Just Thankful

This will be my last post that isn't all about the "afters," but with it still being Thanksgiving month, I would be amiss if I didn't take time to reflect on how incredibly thankful I am for the before, during, and after our renovation.

Now don't get me wrong, I am fully aware of where we sit in the world. I have fresh running water, electricity, and I have never worried if I could feed my children.  I am BLESSED.  Even during the renovation when I didn't have water, electricity, and my children were highly confused why cheddar bunnies were being served as a side dish, I knew there was an end in sight.  But I'm human, and the long [77 day] period of "lack" really has opened my eyes to how I had taken everyday items [in the first world] for total granted.

For example:
Thursday morning I made the standard Thanksgiving sides, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and stuffed mushrooms.  Now no one has ever accused me of being a neat chef.  I'm a good chef, but a plethora of dirty dishes and vegetable scraps are always left in my wake.  I remember clean-up being somewhat stressful in the past? Now, I'm not sure why. I have a MACHINE that washes all my dishes for me! I loaded it up, pressed a button, and it WASHED everything before I got home from my brother's house. I have had one of these machines in my home since I was born, but never have I felt the magic it provides me.

It has felt that way with all of my appliances, especially the sink.  It took almost a week of me having to stop myself from washing my children's carrots in the bathroom.  I have running water in the kitchen, just 4 steps from the refrigerator that keeps the carrots cold!  I can cook EVERYTHING in my double ovens [without the 12 inch limit of my front porch toaster oven] and I don't even have to walk to a sink [let alone the bathroom] to put water in a pan on the cook top.



I'm also thankful for things that went wrong, and somehow just turned out right.

I had a complete meltdown on my contractor because he told me [at the worst possible time] that my painter was delayed and wouldn't be able to whitewash my brick on schedule. I had just found out that my custom leather couch order [that I had placed 6 weeks prior] got so screwed up, it wasn't worth even correcting it [plus I got a complete refund].  So now, not only would I not have anywhere to sit in my living room, my kitchen wouldn't be done in time for Thanksgiving. Now this was my first and only meltdown of the renovation, so while I think it scared him, my overall percentage of sanity was still pretty high. However, He.Painted.It.Himself.  Yep, my contractor watched youtube videos, sent me tons of pictures to make sure we had the same vision, and he completed the 4 step process to make it perfect. I cannot image it looking better.  What if the painter hadn't executed my vision and because he was an expert and thought he knew better?  The brick MAKES the kitchen.  I also ended up with much less expensive linen couches.  Saved enough that I got a new sleeper sofa for our second guest room.  Win win.




Today, actually right now, is the first day that my children are in school and there is no one here to work on the kitchen.  I'm sitting by myself [well, with two dogs] actually excited to do laundry. Thankful for the quiet, thankful for the fact heat is pumping out of my vents [some of which still don't have covers, whatever], and thankful that when I pick up my babies at 3:30pm, they have somewhere safe to play as I cook them dinner in a beautiful kitchen full of magical devices.





Comments