Okay, that title is a play on that Capitol One commercial, "What's in YOUR Wallet?" Get it?
Well, *I* thought it was clever.
Anyway.
We've been tearing out walls and pulling up flooring and my, haven't we found some interesting things. We discovered a bird's nest built around the plumbing pipes of the washing machine.
When we removed the subfloor, we discovered another nest. A large nest. Only this wasn't a bird's nest and I know this because the occupant, deceased I might add and Thank GOD for that, was still in the nest. And I took one look at that dead rat and ran screaming like a girl. And no, I did NOT take a picture.
That piece of subfloor was tossed into the backyard and has kept Gracie absolutely enthralled because she can SMELL the rat but she can't SEE the rat. So she will sit and stare at the piece of subfloor, then she'll sniff it, then she'll bark at it. Then she'll come running in the house to tell us to come check it out with her and then she'll go running back out and sit, stare, sniff and bark. This continues for hours on end.
TheManTheMyth put in the new subfloor and then we were able to move the old washer and dryer back in the room temporarily so I could do some desperately needed laundry.
We move the washer back in, hook it up and I prepare to start my first load of laundry. Something sparkling caught me eye and I look down and sitting on top of the washer was this:
An hour earlier, this had not been present and I asked TMTM where he found it and his reply? "Never seen it before."
Huh.
My Grandma collected rosaries. And we're remodeling the kitchen of what used to be her house. Hmmmm.
Hi Grandma!
But wait. It gets better.
I'm cleaning out the pots and pans cabinet. There's 2 drawers in that cabinet and after removing the stuff, I go to push the drawers back in and something was preventing me from pushing the drawers in all the way.
So I get down on my hands and knees and look in and there's some papers stuffed at the back of the cabinet. I drag them out and find a user's manual for a microwave I don't remember ever having, a user's manual for a ceiling fan, a receipt from a long-gone video rental store, an old Boy Scout patch and one newspaper clipping. A very old newspaper clipping.
If you click on it and read all the way to the end, the last victim is my dad. I wasn't even BORN when this happened!
How weird is this? I wonder how long that clipping had been stuffed back there. Oh, and what's even more strange? Every other piece of paper had been nibbled on by bugs (or something else I don't want to think about) Except this clipping!
I KNOW!!
Hi Dad! Hi Grandma!
This past Friday, TheManTheMyth and I headed over to a certain appliance center that was having a Big Sale and looked at, well, appliances. We've been discussing (remember that word) a much-needed kitchen remodel and in the last 3 weeks that he's been between jobs, he even designed the new kitchen and laundry.
Everyone knows our kitchen is in desperate need of SOMETHING. It went from this:
to this:
to this:
Loverly, isn't it? The fridge was moved from the main kitchen into the laundry room/pantry, which was originally just a service porch that held a massive cast-iron sink which is where my Grandma did laundry on an old-fashioned washboard and hung it on the clothesline to dry. Hand to God. Despite being relatively comfortably well-off, my Grandparents were not in a big rush to buy new-fangled appliances such as washing machines. It was THE EARLY SEVENTIES before they bought a washing machine. Although when they did remodel the kitchen in the mid-70's, they actually got a trash compactor. And never used it. Instead, they put a wastebasket in FRONT of the trash compactor and if someone had the audacity to actually PUT something into the trash compactor, they would leap out of their chair and take it out and place it in the wastebasket.
Go figure.
ANYWAY.
Clearly, it's time to bring our kitchen into the 21st Century.
I figured we would do this on a budget, which meant painting the cabinets and adding hardware (our cabinets don't have pulls and it drives me nuts), a new floor, counter tops, sink and stove. Basic stuff.
TheManTheMyth, however, had a completely different idea. An idea that included demolition of the laundry room/pantry and removing the wall between the laundry room and the dining/living room making one big open Great Room. Which I fought against because really, who wants to look at the piles of laundry that are always strewn on the floor.
But TMTM showed me his design and then I understood what he was talking about and agreed it would look good and since we would be using our existing cabinets (they'll be freshened up) and keeping the general footprint of the kitchen although we'd be adding an island for the new stove.
So off we went to take advantage of the Big Sale at the Appliance Center. And purchased a new washer and dryer, stove and stove hood.
Even if we did the basic Facelift I originally envisioned, we'd have nice new appliances and a much prettier kitchen.
So the next morning, I got up and took my shower. By the time I got out of the shower, SOMEONE had already started one of his most favorite things in the world: DEMOLITION.
I guess the purchase of the new appliances was his cue to start dismantling the laundry room and pantry.
You know, why waste time?
Of course.
So this is my laundry room Before:
Yeah, it's a mess. The cabinets on the left is my pantry. 3 6' tall cabinets with more storage up top.
The utility closets were on the other side of that piece of wall that sticks out. In a matter of oh, an hour, this is what happened:
From this:
to this:
to this:
Where, you ask, is my washer, dryer and refrigerator?
Yeah.
But wait! It gets better! After being off work for the better part of a month which would have given him plenty of time to work on our house, TMTM starts a new job tomorrow.
Pray for me.
