Almost

We're almost there!

Almost - but not quite.........

As of the writing of this post, I've spent the past week (yes, that would be seven days) opening my refrigerator door in the living room.

Why?!  Because that's where it's been sitting.  Along with my range and the dining room table which seats ten.  In. The. Living. Room.  (The dishwasher came to rest on the former porch, a.k.a. - new dining room.)

Why?!  Because that's what you do when you're renovating.

• You just arrange appliances so you can still sit on the couch and view the Olympics at night.  
• You eat out every meal except breakfast.  
• You keep washing one cup, one cereal bowl and spoon per household resident each day.  
• And you focus on how lovely everything will be once the project is complete.

We ran into one massive hiccup last Saturday.

Apparently, whoever laid the original tile in my kitchen discovered that the floor was uneven.  Instead of repairing it properly, they chose to use some adhesive compound to level said floor.  They obviously thought no one would ever know.

Well, WE KNOW!  And Buddy, if we could only find that guy........

Four wonderful men spent eight hours on their knees trying to extricate the old tiles from their heavily adhered resting place.  Steve has worked with tile for over twenty-five years.  He said he's never seen anything like it.

Great!  We finally take first place in something and it's a nightmare event.

Those men hammered and chiseled and ground and hammered some more.  They created so much dust that it looked like a re-enactment of the mid-western dust storms from the 1930's.

In spite of the plastic sheeting meticulously taped to cover cabinets and to protect the living room - the dust escaped.  It seeped into every possible nook and cranny.  It settled over every item in every square inch of my former kitchen and current living room.  Dishes, glasses, pots, pans, food items, cleaning supplies.........  Each item will have to be washed, wiped down or simply tossed.

We have our very own version of Pompeii - and it ain't pretty!

But finally the tile removal has been completed!  (Don't mess with the men of Garden Grove Church.  They are tenacious!)  The floor has been leveled - PROPERLY!  The new tile has arrived.  The appliances are out of the way.  We're ready to Go for the Gold!

Last night, we used markers to write scriptures on the newly leveled concrete.  (A tradition we gleaned from mentors Dave and Judy Kyllonen.)  Each family member selected a meaningful passage.  Yes, they'll all be covered when the new tile goes down.  So we recorded the references in a book.

My scripture?

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1  

I wrote it under the new bay window where I hope to enjoy sunrises and devotions for many years to come.  Almost there............