Wednesday, September 17, 2014

perspective

the way i have maintained what little sanity i have left?

  i put all of what you're about to glean into perspective: 

on the lane, 
we have clean paper plates, plastic flatware, and 
running water (just not in the kitchen)
 we are neither at war with isis nor ebola (yet)
and we have a LOT for which to be thankful!

~@~

after having gone through 
nearly 6 months
of a remodel from hell...

(it.had.seriously.
been.a.nightmare.)

-from having to nearly
beg our contractor 
to do what we wanted
him to do...
-to him doing some 
of what we wanted 
him to do
 but only half-assed...
-to him (admittedly so) 
spending 
our replacement-window money
leaving us 
to pay for our windows 
twice
(in lieu of having a lien 
placed on our house),
-to my and my grandmother's
engagement rings, 
my and john's wedding bands,
my silver punch bowl,
and katherine's watch 
all being stolen...
-to my suffering through
7 weeks of 
"the worst case 
of shingles"
anyone had ever seen,

we were
more.than.ready
for
a bright spot!

~@~

a week ago yesterday
our quartz installers arrived
with our kitchen and vanity
counter tops.

i.was.SO.excited... 
 not only to be getting
the beautiful new tops
but, more importantly,
to finally have 
running water
in the kitchen 
after nearly 5 weeks
of not!

although
they were unable to install
the vanity top
because my bathroom 
sink needed
new shutoff valves,
they skipped the bathroom 
and installed the kitchen
counter tops.


installer: well, do you like it?
me: like it? i LOVE it;
it's BEAUTIFUL!
installer: great! 
so, all we have left to do
is drop in your sink.
where is it?

awkward silence...

me: uh, it was supposed
to come with the counter top?

he looked through his paperwork. 

installer: no, only your vanity top 
comes with a sink.
me: hmm, lowes told me 
this one was supposed 
to come with an under-mount?
installer: ma'am, that hole will
not support an under-mount;
it was cut for a drop-in sink.

~@~

later that afternoon,
after a discussion with lowes,
i told them we would be willing 
to settle for a drop-in...
as we were past ready
to have running water
in our kitchen, right!!?!?

that evening
john and i went to lowes
to retrieve our sink
and purchase supplies 
for the plumber.

~@~

bright and early,
last wednesday morning,
mr. butts (our plumber) 
arrived.

he asked me to show him 
all we needed him to do.
i obliged.
after showing him 
the bathroom and 
he reassured me
that was going to be
no problem,
i lead him 
into our kitchen.
upon seeing 
the sink hole,
he told me the sink
was not going to fit.


me: are you sure?
mr. butts: i don't think it will,
but i'll try it.

when he dropped the sink 
into the hole and it looked
like it fit,
i breathed a sigh of relief.
however,
my relief was short-lived;
as the two of us lay
with our heads resting
respectively
on the cabinet base
looking up at the sink.
with his flashlight,
mr. butts directed
me to look at the 
three sides of the sink
which could be secured
to the counter top
and then 
to the fourth...
which could not.

boo.hiss.i.wanted.to.cry

~@~

30 minutes later, 
lowes' manager and staff,
mr. butts, and i stood
staring at the hole
in our new,
beautiful counter top.
the best solution
was to reorder the quartz,
which meant...
3 more weeks without 
kitchen plumbing.

after the lowes' folks
left, i walked into
the bathroom where mr. butts
lay with his head inside 
my vanity.

i sat down on the side
of the bathtub
at mr. butts' feet.

me: mr. butts, meester berrong
may be thinking,
"no news is good news,"
right about now,
but he'd be wrong
(no pun intended)."

i giggled...

~@~

a week later,
i don't know how this install
is going to go
(hopefully well).
however,
what i do know is...
 instead of the new tops
arriving in 2 weeks
(we are already
a week out from 
last week's debacle),
it's going to be at least
3 more
because as of monday
when the quartz company
called about the vanity
top,
the kitchen counter had
not yet been reordered...

ugh!

~@~

in case you were wondering...

we fired our contractor, 
have received no
compensation for our windows. 
filed a police report-
though none of our stolen items 
have been recovered, 
and
are still eating on paper plates
with plastic flatware.

stay tuned...

love and God's blessings,
dani xxx