hung up on boyfriends, LIKE WHEN I WAS 14! OMG. You almost had to tie me down. All the idiots were just standing there, including the idiot's son, idiot jr. They could tell he hung up on me (not only because I said it when he did, in utter disbelief), but because they heard the entire conversation. Of course, I got on the phone right away with our lawyer. This madness has to end. It has to end. Dear Lord, please, make it end.

Deep breath. On a sunnier note, here are some photos of my latest flowers. I lurve daffodils. They just smile up at you. And how can you not smile back?

They arrived in buds, a big ol' bunch of buds.

But this morning, they were all open and having a party.

If the kitchen idiots hadn't shown up, I would have joined in. Maybe later.

And, this is the very last of the amaryllis. Doesn't it remind you of a candy cane? Or peppermint. Or something like that.