Summery Wednesday Hodgepodge

Joyce comes up with a few questions almost every Wednesday for us to answer...kind of like a virtual meet & greet! 

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you'd put on your list of  quintessential summer activities? Will you try to manage all ten this summer?
10???? Are you kidding me??? I just want to get through this kitchen renovation before I go back to work on July 24th! I can't think about what I'd rather be doing; I just want this to be over so I can start enjoying my new beautiful kitchen.

2. Do you collect seashells when you're at the beach? What do you do with them once you get them home? What's your favorite place to comb for seashells? How many of these 'best beaches for hunting seashells' have you visited? Which one would you most like to visit?

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Maryland), Jeffrey's Bay (South Africa), Sanibel Island (Florida), Shipwreck Beach (Lanai Hawaii), Ocracoke Island (North Carolina), Galveston Island (Texas) and The Bahamas
I'm not much for collecting or searching for seashells, because of the clean up after to make sure they don't smell. I do enjoy looking at them while walking the seashore, but that's about it.  When we were at the Outer Banks last year, I did keep a look out for sea glass but had no luck.
I went to Ocracoke last summer, and I went a crappy band trip to The Bahamas my senior year. I don't think I've ever been to Galveston Island; if I have it was when I was really little & I obviously don't remember it. There are so many other places I'd rather go than the ones listed.

3. At a snail's pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which 'shell' phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life? Explain.
Wow. This renovation seemed to be moving right along, but now it's at a snail's pace and I foresee that I'll have to shell out some money. CH is causing me to come out of my shell to get what I want when I'm happy as a clam to clam up and let him drop the bombshell. I just want to go back into my shell and come out when it's over.

4. What summer activity do you dislike? Why?
The Small Town's "FreedomFest". For starters, they're having it this Saturday, which is over a full week before the 4th of July. The fireworks have Laika hiding behind CH's chair, shaking like a leaf. 

5. What's something you see as quickly becoming obsolete? Does that bother you?
Trick or Treat. It's sad that this country has become such a place where the kids can't have the memories or fun that we had when we were growing up. Or, that Halloween is seen as "the devil". People need to lighten up.

6. Insert your own random thought here.
Look at this sweet girl:

We have a year-long house guest

Looks like she'll be staying with her grams for a year until MS gets through with Law School.  We're having an adjustment period, but she's settling in, and Laika and Pepper are learning to tolerate. It was pitiful when MS left on Sunday: Girl Dog kept running to the living room window, looking out and watching each car as it went by. Hopefully this year will go by quickly and they will be reunited.

{State of the Kitchen} Part 4: What a Difference!

Things really started hopping on Monday. The contractor called me Friday afternoon to let me know demo would start on Monday. Sure enough, the demo guy was at the house that morning, ready to get started. He had to do it by himself, but he was very efficient and managed to get it all done before he left.
I was holding my breath as he started. With the house being 55 years old, there was no telling what he was going to find.

So far, so good. Nothing bad yet!

When he took down the cabinets over the cooktop, he said that they bolted the cabinets into the beams, which is how it should be done. WHEW! That was 1 area of concern.

The gaping hole in the ceiling may be a problem. Fingers crossed!

The sink area was another concern

Who am I kidding? It was ALL a concern! The demo guy is a firefighter who has a cabinet business on his days off. He mentioned that it was a good thing we were remodeling now...before we had a fire. The wire to the garbage disposal had just been laid over the cabinet frame (instead of a hole being drilled through the frame). The wire had frayed and had arched...there was a burnt place on the frame. That was a bit scary, but it was the worst thing he found.

Goodbye, yucky pantry!

Things are real, now!

Everything was dumped off of the back porch to be removed the next morning:

There goes the old kitchen!

Side view

True to their word, it was gone the next morning!

Looks like nothing ever happened!

The electrician/plumber came on Tuesday to get everything up to code, ready for inspection on Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning, the cabinet guy opened all of the boxes and we inspected the cabinets. At first glance, there were a couple of things that aren't up to par.

This drawer (along with another one) was chipped...supposedly during delivery)

This is the bar between the doors in a pantry cabinet. Dots are not okay.

As CH started looking closer at things, he found some things that will need to be replaced, like 12 of the doors. They should all be smooth, but some feel like they weren't sanded enough because they have rough spots. So, those will all be going back, along with the top drawer of a drawer cabinet. It had some chips in it which I didn't see before because it was still in plastic.

The cabinet guy started putting in the cabinets, which was really exciting!

Things are starting to happen!

He got 1 corner done before the inspector came to inspect the electricity:

Moving along nicely!

Except for 1 minor mistake which is easily remedied, we passed inspection!

The cabinets for the pantry were put in, but they'll have to be redone because they aren't centered. I hate it for him, but it needs to be right.

It's going to look great when it's done properly and the filler/trim is put in!

 CH also looked at the drawers in the base cabinets. The top drawers have gaps in them on one side...not good.

This was disappointing

Another disappointment was the pantry cabinet. I wanted to put my microwave in there, but the cabinet we received isn't wide enough. I don't feel comfortable with the cabinet guy trimming part of the opening to make it fit. We have a few more inches in the area where it's going to go, but I'm not sure what the next size is.

Not quite wide enough to get the microwave in

Since we have plans to extend the back wall a couple of feet but are keeping the current flooring, there's a strip of floor that is of concern (see above picture just to the left of the cabinet). We were told by the designer that the contractor would take care of that; the contractor didn't know about it. 

I'm not going to lie...this was a hard post to finish because yesterday was a rollercoaster day. I was so excited to see the cabinets going in that I was blind to the irregularities. We're paying a lot of money for this, so we want it to be as perfect as it can be. 

I don't know what I was expecting; I guess I was expecting things to go so smoothly without any crisis. The quality of the cabinets is a bit disappointing, but it is better than what we've ever had, for sure. Even with 2 new houses in our past, these are better quality.

On top of everything else, I threw my back out on Saturday & am not 100% yet, so I'm not really able to get out of the house for an extended amount of time. (Gotta stay close to the ice pack!) I realize we really just started, but I'm so ready for this to be done!

10:21 a.m. update: With the cabinets not being the quality we were told they would be, we're at a standstill. We were told the doors would be all wood (they aren't), that we would have plywood ends (they all aren't), and that there would be nails...no staples (there are staples). Next step (before the cabinet guy comes back in) is to go down and talk to the kitchen design manager at Home Depot & voice our displeasure at the quality of the cabinets.  They're Thomasville, so we expected much better quality. Yes, we're extremely disappointed because this means we're without a kitchen longer than we anticipated, but with the small fortune we're paying, it needs to be remedied.

{Wednesday Hodgepodge} American Dad Issue

I'm linking up with Joyce at From this Side of the Pond for another round of Wednesday Hodgepodge.
1. The Hodgepodge lands on June 14th this week, Flag Day in the US of A. Do you fly your country's flag at home? Sometimes, often, or every single day? Have you ever visited the city of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia)? Did you make a point of seeing The Betsy Ross House? Have you ever made a trip to Baltimore? If so, was Fort McHenry on your itinerary? (where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner)
Since we don't have a proper way to fly Old Glory, we don't have the flag flying.
I've never been to Philly...or to Baltimore. I need to get out more.

2. Red flag or white flag? Which have you encountered most recently? Explain.
White flag. My house is a total mess (see my "State of the Kitchen" posts) so I have no choice.

3. Are you a stay in the car listen to the end of a song kind of person? What kind of person is that?
When I was younger, I used to be. Now, I'm more likely to stay in my car listening to talk radio.

4. What are some of the traits or qualities you think a good dad possesses? In other words, what makes a good dad? What's an expression you associate with your father?
Patience, willingness to spend time with the child. The expression that I'll always associate with my father: "Gosh darn it, Mary"!!!  (I don't want to say I was a handful growing up, but...!!!)

5. What's one rule you always disagreed with while growing up? Is that rule somehow still part of your adult life? Is that a good or bad thing?
My curfew. In a way, it is still part of my life, especially now that I'm older and try to be in bed by 10:00 during school nights!

6. Insert your own random thought here.
Y'all won't believe what's been happening at my house this week! I don't want to spoil anything, so come back on Thursday and see what's going on!!!