The weather is still warm, but we’ve started to roll into Autumn. The leaves are turning, and lovely, and the nights are cooler. The transformation of the trees never ceases to amaze me.
So too is Sithean transforming. We are heading into our 3rd week of renovation, with about 27 or so weeks to go – to date only demolition and a lot of time with our truly lovely work crew.
Our living room has become our pantry, kitchen and living room. The porch, intact for now, holds our grill, which is used almost nonstop these days, especially the burner on the side – we have a hot plate, but if we really need to cook something stovetop style, that’s our best bet. The good news is that we have a lot of appliances – our rice cooker and instant pot, already in heavy rotation with a kitchen, now are used nearly daily without.
It’s like camping. The downstairs bathroom, the only one that will not be renovated, is the sink for all things water.
And we’re still packing things up. This weekend it was the hall closet – the new flooring will go into it, so it has to be emptied- as well as our son’s closet and bedroom, which we are simultaneously working on as he has begun to seriously outgrow his bunk bed.
Yesterday I grocery shopped at Hmart, Costco and Whole Foods, because this Friday starts off the fair in our town, and other than getting milk or a few things here and there, we’re basically locked in through mid-month. We have been dedicatedly eating down the pantry and freezers, but that had to slow so that we can plan on a couple of weekends with limited access beyond our home.
We love the fair, and that family gathers with us for opening night, it’s truly an event for us. This year our home is not really conducive to family gatherings, but by next year it will be. Other than a few paint colors left to pick and a single light fixture left to purchase, there’s not much left to choose – at this point, we are just in a waiting game to see what it looks like in real life. While the decision fatigue has been sometimes real, and at times construction planning was a second full time job, that work is almost done.
We are still packing things up and moving them around, but that too, should be done in a few weeks. Which is not to say that when we wrap that up it won’t be the end of a long, exhausting marathon, but we have to empty and clean these spaces anyway. And of course, once we’re done there will be more cleaning and moving things around and moving them back in, but that’s ok. One day at a time right now.
In general, it’s not terrible. Cluttered and dusty? Sure. But we have a small table set up in the living room we can eat at, and our meals are good so far. We like camping, and this is like that.
Last night I cobbled together a pound of chicken, sauteed onions, garlic and poblano peppers, a pint of salsa verde, a cup of chicken broth and some seasonings and put them in the instant pot for 20 minutes, then added a little parmesan, mexican cheese, and cream cheese to make a variation on Chicken Chili Verde, and it was downright delicious. Tonight I’ll make Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon.
Our kitchen limitations are causing us to be more intentional, but we’re still eating off of regular plates and using cloth napkins. At the end our budget will be very tight, but that’s nothing new either. And we’ll have a lot of finish work to do ourselves, but that’s ok.
And in the meantime we still have an abundance of raspberries to pick in the backyard, 3 more weeks of our summer CSA, and the simple pleasures of home – there is really something satisfying about curling up on the couch after a long day of paid work or house things and eating a delicious meal that we magicked out of our temporary kitchen.
So what are we eating this week through this long race?
Sunday: Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon & salad
Monday: Eli will make grilled chicken pita pockets, broccoli from our CSA
Tuesday: It’s just Eli and I on Tuesdays, so we make simple things in bowls. We have some wax beans to eat from our CSA, so we’ll make those our veggies.
Wednesday: Tortellini, spinach and chicken soup made with the roaster chicken I bought at Costco.
Thursday: Burgers, tater tots and broccoli
Friday: Pizza with Family
Saturday: Chicken soup with rice
Maybe by week 20 we’ll be completely over this, but for now, life feels pretty good.
Little House on the Fairy Hill 