I’m currently ‘cooking under plastic’ or that should be ‘trying to cook under plastic’. The current state of our renovations means that our kitchen has only one wall and no roof. The current state of the weather means that the tarpaulin that is supposed to be saving the kitchen from the elements is slowly being shredded in the the gale forced winds…. Needless to say this is making life fun!
If you ever find your self in a similar position, here are my top ten survival tips for renovation cooking...
- Pretend you are an Antarctic explorer and see if you can unwrap 3 muesli bars before you get frost bite.
- Tell the kids that the black dust sprinkled all over their lunch is really five secret herbs and spices, just like KFC
- Look for the positives – the deafening sounds of the tarp in the wind drowns out the kids fighting and arguing completely.
- Remember, a jam sandwich with olives and potato chips on the side is almost a complete meal, it contains fruit and two kinds of veggies!
- Feel free to stab anyone who tells you that you are ‘brave’ or ‘insane’.
- Practice the ancient art of astral projections and work on sending yourself 6 months into the future when the renovations are all done!
- If that fails practice the even more ancient art of denial and just pretend it’s not happening.
- Put the phone number of the closest fish and chip shop into your mobile phone, and get over your aversion to the Empire of the Evil Clown and other similar establishments.
- Remember, just because it’s cereal doesn’t mean it’s breakfast!
- If you don’t laugh you’ll cry… so laugh it up people!
Have you got any tips for me? Serious or otherwise!?!
Good for you! 12 months ago i was in a similar situation although for us it was the scorching heat not the winds. I know have my dream kitchen and the memories have fast disappeared. I do like your comment about the tarp and the kids, maybe I need to put one up too ;-)
So nice to hear that the memories of the insanity fades fast…. that gives me hope!
Strength to you Kate!! I can full commiserate with you on your experience – wind, torrential rain while living with tiny kids + visitors an trying to encourage ‘good spirits’. It’s the unexpected though, that will keep these months as a firm memory for everyone. Some of ours remember the walls of water that woke us from sleep. My husband has vivid memories of the alarm clock going off through the night at regular intervals to go ‘remove’ the collected water off the tarps on top of our unroofed house ( push the broom repeatedly into the heavy ballooned sagging tarp – it had to be quick so you shot it off and didn’t send it into the neighbouring bulge). The extra space you will have makes it all worth it. Be flexible though in your thoughts about when it’ll all be DONE.
Thank you for your wise but positive words!
And we’ve since had our own experience with tarps, water and brooms… what fun!
This is an awesome post Kate. Love that you are striving to have fun with this process and to find the positive in the situation. So looking forward to seeing the finished results. All the best! N x
Oh no!! You poor thing.
We lived with our kitchen in our bedroom for a year. We even had the plumber connect the gas stove and the laundry tub. And we had a camping table as our kitchen bench. it wasn’t fun, but atleast it was protected from the elements.
We’ve also had cereal for dinner a few times recently ;-)
LOL
I love that you’re managing to find the silver lining in it all.
It’ll be but a memory in the not too distant future and those secret herbs will be drifting on the wind ;)
It will be worth it, it will be worth it – the mantra of every renovator!
you and your blog give me hope!!!
Oh Kate, you’ve made me laugh.
Can you get friends to donate some dinners? Or perhaps use their kitchen for a few hours on a weekend to cook up some batches to freeze? That way you only have to reheat.
Poor you. Once it’s finished, you will feel like the luckiest gal on Earth!
I am actually really lucky to have an awesome circle of friends who always cook up a dinners for each other whenever life gets stressful, and we have a perpetual invitation for Friday dinners at a friends house which is just bliss!
As owner builders I can totally relate to this post Kate :) Just keep swimming. (or in your case with the wind, just keep flapping)
OMG! I want to laugh and cry at the same time. I didn’t realise it was THAT bad! How on earth are you even surviving? Would you like dinner delivered this weekend? (Seriously, I can drop something by).
Thanks so much for the kind offer Deb but we are managing much better this week and should have a roof back on by Friday! And we’ll escape to my parents place over the holidays a bit too I imagine! It will all be worth it in the end!