Good morning! Sorry I've been missing again, there's lots of drama going on here with my kitchen a.k.a. craft room renovation.
Do you mind if I tell my story and maybe vent a little bit? I'll tell you more about my card under the picture so if you'd like to skip to that part now's the time.
Way back in March of last year I had a water pipe break under my kitchen floor. So many things were happening at once then, my Dad was living with me so I could care for him because he had prostrate cancer. Four days before he died I came out to the kitchen and discovered two inches of water all over the floor. We needed a plumber a.s.a.p. and ended up with a hole in my kitchen floor big enough to put a body in (sorry). I had that hole in the concrete of the kitchen floor for about a month as the plumbers rerouted the water pipes. Friends would drop by and I'd have to tell them to be careful not to fall in. One Sunday afternoon I started doing laundry and water shot out of my kitchen wall... It seemed like the grieving process wasn't enough, I had all this going on too.
As things settled a little and I filed the homeowners insurance claim it seemed like life would get back to the everyday ordinary stuff and I was relieved. The homeowners insurance covered a lot of the damage that the broken pipe had caused. My existing bottom kitchen cabinets were really water logged and I was pleased to discover I could get new ones.
I started looking for a company that could replace my bottom cabinets and match what I already had for the top cabinets. I had a few contractors come out and look and measure, they wanted to sell me everything new and basically didn't listen to what I wanted.
I found a contractor that used to work for the company that had built my existing cabinets and he said he could build the new parts to match. So I hired him with his promise to have my new cabinets installed by the end of May 2008.
You guessed it. I still don't have completed cabinets in my kitchen today, January 2009. It's been a nightmare getting this job done. I live 45 minutes away from the contractor's business so I can't stop by when I'm in the neighborhood because I'm not in the neighborhood very often. I've been on the phone a lot the last 8 months, I've gotten a lot of conflicting stories and not a lot of work done. I've even involved The Registrar of Contractors and filed a claim with them and asked for a citation against his contractors liscense. We will end up in Yuma, Arizona for a hearing at some point. Yuma is 2 hours away from me, but it's also 2 hours and 45 minutes away from my contractor when that day comes.
On December 30, 2008 I filed a lawsuit in civil court against this contractor. I paid a process server to drive the 45 minutes to serve the papers. I'm very pleased with him, he served the papers on New Year's Day.
I got a phone call Tuesday from the contractor's wife (they run the business together). I informed her that I'd hired a new contractor to finish the job in my kitchen. She asked what they could do that would make me happy. So I gave her a list of things that need to be finished and I'd call it even. I forgot to mention that I gave them half of the money for the job as a deposit.
In October of 2008 they did install the shell of my cabinets. No doors or drawer fronts, no roll outs, no lazy susan, a couple of shelves, etc. so I don't feel like I have half of the job done. It's more of a facade that you can't move into.
We talked it all over and she needed to talk to her husband and would call me back later in the day.
Her husband, my contractor called back later in the day and told me my job was finished and that his wife had told him that I'd hired another contractor. He next told me that he didn't have the doors or drawer fronts for my cabinets yet. He wanted to work things out with me and if I'd like to work this out I'd have to back out of my deal with the new contractor or he'd see me in court. I told him that was fine, I'd see him in court and got off the phone.
I'd pretty much closed the deal in my mind that day. New contractor finishes cabinets, proceed in court case with old contractor and try to get back part of my money. End of story, get on with my life.
Yesterday I got a phone call from the new contractor I hired to finish the job. He was in Lake Havasu at a business that's next to my former contractor's business. My former contractor comes into where the new guy is and confronts him about his job with me. Mind you, I
did not tell the former contractor who I'd hired to finish the job. The former contractor threw out threats to take the new guy to court. DRAMA! The new contractor did find out some valuable information though. As I suspected the former contractor can't afford to finish the job, they've already spent my money.
So, that's where I've been the last several days. I haven't felt like I've had much to say that was positive.
Thank you for listening, I'm done.
I made this card for my boyfriend to send one of his customers. Rick works for a local pest control company and is fondly known as "the bug man".
I used Lee Bee by Alota Rubberstamps, along with a thank you from Verve Visual and the Montana Tree Bark background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms, a little velvet rick rack ribbon from Clear Dollar Stamps and 3 eyelets.
The card stock is basic black, SU YoYo Yellow, White and Kraft, for the other cards I switched to Creamy Carmel because it matched my ink better on the sign.
I've been playing with some cute images from Whipper Snapper this morning, I need to make a card out of what I've colored now.
I hope you have a wonderful day! Please say a prayer for mine~
I also used a new Verve Visual set I got in a bundle recently, the X's and O's are from Custer's Last Stamp. The rectangles are Spellbinders Nestabilities and the die cut hearts are a retired Sizzix die that has 4 hearts on it. 
I thought it would be fun to make the gable box again, this paper is called Love Notes by Making Memories. Again the Sizzix heart die and the stamp is from Hero Arts. 
