If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

alternately titled
"If You Give Our Family a Sagging Cupboard"

Ever since we moved in, the doors on the cupboard have not lined up well. But they've been getting worse. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed not only a space between the cupboards and the soffit, but also that nails (not screws) were holding up the cupboards.

On Saturday Gary planned to repair it. That's when he discovered that the plywood vertical-walls of the cupboard were supposedly connected to the wall via nails that were driven between the plies of the plywood, and the wood had split.

So today we emptied the cupboards.










Gary jacked up the cupboards.

He securely connected a sturdy piece of wood to the wall, and then securely attached the cupboards to that chunk o' wood.

I am EXHAUSTED.

If the cupboards are emptied, that means they need to be cleaned and washed. If you do that, it also makes sense to run some sawdust-covered plates and some back-o-the-cupboard wine glasses (covered with dust from lack of use) through the dishwasher.

While the cupboard doors are off their hinges, it makes sense to wash them. Oh. my. goodness. I've washed the cupboards before. Really, I have. But you can scrub them with more force and more cleansing water if they're in the bathtub than if they're hanging in the kitchen. They were disgusting. (How come I never get around to using Murphy's Oil Soap on something that's a little dirty??)

While the stove is sitting in the center of the kitchen (to make space for the car's jack) the wall behind the stove ought to be washed. I did that last week when I cleaned the floor behind/under the stove. But the wall behind the stove still looked awful. Okay -- time to scrub with heavy-duty ammonia and some vigorous elbow-grease. It was better, but still bad. After all, those grease stains were there when we moved in, and I'm sure I've added more in the last several years.

So, paint. It's probably naughty naughty naughty to paint a small patch of the wall, without working my way to the corners. But I did. And it looks loads better!

Before the items return to their shelves, it makes sense to sort them. Yuck, I had potato flakes that are a few years old in there; to the trash with them. Why are there three mostly-empty containers of sprinkles for cookies? They can be combined into one container. Silly to keep a pitcher if the lid for it is broken; into the trash with that too. And so forth...

By late afternoon, I was entirely wiped out, ready to fall asleep. Really? Making decisions about my spice rack shouldn't be tiring. Putting glasses back into the cupboard ought not be physically taxing. Then I remembered the hours of scrubbing cupboard doors. No wonder I'm tired. It's late enough now that I can go to bed for the night.

And no more fear that all my dishes will crash onto the stovetop and the counters. Gary's awesome!