Contractor Joe has been paid a hefty deposit, and now he says the digging might start at the end of next week. This is great. Let’s get the show on the road, we say.

Of course, we didn’t realize that the digging would require the tearing off of this little mudroomish structure we have off our kitchen. We thought our new and potentially kick-ass family room would be completely constructed before they made any holes in the current house.

Plus, the mudroom currently contains our refrigerator. This odd placement is just one example of many “charming quirks” of our home. Another is our antiquated electrical service, which makes it almost certain that moving the refrige to another location would permanently blow a fuse, or break the circuits, or whatever.

We're not do-it-yourselfers, obviously, so that's a plus.