Category: 2022

Somewhere back in there is a red couch. I mean seriously, how does one lose a bright red, full-sized, hide-a-bed couch?

Ah-ha! There it is!

Oh no, it won’t go through the door!

We got it in there – surely it will come out again. We will probably have to take the door off its hinges and we might need to take the hide-a-bed part out of the couch to make it easier to move. Sigh. It’s all so much work!

Meanwhile John and I both have had a little bit of a cold, nothing serious. We must have gotten it when we were still in Albuquerque. I had a migraine on the day we packed up to get ready to go to Tucson, and a migraine the next day when we drove out. That was tough because we drove both the van and the Mini Cooper out, meaning we both had to drive the whole way without being able to switch off drivers. Then I still had the migraine on the first day here, in midst of the complete chaos. I didn’t realize I was getting a cold, I thought I was just migraining due to stress, but now we’re both a little sniffly.

In order to prepare for the remodel, we had packed everything in Tucson into boxes. So now we’re living out of boxes and it’s general chaos. When they were tiling the floor, I think that every time they got ready to tile a room they moved the furniture into the next room over. It was all piled up together in the wrong rooms.

We finally mostly got the piles of furniture out of the living room.

But we still have boxes everywhere.

It feels like we just moved in, but on top of that, everything is filthy and only half of everything works.

For example, in the kitchen we have literally half the sink (one side). The other side is not hooked up to a drain. The contractor had a piece of cardboard over the non-working side so we wouldn’t try to run water down a non-existent drain. The cardboard was all warped and splashed and gross from the contractor using the sink for contractor related tasks, so John taped a piece of tile over the useless half of the sink instead of the cardboard.

It happens to be an unneeded sample of travertine tile. We did not end up using travertine. We have lots and lots of sample materials that we did not end up choosing. It’s better to pay $2 or $4 for samples of things and take them home and rule them out, then buy thousands of dollars worth of a material that you’re going to regret after it’s installed.

At least we have half a working sink, but unfortunately we only have cold water in the kitchen. That’s because our contractor assumed we were not keeping our old kitchen faucet, and threw it out into the backyard with the old sink when he demolished the kitchen, and it got messed up. Except it wasn’t an old kitchen faucet, it was new a year ago; John had installed it sometime after we moved in because the original one was really bad. Well, now the newish one doesn’t work right.

Meanwhile, since our countertop has taken so long to arrive, we’ve reinstalled the old sink and newish faucet that had been tossed into the weeds in the backyard, so we have something to use while we wait for the countertop. We were planning on replacing the sink but not the faucet, but now that the faucet is mostly broken we need to replace both the sink and the faucet. It was a $300 faucet, new last year, but oh well. When remodeling, you can’t sweat the small stuff. Typically I don’t consider $300 to be a small amount, but during a remodel thousands of dollars are flying out the window and it puts things into perspective.

Here you can see the wood and tile pieces strewn around on top of the cabinets to make a working surface. The stove isn’t hooked up yet – it’s there under the plastic, waiting for the gas line.

Here we are making eggs on a hot plate on a plywood countertop.

At least we have a working microwave and refrigerator. The kitchen is minimally functional but less than ideal. It’s a lot better than it was, and it’s going to look nice eventually.

The hall bathroom has no sink or toilet. There’s a red plastic picnic bowl blocking the sewer gas from escaping the pipe where the toilet belongs. I’m not actually sure why the toilet can’t be installed. It was removed for the floor tiling, which is done in that room. It looks like our contractor has been doing drywall work behind it, and we might end up putting wall tile back there too.

Luckily, the master bathroom is mostly working. We have not remodeled the master bathroom yet except for the floor tile. It has a working toilet, working shower, and one of the two sinks is working. So the master bathroom is essentially functional.

We also have the pool bathroom in working condition. That one is built off the back of the garage and has no heat or air conditioning. I bought a portable heat and AC unit for it that John is going to install at some point. But for now, it’s cold out there! I know, I know, it’s Tucson. How cold can it be? I was 52º when I was ready to shower at 9:00 this morning, which is far warmer than Albuquerque at 29º. But still, I find 52º to be rather cold for a bathroom.

The construction dust has permeated the entire house and is nearly overwhelming. It’s like a volcanic ash fall, over everything. I suspect the tile guy may have been cutting floor tile in the house. It’s the sort of dust that gets into crevasses and is never coming out. It’s not just on the top of all the furniture and surfaces. It’s on the sides and even the undersides of everything. It’s coated the walls, permeated the rolled-up area rugs, infused the lamp shades, crept into drawers, it’s everywhere and we will never be rid of it all. Actually, maybe we don’t have the sniffles after all, maybe it’s the dust!

Our contractor was able to get the cabinets installed this past week. Remember how the cabinet company ended up sending the wrong corner cabinets twice? Turns out they sent the wrong corner cabinets THREE TIMES. The first two mistakes were factory mistakes and the third mistake was the local cabinet designer. She has generally been very good and easy to work with, and she did expedite the replacement. Finally, on the fourth try, we got the correct corner cabinets.

Now we are trying to get onto the countertop installer’s schedule. He is based in Phoenix and needs to come down twice, first to create his template and then to install the countertop after he has fabricated it. We are hoping he can come down to do the templating before Thanksgiving, but we’ll have to see. Even so, it will probably be at least a month before we have countertop, and it may not be until after Christmas.

We had wanted to go to a big art show in Tucson this weekend, but we are tired and possibly getting over a mild cold (or dust allergies) and are still very much not unpacked. The critical items are unpacked. We have the basic necessities like coffee, toilet paper, blankets, aspirin, and dog food! But still, every time I turn around I can’t find something I need.

Our house looks like a crazy person went through unhooking toilets and sinks and electrical outlets and strewing them around, and then a moving van unloaded boxes and furniture completely haphazardly, immediately followed by a volcano spewing ash.

John has been busy fixing and installing things. For example, the sewer gas I mentioned that we had coming from the hall bathroom. That’s what happens when sinks and toilets aren’t installed. So he plugged that up. Also the kitchen cabinets were installed but the shelves weren’t yet, so he spent a lot of time yesterday installing cabinet shelves so I could start to unpack the kitchen.

Generally it’s easier to remodel before moving in, but we bought this house in the summer of 2020 and it was just not feasible to try to do a remodel during the second half of 2020. I went for several months without even being able to buy a dryer – there’s no way we could have gotten tile and cabinets and countertop in. And I was immunocompromised due to chemotherapy, so we didn’t want any workers in the house. And I wouldn’t have wanted to go to any stores to pick out materials. For awhile there I didn’t go anywhere, at all, except the cancer center.

I’m grateful we’re able to do the remodel now, and I am sure looking forward to being done. It’s going to be awhile yet before we’re all the way done, but it’s getting better and I know it’s going to be beautiful.

Yesterday we did FaceTime with Callan and Chirstina to show them the house. Originally they were going to come visit for Thanksgiving until I realized we probably weren’t going to be ready for guests yet. So they were curious to know how far we actually did manage to get. Well, the house is livable but certainly not comfortable. After our FaceTime chat they realized I was not kidding when I said they really don’t want to visit yet!

The guest room was the one room that was completely empty. So far we’ve managed to get the bed dragged into there, but not set up.

Also I had put some clothes in there and managed to break the closet rod, so there lay my clothes in a rumpled heap on the ground. At least they were bagged because – dust!!

John went to the store this morning and bought me a croissant and flowers. Who knows where we might have vases, so he put the flowers in a plastic water jug. He usually makes pancakes on the weekend, but this weekend toaster waffles are going to have to suffice.

Meanwhile Biska is as cheerful as ever. She’s like, “Everything looks fine to me.”

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

Kristina’s Website: Life Coaching for Adults with Autism

We haven’t been back to Tucson since a short trip to check on the remodel October 20-23. Now it’s almost a month later and not much progress has been made. As you may remember, the cabinet factory sent the wrong sized corner cabinets for the kitchen twice – not once, but twice – so that has seriously slowed down the progress in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, I don’t know why our contractor hasn’t been able to do other things that seem to me like he could be doing. For example, I kept thinking he would install the hall bathroom tub, which I bought a long time ago. But then it occurred to me that he’s probably assuming we’re planning to replace the old faucets, and new faucets have not appeared (because I hadn’t thought to order them), therefore, the tub installation hasn’t made it onto his radar yet. That’s the kind of inefficiency I hope to improve with increased communication, which should come with me being out there instead of distracted by other things in Albuquerque.

Now I realize I need to buy faucets, but I don’t know anything about faucets. First I need to research faucets. Yes, I’ve been using faucets my whole life, but I’ve never paid any attention to them other than wondering which way is hot. I don’t want to buy badly-designed faucets out of ignorance, so it’s time I learn something about faucets.

For example, the first thing I saw on the Home Depot website that looked right, said in fine print, “Shower system trim kit only, purchase shower valve separately”. Hmmm, I don’t know what that means. And it’s not a good idea to buy something when the fine print is going over your head!

Our contractor is probably also waiting for us to pick out tile to go around the tub. We did find tile we like, but I haven’t actually bought it yet because I don’t know how much to buy, because I’m not sure how much of the bathroom wall is getting tiled. I just need to go out there, and stand in the bathroom with John and our contractor and talk it through. (This is the waving-arms-and-pointing-as-we-go planning style I was mentioning in my post about Emily’s remodel. Unlike me, she has an actual designer.)

We’ve decided to go out to Tucson at the end of this week with the intention of me staying out there to pay more attention to the project. Our contractor is a really nice guy, understands our taste, does quality work, pays attention to details, and responds well to prompts. Unfortunately he’s not as organized and proactive as he would need to be for me to be able to just sit out in Albuquerque twiddling my thumbs (and posting exercise videos, lol).

That’s why I’m packing up all the stuff I had temporarily moved to Albuquerque in September, and moving back to Tucson. It’s going to be rough living in the midst of a construction zone. But hopefully my planning and organizational skills will help manage this project more efficiently.

Meanwhile here’s some pictures that our contractor sent yesterday. He had just finished putting the knobs and handles I ordered on the cabinets. Some of the cabinets are installed, and some can’t be installed until we get the missing corner cabinets.

New knobs on the uppers:

This corner cabinet was correct, so he could install this whole section.

He can’t finish this wall until the correct corner base cabinets arrive.

This little bit of brick wall above the window was never plastered over because it was hidden under a soffit. So we decided to leave it exposed. The rest of the brick wall was plastered over, and it would be prohibitively difficult to remove the plaster.

We’ll need to choose backsplash that complements the brick. But we’re not going to look for kitchen backsplash until we have a piece of countertop to take to the stores with us. And the countertop can’t be cut until the cabinets are in. Our countertop is still sitting in the slab yard in Phoenix.

In this next picture our contractor is showing us the countertop lighting under the cabinets.

I don’t see well without a lot of light, so we are paying close attention to lighting. For example, recently we were watching TV and there was gray lettering on top of a dark background, and I literally didn’t even know the words were there. John was like, “You can’t read that?” And I was like, “Read what?” Because of this, I’m starting to avoid driving at night. I’ll see a doctor about it again soon, but I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that they’ve been telling me for awhile that eventually I’ll need cataract surgery.

This next picture is where the peninsula with the stove will go, but it is also waiting for the correct corner base cabinets. I won’t have a stove when I move back in later this week, but at least there is a microwave. My contractor is going to make a temporary plywood countertop so he can install the sink before we arrive.

John’s going with me back to Tucson and can stay through the week of Thanksgiving before needing to return to Albuquerque. I’m glad he will be there to help me get situated. He will also be able to come back and spend more than a week in Tucson at Christmas.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

Kristina’s Website: Life Coaching for Adults with Autism