My 9 Circles of Hell Summer Remodeling my Kitchen Pt. 1 of 3

I have been living through the 9 circles of Hell this summer, and I am not even speaking of how HOT it has been.  You see, my HH and I decided that we were smart enough, strong enough, and yes just that GOOD enough to remodel our kitchen from the floorboards to the wall studs all by ourselves with minimal labor/help from anyone else.  There are many lessons we learned about ourselves and each other throughout this journey, and baby, not all of them were good!  Most importantly, I learned the value of working hard and making a lot of money so that I can hire someone else to do this work for me in the future!

So, exactly how is remodeling a kitchen the equivalent of living through the 9 Circles of Hell you may be asking? 

Let me break it down:

Circle 1 Limbo

When living without a functioning kitchen for 6 weeks you really feel like your life is in limbo.  And by limbo, I don't mean the dancing kind.

 



If only it were this much fun!

I mean the kind where you never know up from down, right from left or right from wrong!  For example, is it really all that wrong to write "messages" to any future homeowners behind the cabinets where they will only be seen if they decide to be disrespectful and tear out all my blood, sweat and tears hard work?

Yeah what the sign says, and GOOD luck

 cuz this kitchen has no even walls or floors!

Circle 2 The Lustful
Let me stop you...no I don't mean the lustful as in "Hey baby, come on over here for some somthin' somthin'!"  kind of lustful.  It is the lustful kind that means more of a Veruca Salt type of lust.

I want my fancy spice rack and
I want it NOW!!!

There is nothing that creates lust in my heart more than looking through hundreds of Kitchen Design magazines and seeing all the cool gadgets.  I am a nerd like that.  If there is a gadget that makes potatoes into curly fries, I want it...even though I don't eat fries.  I feel there can never be enough gadgets in the world...especially the electronic types. 

Circle 3 The Gluttonous  


NOT HH, but his is what he looked like
having REAL food for a change.

Reason would ascertain that living without a kitchen would make one less gluttonous, but I beg to differ.  I am an avid cook and prior to the fateful day of June 28, 2011 my family probably ate restaurant or take-out food about once per month.  I am the type of anal retentive Good Mom that almost always plans a weekly menu filled with a variety of healthy and mostly delicious meals for my family.  We belong to an organic food co-op and eat a lot of fresh veggies and fruit....especially in the summer.  This summer, our diet has consisted of things I put in the microwave, crock-pot or on the grill.  Did I mention that WE were doing the entire remodel ourselves while working full time?  I was/am exhausted too!  So, let's just be honest and say my kidlets have eaten more than their fair share of pizza, Taco Bell, hot dogs, and burgers this summer with not too many balanced meals (read, not many fresh veggies/fruit) as an added bonus.  Also, my sanctified family dinner time has gone down the tubes too.  We have what is charmingly called a country kitchen.  Basically this mean our postage stamp sized house has a huge kitchen and NO dining room.  Since it has been so hot, the kids have been eating in the basement in front of the TV every single meal, every single day because it has been 10000 degrees with 1000% humidity all Summer long.  You know it is bad when a family member takes pity and brings a home cooked meal and we ALL attacked it like a crack addict getting a fix.  We ate every single morsel she brought still warm from her kitchen and Princepessa even was caught licking the gravy off her plate....Yes, that was a VERY gluttonous day!  Most of our family conversations these days have been centered on the discussion of what meal we will make in our new glorious kitchen when it is finally finished.  Like I am going to mess it up right after all this hard work.
 
Pts 2 and 3 coming soon!  I will also include some pictures if y'all would like.  HH and I charge $500/hr for design and installation ;-).