Milestone: Today we reclaim the cabinets! (Maybe.)
Category: Kitchen Sink...
Posted Thursday, January 27, 2005 at 08:28 AM [GMT-6]

We've entered our 11th consecutive day without access to our kitchen and dining room, thanks to the URP. What started out as a kind of cool adventure, almost like camping out in our game room, has devolved into a series of increasingly grating annoyances.

For example, we ran out of plastic spoons this morning. If you've been paying attention, you know that an adequate supply of spoons is a critical ingredient in the proper functioning of our household. My motto is "a day without spoons is like a Senate confirmation hearing with Barbara Boxer" so you can see the seriousness of the situation. If nothing else, the phrase "forking fruit into my morning bowl of cereal" (eaten from a styrofoam bowl, of course) just doesn't have the proper ring.

I'm getting tired of washing the few non-disposable dishes we use in the bathroom sink; tired of "cooking" in a toaster oven or toaster; tired of trotting uneaten food out to the dumpster due to lack of a garbage disposer; tired of refilling the water jug a cup at a time because it won't fit under the bathroom tap; and, last but not least, tired of eating out. Or, rather, eating take-out in. I miss vegetables.

But today -- today! -- might mark a turning point. The painter assured me yesterday as he left (after a grueling 4-hour workday) that he should be at a point after today that we can get back into our kitchen cabinets. I've hopefully extrapolated from that statement that we might also gain access to our microwave, stovetop and oven.

However, we've been disappointed before by unfulfilled promises of progress, so I'm not rushing out to restock our crisper. And while I'd like to say that this experience has made me a better person by creating an appreciative awareness of the tender blessings that accrue to the trappings of civilization, I confess that the primary outcome has been to create in me an intense lust for stainless steel eating utensils.

Especially spoons.