Sleep On It

Tuesday morning, 4:00 AM ....seemingly deep in sleep, then suddenly eyes wide open. Awake! My brain had something to tell me.

"There is a problem with the kitchen cabinets. The drawers in the new cabinets can't open past the pulls on the drawers of the cabinets that are at 90 degree angles to them. "

"How can that be? We measured everything."

"Yes, but you made a change. The carpenters gave you the measurements for the frame around the cabinets but that measurement was for doors that are recessed into the frame. You decided to have the door and drawer fronts on the front of the frame like cabinets are made in the USA. Now there isn't enough room for them to clear the knobs on the drawers and doors of the cabinets at a 90 degree angle to them when you try to open them."

"Yes, Brain, I think you are right. We didn't increase the size of the frame when we made that change. What can we do?"

"Well, I've been processing some possible solutions........"

Sleep was over but I resisted the urge to punch Ned and tell him, "We gotta problem." At 6:30 I got out of bed to check the drawings and write in my journal.

Why? Why does my brain work like this in the middle of the night. This isn't something new for me. I've always problem solved during sleep. Sometimes problem solve problems that I haven't articulated.

As soon as we could Tuesday morning we went to the carpenters with la arquitecta. Sure enough the problem was exactly as my brain told me. We spent the morning figuring out some solutions in addition to the ones that my brain had suggested. One of the solutions that cost the least amount of money and time hinged on being able to find pulls with a short profile. With La arquitecta we headed up from Prolongacion Pila Seca to Aldama to a store where I had seen some pulls that I liked. Those would not work. So back to the carpenters. La Arquitecta had another appointment and she had to leave.

The carpenter offered to go back with us to the house to measure for the changes we were going to make to be sure that they would not make the stove off center under the "hood." Good the changes will be okay, at least the measurements will work if we can find the right pulls.

From the house, we walked back to Ancha de San Antonio to go to Don Pedro. Don Pedro had some pulls that we thought would work. We wanted to buy a couple to take back to the carpenter to try but Don Pedro told us that we could take them and when we came back to buy the rest we could pay for them. This wouldn't happen at a Home Depot.

By this time it is 2:30. We're hungry. We stopped at Juancho's on Orizaba for comida before we head back to the carpenter. Cream of mushroom soup, beef with poblanos, tomatoes, potatoes and carrots, salad, rice, beans and flan.....35 pesos.

At the carpenters, we try the new pulls, along with the changes we made to the cabinets. By this time it is 3:30, I'm really tired but it is going to be okay thanks to my night-time brain.