My dear readers, I must apologize to you for my presence has been sparse.  I am in the midst of a kitchen remodel. 

Let me take you back nearly a decade to when a very young and eager Deb bought her first home.  I took such great care with every detail of painting, interior design and decorating.  I wanted so much to move in and find everything perfect.  I left my closing, ready to get to work and arrived at the house to find that the previous owner took nearly every light bulb with him.

Imagine my surprise as I searched the wall of light bulbs in Home Depot to find that track and recessed lights averaged between seven and fourteen dollars a bulb!  There must be more than thirty fixtures in the house!

Well, I have been fixing and replacing things throughout the house steadily each year since I purchased this house.  Nearly everything is new or replaced – except the kitchen and the bathroom.

Last year I began fastidiously planning my bathroom remodel.  I lined up my contractor and began picking out tile and fixtures.  Then one day, a shelf inside my kitchen cabinets fell.  I didn’t think much of it really.  It was just a shelf.  I looked for a peg or a nail that I could insert into the little hole beneath the shelf to steady it.  Imagine my surprise and horror when I found that the back of my kitchen cabinets had separated from the wall.

Still hoping it was an easy fix, I called in my contractor to reattach the cabinets to the sheetrock. 

“Nope.   These cabinets are about to fall down.  You have to take everything out of it right now,” he encouraged.

My emotions raged with fear and despair…

“I can’t afford a new kitchen right now,” I thought.  “I have a bathroom to fix first.  It’s three weeks before Thanksgiving.  How can I cook and entertain for the holidays without kitchen cabinets?”

I swallowed hard.  The lump in my throat sank down into a knot and began to twist.   Within the proceeding two days, My contractor and his brother – the kitchen specialist – measured and returned with cabinet brochures and line drawings.  We would transform my 1940s tiny kitchen with no counterpace and terrible ergonomics into a 2008 galley kitchen with granite countertops, solid wood cabinets and a far more efficient use of space.

I signed the contract and waited.  As the days passed, the contents of my kitchen encroached upon all other rooms in my house.  Dry foods and pantry items sat in boxes in my den exposed to the inquisitive noses of my two resident dogs.

Baking equipment, dishes and serving trays sprawled themselves throughout my guest bedroom, covering every exposed surface.

Daily pots and pans made their way into the living room coffee table/storage chest.   My kitchen took over the rest of my house. 

I waited… one month…. two months… three months… nearly four months later, my cabinets have arrived.  I have to travel on business next week, so demolition of the old kitchen begins next Friday.  This weekend, I have to empty out the remaining (in tact) cabinets and clean out my refrigerator, so work can begin immediately upon my return.

I hope that I will have a completed new galley kitchen before the end of March.  We will see…