Time for a break
Every six weeks or so my mother and I go out to lunch and then get our hair cut and colored. I’m happy to report that even after spending more time together this week than we have since I moved out 14 years ago (well, when I moved out for good when I got married — we’re not including time spent living away in my college dorms and apartment), we still had a nice lunch and salon appointment with no drama. I only say that because this is a very stressful time for us all and after awhile we all wear on each others’ nerves. I expect it so when we can still be adults after all this (and loving adults at that), that’s a good sign for things to come. Well, I’m going to take it as a good sign anyway.
While I was gone Jeff took the kids to the park and then had some lunch. He was feeling guilty for not spending more time with them this past week on his vacation. I told him that they understood and this is an adventure for them but he didn’t buy it so he made sure to at least spend some fun time with them today. During the week, though, we let them participate in what we were doing and Jeff and I would take turns with the kids as to who came with us on various errands. I know he feels guilty but I don’t think the kids are suffering or resentful in the least. It’s very sweet that he cares so much about them and while I’m thankful we got so much done while he was home, I’m sorry that he wasn’t (again) able to relax more. This is what sucks about adulthood sometimes.
The girls are spending the night at the in-laws’ house so that left Iain with us. He was set on eating out so we went to the fine gourmet establishment, Muchacho Grande (also known in our parts as Big Boy). He loves that place so I humor him and he loves spending time with us without the girls so we went. We also stopped by Kelly and Mike’s to see how they were doing. I think I thoroughly depressed them by the time we left after we discussed our current concerns with selling our house and not wanting to move out of the city. I give them a lot of credit; they are such good friends and I’m lucky to have them in my life.
Iain had a meltdown of epic proportions (and to a degree I’ve not seen with him ever) at Kelly and Mike’s because he thought we weren’t going to Big Boy at all. That was, um, fun. The nice thing is that their daughter also has Autism so they don’t bat an eye. Well, I mean that it’s nice to be understood. It’s not exactly nice to have to deal with Autism but y’all know what I mean.
We stopped in the mother ship (Target) and I bought Iz some jeans and tops for school. I’m not sure if they will work but wearing a 5 or 5T isn’t going to cut it since she’s too short to pull them off. We’ll see. Target jeans run short so here’s hoping. She’s my peanut!
We also stopped by the Home Depot to nose around for house stuff. I’m having a hell of a time figuring out how we’re going to deal with that kitchen as it is. The built-in oven is such a small size that it’s not even possible to replace it. They don’t make stoves that small unless they are heated by a light bulb and come with a questionable packet of cake mix. Buy a bigger one you say? Well, we would if the cabinet that houses said oven was bigger. You’d have to see it to believe it. Also, where we’d like to put the dishwasher is too small, too.
Sigh.
In looking around we saw that it’s not as expensive as I thought it might be to get new cabinets. We’ll have to sit down and figure out our game plan but it’s looking like we might get some updated cabinets after all. We don’t need to blow 50k and knock out walls to get a decent kitchen. I’m trying to keep the costs as low as possible and while I’d love to just replace the appliances (or install the ones we don’t have in the first place) and maybe paint the cabinets, it doesn’t look good given the dimensions I’m working with. If we can, however, do this while still keeping costs down then I’m for it. We’ll knock out walls in a few years if the mood strikes but I’m not going to put out that kind of cash when we don’t need to.
Take my advice, people. Never install custom cabinets unless you want to risk making yourself crazy down the line. Order stock sizes and put them together as well as you can. This is the second home where I’m dealing with outdated, custom cabinets that have to be replaced in order to do anything properly. If I could just order a stock cabinet to replace where I need to, my life would be much easier (and cheaper).
Home Depot is running a 12 month no payments/no interest plan right now so we could put money away each month, earn the interest and then apply it when the time comes. We won’t have to shell out all the money at once which is comforting because I hate being without a rainy day fund. Some of the money my mom has I want to put away for, well, you know. The inevitable is the inevitable and squaring that away is more important than a cabinet.
I’m not sure what we’re going to do with the kitchen floor exactly. Tile? Laminate? Hardwood? We were planning on putting a wood floor in the dining room until my mom mentioned that under all the carpeting are beautiful hardwood floors. What? Yep. So, we’ll just refinish there and worry about new in the kitchen. The flooring in the kitchen is original and was gouged a bit before they even moved in so it’s time. I’m really hoping we’ll be able to afford to refinish the living room and the kids’ rooms too. Refinishing around here is really cheap and considerably cheaper than any of the flooring options I mentioned above. Why put something different down anyway? Wood is so beautiful. I’m so over carpeting and especially in an area like a dining room. Estimate time for things will be interesting.
The bathrooms are another place I’ve been planning in my head but that’s nothing that will be tackled any time soon. I just like playing around with ideas. I fancy vanities that look like furniture so I’m probably going to go that route eventually.
I know, yawn, but if you’re into remodeling and decorating then stick around. I may have pictures soon!
