Today we went back to the kitchen we've been slowly finishing to replace the two cabinets that arrived damaged with the two replacements that had finally come in. Once those were in place we could complete the final trim work around the tops of the cabinets. But of course, nothing really went by-the-book perfect. I suppose it already hadn't since these were replacement cabinets. It is probably a good idea to always allow for extra time, to plan on being flexible. Etched in stone is breakable - ask Moses.

Anyway, one of the cabinets that needed replaced was the corner cabinet. It had been the first one installed, even though it was damaged because the other cabinets' positions depended on this cabinet being hung first. So hanging it originally hadn't been a problem. Removing it, however, was a problem.

The molding around kitchen window was preventing the cabinet from sliding out. Initially, no solution came to my mind because I am not used to solving these puzzles. I like puzzles, but I am still way behind the learning curve here. I asked what they were going to do.

"Take the molding off around the window," Stan replied.
"Really?" I asked, incredulous.
"It's either that or take down this other cabinet beside it."

Removing the other cabinet seemed like a more plausible solution since I had seen that done before. I could imagine all the steps necessary to do that. But Stan was confident removing the molding was better.

I'm not surprised that he was right, since he's been doing this for a long time. He's familiar with the tools, the recurrent problems, the creative solutions. As a novice, I couldn't imagine it because I had never seen it before. Molding seemed kind of permanent to me.

Sure enough, in a few quick maneuvers the molding was off, the old cabinet down, the new one up and the molding not only restored, but neater looking because of the new caulk.

So here are my questions. (I have found that questions are really better than answers.)
Have you ever encountered a predicament where you couldn't even imagine a solution, and then someone showed a solution that was available all along that you weren't aware of?
Are you in one of those situations now?
What is it that seems permanent that perhaps isn't?
Is it possible that you already have the tools and you just haven't applied them in the right way?

For example, just now I finally learned how to make the spell check run on blogger. I had some protective software blocking it as a pop-up. I'm sure some of you will be relieved. You'd think as a former English teacher, I'd be a better speller. There are so many words though. Like pylon and pile. Doesn't it make sense to call that long piece of timber a pyle since it can also be called a pylon? But no, I was wrong. I'm getting more comfortable with that, being wrong. It's a little freeing. Perfect is too difficult to maintain.