Is It Friday Yet?

It hasn't been what I would call a "terrible" week but, what the heck?

As you probably already have heard, we had planned some extensive home renovations for the end of summer and early autumn but Sheila developed cancer again so we put all the renovations on hold until sometime after Sheila's recovery. We're now stuck in a cluttered house full of building supplies. 

Over the past week or two, Sheila and I have been discussing what to do with all this clutter. I quickly decided to start finding a long term temporary home for each of the building supplies taking up our living space. 

The kitchen and living room renovation is the biggest part of this project which is now on indefinite hold. We have Birch flooring, a lot of lighting fixtures, electrical supplies, windows, a range hood, a new faucet, a new kitchen sink, lumber, etc, all cluttering our home. 

Yesterday, I decided to just go ahead and complete a little project... install that new kitchen sink and new faucet. The old sink and faucet has been driving both of us crazy for years and it has been quite a tease having the new sink and faucet just sitting on the floor waiting to be installed. Easy peasy... a quick and easy project... "I'll just install them and that will free up some space!  When we eventually get our new kitchen cabinets, then I just re-install them in the new cabinets.

Naturally, as I pulled apart the old sink, faucet and plumbing, I found bigger plumbing problems which now needed to be addressed before I could do anything else. This easy peasy project just became a not-so-easy project.

I had serious problems with the waste plumbing... I had to remove all the plumbing all the way back to the stack and that involved pulling apart other cabinets and removing some appliances. Fun times. 

At this point, we had to head to the hospital for Sheila's radiation treatment. No problem... I needed a break anyway and this would allow me to pick up some additional supplies while we were in Burlington.

We went out to dinner after Sheila's treatment and picked up a few things at Lowes then headed back home so I could continue the plumbing work so we could use the kitchen again.

Well... wrapping things up after dinner didn't go as planned either. I needed more supplies and there were more problems. We went to bed with this "easy peasy" project hanging over my head... and weighing heavily on my mind.

Today, we headed back up to the hospital for Sheila's radiation treatment... plus two other appointments (all is fine...  I'll write more in another blog entry)... then we went to Home Depot to pick up even more supplies... then out to dinner again.

I was eager to get back home so I could finish this little kitchen project but, when we walked into the house, we were greeted with a big puddle in the hallway due to a new leak in the roof and all this rain we've had recently. "Ugggg... another problem." I wanted to rhetorically ask "what else could go wrong" but knew that it would be foolish to tempt fate. I kept my mouth closed and reminded myself that things could be far worse.

We quickly cleaned up the hallway and then I got busy in the kitchen again. Fortunately, I finished up this little sink and faucet install... put everything back together... cleaned up... Sheila tested my work by cleaning some dishes... success!

Tomorrow, however, I'll need to pick up some roofing cement so I will be able to patch the roof when the rain stops. It appears as though the chimney for the furnace flue is leaking and running down the roof joists and then landing in our back hallway. Hopefully this project will be an easy peasy project.

It has been a relatively tough week of repairs when we are trying to stay focused on Sheila's cancer treatment. Is it Friday yet?


I'll write again soon and also share some photos of the new sink and faucet. Of course, I'll also write another blog entry telling more about Sheila's medical appointments today. All went well though.


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