6.28.2006

Week 10

Now that we are in the double digits in the kitchen remodel, of course a dramatic blog story will be posted just to keep things interesting. Let me share a secret formula for disaster:

Sheila + Diesel =


Just because animals are the same color doesn't mean that they are best friends. Mom Socie found this out the hard way. We shall recreate the happenings of Friday night.

9:00pm Ding Dong, Family is here (no doorbell was actually used)
9:01pm Oh by the way, Sheila came too (She had reservations at the inn)
9:02pm We should gather up the cats, they are going to be angry
9:02:30pm Diesel and Sheila "interaction" Diesel was sitting peacefully in his window at the top of the stairs when Sheila came charging. Diesel was scared and jumped between the window and screen in a giant ball of fur standing on end. Mom with a gut reaction to save the kitty tried to wrangle Diesel from pending doom out the second story window. Not thinking that cats bite.

Well cats do bite, especially angry furry cats with dogs licking their chops at their feet. Diesel managed to take a good juicy bite out of Moms wrist, creating quite a bloody mess. Sheila came away unscathed. The cats were quarantined to the bedroom for the rest of the weekend. Everyone seemed to survive "When Cats Attack '06"

I use survive loosely in this story. Mom barely made it out alive. Luckily we are pretty proficient in First Aid of Neosporian and Band-Aid Remedies at this point. No need for professional help at this point.

This brings us to Saturday. The point of where we need professional help. Mom complained most of the day that her arm hurt, so another round of Neosporian and Band-Aid all around. Then some mysterious swelling of the wrist started to take shape. By mid afternoon, more mysterious swelling. So a call to Dr. Horst, wife of the project sub-contractor John. To the Doctors advice, we go to the ER. Little did she shed light on the upcoming events even though she knew the prognosis.

Emergency Rooms are the best, it is not often that the kid is taking the parent to sit in the waiting room. Paybacks are a bitch, true story. This ER visit resulted in the following:

1. Mom gets a tetanus shot (for those who are keeping track, that is 2 shots for this project)
2. A hand soak in medicine water
3. An antibiotic IV
4. Social services coming down with the camera for documentation
5. A giant split for comfort because......

Mom has to be admitted to the hospital!! She choose option B of returning to Toledo with the ER instructions of getting a follow up IV in 8-12 hrs. Well at about 4:30am, Mom rustles up the troops to head off to the Toledo Hospital because she couldn't take the pain any longer. This is where she has spent the last 4 days pondering why she tried to pick up an angry cat.

On a side note, Dad and Joe diligently worked on mudding the kitchen until the unexpected delay.


Public service announcement: Stay away from Killa Cats, only bad things happen.

It is also good advice to have an on call medical professional during major renovation.

Diesel has recovered from the traumatic weekend, though I doubt he will be the same. At least we know that the chances of Sheila coming back are very slim.

**Pictures of the puncture wound have not been posted due to the graphic nature. They will be available via email request only.**

6.18.2006

Week 9





This week the kitchen becomes a recognizable room again with the addition of drywall. For the most part the drywall was managable, but there is mudding left to do. I don't want to curse the next step.

As for the IKEA saga, it still continues. This week brought many phone calls to IKEA and the shipping company. The shipping lady conversation was the worst in a long time, she ended up hanging up on me! That is what I call customer service! No one is taking responsibilty in the missing pieces. Lucky for us we are not ready to actually deal with cabinet installation.

Next up, window installation, mudding and floor install.

6.11.2006

Week 8

Big Progress in week 8 of kitchen remodel.
1.) We have received the delivery of the cabinets from IKEA. A few things to note, delivery man missed the window by 2 hrs and came in 1970's shady rusty van. We received about 80% of the cabinets, the rest are who knows where. I spent a lovely 30 mins on the phone Thursday night placing the missing piece order. They should be calling by Tuesday to straighten things out.


2.) The windows are ordered, finally. We will be going with a 3 bay window with operable casements on the ends with prairie style lites in all 3. It should arrive in 7-10 business days.

3.) The soffit is built. Design Build is the best way to go. So far so good.

4.) Insulation is complete on the exterior walls of the kitchen. Great Stuff is really fantastic and you can never have enough.

5.) Joe broke our most powerful drill, killed the motor. So we have some drills on loan from John.


6.) Drywalling has begun. The ceiling is complete. We got a crash course in drywall finishing, our homework for the next week. No major injuries to report. This weeks menu included Turkey and Ham on the grill and French Toast for breakfast.

Action shots from the weekend:


6.04.2006

Week 7

This week brings minor changes to the kitchen. The insulation is hung on the outside walls. Some prep for the drywall starts. An initial treatment of Muratic Acid has been applied to the brick chimney, another follow up treatment will follow this week. The windows will be ordered this week, pending Joe not changing his mind for the 100th time on what he wants.

We anticipate a busy week ahead. Monday we are picking out the countertops, top secret for now. Thursday is Cabinet day, they finally arrive from IKEA. We also look to finish up the wiring to the lights. The cats are still hanging in there, they are great observers to the kitchen makeover.