Did I mention we are undergoing a kitchen renovation? Well, it has been disrupting our daily lives now for three weeks, and I cannot remember the last time I had a home cooked meal. Takeaway food really sucks.
Here is a shot of the gutted kitchen from last Tuesday.
It is now double the size of what it was, because the old one was very pokey, and only one person could work in there at a time. It is now big enough for me to make cheese and preserves at one end, and for Kim to bake bread at the other end.
So in this post, after three weeks of no kitchen, I am going to pen a list of the things I really do miss that we normally do in our kitchen. After all, the kitchen is the centre of the home in more ways than just its location and is an essential part of living simply.
- Fresh home baked bread
- Home cooking
- Roast chicken on a Sunday
- Omelettes from my free range hen eggs and herbs from the garden
- Making Cheese
- Eating Cheese
- Making Hot Chilli Chutney
- Eating breakfast at home
- Warm biscuits, straight off the tray
- Washing the dishes in the kitchen sink
- Making a cup of tea in the kitchen
- Making winter stews in the pressure cooker
- Showing the kids how to make simple meals
- Cooking with my own freshly grown produce.
Now here is the list of things that I will not miss.
- Walking around the outside of the house to get the milk due to drying floor tiles
- Washing dishes up in the laundry
- Ironing clothes anywhere the iron board will fit
- Living in my study for days at an end
- Living in an unheated home because of holes in the ceiling
- Wearing 6 layers of clothing because we can’t turn the heating on
- Not having any motivation because of the disruption
- Loosing my sense of belonging
- Dust everywhere
- Sneezing constantly
- Crap that workmen leave laying around at the end of the day
- Having to clean up after workmen who trash my garden
- Carrying dogs around because no one is allowed on the floor tiles
- Having to put off friends visiting because of the mess
To finish on a positive note here are the things that I am thankful for during the renovation;
- The love of a good woman
- Great kids who managed to find alternate living arrangements while chaos ensued
- Good friends who offer to take us in for the odd evening when it gets unliveable
- Good friends to take Ben 10 for a sleep over with his mate.
- Having the cash to pay for all of the work and not go into debt because of it
- Having the common sense to not go overboard with expensive items
- Being able to source sustainably sourced timber for the doors and frames
- Replacing all old appliances with energy efficient ones to reduce our power bill
- Being able to Freecycle all the old appliances to those who really need them
- To be about 80% of the way through the renovation
- To have really nice builders, electricians, cabinet makers and tilers who listen to our requests
- Having a home to renovate
- And to still be married at the end of it!
Rock on next weekend. It should be very close to being finished and I will be able to make cheese again on Sunday! Hooray!