Day Three

I'm not sure how other couples work, but one of the biggest subjects of discord in our relationship is dinner.

Regular texts that I send to the husband include:  "What do you want for dinner?" and "Any dinner ideas?".

The usual response from the aforementioned husband:  "I don't know".

So when I had a date of when my kitchen was going to be out of commission, I may have had a mini panic attack.  The stream of thoughts was along the lines of "what are we going to do", "how will we make dinner", "we can just go out...that's too expensive--we're going to be broke from the reno", "how will we prep and clean up, we don't have a sink", and on.  So far, into day three we have had three breakfasts (this is surprisingly simple, since during the week we usually eat cereal), one lunch each at home (not together), and one dinner (of which was planned for three consecutive nights, and then kept getting postponed).

The kitchen station is covered in plastic, which is covered in dust.  This makes it an undesirable place to try to prep meals.  Plus the stress of this project has made me want comfort food, and so we've gone out for two of the nights.

Tonight was easy; grilled hot dogs and left over pasta salad.  But I have a feeling, the longer that this lasts, the less easy it will be to plan dinner, what with neither of us being particularly decisive when it comes to meals.  I think this will be the biggest strain for me and the husband (I tend to get "hangry", and that makes me unpleasant).

So that's why I titled this blog "What's for Dinner?"; because, at the time, pre-chimney problem, on the eve of the reno, my biggest concern was trying to figure out cost-effective, easy, kitchen-free meal solutions.

On to other news...

The chimney is gone! Below are the views from this morning.

   

The top two are of the bedroom.  That space that my dresser is in was a closet, but we (me, the husband, my mom and her husband) opened it up to make space for a dresser that I may have ordered without measuring first.  

The bottom left is the attic; bottom right is the kitchen (chimney is on the right of the photo).  

Here are the latest, from this afternoon:

This is the bedroom now.  Tonight, we're sleeping in the guest room.

 

On the left is the view up from the bedroom (I apologize for the quality; it is very difficult to take a picture with a phone when you can't see the screen); on the right, the view down into my kitchen.  Had I known this was coming, I might have had them put in a laundry shoot.  But as it stands, that's where my range will be going.

Here we have the attic now.

This is the view of the kitchen from the dining room.  All of that plumbing is going to be moved to the wall.  There's a hiccup there, but that's a story for another day.

The husband requested that I add this photo.  This is the view from the kitchen, up through the bedroom into the attic.  

I just realized that I don't have a tip for today...

Tip #3:  Be ready to be in the dark.  

Sounds cryptic.  As I thought about it, this tip has a few different meanings.  What I initially had in mind by this is that, depending on your contractor, he or she might not read you in on all of the updates.  I waited today to meet with my contractor about the chimney, the plan for my master bedroom and roof, and a couple of other questions that I had for him, but I missed him today.  So my little comfort of having an idea of what will happen is gone for the time being.  I've battled with this anxiety all day.  Did I mention that I'm a control freak?

Reason number two for my tip:  my kitchen doesn't have lights.  I'm literally in the dark once the sun goes down.  As there is nothing in there, no big deal.

See those holes on either side of the doorway?  Those were wall sconces.

Reason number three for my tip doesn't really have to do with light, but it does have to do with electricity, and those are kind-of related (or I'm pretending they are).  I found out today that my outlet in the bathroom upstairs is on the same breaker as my kitchen.  No power to the kitchen = no power to that outlet.  I had to find a new place to blow-dry my hair.  Isn't older wiring fun?