The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I understand that half a loaf of bread is better than none, and half-baked ideas may be better than no idea, but half a kitchen is just frustrating. As scheduled, the cabinet installers showed up Tuesday morning, and I was ecstatic, to say the least. The installer was the dourest man I have ever encountered, and obviously, he did not appreciate my excitement. I was like the entire town in The Music Man, singing and dancing enthusiastically at the arrival of the Wells Fargo Wagon. He just sneered.

About noon when he was packing up, after installing only the lower cabinets with no facing on some of the drawers and no handles or knobs anywhere. I asked if he was taking a lunch break, to which he flatly advised me, "nope, done for the day." He didn't know when he or someone else would be returning. Faster than the speed of light, or a heat-seeking missile, I went from ecstatic to deflated.

We are still cooking outside, washing dishes in the bathroom, developing long term relationships with the dust bunnies, and my frustration is mounting. Today, and now for the third time, the cabinet company called me to confirm which glass insert I wanted in the cabinet doors, and they still had it wrong. It'll be interesting to see what the final product is. (Like our mysterious squash plants, we now have mysterious cabinet glass.)

We are attempting to do a temporary installation of the kitchen sink today, and if it goes well, my frustration level will come down a notch or two. If the dishwasher is also installed, that will be even better. Fingers crossed!

I am very appreciative that Mother Nature has been cooperative and not rained on our "outdoor kitchen." However, my rubber spatulas are melting in the heat, and I'm sure I will bring in dead flies, yellow jackets, and other bugs that have moved into our boxes of dishes, pots, and pans. I consider myself a peaceful, non-violent person; however, lately, there is no trap I won't set out to catch yellow jackets, gnats, or flies. I've become the "Queen of Mean" when it comes to them hovering and buzzing around me when I'm trying to eat.

To add to the hordes of bugs outside, during the day while contractors and Daniel are in and out of the house constantly and the back door remains open, the house now has its share of creepy-crawly inhabitants.

I vowed to clean everything before it comes into the "new" kitchen, but that could take longer than my patience will allow. Anyone volunteering to help?

We changed the format of the kitchen and added open shelving. No worries about losing sets of dishes and glasses to earthquakes as we did in California, just some dust! Regular dust, harvest dust and dried mud from the garden dust. We chose dust over destruction. I'm not sure it's the right decision, but one we will live with, because I am not remodeling again!

Since I don't work well with power tools (too clumsy), hammers and nails are not dangerous, but I'll hit my thumb, I can't lift very heavy planks of wood or set up the kitchen drain so, my job is running to Home Depot for some forgotten item, which is fine with me. It's air-conditioned!

Daniel is already thinking, "what's next?" On my list of "next:" find someone to clean! Get a divorce from dust bunnies and hope that Daniel has enough energy left to cook us a great dinner in our whole kitchen!