The other day the electrician said that sometimes it's quicker to build a new house than to do a remodel.  I've never had a house built, and this is my first remodel experience, but he's got to be right.  We were supposed to be done this Friday, but like they say, shit happens.

Things haven't gone 100% smooth, but all the problems have been fixable.  Apparently 2 of our walls are a little bowed and uneven, creating some major headaches for the cabinet installers.  But, the cabinets were able to be leveled and were looking awesome.  Then the granite guys came and had to remove one cabinet because it was lower in the front than against the wall and there wasn't room for the granite to fit.  So, the cabinet guy came back and fixed it.  Then, the uneven-ness of the wall caused the backsplash to be slightly uneven, and of course only I noticed.  But, it was going to really bother me and for as much as we are paying, it better be perfect.  So the tile guys fixed it.  Then a drawer wouldn't open so the granite people had to adjust the granite to sit about a 1/2 cm higher.  

Then, the light guys discovered the transformer on our fixture was broken, so we are waiting for a new from so that we can have our track lighting (we have other lights, so it's not that big of a deal).  Then the plumbers came to install the disposal and gas cooktop and seemingly did it well until Husband noticed a huge crack in the granite by the cooktop!!!  It probably happened when they installed the cooktop - probably weak because of the adjustment they previously made.  This SUCKS!  I hope they don't ruin the backsplash or cabinets in the process.  Oh we were so close to being done . . .

Then the appliance people came to re-install our dishwasher and install the 2 new ovens.  Something is wrong with the dishwasher door (hoping easy fix) and when they turned on the top oven, there was a loud pop and smoke came out of it!  Repair man came and said it was wired correctly, but upon further notice the wires were mislabeled.  UGH!  So, the electrician has to come back out and we are waiting for a new electronic board in our brand new oven.  

So, instead of being done this week, we are waiting for the electrician, granite guys and cabinet guys to come out and all do fixes.  The upside is that we have a working sink, garbage disposal and one working oven.  

The lesson to be learned when remodeling is that nothing goes as planned, everything with cost more than expected and it will last longer than expected.  I just can't wait to be done with this version of essentially fancy-camping in our house!

We are in the midst of remodeling our kitchen, and so our house is an entire mess.  Our make-shift kitchen consists of our fridge, microwave, coffee machine and toaster, and it's all situated in the kids' playroom.  We are pretty lucky to have a nice utility sink in our laundry room, but of course it does not have a disposal and it's on the complete opposite side of the kitchen, which is a total construction mess.  But, I'm not complaining because it's far better than having to wash sippy cups and wine glasses in the bathroom.  Naturally we filling up the landfills with our paper plates, cups and plastic spoons, but we do our best to recycle and wash/reuse the forks and spoons as much as possible. 

Unbeknownst to me, the freezer section of the grocery store is stocked full of a huge variety of casseroles, pasta dishes and vegetables that are easily cooked in the microwave.  I'm pretty sure a human being can feed themselves forever on just the microwaveable food choices.  And, they don't taste too bad either.  And, I do my best to buy them often as well as the deli-made meals at Sam's (they are very good if you haven't tried them, and much cheaper than the grocery store).  Most days, though, the husband and I are in no mood to clean up the subsequent mess created by the three energetic, messy little people in our house who always seem to want to eat.  It's not easy to wipe down all the surfaces without a sink and sponge nearby.  Oh, how I never truly appreciated sponges, sinks and garbage disposals. 

This whole experience is a little like camping, except we have decent running water, although not close to our 'camp' site.  And, no one has to vacuum, mop or wipe down a camp site, so I would almost rather have set our little kitchen up outside if it weren't for all the terrible mosquitoes.  Because we get so lazy on the clean-up front we have been eating out alot, which is tasty, fattening and pleasant only because they do the clean-up.  It all comes at a price since it's expensive and I don't have to tip myself extra when the kids leave an especially great mess at home.  But, we do it anyway, and have become savvy to where kids eat free on what days, which really makes a difference.  Usually it's only one free kid meal per paying adult, so we often have to pay for one kid meal, but it's better than nothing.  Eating out gets old, and I'm ready to have my kitchen back.  Toddler meal time and wood floors were not meant to   We've got another 3 weeks or so.  Ugh.

I found this great website that lists where kids eat free or have good deals, and it's all listed by area and it seems pretty extensive.  Next time you want to go out, check it out.  It's called Kids Meal Deals.  It would be really great if they listed places with play areas, but maybe I can suggest that to them!