Of Broken Thumbs and Kitchen Sinks

Several years ago, I used to play pick-up basketball on Saturdays with my friend, Jeremy. We won a lot more than we lost; in 2-on-2, the pick and roll, executed properly, is pretty much unstoppable. It helped a lot that Jeremy is a GREAT player. But I got hit funny one time and broke my left thumb. At first I thought, "it's my left. Thank goodness it's not my right hand, because that one I actually use." Over the next several weeks of wearing a brace (luckily, velcro and canvas, not plaster), I found out how foolish that initial assessment was. Turns out that you can't perform major life functions like putting on your clothes without a left thumb. The past two weeks of kitchen renovations have been similar. (If you haven't seen the changes to my kitchen, Ann has been photo-blogging the day-by-day progress here.) When we set up our makeshift kitchen of two cabinets, a dorm fridge, a microwave, and a coffeepot in the living room, I thought to myself "this'll work. All we're missing is the kitchen sink." Pause for a second and ask yourself how many times in an average day you use a kitchen sink. From the first half-inch of water each morning to take a pill to filling the dog bowl or the coffeepot (don't forget the times you use drain or the disposal) , it turns out we used that sink a LOT more than I thought. Between that and walking into the garage to use the full-size fridge (which currently is not hooked up to an icemaker), it's interesting, to say the least. Not to complain, though. We're thrilled with the progress and it looks like they'll be done well ahead of schedule (floors go in today, I think). But it sure will be nice to have my sink back!