SuperChi!

When the floor begins to buckle in front of your refrigerator, you know it's not going to be good.

THIS is the ugly reason I have not blogged in a week and a half! I was a bit preoccupied. A...ummm...major water disaster occurred in our kitchen recently, which we were fortunate to find. Of course, we didn't feel so fortunate while prying away the old baseboards, disassembling our whole pantry, pulling up our entire kitchen floor, demolishing the first layer of plywood, tearing off the old tar paper and cleaning up a mountain of debris. The refrigerator had to be moved, the dishwasher taken out, the dining room transformed into a pantry, and one corner of our living room became home to our kitchen table (a.k.a. Bistro Nguyen). But now, we realize the whole thing could have been much, much worse. At least the damage was contained to only half of our kitchen.

And THIS is the amazing reason I kept my sanity through all of it. It's a wrench! It's a crowbar! It's SUPERCHI! When I say "we" did all of these things, I really mean "he." He pulled us through this big disaster. I am again amazed at the things he knows and does so well -- tiling, electrical work, plumbing, drywalling, trimwork, and now flooring. A blessing came our way a few weeks ago in the form of a new table saw, and that, he says, made the job of cutting the new plywood and flooring for our kitchen much easier. Every day after work, he came home and we worked some more at cleaning things up. This weekend, we laid new waterproofing down over the new plywood and he worked meticulously on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon on the new floor. Finally, before dinner last evening, he finished. What a joyous Sunday dinner we had eating in our own kitchen! Boy, the things we take for granted...

The Little Nguyens have actually had a great time playing around home during the last few days. We thought they would be bored to tears while we worked on the kitchen floor, but they actually enjoyed getting reacquainted with the house. The summer has been busy; they have missed their toys and puzzles! When it came time to mop the new kitchen floor, however, they took a break from playing to help out. Of course, they love any occasion on which I allow them to use the mop. I have taught them to count to 3 while they squirt and then to drive the mop around! The First Little Nguyen has now mastered the skill of "backing out" (not walking where you have already mopped), but the Second Little Nguyen....well, let's just say it's a good thing he only wears his boots inside!

There is one good thing that came out of all of this. We have been thinking for awhile about changing the color of all of the woodwork in the kitchen. Now, we can buy pre-primed white baseboards and mouldings! Chi can do those while the task of priming and painting the cabinets will be a good fall project for me. Chi has already worked so hard, so I think I will do my research and get started when the boys are back to school.