Kitchen Weekend
Sunday, January 29th, 2023 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioYesterday, Saturday, I started in by scraping all the loose flaky paint off the ceiling and the walls in the kitchen, and I removed the blades from the ceiling fan, to get them out of the way... and Tim cleaned them.
The ceiling was far worse than the walls, with huge hunks of thick paint peeling off in different spots, in addition to some plaster warps and cracks caused by old roof leaks in decades past.
I started scraping around noon, and it took several hours to get it all done, because of all the sweeping of paint chips off the cabinet tops, other surfaces, and the floor, as I went.
--<>--
In the middle of all that, I got a call from Terry... a woman from Dad's parish, and a fellow extraordinary minister, who knew him well. He used to talk about her all the time, and had gone to her house for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner in past years, when I used to work the holidays.
She had only just heard that Dad had died but... GET THIS!..
She was calling SPECIFICALLY to offer to take YVETTE!
She has a husky of her own, and a big yard where it runs free... and a family at home, so the dog is never alone. And when I told her Yvette wasn't fully house-trained, she said that was fine, and STILL wanted to adopt her!
She wanted to come tomorrow... Sunday morning, at 10AM, to Take Yvette back home with her.
Tim was sitting there at the kitchen table, listening, as she was on speaker, and I told her yeah... sure!
He agreed with me that this was some kind of miracle!.. a person who truly wanted to adopt Yvette, even though she's kinda old, and not house trained!
BUT...
The more I thought about just handing Yvette over to a stranger... just waving goodbye to her, like she never mattered, and going on with my life... I just got choked up and wanted to cry! Was this what I really wanted to do?
Tim and I went out to Grandma's Table for dinner... a restaurant Dad and I frequented regularly, and the idea of giving up Yvette was still bothering me.
Later on, back at home... after we both began drinking, and I'd busted out the paint & rollers, and started painting the south kitchen wall & trim... I'd made up my mind that, no!.. I can't just give Yvette away!
--<>--
As much type as I've dedicated to complaining about that dog!.. I can't just abandon her!
It doesn't matter if Terry knew Dad, and knows huskies, and has this idyllic home and yard for Yvette, because... she's a stranger! They're strangers! Her dog is a strange dog! Her house is a strange place!
Maybe if Yvette were a younger dog, or had only been with us for a few years, I could hand her off to new owners but... after how deeply she bonded with Dad and me, over seven years?.. at the age of 14?.. no way!
Yvette's still dealing with the trauma of losing Dad! Things still haven't fully settled down at home. I just feel like it would be cruel to just UNLOAD her on some stranger!
It would be a betrayal! It would make me a real piece of shit person!
And yeah!.. I would miss her too!
I've complained mightily about her for a long time but... those morning walks together ARE a kind of nice way to start the day!
--<>--
Two of my biggest complaints about her, were that she enabled the mouse infestation, and simultaneously prevented the cats from existing downstairs.
But both those problems are solved now. She gets along with Snoop & Prowly, and they have the full run of he house down to the basement... keeping the mouse issue totally under control!
Her consumption of Good 'n Fun Kabobs is also, now, way down below even pre-November levels, meaning she's not breaking the bank anymore.
Once Tim goes back to Nevada, and I'm back to working full time, Yvette's separation anxiety could remain a problem, but... she WILL have the cats to keep her company, like I'd wished, a couple months ago, could be true.
I think she can learn to deal with it.
There is still the issue of her using the music room as a bathroom... but, maybe I can tolerate that for a while longer.
If I'm gone for 10 hours a day, she's gonna have to continue using the puppy pads to some degree, but... if I change them out every day, and cordon off a smaller area of the music room floor for that purpose... it could be tolerable, for as long as she has left.
--<>--
At any rate... if Terry's call was a miracle, inspired by Dad, from the great beyond... then... it was actually a power move by Dad to force me to admit to myself... that Yvette IS my dog now, and I DO want to keep her!
So... Well, played, Dad!
------------{=0=}------------
Painting of the south wall, including the kitchen door, last night, proved conclusively that the colors I'd picked worked really well!.. both in the room, and with one another!
The wall color isn't too dark, and the trim still contrasts with it very nicely!
Today, Sunday the 29th, I slept in, but then got back to work in the kitchen around 2PM, on the west wall... working over to the north wall.
We removed all the hardware from the casement window over the sink, and Tim boiled it all in an old dutch crock we found, with baking soda in the water.
It was a trick we'd seen on TikTok and damn if it didn't work! All the ten thousand layers of paint came off the hardware!.. and Tim cleaned it all up.
We took our break around 6PM today and went out to Jewel, on the west side, to spend a little more of my SNAP money on frozen pizzas, and other food.
Then, after a quick stop for beer, went home and ate dinner, before finishing up with the painting... just around midnight.
Only 3/4 of the kitchen wall space is done, and there is still the whole ceiling to worry about after that, but what we've gotten done so far looks great, and is a HUGE improvement over the dismal, dingy, peeling, monochromatic nightmare that Mom & Dad's kitchen had come to be.
The old kitchen is still lumpy, and wonky, but... it's popping with more life and charm than it's had in many decades!
------------{=0=}------------
Both Tim and I have to be up early tomorrow for separate meetings at 10AM.
Tim's seeing a car dealer about selling the Dart.
And I'm gonna be at the mortuary, signing the life insurance papers.
Both of us will get some kind of payout... and neither of us know how much exactly those payouts are gonna be.
January is also ending, so I need to address the utility bills, and we have all kinds of other things to worry about this coming week, including the kitchen paint job.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
The ceiling was far worse than the walls, with huge hunks of thick paint peeling off in different spots, in addition to some plaster warps and cracks caused by old roof leaks in decades past.
I started scraping around noon, and it took several hours to get it all done, because of all the sweeping of paint chips off the cabinet tops, other surfaces, and the floor, as I went.
In the middle of all that, I got a call from Terry... a woman from Dad's parish, and a fellow extraordinary minister, who knew him well. He used to talk about her all the time, and had gone to her house for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner in past years, when I used to work the holidays.
She had only just heard that Dad had died but... GET THIS!..
She was calling SPECIFICALLY to offer to take YVETTE!
She has a husky of her own, and a big yard where it runs free... and a family at home, so the dog is never alone. And when I told her Yvette wasn't fully house-trained, she said that was fine, and STILL wanted to adopt her!
She wanted to come tomorrow... Sunday morning, at 10AM, to Take Yvette back home with her.
Tim was sitting there at the kitchen table, listening, as she was on speaker, and I told her yeah... sure!
He agreed with me that this was some kind of miracle!.. a person who truly wanted to adopt Yvette, even though she's kinda old, and not house trained!
BUT...
The more I thought about just handing Yvette over to a stranger... just waving goodbye to her, like she never mattered, and going on with my life... I just got choked up and wanted to cry! Was this what I really wanted to do?
Tim and I went out to Grandma's Table for dinner... a restaurant Dad and I frequented regularly, and the idea of giving up Yvette was still bothering me.
Later on, back at home... after we both began drinking, and I'd busted out the paint & rollers, and started painting the south kitchen wall & trim... I'd made up my mind that, no!.. I can't just give Yvette away!
As much type as I've dedicated to complaining about that dog!.. I can't just abandon her!
It doesn't matter if Terry knew Dad, and knows huskies, and has this idyllic home and yard for Yvette, because... she's a stranger! They're strangers! Her dog is a strange dog! Her house is a strange place!
Maybe if Yvette were a younger dog, or had only been with us for a few years, I could hand her off to new owners but... after how deeply she bonded with Dad and me, over seven years?.. at the age of 14?.. no way!
Yvette's still dealing with the trauma of losing Dad! Things still haven't fully settled down at home. I just feel like it would be cruel to just UNLOAD her on some stranger!
It would be a betrayal! It would make me a real piece of shit person!
And yeah!.. I would miss her too!
I've complained mightily about her for a long time but... those morning walks together ARE a kind of nice way to start the day!
Two of my biggest complaints about her, were that she enabled the mouse infestation, and simultaneously prevented the cats from existing downstairs.
But both those problems are solved now. She gets along with Snoop & Prowly, and they have the full run of he house down to the basement... keeping the mouse issue totally under control!
Her consumption of Good 'n Fun Kabobs is also, now, way down below even pre-November levels, meaning she's not breaking the bank anymore.
Once Tim goes back to Nevada, and I'm back to working full time, Yvette's separation anxiety could remain a problem, but... she WILL have the cats to keep her company, like I'd wished, a couple months ago, could be true.
I think she can learn to deal with it.
There is still the issue of her using the music room as a bathroom... but, maybe I can tolerate that for a while longer.
If I'm gone for 10 hours a day, she's gonna have to continue using the puppy pads to some degree, but... if I change them out every day, and cordon off a smaller area of the music room floor for that purpose... it could be tolerable, for as long as she has left.
At any rate... if Terry's call was a miracle, inspired by Dad, from the great beyond... then... it was actually a power move by Dad to force me to admit to myself... that Yvette IS my dog now, and I DO want to keep her!
So... Well, played, Dad!
Painting of the south wall, including the kitchen door, last night, proved conclusively that the colors I'd picked worked really well!.. both in the room, and with one another!
The wall color isn't too dark, and the trim still contrasts with it very nicely!
Today, Sunday the 29th, I slept in, but then got back to work in the kitchen around 2PM, on the west wall... working over to the north wall.
We removed all the hardware from the casement window over the sink, and Tim boiled it all in an old dutch crock we found, with baking soda in the water.
It was a trick we'd seen on TikTok and damn if it didn't work! All the ten thousand layers of paint came off the hardware!.. and Tim cleaned it all up.
We took our break around 6PM today and went out to Jewel, on the west side, to spend a little more of my SNAP money on frozen pizzas, and other food.
Then, after a quick stop for beer, went home and ate dinner, before finishing up with the painting... just around midnight.
Only 3/4 of the kitchen wall space is done, and there is still the whole ceiling to worry about after that, but what we've gotten done so far looks great, and is a HUGE improvement over the dismal, dingy, peeling, monochromatic nightmare that Mom & Dad's kitchen had come to be.
The old kitchen is still lumpy, and wonky, but... it's popping with more life and charm than it's had in many decades!
Both Tim and I have to be up early tomorrow for separate meetings at 10AM.
Tim's seeing a car dealer about selling the Dart.
And I'm gonna be at the mortuary, signing the life insurance papers.
Both of us will get some kind of payout... and neither of us know how much exactly those payouts are gonna be.
January is also ending, so I need to address the utility bills, and we have all kinds of other things to worry about this coming week, including the kitchen paint job.
°¦}
