The cabinet saga has taken a complicated, yet happy, turn. Mrs. Honest (cabinet-maker-to-the-stars' wife) called this morning to let me know that the doctors finally found a drug combo that is stabilizing Mr. Honest's heart.
They have also ruled out cancer and think maybe his whole problem has been caused by the influenza virus he got a few months ago. He never really healed from that, and it seems the infection has been reeking havoc in his body, causing all kinds of unrelated symptoms.
He's still in critical care, but if they have luck treating the infection, and his heart remains ticking at a rate below 100 bpm, he'll get to come home within several days.
Now that I know Mr. Honest is doing better, I guess it's OK for me to be a little more selfish about my cabinets. I was all ready to finalize an order with Lowe's, thinking Mr. Honest was out of the picture. But Mrs. Honest now tells me that their son, Kip, has been working on the cabinets while his dad has been out of commission. What? Do I really want my cupboards constructed by the equivalent of an apprentice, and especially an apprentice named Kip?
Maybe he's a fabulous woodworker; I just don't know. But I don't want to cancel the job, merely on the chance that Kip doesn't work up to his dad's standards. What's a General Contractor to do -- especially knowing that The Honest Family is worried about all the lost income from dad's time in the hospital, not to mention the medical bills? But we can't wait forever. We need the cabinets within a few weeks' time.
I said I'd check back in a couple of days to see if Mr. Honest's recovery remains on the upswing. If it's going to take him a long time to mend, I may have to bail. But what about Kip's Kupboards? Am I obligated to pay for them? Should I look at them first and then decide?
I swear, nothing has been easy with this renovation, not even getting silly cabinets made.
On a less soap operatic note, I had two drywall contractors come by this afternoon. Before looking at our patchwork ceilings, the first guy saw a chair in the corner and immediately offered to buy it. Now, this chair is a hand-me-down from Mr. Hubby's mom. It's of Scandinavian design, and apparently, this contractor is bonkers about that kind of furniture. I've never been a big fan of the chair, mostly because it squeaks really loudly when you sit in it. This guy was crazy about the squeak -- means the chair is the real-deal.
He offered $400 for it and after taking measurements for the job bid, went to the bank to get cold hard cash. While he was gone, a little light bulb went off in my head. He said that he was looking at three weeks out for the drywall work, but when he returned with the moola, I said I'd refund $100 on the chair if he could book us for the last week in May, one and a half weeks away. He seemed kind of in a chair trance by then, so he agreed to it without much thought.
The other contractor was very nice, but he didn't see any furniture he wanted, so he stuck with his ''three weeks out'' availability.
I'm supposed to get their official bids by the end of Thursday. All things being equal, I hope the chair guy's bid comes in lower. Someone that crazy would be an interesting addition to the contractor team.
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