Pack Up Your Troubles, errrr... Kitchen

In a very short time full blown construction will envelop my kitchen. It is going to be gutted. There will be new appliances, new cabinetry, new lights, new counters, sink, garbage disposal, paint and a host of other things.

And because I am an ambitious sort of lad there are a number of other items that are going to be demolished/tweaked/moved/adjusted and or repositioned within the house.

In short there are a million decisions that have to be made and a ton of prep work that needs to be done to make it all work. The prep work inside the house is not horrible, but it is challenging because the two smallest occupants of the house are professional housewreckers. You give them ten minutes and they can empty 17 closets of toys.

I don't fault them for it, they are kids. At the same time I don't just let it go. My son is old enough to know that he has to clean up after himself and for the most part he does ok. Just remind him to put his stuff away and most of it makes it back to where it should be.

My daughter is a different story. At 23.25 months (math girl) she is less inclined to put anything away. If she had her way she would simply drop the items and move on to the next thing that caught her eye. When I ask her to clean she smiles and hugs me. How do they learn how to manipulate at such a young age.

To me the hardest part of all this is preparing my garage. I have to clear out space for a very large breakfront and the old refrigerator. It is not going to be easy. The garage is my domain. It is a Fortress of Solitude that is constantly undergoing remodeling. It is filled with treasures and junk and it is as good a place as any to learn a few things about who I am, what I like, where I have been and perhaps even where I am going.

Bits and pieces of the past 17,987 weekends have been devoted to the garage. I continue to go through boxes and weed through items I don't need. For the most part I have been very successful at clearing space, but it is a very slow process. I am quite sentimental and there are many items that I don't wish to part with. But I balance it out with being fairly cut throat about some of the nonessential items. If I cannot see a use for them in less than two years they get tossed.

Finding a place for the breakfront is the big challenge. It used to be my grandparents. It is not something that I ever would have bought, but it has meaning to me and it does offer a certain utility.

However at the moment it just takes up too much space so I have to send it elsewhere.