since you asked

Hey all you gawkers, supportive folks, and snarky commenters (I'm looking at you, Coleen), this one's for you:

Here's the state of the kitchen as of today's destructo session.

Ceiling down, pantries out, walls gone, two (of five!) layers of floor up. After having done this to approx. 14 rooms (some have been re-dos after 10+ years), we're pretty good at being in destruction mode.

Discoveries so far include:
1. Dangerous electrical work. Not a surprise. At all. Guntherisms galore!
2. What might have been an original exterior doorway. Big surprise. Could be fun.

3. I tend to turn into Tim Allen with the grunting and refer to myself as She-Ra after heaving large pieces of construction debris around.

You know what's the funnest part of all? We have Absolutely No Clue how we'll turn this room back into a kitchen once all the destruction is done. Many, many configuration options and extremely minimal actual needs. At this point, we have more questions than answers, but that's okay. A construction zone temporary set-up is still better than the crap kitchen we've been living with.

Ahh, nothing says winter 'round here like the delightful familiar feeling of 100-year-old plaster dust up your nose. :-)