Surviving a Kitchen Remodeling: Week Two Progress
Well, we’ve had some tough moments, but the roadblocks are starting to clear (knocking wood as I type).
I spent a few sleepless nights worrying about the impact of the asbestos covered duct on the project timing, but the schedule looks much more positive now. Here are the accomplishments:
Asbestos covered duct is gone. When the contractor called us back he said, “one heat duct, that’s easy” and offered to slide us in the next AM.
First electrical inspection passed. The electrician did a marathon session yesterday, but our circuits are now prepped for modern kitchen activity and the inspector gave the thumbs up today. For the electrical work our earlier planning paid off since we had had an additional breaker box installed the last big project we did making the new circuits we needed much easier.
Ductwork is scheduled for early next week. The contractor has been very busy and the asbestos removal happened to hit in the slot he was going to use to asses our job. Finally I asked John, “Does he know our floor installation is waiting on this and I’ll need a date to reschedule?” John called him back and we got a commitment.
Flooring is rescheduled. When I did an earlier reschedule (due to the cabinet order going in late), we were pushed back two weeks. I was terribly fearful that the delay would be another two weeks, but when I called, they were able to slide us in only a week later. Perfect!
Survival report.
TGFH (Thank God for Hummus). I am a stickler for counting our 5 a day (3 veggies, 2 fruits). Without raw carrots and broccoli (already washed, prepped and bagged) and hummus as a healthy dip, I don’t know what we would do. Fortunately with mangos, bananas, apples, strawberries and OJ, the fruit has been easy.
Best find: Healthy hot dogs. Applegate Farms now makes an organic, grass-fed, nitrate-free hot dog. At just over 100 cal/dog, and served on a whole wheat bun, there is no guilt. For those new to grass-feeding, it improves the fat composition of the meat among other benefits. For more info see: www.eatwild.com
Best recent dinner: Grilled t-bone steak (with the last of the truffle butter), baked potatoes, spring mix. We are still finishing our (grass-fed, organic) quarter of beef from last fall. It made for an easy and delicious kitchen-free dinner—and a fitting lead in to Memorial Weekend.
Biggest failure: Corn on the grill. I’d never tried roasting corn on the grill before and should probably have researched this first. The corn was kind of hard and I’m not sure if it was undercooked or just tough. Not burnt at least!
Coming up: Kitchen Remodel: Week 4 (hmm guess week 3 was really busy!)
