why we blog and the first half of the kitchen

People told us to start a blog because it would be a good way to document our unique life.  I thought we were normal until I started writing down the weird things we have dealt with the last four to five months living in the Indiana house.  Some examples are:

• Coffee
• Morning coffee consisted of generic instant coffee and hose water.  Try doing that for a couple months.  It's amazing what one can get used to.

• A/C
• During summer, we went without A/C for a while.  Inside the house got up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) on a few of the hot days.  Luckily, a friend had a spare window A/C unit we could use.
• Shower
• Our shower is literally 5.4 square feet (this is about one small step left/right and front/back) and the shower head sits 5.5 feet high.  Basically, we have to squat to wash our hair but we have to be careful because if we touch the cold tile, the reaction usually means bumping to the other side of the shower.  Imagine pinball but in a shower.
• Heat
• When it got into the colder months, we dealt with days of cold without heat.  The furnace needed serviced but before that could happen, vents needed cleaned.  They haven't been cleaned in who knows how long; my guess is decades.  I had a lovely discovery while cleaning the vents - they were clogged with foam.  The foundation was lifted in July (it had sank a couple inches over the years) by injecting foam under the concrete slab into the pea gravel.  This foam finds the path of least resistance and one of those was through the rusted holes in the ventilation system.  So...that happened.

Now for the kitchen.  Up until about a week ago, we have been doing dishes by filling a 7-gallon camping jug and standing it in the only drain we had - the bathroom sink.  The bathroom faucet did not work, hence the camping jug.  When the bathroom was getting worked on, it was moved to the carport.  So dishes were done outside.  Plates, bowls, and utensils are packed away so we used Tupperware and plastic forks, spoons, and knives.  We don't have cabinets yet so these were stored in a trash bag until the next meal.  If we wanted something warm, it was either the grill or a hot plate.  If we wanted something cold, we had two minifridges.  Here are some pictures.

After a couple of months, the camping jug was moved to the carport to the top of a stack of bricks and dirty water was collected in a five gallon Home Depot bucket.  Good stuff.

On the right is the hot plate in what will be the future kitchen.

Now, the big-ish news.  We have half the kitchen installed.  Here is what it looked like before.

This is what we dealt with for kitchen plumbing.

Here is what the east side of the kitchen looked like before.

Old drywall, old insulation, and old electrical was all removed.  New wiring was put in for the new dishwasher, refrigerator, garbage disposal, and an over-the-sink light.  Plus, a small wall separating the refrigerator from the dining area.

Now, we finally have this half of the kitchen:

It took one week (literally) to do the plumbing and the result is a leak-free half kitchen.  We finally have a dishwasher, full-size refrigerator, and a fully functional kitchen sink.  Annie's butt needed in the picture, too.

Now, we just have some painting, toe kicks, and backsplash to do before this half is done.  The west side of the kitchen is delayed due to some cabinet issues.  The new ones came in and hopefully soon, we will have a range, microwave, and a place to put all of our dishes.  Hayley is about to put on her baking cap!

-K