Home Improvement?

So the renovation of the house continues in earnest.  It doesn't just stop with redoing Grandmother's bedroom and spackling a new coat of paint over everything; My Father finally got around to doing something he had planned on for over a year and finally removed the kitchen cabinets, the kitchen counter, the sink and the stove last weekend.  What I didn't know was that he would also replace the cabinets, the counter and the sink in the upstairs bathroom, aka my bathroom, as well.

I knew this not because he told me.  No, we don't do the communication thing in this family.  Instead, I was woken up to the sound of unfamiliar voices speaking in unfamiliar tongues outside of my bedroom door, followed by loud banging and, soon, electric saws.  And that's when I came out -- after about, oh, an hour -- to see the kitchen practically laid bare.  If I'm correct, they then went into my bathroom last Sunday and ripped the shit out of that, too.

They started installing some of the new counters last weekend.  The new stove was also put in last Sunday (I think), and the new bathroom counter and sink was put in yesterday.  Unfortunately, they are not done yet.  There is stone to be tiled up around the kitchen still, I guess, and the faucet in the bathroom is not hooked up yet.  Moreover, Father decided to take out the bathroom mirror either Saturday or Friday.

This transition has been a little rough.  Without the kitchen faucet, we cannot clean the dishes the way we used to.  Mother has resorted to using the basin in the laundry room to clean up after dinner, and we all use the fucking bathtub to wash our hands when we're ready to eat.  Without the sink in the bedroom, I have been forced to also use the tub to brush my teeth -- but only sometimes; I find it to be so, uh, primitive that I will go downstairs and use the master bathroom sink to brush my teeth (but again, only sometimes; don't tell my folks, but I don't brush every day!).

The day they took out the bathroom sink (last Saturday?) they turned off the water as well, so I had to go downstairs that night to shower.  Man, what an experience.  A shower stall in and of itself is small.  Moreover, the linoleum tile was either warped or installed (by Father) incorrectly; it bows out, cutting the scarce square footage for me to shower even further.  The lip of the shower was very, very small, and I'm sure water hitting the floor bounced out of the shower stall.  Finally, for some fucking reason the curtain did not stretch from wall to wall.  There was enough of a gap that I had to decide which end I would leave open.  (I finally decided on the end opposite the shower head, to minimize any water coming out through the side.)  Thankfully I only had to do that for one night; Father reconnected the lines the next day.

And that's my main issue with this.  Could the kitchen and bathroom use a new look?  I guess.  I'll be honest: Two of the stove coils weren't working, the kitchen cabinets were well-worn and beat up after a botched polishing job, and the bathroom cabinet was pretty fucking old.  But I could still use them.  Were they rotting and getting eaten up by termites?  No.  See, that's when I would replace those cabinets.  (And by the way, I wouldn't've replaced the stove because I don't cook.)  Don't get me wrong -- what have been installed, some dark apple-wood color ... stuff looks great.  Was it necessary?  It may be the laziness talking, but no.

So why are my parents (actually My Father; I don't know the role Mother has in all of this mess) renovating the kitchen and upstairs bathroom when they really should work on their bathroom, the downstairs bathroom?  The shower could use a major overhaul, if not a complete teardown.  And did I mention that their sink, the one I prefer to use when I brush my teeth, has a handle that spins a complete 360?  I did it once while brushing and I was afraid I made the sink spit out scalding hot water permanently.  (They could take out the toilet too; it has a knack for leaking water.)  It sucks, man.  Plus, why not give themselves a better bathroom?  Forget about me!  But I don't know if gutting the master bath is part of their plans.

I can't wait for this to be over.  Father took out my mirror as well, so I have no idea how I look naked.  One thing has changed: The counter is taller now, which means I can't lift up and rest my foot on the edge of it when I need to trim my toenails.  I was overdue for a trim (toes and fingers), but I had to do it, yes, in the tub.  The light (and that hasn't been taken out yet, though it is as old as the mirror [and I forgot to mention the medicine cabinet that goes with that mirror] and looks very out of place with the modern cabinetry) is behind my back, so I was casting a shadow on the toes that I needed to clip.  I'm pretty sure I did a shitty job.

Oh, I pine for the day I can brush my teeth and clean my cups upstairs!  No living like my parents probably did when they were young kids in China and Vietnam.