THE KITCHEN CABINETS ARE HERE!!!

Yes, this title merits all caps. The kitchen cabinets are here! They've arrived at the warehouse -- 56 boxes in all -- and they are awaiting delivery at our house. I had to scramble to get final payment to them, as they would only accept a check or a wire transfer. The latter proved to be too complicated to do, so I gave a check to one of my friends at work, and he kindly dropped it off on his way home to the city. Turns out he lives a few blocks from the store, so it was quite a stroke of luck! (Plus, I saved the wire transfer fee -- a savings which might be enough to buy me a silverware organizer for one of the drawers!)

Now the trick is going to be to get them installed. We have to wait until they finish installing the hardwood floors, which they started on today. Based on how far they've gotten, they should be done by Tuesday, I think. So I'll schedule the cabinets for arrival on Wednesday. The hardwood guys will cover up the hardwood with paper so that they won't be exposed to light (since the wood is light sensitive). And then all the cabinet boxes can go in the great room while they're waiting to be installed. (At this point, I think we've built the world's biggest store room!)

The installer is quite busy, as the cabinet arrival dates are about as predictable as airline arrival times these days. He's really the only installer for these particular cabinets, as near as I can tell. Because they're modular and put together with a gazillion pieces, you really want to use an installer who has installed the cabinets before. But he has been very accommodating and is going to try to fit us in around other jobs so that we don't wait another three weeks for the install. The cabinets have to be installed before we can get the kitchen counters fabricated, so it's really important we don't incur any additional delays on the cabinets.