More unpacking and kitchen stuff

This will be another post written before I have the Internet access to post it. As frustrating as that can be (I can’t remember the last time I went this long without checking my email – probably Young Life camp), it’s probably a good thing, because I wouldn’t get nearly as much unpacking done.

Dad is coming for a visit either this week or next weekend, probably with Jon and maybe one of his friends. He’s eager to see the house (and I’m eager to show it off) and I think eager to help with some of the work I’m doing. Unfortunately, we’re just not at a place where I’m doing much actual labor – most of that is with unpacking. Still, it will be good to have them hear for a visit.

I’m actually doing really well on the packing – more so than I expected. I’ve gone through all of the boxes that were stacked in the living and dining rooms (there’s one box of pantry stuff still to be unpacked in the kitchen) and have started pulling boxes out of the spare bedroom. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff in there is either Christmas decorations (needs to be moved to the attic and I can’t do that myself), office supplies (can’t put those away until I get the office cleaned out enough to have the furniture set up at least a little), and decorative stuff (which I need to decide to keep or toss, and then where it should be stored). I can see the potential for getting bogged down in that stuff, so I’m trying to move through it as quickly as I can and not stress about finding its permanent home for right now.

I also need to move the last remnants of stuff out my car. Since it goes into the shop Monday night for a couple days, that’s a good deadline.

I ordered the kitchen cabinets, countertops, and sink tonight. I worked with a great kitchen designer at Home Depot who kept her eye open for sales for me, and so I got 10% off the countertops, my sink base free, and then another 10% up to $500 off the whole order (I got the full $500 max). So – I used my savings to get a couple upgrades – a pull-out trash bin cabinet with two bins (one for trash, and the other I’ll use for food for Dakota), and a total of six roll-out drawers in the base cabinets. I bought a Silestone countertop (quartz composite – a little more durable than Corian solid surface, more of the colors I liked, and pretty comparable in price). I also bought a solid surface under-mounted sink. That takes care of most of the big purchases for the kitchen – just some smaller items left (the faucet, the garbage disposal, cabinet hardware, floor, paint, and decorative touches).

Overall, I’m really enjoying this process, though I do feel a bit like I’m trying to keep a lot of balls in the air. It probably helps that I’m still new to the area and don’t have tons of stuff going on all the time. Sometimes, though, I just want to stop making decisions of any kind.