Welcome to Chez Cliff!

Sometimes, I am petty.

SFX:  Cell phone rings.
Clifford:  This is Clifford.
Cabinetman:  Clifford, this is Cabinetman.  How are you?
Clifford:  I’m fine.  How are you?
Cabinetman:  Hey, we never got your final payment for the cabinets.  Do you think you can swing by and drop it off?
Clifford:  No.  I’m having dinner with friends tonight in Huntington Beach.
Cabinetman:  Oh.  Well I could send José over to ge the check.
Clifford:  I don’t think so.
Cabinetman:  Why not?
Clifford:  Well, every time you told me you were going to come over . . . you never did.  Every time you said you would call me back, you never did.  Why would I start believing you now?
Cabinetman: . . .
Clifford:  Don’t worry.  I put your check in the mail today.  You should have it in the next day or two.

Have a good weekend!  I certainly will . . . .

It’s picture day!

What’s left?  There’s the back-splash.  I asked Cabinetman if he could do a back-splash out of granite, since he was doing the counters.  He said he would call me back and let me know.  After hanging up, I realized that he has never called me back.  Why would he start now?

The sink has to be hooked up.  The dishwasher has to be connected; the stove too.  Microwave needs to be hung.

Not a big deal.  But it’s all on me.

Remember my problem with the lighting?  I don’t think the lights turned out that bad.  There are two lights which are not recessed.  I actually prefer these lights because I could aim them at the counter.

My slight case of self-diagnosed OCD has been running amok since the discovery of the cabinets at various heights.  Admittedly, I don’t have an eye for design.  HGTV might as well be speaking in Greek because I can never learn anything from that channel.

I understood that if I made a fuss over this, it may be two or three more weeks before I get new cabinets.  Let’s be realistic.  It took almost a month before I made it this far.  My question to myself was simple:  "Is this going to be worth the hassle?"

Before my verbal onslaught, I elected to contact the Real Estate Agent.  I made an agreement with myself.  If he thought the kitchen looked alright then I would just drop the height issue altogether.

"Clifford, it looks great.  Get over it."

I’ve had this problem before.  In completing a project, I want to make sure that every detail is accounted for.  But when is it that you say "This is good enough"?

The kitchen is good enough.

Tomorrow, photos are coming.

"Something doesn’t look right," Anne said, standing in my kitchen.

I have become exasperated to the point where I’m missing many details.  Work is progressing and once again I feel like this project can be completed sometime this year.

That is until Anne pointed out this serious problem.

And it irks me.

Do you see it?

Yeah, it’s pretty hideous.

My "custom cabinets" are not all the same.  For some reason, Cabinetman made these two cabinets 8 inches too short.  Why don’t they go all the way to the ceiling like the rest?  It looks hideous!  The stand alone cabinet, in the first photo, looks like I just bought it at Home Depot and slapped it on the wall.

All the cabinets start out at the same point on the wall but they don’t end at the same point.

And it’s just these two.  Every other cabinet goes all the way to the ceiling.

A closer inspection of the two cabinets revealed dust and saw dust.  Granted, a lot of work has been done on my kitchen.  However none of the other cabinets are dirty or dusty.  Then a thought hit me.  "I wonder if Cabinetman just had these two cabinets in storage from another job . . . and just decided to put them on my wall to get rid of them."

I shudder to think that’s really the case.

Does anybody out there thinks that this may be normal?  Or that this looks alright?

This last weekend, my good buddy Matt and his wife Holly welcomed their third child into the world.  Everyone, say hello to Liam.

His stats put him at 7 pounds, 7 ounces.  And he’s 20 inches.

I can’t remember the last time I was at 20 inches.

Congratulations!