But blogging is different now, don't you think? Google Reader is dead and with it went the links to all my blogs and I just haven't found the energy to find them again. I don't read blogs anymore. Except my mom's. Cuz she's special. (And the reader I use to do it it is this one: NextReadr. It is great. You should check it out of you don't yet have a reader you like.) Does anyone read blogs anymore? I'm gonna say no. No one is reading. Which is perfect for me. Having an audience makes me nervous.
Blogging is different and I am different and it felt like time for a fresh start, so now the blog is different too. Earth Shattering, I know, but you'll get used to it.
So, why am I here? Well I'll tell you. And I haven't written in 9 months so there are a lot of words stored up in my fingers dying to get out. This might be a long one. You better hold on to your boots.
Every time I want to write about my house or post pictures about it and complain about the state of my poor kitchen, I am overwhelmed with a sense of crushing guilt. Some people have real problems. I mean, I have real problems too, don't get me wrong, but my kitchen isn't actually one of them. It is just stupid. And a stupid kitchen never hurt nobody.
So please internet, just keep in mind while you are reading this that I am grateful to have a kitchen. I'm grateful to have a house. I"m grateful for my blessings and know that they are many. I'm also glad that soon I will have a DIFFERENT kitchen, and hope that it is OK that I am using my money to pay for a new kitchen and not to feed people in 3rd world countries.
Or does the fact that I feel guilty mean that it is NOT ok?
Whatever. It is too late for guilt. Events have been set into motion that cannot be undone.
Ha. I wish that were true. I feel like every single step of the way I am Conan The Barbarian pushing against that giant wheel with all my might and nothing will ever happen if I don't keep pushing.
Let me lay down the series of events for you:
We were married May of 2002, and moved into a tiny little apartment. We loved it. Though it was a bit crowdy:
So then we found this one. Richard wanted brick and we wanted a yard and this house had both:
And it certainly needed some work.
As you might think it WAS a little terrifying inside, but our eyes were so full of stars and paint chips that all we could see was potential and we bought it anyway. Because we are completely delusional.
We moved in and spent our first night in the house on Christmas Eve 2003. There were no ghostly visitations or anything. Turns out it is just a regular old crappy house, not the haunted kind.
So then we started fixing it up. Worked on it every night when we got home from work. Worked on it all day every Saturday. Went to Friend's, Family's and Neighbor's houses to shower and use the bathroom.
Eventually we got the bathroom and kitchen working and then we slowed down a little. Started working on it only on Saturdays. And then we had kids and things slowed WAY down. And here we are 10 years later and the house is not done. We NEVER thought it would take this long. If we had any idea it would take this long I don't think we ever would have bought it. But we're here now. 2 kids and 70 pounds later.
About this time last year I started to despair. We were making pretty solid plans to tear off and rebuild our kitchen. And I started to think it was impossible. The amount of work that needed to be done and the amount of time we had available to do it were at complete odds with each other. How were were ever going to do this alone? Especially when I really started working to finish the upstairs bathroom and it took SEVEN MONTHS, a whole brand new kitchen just seemed like a crazy dream. I tried to keep it to myself though, cuz what choice did we have?
But on June 17, 2013 while we were eating breakfast, Richard said in the middle of the night he had an epiphany. We were never going to be able to finish this house by ourselves. And he really wanted the house to be done by our 10 year anniversary. So we decided to hire someone else to finish it. Hallelujah!
In July 2013 we found a contractor. Our Neice's Father-in-Law. We were happy, but first we had to have the plans drawn up so he could give us a quote to see if it was an amount the bank was willing to give us. It took about 5 weeks, but the architect finally gave us the finished plans and we discussed them with the contractor and it was going to cost WAY MORE THAN WE COULD AFFORD. We then spent the next several months reworking the plans, and waiting to hear from the architect and the contractor and then reworking them again then waiting again until we finally have a a remodeling plan we can afford. But it means we don't get a garage and Richard will have to do all the electricity and plumbing, and we have to finish all of the existing house ourselves. Yea.
The next few months passed with more waiting and more calling and more emailing copies of plans and more waiting and here we are, January 16th. Our 10 year anniversary of moving into the house has come and gone. But we are just waiting for the architect to finish the final copy of the plans, and I think our Contractor is meeting with the architect right now to finish them up so maybe we will be able to move onto the next step sometime soon. I never would have guessed this part, the BEFORE part, would take 7 months. If you decide to build a house or an addition, it is something to keep in mind. Try to estimate how long you think it will take, and then times that by 57.
You'd think all this waiting would make me a patient person but no luck on that so far. Which I think means there is no hope for me.
This is probably enough for one day. I've got more words, but maybe I will save them for tomorrow so as not to overwhelm your tender minds. But I'll be back. And least one more time. Tune it tomorrow to find out of the contractor called us. Who knows? Stranger things have happened!
And of the song from Dr. Horrible's is not still running through your head, it probably should be. Here You Go.
We moved in and spent our first night in the house on Christmas Eve 2003. There were no ghostly visitations or anything. Turns out it is just a regular old crappy house, not the haunted kind.
So then we started fixing it up. Worked on it every night when we got home from work. Worked on it all day every Saturday. Went to Friend's, Family's and Neighbor's houses to shower and use the bathroom.
Eventually we got the bathroom and kitchen working and then we slowed down a little. Started working on it only on Saturdays. And then we had kids and things slowed WAY down. And here we are 10 years later and the house is not done. We NEVER thought it would take this long. If we had any idea it would take this long I don't think we ever would have bought it. But we're here now. 2 kids and 70 pounds later.
About this time last year I started to despair. We were making pretty solid plans to tear off and rebuild our kitchen. And I started to think it was impossible. The amount of work that needed to be done and the amount of time we had available to do it were at complete odds with each other. How were were ever going to do this alone? Especially when I really started working to finish the upstairs bathroom and it took SEVEN MONTHS, a whole brand new kitchen just seemed like a crazy dream. I tried to keep it to myself though, cuz what choice did we have?
But on June 17, 2013 while we were eating breakfast, Richard said in the middle of the night he had an epiphany. We were never going to be able to finish this house by ourselves. And he really wanted the house to be done by our 10 year anniversary. So we decided to hire someone else to finish it. Hallelujah!
In July 2013 we found a contractor. Our Neice's Father-in-Law. We were happy, but first we had to have the plans drawn up so he could give us a quote to see if it was an amount the bank was willing to give us. It took about 5 weeks, but the architect finally gave us the finished plans and we discussed them with the contractor and it was going to cost WAY MORE THAN WE COULD AFFORD. We then spent the next several months reworking the plans, and waiting to hear from the architect and the contractor and then reworking them again then waiting again until we finally have a a remodeling plan we can afford. But it means we don't get a garage and Richard will have to do all the electricity and plumbing, and we have to finish all of the existing house ourselves. Yea.
The next few months passed with more waiting and more calling and more emailing copies of plans and more waiting and here we are, January 16th. Our 10 year anniversary of moving into the house has come and gone. But we are just waiting for the architect to finish the final copy of the plans, and I think our Contractor is meeting with the architect right now to finish them up so maybe we will be able to move onto the next step sometime soon. I never would have guessed this part, the BEFORE part, would take 7 months. If you decide to build a house or an addition, it is something to keep in mind. Try to estimate how long you think it will take, and then times that by 57.
You'd think all this waiting would make me a patient person but no luck on that so far. Which I think means there is no hope for me.
This is probably enough for one day. I've got more words, but maybe I will save them for tomorrow so as not to overwhelm your tender minds. But I'll be back. And least one more time. Tune it tomorrow to find out of the contractor called us. Who knows? Stranger things have happened!
And of the song from Dr. Horrible's is not still running through your head, it probably should be. Here You Go.
