i want my kitchen back!!!!

I haven’t cooked in days … at first, I was really excited about the kitchen remodel but now I’m just over it. Yes, I knew it would be a lot of work and no, I didn’t think it could happen overnight but ugh!!!! I am a very organized and methodical person. Before starting any project, I make a list of individual tasks that need to be accomplished in order to complete the overall project before I even think about starting anything. I then put them in order of which needs to happen first, second, last and power through each item one at a time until all of it is done. Now if only I could get Dan to be that way, hmpf!

It started as an accident, Dan was pulling out the old dishwasher and he broke a few of the bad 70s tiles that covered our countertops. Then he disappeared for a few minutes into the garage and emerged with a rubber mallet in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. Within seconds, he’d removed a 2ft x 2ft square of the tile and was smiling ear to ear. By the end of the night, all of the tile on the right hand side of the kitchen was GONE! I was quite pleased. Unfortunately, the removal of the bad 70s tile revealed bad 70s yellow laminate (? I think it’s laminate but I really haven’t a clue). Over the next two weeks, Dan worked nightly to continue removing the rest of the tiles and to begin removing the remnants of cement that still covered the bad 70s yellow. And here we are now, the tile is gone, the cement is almost completely gone (some from the backsplash still remains), and I have not yet picked out what I want for my new countertops.

I am a clean-as-I-go kind of person, Dan is not. He has kicked me out of the kitchen on more than one occasion through this process because I just cannot stand the mess. I thought I was helping him, cleaning up his mess as he was making it; apparently I was just being annoying. We are now at a critical point, I can make him pause and live with the bad yellow for a few days and at least get back into my kitchen, or I can let him forge forth with sanding down our bad 70s cabinets which he will then refinish. What do I do??? I cannot live in a state of perpetual mess, but I want my new kitchen, I would’ve worked from the top down and completed the cabinets first, but then again this all started as an accident and how could he know that his accident would turn into a kitchen remodel? Just for today, I’m going to enjoy having my kitchen back, today. It is Sunday, my Sunday, the day I typically spend all day in the kitchen.

If you don’t hear from me for a few days, it is most likely because I have given my kitchen, MY kitchen, back to Dan to continue working. Now I’m off to enjoy my big girl glass while my stuffed peppers cook away in the oven, filling our home with the most beautiful aroma, one I’ve missed while waiting to get back in my kitchen. Wish me luck!