Ikea Avalanche…
Ikeavalanche…
Ikevalanche…
I think I like that last one. Ikevalanche. That describes what happened to our house. Ikea exploded and it caused an avalanche in our living and dining rooms. Ikevalanche, babie.
The cats are oblivious.
Lily is laying on top of a pair of multi-page Bills of Ladings.
IKEA delivery complete. 170-something boxes. One item shipped incorrectly and one item missing. Neither of them are mission critical. I have to pick up a few more things from IKEA tomorrow after work. Other than that, we’re good to go.
This morning has been the toughest month in years.
Tomorrow is going to be worse. A lot worse. Wednesday will be tough, though mostly after work. Same with Thursday. Friday and Saturday? Nuckin’ Futs!
I need a nap. I need to go to bed early tonight but we all know that won’t happen. I will get up ridiculously early tomorrow too. Same with the next day and the next day and the next day.
As crazy as it has been, and as crazy as it will continue to be in the near future, I am good with it. I am ready for all of it. It’s going to be rough, but it’s also going to be worth it.
Bring it on, babie! Bring it on!
Okay, Robert. Back to work with your bad self. You have stuff to do before the day ends!
The first baby step of the kitchen remodeling is complete. We had a plumber here who disconnected everything in the kitchen. Next step is the first of the IKEA deliveries. It’s only supposed to be a few boxes. The landslide/avalanche of IKEA stuff happens tomorrow.
The cats are hiding. Will they remain in hiding until the project is complete? Maybe.
I do a lot of musical DIY projects, but that isn’t my answer today. I’m right in the grip of my 17th RPM Challenge. I’ve done the 50 songs in 90 days challenge a bunch of times and have even succeeded on a few of them. That isn’t it though.
Our kitchen is about to be remodeled. The project starts today. It is not a DIY project though. We hired a contractor this time.
This time.
The last time though… We’ve been picking at the kitchen for a few years. The last couple of little changes were DIY. One of them was hanging a cabinet and counter top that we bought from IKEA. They have a neat system for hanging things. I thought it was going to be beyond us, but we pulled it off… mostly. It was a little crooked on one section. Just a little.
I am pretty sure that counter and cabinet are not going to survive the new project. We looked into having the contractor move it, but there doesn’t really seem to be enough room. That’s okay though. It was always meant to be a temporary thing until we figured out a way to do the real project. The real project being the sucker that sort of starts today.
Big changes coming to our house. We’re pretty excited to see how it goes. Wish us luck.
The IKEA kitchen deliveries are happening on Monday and Tuesday. A few boxes on Monday and almost 200 on Tuesday. The plumber is coming to disconnect everything on Monday. Demolition of the current kitchen is Friday and installation of the new kitchen is Saturday. They are telling us they only need one day to install but that seems crazy to me. The plumbing hookups, electrical work, and the addition of the backsplash all happen at some point after the install. When? We don’t know yet.
Both of my step kids are going on trips over spring break. They are coming home the week after the kitchen install. I have to take a day off to drive them both to the airport. We have Harry’s flight information already but not Bellana’s. Not yet at least. The following week we’ll pick them back up at the airport but as of now it doesn’t look like I’ll need to take time off from work for that.
I also have five days to finish the RPM Challenge. I have three songs finished, six ready to mix, six ready for lead guitars, and five waiting for vocals. Two of those five have lyrics and a melody written. I did those earlier today. I am hoping to get to the other three before I sleep tonight so I can get them all recorded tomorrow morning. If I can’t get through it all tomorrow I’ll have to finish up before work on Monday. Then I just have a ton of lead guitars to record and multiple tons of mixing to do. I can get to it all, but it’s going to be tough. I have some late nights and early mornings in my near future.
There are so many things to do in the coming weeks. So very, very many things. It’s going to be pretty crazy around these parts. I’ll post lots of pictures as things progress.
The last time I was in the office I sat at the same desk I’m sitting at right now. When I left for the day I forgot my laptop charger and had to drive back in the next day to get it.
Robert… moron… whatever you do… don’t forget the damn charger again, m’kay? Forgetting your laptop charger is bad.
On a mostly unrelated note, all of this extra working from the office stuff has thrown my personal, internal calendar into complete chaos. I have been 100% convinced all day today that today is Friday. Guess what. It’s not Friday. Not even close. Tomorrow is Friday. It’s just plain old Thursday.
I was hoping this weekend could be a total downtime weekend. I don’t think that’s possible. I want to finish hanging the blinds and curtains and make the last couple of changes to the bed room setup. I also want to put together the tent/shed thing we bought for the back yard. Unfortunately it’s going to rain all weekend so that’s out. I have four songs that need to be finished by the end of the weekend, so there will be music in the car and at home. I still have to finish writing two of those four songs. Way to wait for the last minute, Robert. Dope. Next month’s music plan is a full 10 song album in a month deal using my new King of Tone overdrive pedal which I haven’t even plugged in yet. Dope.
It’s looking more and more like I will be able to work from home for the second half of the day. Fingers are still very much crossed. My stomach started acting up about half an hour ago but it was just one of those, hey dope you are hungry stomach aches. I ate a snack and now I am fine. I won’t get home until well after 2:00pm so I am not sure what to do about eating lunch. I’m hoping for some chicken and maybe some french fries, but I don’t want to ruin dinner. It’s crazy how reliant I have become on being able to cook lunch and dinner at decent, routine times, and how shuffling those times even a little bit messes me up.
I am hoping I’ll be leaving the office at about 1:45. Fingers intensely crossed. I wanna go home. Just don’t forget your charger, you dope.
I don’t think we’re done yet but here’s how it looks. New windows, new end table, new shelving thingie, new quilt and pillow cases, rearranged everything. I like it.
This week has been rough. I didn’t expect it, but three days of window project turning the house upside down has messed me up in a big way. Being sick on Tuesday didn’t help. Waking up at 2:00am with a stomach ache today and not being able to get to sleep until around 4:00am certainly hasn’t helped either. After eight ounces of water and a protein bar this morning I feel a little better, but the stomach ache is still there, just milder than it was.
It got to Jen too, and both of us being on edge lead to pointless, stupid arguments and I hated it. Hate hate hate it. I can’t apologize enough for being an ass. Then today, after very little sleep last night and very little sleep every night this week and being broken in general for days, I watched the series finale of Star Trek Picard and let’s just say… I’ve been following these characters through TV shows and movies since 1987 when I was 16 years old and watched Encounter at Farpoint with my father… I’m not ashamed to admit it… but I balled my eyes out a few times. I am just an emotional train wreck right now.
Season three of The Mandalorian ended yesterday and it was wonderful. Season three of Picard ended today and it was wonderful times 10. I am just a sucker for story lines about parents loving their children that are designed to violently yank at your heartstrings and I am fine with that.
Then on top of all the other shit going on, both home improvement wise and science fiction wise, I went to punch in to work just now and realized I forgot my friggin’ laptop charger in the office yesterday. FFFFFUUUUUUUUU! Jen bailed me out with a sweet USB C charger so I can get through the day. I just hope when I go to the office after work tonight the charger is still on the desk I sat in yesterday. Cross your fingers, kids. I don’t want to have to buy another charger.
Okay. I am punched in to work now. Everything is well. I’m being added to meetings left and right so it’s starting to look like a busy day. Busy is good. Busy is better than too quiet… sometimes. I guess it depends on what kind of busyness it is, you know?
Right. Work. Post this drivel and get to work, Robert.
I took Monday and Tuesday off so that I could be around for the window crew. We were told it would take two days. When they asked to come back for a third day I thought it was going to screw up my work schedule. Today is an in-the-office day so I would be messing things up if I had to stay home. Jen and I worked it out so that I could be there for the morning and then be in the office in the afternoon. I was planning to come in one additional day just to keep the karmic scales balanced.
Fortunately, they showed up early enough today that I could discuss what needed to be discussed, get the house ready for them to start work, and still get onto the road in time to make it to the office by 9:00. Whew! Jen is working from home today, so hopefully they won’t be too loud. Also, the cats are out of Bellana’s room so hopefully they don’t torture the window crew too badly with their cuteness and their insistence on playing at all times. Well… playing when they aren’t sleeping that is.
I was not able to finish my exercise, or watch The Mandalorian, or get much liquid in, or have any real breakfast. I had a protein bar and a protein snack in the car on the way here, and I just got cleared to start drinking, but I am way behind my goal right now. At least I won’t have to come in a second time this week.
Inside the Red Head's Head 