Hiccups

I was laying in my warm, cozy bed last night and it occurred to me that I should explain the count-down titles. Originally I think I was referring to the wedding (obviously), but now I think I'm mostly counting down to when this project-filled year will be 'done'.

Just over a year ago Jake and I got engaged, and then we made serious plans to tear the house apart before the wedding. Here we are, almost on the other side of that, with a working kitchen and insulation, and 12 cases of wine in the sun room waiting for the party of the century in a couple weeks. It's mind boggling.

Hasn't been without its hiccups, though, and although I don't want to complain, some of this is kind of funny, and some of it is the reality of renovating.

Hiccup #1:

Traditionally Jake and I were both the kinds of people that only turned the heat on at the end of September, regardless of the actual weather. When you live in houses sans insulation and with boilers from the '20's, this is the only way to save some money. Sometimes we'd even push it longer. The first year we were dating, Jake didn't turn his heat on till November because he was missing a part for one of the rads. That was cold. This year we were unconsciously going according to the regular timetable of waiting for the beginning of October until we realized about a week ago, HEY! We have insulation! And a hyper-efficient boiler! Let's fire this puppy up! This was, of course, a little intimidating. The boiler is essentially a COMPUTER. The LED display glows purply when it's running the hot water and red when it's running the heat. We are afraid of touching it because of all the machines/appliances in our house, it is the most likely to come alive in the robot revolution and turn on us. So I emailed the guy from the place that did it, and he said - just turn the thermostats up (there are two - main floor and upstairs) and it'll go on. We turned them up and waited. And waited. We're still waiting. The irony of the brand new heat system that cost (almost) as much as the rest of the renovation COMBINED not working is not lost on us. It's pretty funny. They are coming tomorrow to set it all straight and I'm sure by Tuesday when everything is up and running smoothly our house will be roasty toasty and comfy.

Hiccup #2: 

I have been jonesing for a kitchen sink for SO LONG. Like, SOOOOOOO LONG. The garden hose/rubbermaid combo was great when it was hot outside, but washing dishes in cold water when it's chilly out is not fun. The sink install kept getting delayed because the counter kept getting delayed. This was probably the single most frustrating part of the renovation for me. Initially, the counter guys said that it would be ready 2 weeks from when they measured for it, and we pushed ourselves and Henry John to be ready for the measurements in mid-August, meaning the counter would (hopefully) be installed before we even left for that week at the cabin. When that didn't happen, it wasn't a big deal. When it didn't happen the following week, I was still able to cope. When it was delayed AGAIN after that, I was starting to get mad. Then, on the day they said they were going to bring it, they called and said their truck broke down and needed to go to the shop. They wouldn't be installing that day either. I think I mentioned earlier in the summer that renovating when you are in control of what is happening is totally different  from when you are at someone else's mercy. We were stuck until they showed up. Thankfully, they came this past Monday and the counters look GREAT (picture to follow). Everything fit, and it is all good. We excitedly installed the sink and faucet and this is where the internet-steal of a sink might be showing its price. We can't for the life of us get the big bowl drain to stay tight and not leak. It's not the end of the world, and the final fix can definitely wait till after the wedding, but it sort of takes away from the thrill of the sink a little, you know? 

This part is a little negative, and I actually thought about deleting it, but I'm going to leave it. There is more I could write on the negative side, but it's all going to be fixed and fine. It's just sort of interesting, is all - so much build up towards the finished kitchen and then the feeling of let-down when everything doesn't go according to plan. I guess, though, to be fair to the kitchen, that is really the only place that has things that can leak and break and such. If the wedding wasn't coming up with its own list of tasks and creativity and problem-solving required, all of this would be no problem to handle. All at once it is a little much (as I mentioned yesterday).

Ok, time to head out for another round of shopping/errandsing for the wedding. 

To leave you all on a more positive note, those enchilada's I made yesterday WERE AMAZING! FOR REAL! And it was made from scratch, with ingredients we had in the house ON AND IN THE NEW STOVE!!!!!!!! 

That pretty much cancels out the negativity above. Gonna have an enchilada for lunch when I get home from errandsing - can't wait!