One Christian's Perspective on Trials and Other Aspects of American Life

Archive for June, 2019

Lessons in the School of Kitchen Remodeling, Part 2

About 10 days into the remodel, we began to notice some water issues. Because we were planning to move some of the plumbing, the water was turned on and off several times. Our faucets had to be flushed and gunk came out of them due to the copper plumbing we discovered we had. When we started to notice that the temperature of our showers wasn’t really very hot, we thought it probably had something to do with the plumbing that was being worked on, and the plumber said he would check the temperature of the water heater. That was Friday afternoon. Our project supervisor asked if the tile worker could come on Saturday, and we told him that would be fine with us.

Early Saturday morning we went to Austin for an event sponsored by Texas Alliance for Life, a pro-life organization for which my husband serves as a board member. As we were getting ready to leave, we got a message from our project supervisor sent us a message that our house was flooded! Not the words you want to hear, especially when you’re not there! The culprit was our water heater, which had now flooded the laundry room, the powder room, and began to encroach on the kitchen area…and our garage…

Anyone who has ever seen our garage knows it is legendary–and not in a good way. Before we moved to Texas we had always had a basement: a place to put everything we didn’t want anyone to see, no longer used, and stuff we just didn’t know what to do with but didn’t want to throw away. Our garage became our “basement” when we moved to Texas. Thus, when the garage flooded it bordered on being a major catastrophe. We had to take everything out of the garage, a lot of which was now soaked. We filled both our trash bin and recycle bin with the stuff that was unsalvageable. Since it was 90 plus degrees outside, it was extra unpleasant dealing with all of the mess. With no hot water, we knew the showers would be cold but welcome nevertheless. I went to pick up some dinner while my husband showered, or so I thought. When I got home, he was heading out the door to our gym to shower there. Although our cold water was still on, our showers were both single faucet plumbing. No hot water, no water coming out of the showers at all. Improvising a shower in the bathroom sink was interesting, especially when all I had was cold water. At that point I began to feel like Lisa Douglas on the old “Green Acres” TV show, and her adjustments to life without modern conveniences–like hot water! Also, because our thermostat was located on the wall that was removed, we have to keep checking to make sure the workers keep it level so that we have air conditioning! Last night I had to find a ladder to place it on since it had been removed from its temporary location, hanging by a wire in the wall, because we again had no a/c.

Although the flood wasn’t at all pleasant, we were very thankful that the workers came on Saturday because they found it and turned off the water. Had we stayed away longer, our entire first floor could have been under water as well! Even the fact that the rest of the first floor is chaos now, WET chaos would have been a disaster! Amazing that we can see God’s hand in something like a flood! He definitely saw that coming and made sure someone would find it in time to ward off major disaster! So yes, even in this, we can say “Thank You, Lord”! Now about the laundry…

 

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Lessons in the School of Kitchen Remodeling, Part 1

Recently I was asked by someone who regularly receives my blog if I had written recently, or if they had been dropped from the distribution list. No, and no! Since January my life has been consumed with planning for, and now executing, a major kitchen remodeling project. This is not what I would call a spiritual pursuit, however, I believe the Lord holds all of our days and everything we do should glorify Jesus Christ. When God blesses us with material things, I believe that we are obligated to be wise stewards of what He gives us. We’ve lived in our house for over 33 years, and now that all of our children are grown, through college, and married with lives of their own, it’s time to take on the kitchen…the heart of the home. Those of you who have gone through this process understand how daunting this can be!

Since the kitchen is primarily my work space, I took the lead in researching and planning this project. My husband and I talked through the things that were important to us and what would ultimately help us resell the house at whatever point we would do this. Interviewing contractors, comparing companies, making choices about finishes and appliances, it all took longer than I thought it might. However, delays were actually to our benefit since it gave me/us plenty of time and opportunity to think through all the elements. Now that the time has come to actually start the renovations, I think we’re satisfied with all the choices we’ve made.

The last thing required of us before construction began was the clearing out of the space(s). Because our powder room and laundry room adjoin the kitchen, they needed to be updated as well…one thing always seems to lead to another! Our most daunting task was to clear out EVERYTHING from all of the rooms. We never realized how much STUFF we have! The most disturbing part is that I did a “first pass” through all the cabinets to get rid of things I knew would not be coming back into the new kitchen, took a car full of stuff to Goodwill, and you would not know that had taken place by the abundance of things STILL filling our living and dining rooms and overflowing into our family room.

Someone mentioned to my husband that you need to have a strong marriage to go through a kitchen renovation–no doubt about it! Especially when you’re living in the middle of the chaos. Our flexibility is being tested daily! Certain activities and conversations have become commonplace. Washing dishes in the bathroom sink, doing “emergency” laundry in the bathtub, keeping a 5-gallon water jug in the living room because we have no water source on the first floor, being reminded to use the bathroom before coming home because the water was shut off, and trying to keep the 13-year-old dog calm with the house shaking from jackhammering and pulling down a wall and ceilings. With the windows and doors open for demo, the mosquitoes found their way upstairs to my husband’s office, so he has to wear a “bug band” to avoid being eaten alive while he works. And the air conditioning was turned off in the afternoon a couple of times, and with my husband’s south-facing office it got pretty uncomfortable in there! Our thermostat has to be level partly because of its age, and one day it wasn’t placed that way and the air conditioning ran continuously unless I manually shut it off. After dropping ten degrees overnight INSIDE the house, I knew I needed help! “Do you need anything in the garage?” “Where is the ____?” “Where do you want to get dinner from tonight?” Demo is now complete and flooring is nearly done as well. I will share more as we progress, beginning with the story of our now-defunct hot water heater…

 

 

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