I thought I'd share my latest challenge with you tonight.

I am in the process of having a new kitchen put in my house.

Don't ask me why I have undertaken this project right now...during one the most stressful times of my life...because everytime I think about it, I realize just how crazy I am.

Over Christmas, my nephew told me that he had begun his own contracting business and was doing remodeling work. He assured me he had experience doing kitchens and so, I hired him to do mine.

I guess I did realize from the beginning that this would be a learning experience for him. I figured he had a little bit of experience but I also knew he wouldn't be a pro.

Well, I have watched one mistake after another. I have watched the inexperience surface over and over again.

I bite my tongue and cheer him on because I do want him to be successful...but some of these mistakes are just too big.

First, he never laid tarps on my carpeting or covered the carpeting in any way...instead he laid ceramic tile on the kitchen floor while working his way out of the kitchen with cement dust all over his shoes thus working the cement right into my carpeting. I finally laid the tarps myself after the second day.

Next, he began to hang cabinets...and he miscalculated...one wouldn't fit.

Then, came the surprise that there were not going to be any drawers in the kitchen except the few directly above the lower cabinets. I had to step in at that point. We have since corrected that problem.

Next, came the blocked toliet. I think he and his brother may have dumped the excess quick dry cement down the toliet.

The next day, I came home to find two of my outlets now half hidden by cabinets. I made him move those outlets!

Yesterday, I noticed that he miscalculated when he laid the ceramic tile. He had planned for it to be about three inches under the cabinets...but nope, he forgot that there is a part that cuts in at the bottom of the cabinets and thus, I now have about a three-quarter inch gap in front of the cabinets with no tile. He assures me that it will be covered with the kickboard from the cabinets...but I'm not so sure.

Then he tells me he will silicone any openings. My son, who lives in SC, is a contractor. He told me the answer is grout, not silicone, but grout!

Today, I realized that he missed some major size spots when he painted the ceiling and so, I just finished repainting the kitchen ceiling tonight.

Tomorrow he comes to install the countertop and begin to tile the backsplash...mighty scary if ya want to know!

I'm moving. The reason I wanted the new kitchen put in was so that when I put the house on the market it will sell immmediately. But, I'd still like it done correctly even if I don't plan to live here.

I spoke to my nephew yesterday about cleaning his tools in the bathtub which have resulted in some chips to the enamel and I have asked him to please remember to shut the outside doors to the house when he leaves each day (I'm at work) because its below zero outside these days and I can just imagine my electricity meter spinning like a slot machine all day.

He's a good kid. And he needs to learn. I'd like to help him to learn, and he is actually doing it for a darn good price...so, I guess I need to just be a bit understanding and patient with him.

With me not feeling well most of the time, I really would have hated having some contractor I didn't know working here every day ... having someone I know here makes it so much easier.

Hopefully, he will finish this up in the next week or so, and I can once again eat something besides the drive-thru on the way home...

I did have a couple of doctor's appointments this week. One with my gynecologist... told her about all the side effects I have been experiencing to the medication I'm on and she asked me if I wanted sleeping pills. I told her no, that I didn't have a problem getting to sleep, that I was actually always ready to sleep, but that the night sweats woke me during the night and kept me awake for long periods of time. Her response... if I find an answer, please call and tell her so she can pass the information along to other patients. :(

Then I had an appointment with a pulmonary guy. I told him I knew there was a high correlation between breast cancer and lung cancer. He said no, the correlation is between breast cancer and the metastasis to the lung.

So I said ... Can you tell me I don't have lung cancer? He said no, not with certainty. He said he could send me for an xray. I said xrays don't show lung cancer. He said it would show abnormality if it existed. I said, what would you do if someone in your family had breast cancer. He said.. send them for a CT scan. I said, could you send me? He said ok. Sure took a lot of work to get there. Why do they all have to make it so hard? I told him outright that if I can't get what I need here, you leave me no choice but to go somewhere else to get it. He smiled and said.. is Tuesday soon enough? I said yep.

He also told me to take my temperature during one of the sweats...and if I find I have a fever at the time, to try taking a Tylenol and maybe it would help get rid of the sweats. I'm not so sure I buy that one. But, I'll try it because I'm pretty desperate these days. :(