As I sit here staring at my bathroom that was supposed to be done in “10 days” and is still not done (mind you it started on Nov. 2) I am reflecting back on how I made it through this house rehab for the most part unscathed.  We are nowhere near done but unless HGTV shows up at my door, I need a break.  I need a break from contractor’s in and out of the house all day long.  I need a break from dust.  I need a break from picking stuff out and second guessing every choice.  I need a break from people screaming in polish.

If you have never rehabbed a house and lived through it.  I have one piece of advice.  Don’t do it.  Maybe one day my attitude will change but right now I am still a little scarred from the experience.  If our marriage can survive dealing with budgets, strangers here all day long, trying to agree on selections and living in a construction zone – we can make it through anything.  My husband is a saint as I nearly cracked a few times.  I must say that I am very happy with the way things turned out but next time I would not live through it.  Next time we will move in AFTER the work is done, the house is clean and I do not have to live with 687 millipedes.  On a side note, those things are so damn creepy and can you imagine if they had to wear shoes?  It would take them an hour to get their shoes on and then get ready to scare the shit out of me.

My poor kids ate more Happy Meals on the back steps and had more peanut butter and jelly picnics in my bedroom than I care to count.  They took it in stride and actually made a couple friends.  Ranko the painter is their favorite – or should I say “Uncle Ranko” as they refer to him.

One of my favorite things that happened was when the roofer saw me butt naked, right out of my bathroom window.  I just stood there – frozen.  Kind of like what they say you should do if you come upon a bear in the woods…..just stay still and he might not notice you.  He noticed me all right.  I still to this day do not know if it was a positive or a negative experience for him.  Depending on his level of desperation, it really could have gone either way.

Here are a couple before pics: (If you love oak and hunter green you will be very sad we changed the 1983 vibe we had going).

The original kitchen (with my saintly friend K who helped us through this mess).

After we ripped out everything from the kitchen sink to every hair on my head, we ended up here…..

I always wanted a white kitchen to match my crazy white dog.

So now we are patiently waiting for the “10 days” to be up so we can use the bathroom downstairs.  In the meantime we will relish in the good times – like replacing all your windows in the middle of December, having boiling hot water in our toilets one day, running to McDonald’s to use the bathroom only to pee in the carseat on the way there and having water pour through the electrical fixtures at 2 am.  Sometimes I feel like I lived through the 1988 comedy “The Money Pit”.  It was such a great movie that I decided acting it out in real life was in order……after all, who doesn’t love showing the roofer your flat ass?