Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Remodeling and the Joy of ....Lists

I never knew how much I would miss my kitchen. Not that I had been cooking much lately, what with a crazy work schedule. But the convenience. Want a snack? Walk to the fridge. Through a single door. In the same warm space.

When we started the remodel plans, we were starting in the summer. How fun! Summer barbeques; picnics; warm weather salads. And then I got laid off. So we put off the remodel and suddenly it was late fall and the first thing to go was the heater. So now we had to run down the walkway outside, if the kitchen wasn't loaded with holes in the subfloor or exposed wiring, to the cold garage. Want a quick cup of coffee? That would mean getting the coffee from the garage, and then heating water in the living room. A $3.00 latte is looking pretty good.

Suddenly, came the goodness of friends. We had no fewer than three offers to either share a house or to use a house while families were on extended trips. All for the convenience of a kitchen. Having a sit down meal. Having the ability to continually get up and easily get the things you forgot for dinner. having more than one room to huddle in.

This packing and unpacking, to get to a different house each week, and then home on the weekend, has led to a need for lists. Every day we seem to need to run home to get something - a pair of shoes that go with the outfit, binoculars for the last-minute hockey game, pasta sauce for the dinner we planned two days ago.

Now I have lists for what I will do for work, what I need to do with my life, my daily errands and what I need to pick up from home. If I don't make a list for exact work outfits, I could be like my daughter and re-wearing yesterday's outfit. I need a list to also remember what to take back, just so that I'm not taking so much home at once or possibly lose things because they accumulate. I also need lists for the kids - outfits, school needs, meal requirements (do we really have to have soy sauce for that?) and books.

And my blog? I need to put that on the list. Or I will never remember.