Renovations are Essentially Finished

(Please scroll down for the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge.)

Well, as most of you know, what began as request for help putting in a ramp for my front entrance turned into a multiple miracle - new entrance with ramp, new bathroom with walk-in shower and new floor and fixtures and a glorious new kitchen. Side miracles along the way included a newer and larger refrigerator courtesy of my friends. All that's left to do is move the washing machine into the kitchen and maybe a thingy to add a small lip to the shower. The hook-ups are all ready for the washing machine and I guess it just has to be moved and hooked in. I'm not too thrilled with the back steps but they are apparently cemented in, so I guess I'll live with them as they are. All in all, this is a pretty huge and glorious gift and a miracle of grand proportions. I've posted some views of the kitchen. It's SOOO wonderful to have so much storage space. As you can see it's already looking messy, but I've put a fair amount of stuff away. New sink is all shiny and pretty and easier to reach. It's so magical to be able to reach my upper cabinets and put dishes and things in them. How cool is that? Anyway, here are a bunch of photos and at the end, I made a bunch of before and after photos of the various phases. Couldn't get a good photo of the back steps - which were relocated to the side with a hand rail - and lost enthusiasm for looking for a before photo.

Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures.

The cabinets are beautiful and the drawers slide like silk

where the washing machine and imaginary dryer will go

This is across from the sink and refrig and will hold my
microwave. The shelves underneath pull out. I LOVE
them! And the counter tops are exquisite too....
you'd never know they're laminate.

It's just so beautiful!
And I'm so happy with my linoleum both
here and in the bathroom. Makes me
smile every time I look at it.

So much storage! And reachable! I need an extension
chord to plug the coffee pot and blender in, but that's ok.
Angel is not happy that she can't get onto the counter
tops and that she was not allowed to assist with the work.

~~~~~~~BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS~~~~~~~


This was taken before the bench was built in.
The bench is a wonderful gift too and the UPS and
garbage guy are both grateful for the little gate.
The constructioncrews were pretty happy too.

I think this is my favorite change. The old sink was so high and
so ugly and the counter tops were too high for me to reach.
And it was really ugly and the drawers were rusted so it was
an ordeal to open them. Now it's beautiful, reachable
and.... well, just awesomely fine.

I am so grateful for all of this. Grateful to Delaware Opportunities - especially Jeff Powell and Wayne Jones for responding to a relatively small request (which I felt hesitant to make) and providing me with these life-changing wonders.

I'm grateful to the people at the Powell Company, who were kind and worked hard and did a beautiful job. I'm grateful for Sean at VEP Kitchens (I wish he had a website) who designed the kitchen and helped me pick out the knobs and the wood and the counter tops and paint, for Tom who did the plumbing and electric work. The guys from the Powell Company were kind enough to do a couple of little thing like fix the front light that weren't really in their job description. That was very kind of them... I can't say enough good things about that company and highly recommend them to anyone in this area who is looking for someone to do home improvements for them.

I'm grateful to my friends and my therapist who gave me moral support and assured me that it was ok for me to be this lucky.... and I'm grateful to all of you blog friends who have also supported me and have taken as much joy in this journey as I have.

I'm grateful to Dennis Puffett, who gave me the gift of a blessing/healing on my house, not long before all of this manifested for me. I can't help but think he helped my little house draw all this goodness to herself. Anyone looking for healing, check out Dennis' website. He is kind, incredibly gifted and he works for the love of doing it.

I'm grateful that my niece Diana, who helped me get my house and who will inherit it when I kick the bucket, slip off this mortal coil, ascend to the realms... whatever... is going to get to see her in a few weeks in all her new glory. Most especially I'm grateful that I'm going to see her, but I'm really glad she gets to see the new improved house as well as the old, not-so-improved aunt.

And of course I'm grateful to All that Is/God/The Universe for life and for the gift of making this life easier.... and for giving my sweet, sturdy little house all these lovely improvements.

In sum, I'm exhausted, happy, grateful and all I have left to say is...

YIPPEEEEE!!!!!

Worry, Worry, Worry & Some Kitchen News

My niece Diana, gave me that plaque, told me that the minute she saw it she knew I had to have it. It hangs next to my desk and I worry about whether that was the best place to hang it (just kidding on that one, but not entirely). I was raised worrying. I call it The Basic Worry System. I give my worries random numbers.

Yesterday, Dr. Jim offered to let me give him my worries so that he could hold onto them for me. This of course led me to a new worry, that if I did that, he would be burdened by them... I'm a highly gifted worrier and can find something to worry about in even the most glorious scenario.

Things I've been worrying about lately.

Basic Worry # 887: The construction people will be mad at me because I asked them to do their job and because I'm me.

Basic Worry #920: My niece and nephew-in-law-ish will have a bad shower experience when they visit. (The new shower takes some getting used to.)

Basic Worry #472: My niece and nephew will not be comfortable with the sleeping arrangements.

Basic Worries # 312-316: My niece will be humiliated by my hideousness and my disability. She and John will be bored. He will hate me. I will not be able to feed them properly. (They are vegans.)

Basic Worry # 785: My neighbors resent all the construction.

Basic Worry #3: Money. Lots of worry about money.

Basic Worry # 562: I'm putting my niece's name into the title of the house so that if I die, she just owns it, no muss no fuss. I worry that somehow this will turn into a bad thing.

Basic Worry # 250: I worry that I'm ungrateful because I'm having difficulty adapting to the new shower.

Basic Worry # 991: I worry that Angel will tear down the kitchen wall and hurt herself and that the contractors will be --- you guessed it --- mad at me.

Basic Worry # 400 & 401: I worry that I won't have enough money to cover the cost of heat, even though I get HEAP. I worry that I seem to be having trouble standing staying at 60 degrees this year and am creeping up to 62 which will (in my mind) drastically increase my heating bills.

Basic Worry #: 336: I worry that my failure to be a good blogger has offended everyone.

Basic Worry #: 414: I worry that I will not get my act together in time for the Blog Blast for Peace.

Basic Worry #1: I worry that I'm a bad person.

Basic Worry # 222: I worry that I'm greedy.

Basic Worry #1005 & 1006: This spring and summer, I worried about the bees. They seem to have gone missing by and large. I worry that the ones that did show up (carpenter bees) are eating my house.

Basic Worry # 815: I worry that by the time I die my little house will be all worn out and badly cared for and won't be worth inheriting.

Basic Worry #5: I worry that Angel will get past me when I open the door and that she'll run away and get killed or get hurt.

Basic Worry #773: I worry that - this one made my therapist (me too) laugh out loud - that the new ramp will be a danger to the mail persons this winter... that it will be dangerously slippery and someone will die.

Basic Worry #401: I worry that if I have a gathering here while Diana visits, that nobody will have fun.

Basic Worry #144: I worry that people will get tired of my neediness.

Basic Worry # 707: I worry that the crazy people will take over the country again and that the "good guys" (from my perspective) will let them defeat health care reform and other efforts to rescue the poor and middle class from the reign of greed and self-interest which has put the country into its current hole.

Basic Worry #7: I worry that my disability will be taken away from me.

I worry that I may need a walker.

Basic Worry# 95: I worry that I'm a bad example for my sister's children. I worry that I'm a downer. I worry that I might some day be a burden to them. I worry that I might not.

In short (well this wasn't really short, was it?), I worry. I worry about everything. I worry about worrying... and if I'm not worrying, I worry about that. (What am I forgetting?)

So, anyway... Dr. Jim asked me to give them to him and he'd put them in a box somewhere. I told him that I was concerned that they'd be a burden for him even if he didn't think they would. He said, no, that they're my worries and the only concern he had would be that he might forget where he put them. (I love his sense of humor.)

So, I'm thinking about giving him my worries. Thing is, I worry - yep, worry - that I'm not capable of doing that with any real sense of integrity. I promised to think about it, though. I think worry is an addiction - for me, at least. It's a way of staying stuck, a way of distracting myself, maybe even entertaining myself.

The reason I'm reporting all this worry is that maybe it's a first step to giving some of it away.

--------------

On a happier topic (though not worry free), there is progress happening as I type this. The counter tops are being installed. Angel is hiding under the desk. Tara Grace is sitting here next to me wailing from time to time. It's very loud putting cabinets in. Maybe the loudest part of the whole process yet. The plumber and the others aren't coming today so I don't know when it will all be over. Since I still have to keep Angel locked out, I don't know if I'll be able to get pictures up today. I'll try. From what I've been able to see, it's going to be gorgeous. They're having some kind of problem. I guess when the linoleoum went in the cabinets stopped being level... something like that. I know the guy who installed them worked very hard to make them level.

Anyway, next time they come they will install the sink and the dishwasher, lower the shower seat yet again and move the back steps that they did because they are just hanging on the edge of the porch and look really hideous to me. I was all worried about complaining about that - lack of gratitude, inattentiveness on my part to stop them before they did it wrong - but my friends reminded me that the contractors aren't working for free just because I'm not paying the bill. They're getting paid. That helped some, though, I'm still kind of anxious about asking for modifications. You have to know that the back steps are horrendously awful for me to ask for them to be moved. They did have logic to why they did it that way - so they wouldn't be under the eaves and have roof-fall and ice. BUT... they look hideous... and there's only a rail on one side so they aren't that practical either.

So that's my news.

That and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful niece Cynthia! This is her and her beautiful family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDY!

HAPPY DAY, EVERYONE!
MAY YOU HAVE NO WORRIES!

____________

LATE BREAKING NEWS!!!

A couple of quickly snapped pictures of the counter tops. I didn't have a chair and they were eager to be on their way, so these were done very quickly and aren't very good, but the counter tops are exquisite!

Kitchen Update

Just a brief note for the renovation followers. Just this one pictures, alas, which looks very much like yesterday's picture. If you look carefully you can see that the stove is pulled forward and there's a guy there plastering the wall. Which reminds me that another gift in the gift of this is that he discovered that it wasn't fully insulated in the kitchen so they're adding more insulation too. Yes!

They are moving along rapidly. I think they have finished the walls and have been slowly bringing the cabinets in. They just put the closet next to the bathroom back together, which is nice. I want to think carefully before I fill it up again, though. And they may need to go in there again when they hook up the washing machine and dishwasher, so...

They're also doing the hand grips to the water heater room and finishing the back steps. Working hard. I can't say enough good things about The Powell Company - the contractors doing the work. Every single person who has come here has been kind and friendly and thoughtful and all the guys work really hard. They'll finish up the back steps today too, I think. Whew!

But anyway, tomorrow the linoleum will go down. I'm a little disappointed that they are doing the cabinets first and not putting linoleum wall to wall, but they couldn't schedule the linoleum guy and he said this isn't an uncommon way to do it, so I'm going to trust that. I don't know when they will paint. The next big thing will be the counter tops. Somebody comes out next week and remeasures (lots of remeasuring) and then he said he doesn't know how long it takes after they remeasure, but it seems like everything will be DONE pretty soon - maybe by the end of next week! You'll get pictures as soon as I get to see it.

As for the cats. Angel has been in and out of hiding and is calmer today. She even greeted one of the supervisors and let him pet her. She also inspected the closet each time the guy went in and out to get equipment or to saw some new thing into shape. I guess she has given her approval. Tara actually checked it out too, but not as thoroughly.

That's today's update.

They're HERE!

It has begun. Tara, the Zen cat is sitting her next to me. Not totally Zen, but pretty calm. Angel is hiding in the bedroom totally freaked out. Since she's more prone to trouble, this is probably a good thing, but I do feel bad for her. As for me, I'm kind of shaky myself. Two new guys. No Fred this week. They seem like nice young men, though.

That's my news. Will be glad when it's over, am glad that it has begun. Am so grateful for this awesome gift.

Happy Wednesday!

Living Room Kitchen

Time for a renovation update. For the moment, except for the sink and oven, I have a kitchen in my living room. Strange way to live, but...

Late afternoon on Wednesday, Nate and Dan and friends of theirs came with the new refrigerator and set it up in my living room, took the old one away along with some of the junk I've been longing to see go but couldn't afford to have hauled away. The friends came back the next night and took away rotting sofa from my back porch and the big one that used to be in my living room, so a lot of excess baggage has mercifully gone away. The new fridge is HUGE as you can see and quite wonderful, though it's a touch odd to have it here next to my desk. I think I'll truly appreciate it when it's in it's rightful spot in the kitchen in a week or two or three. We locked Angel in the bedroom for the whole process but Tara Grace sat on the window sill, totally unfazed by the commotion. She is such a Zen kitty in some ways. Just don't try to pick her up. She remains gentle, but not even a little zen. Poor Angel is taking all the commotion pretty hard, but I guess she'll get over it once it's behind us. She's usually so spunky, but this has shaken her a bit. She had taken to living on top of the old fridge (see photos below) and now has lost even that refuge. Poor baby.

Dan and Nate came over yesterday afternoon and generously moved the bulk of the kitchen materials into the back room and set up my microwave, kitchen table and a place to feed the cats here in the living room. Margaret, who comes every other Tuesday worked with me last week to finish packing up what I hadn't done yet, so now pretty much everything is out of there and it's just a matter of waiting, filling up as many bottles of water as I can on Monday evening and hoping that the whole process goes quickly and smoothly. It's an odd way to live, but hopefully it won't last too long. They were supposed to start the kitchen on Monday but have put it off until Tuesday.





and some kitties... the zen the not so zen and the zen again...

Preliminary Kitchen Sketches.

Before I go on to be really boring about the changes to my kitchen, I just want to thank everyone for your kind words on the death of my brother. It meant and means a lot to me. Despite the fact that 19 years of non-communication had made him almost non-existent in my life in some ways, he still hovered around the edges and in my dreams. Everything about him makes me sad and angry... and confused. Some of it sounds petty when I try to explain it, but it isn't and wasn't. But anyway, thank you for your kind thoughts. Special thanks to Dianne for her post sending others to me. And to everyone for your kind thoughts, for the poems and wise thoughts and cyber hugs. They are much appreciated.

**********

Now... I have to warn you that I'm going to be an awful bore on the subject of the amazing changes that will be happening to my house over the course of the summer. My excitement about my new and improved disabled friendly kitchen is building. It's going to be more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined. It is going to be so much more than it even occurred to me to hope for. I am stunned and grateful beyond measure.

The man who will do the work came last Wednesday and looked and measured and talked to me. He has sent me some preliminary sketches which I have paired with photos I took with my old camera quite some time back. (The kitchen is too messy at the moment to take new ones that would better align with the drawings, so these will have to do.) They still give an pretty good idea of how different and wonderful the revised kitchen will be from its current condition. The sketches are just to give an idea. The new flooring will be linoleum, not wood which is probably good and easier for me to maintain and more budget friendly. I don't think they are changing the lights or ceiling either. But I didn't expect them to do the floor, so who knows. Anyway, here are the pictures...


Yippeee!!!

This is my very favorite part of the change. I just love the way
it looks. In real life (as opposed to the look of the mock-up) the
counters will be low, not even with the height of the stove. Of
course there won't be wood floors and my ceiling fan will be
back and it won't be nearly this clean, but still... isn't it just
awesome? Those deeply curious can click on these images
to see them larger.

Part of how this whole process got started was because I was
hoping (originally) that they could (maybe) move the dish
washer against the wall and give me a small area of lower counter
that I could use sitting down and maybe a lower sink. The big
cardboard box currently in the gap next to the dishwasher is to
keep Angel from eating the fiberglass because there's no cover
on the side of the machine. The other part of my motivation
for asking them about help in the kitchen was because I wanted
to get rid of that stupid box. Amazing how miracles can grow from
tiny ambitions. Just look at all the incredible new low storage...
as well as cabinets I'll be able to reach. Yeee haa!

The area below will have my dishwasher (under the counter),
washing machine and (someday) dryer. I'll be able to put my
microwave on the counter above the dishwasher so I can just pop
things out of the freezer and turn around and pop them in the
microwave. How cool is that? I am so excited about seeing this
flooring go. To say I hate it is kind of an understatement. They
won't put wood in, I don't think. It never occurred to me that they
would give me new flooring with the new sink and cabinets. I feel
like I am living an enchanted life. Right now the short blank wall in
this photo has some shelves that are falling down. It will be left
empty and across from it they are building in the pantry (see the
first drawing) and more low and pull-out easy access cabinets.

Here are some other views and a few samples of linoleum tiles I
like. I especially like the first one. The other two aren't very fairly
represented because the pictures I had were TINY. These may be
too expensive and too dark, but I can dream... I'm hoping the kitchen
guy will give me some suggestions. The dryer that goes with the
washing machine is imaginary at the moment but they are making
a space for one. At the moment it will be filled with the low tech
folding rack and the washing machine is in a part of the house I
can't get to physically or agoraphobically.

That's it for now. Thanks for listening.