Thank you so much for all your tips and support! I truly appreciate it. I know that others have gone through this and survived and seen their vision come alive-so I am hoping we will get there at the end. I walked in after work yesterday and oh my! was it different. All the walls and ceilings down to studs, wires hanging everywhere, and was it HOT! Didn't realize how much heat the attic reflects off. I stood for a long time at the front door trying to see in my head how it will look all together and wasn't succeeding at all. Things look so much better after a full night's sleep. I can see where we are going and not feel like all the $$$ we are throwing in as a waste. Some of you asked about interesting findings from the demo. Nothing cool here-other than a old Beatles trading card. Showed it to my 8 yr old and he just shrugged!! kids these days :-).They also found my missing cutting boards(i use the thin plastic ones for some things), some old knives and placemats. It is amazing how much space was there between the framed cabinets and the pantry for thin things to slip through. Good thing we are doing frameless now! Yes, I found my stash of wine in the midst of all the chaos in the basement. Spent all evening cleaning up the basement and now at least there is a path from one end to the other. Today morning was much smoother for everyone. Hope we will get into a groove by the weekend. Once again, thanks for all the support.

My GC came today at 7:15AM and went over the electrical outlets, lights, etc with me. Today they're taking out the old slider and replacing it with a window. They're also making a hole for the new slider which will be in the DR section of the kitchen out to the deck. Wanted to make sure that my Aunt's (who just passed away last year at the age of 101) server fits on the wall. It does! Isn't it funny the little things that make you happy? I love this renovation stuff! DH thinks I'm crazy. Igloo: I've been following your progress. Don't worry, it will happen! (Maybe your chickens can help you out?). I actually thought of you as I was in Homegoods with my mom and we saw an entire section of chickens! Maybe I need a kitchen chicken too? Barb

Less than impressive. I was crying the blues last week because little black bugs got into a number of the turnips, that were growing well - I guess they thought so, too. Then quite a few of the tomatoes, which had been growing well, developed black leaves and stems, some of them on most of the plant, and where I hadn't been able to see the ground in part of the plot, and was preparing the staking for it, it got to where I could see the ground in a number of areas, and where they were thick, there were a number of stems and branches that were lying on the ground, some wet and rotting ... and some dry. I got up earlier than usual this morning, but instead of going out in the cool time, did a few things in the house and when I went out and began untangling some baler twine, it was so hot that I went inside of the shed where it was cooler. I need to add some strings to the pea vines and when I went to the south garden to do it there, found that the brace line from one of the end stakes had broken, so two at one end had fallen, letting all of the strings fall on both rows, with pea vines lying everywhere. I knew that I'd need to weed, so had taken the cultivator and did a lot of cultivating and pulling weeds from the peas, kohlrabi, peppers and watermelon. There's a huge amount of weeds yet needing to be pulled. I'll take the axe and chair down there soon to reposition the end stakes on the two rows of pea vines, then reposition the vines. I find that the edible pod vines grow much larger than the regular pea vines. Pea vines, one row and two rows of bean vines in the original garden need some more lines added, as well, and then there's more staking of the tomatoes, and cleaning out the crud from them ... a famous gardener told me on a radio phone-in on Monday to stake them, as they needed to have air circulate to stop the moulding. And, how does one remove the stuff that's contaminated without dropping spores off of them ... and avoiding touching the good parts of the plants with one's contaminated hands?? There are peas that need to be picked, and a bunch of beans, plus some lettuce and zucchini. Need to wash dishes, do a laundry and vacuum, as well. Plus - my right knee is showing out of my overalls, and I have some denim to patch it. Sometime when I can find some time. Also ... I need to sew some hook-and-loop fastener tape to some elastic so that I can make a retaining belt for my underwear briefs, several of which are so old that, the elastic having lost its zip, like to hang down around my knees: not very useful, when it's located like that! Need to get some milk, too. And some investment records that I keep are behind, as well. Oh, yes - I need to write a cheque for the Income Taxc people, as well ... they compound daily on amounts owing that are unpaid. I asked my furnace oil dealer the other day, who charge interest rate of 1.5 - 2.0% per month on unpaid balances after about 60 days, what rate they pay on credit balances, as they've held a credit in my account for several months. As it turns out that they pay zero per cent ... so I had them cut me a cheque and I need to deposit that. That should keep me busy for a while. ole joyful

UPDATE: We are moving along, but ever so slowly it seems! I think that is the way it might feel for some time : ) Working on other areas of the house, inside and out, has taken us temporarily away from the kitchen, but we are getting back to it now! I've been in the process of setting up our temporary-temporary kitchen in the breakfast nook, which is in the current kitchen. DH informed me it'd have to be moved soon so he and I could begin demo of the kitchen... I am clearly too tired to think straight - he's right! He suggested we move it to the dining room-to-be TV room for now... but first we had to remove his widescreen TV, which he seemed unable to live without (sports fan that he is). This was a sacrifice for DH. Bless his heart! Yesterday we began to set up the temp-temp kitchen (2 temps) because eventually it will be taken down to remove and rebuild a wall between the future tv room and kitchen... My prep space, and only a few of many storage units... The water source is all the way across the house... I'll be keeping a jug nearby! The only problem? We removed the only light in that room... this is the scene from early this morning... making DH's lunch using an emergency light! Felt a bit like camping days from the past! We'll be adding a cheap light pronto! coffee stations are all the rage now... and we have one! Living the life! I have double ovens! (ancient toaster oven sitting on top of old microwave). I'll sure miss that "feature" as our new kitchen will only have a slide in range. ; ) The microwave came from DH's bachelor pad, and to my dismay still had 'gunk' in it, after it'd been sitting for 2 years! I used a flame torch to sterilize it. We put an old rug on the plywood subfloor for now... it adds a certain je ne sais quoi to our formal dining area, don't you think? Things I've learned thus far: 1) When vacuuming plywood sub-flooring, always vacuum with the grain. That way you'll get up half the dirt as opposed to none. 2) Those plastic drawer storage containers won't open if you put anything heavier than 15 paper napkins and a single plastic fork. 3) Keep a plastic drop cloth over everything when not in use... demo dust can find it's way into anything! 4) Maintain a sense of humor, maintain some semblance of order amidst the chaos, and always, always, have a hot pad ready for hot casserole dishes! Best wishes to those going through the process - or preparing to!