Kitchen. Done:

Sheesh oh MAN it's taken a while!

When we moved in, the dishwasher and the stove/oven weren't installed. The main crux of the problem was lack of electricity running to most of the kitchen outlets (and some outside of the kitchen).

(here would be pictures to help tell the story, but noooo . . . Boo on Blogger!)

'Member the other night we had an electrician and a flooring guy here? The guys that stayed until 11:FREAK'N30 pm? Well, between the two of them, they thought if they cut out a hole on the dining room side of the wall, behind the stove cubbyhole on the kitchen side, they could fix the problem from that way.

Not so much.

They did do something right though, since electricity magically appeared some how some way about an hour after The Cutting Of The Hole.

Electricity? Check.

The next thing we needed was time to move and install the items still missing. For some reason, Mike would rather spend his weekend hanging with his boys and me and I would rather spend mine hanging with Sheila and him.

Ergo, nothing in the way of progress this last weekend.

Today was a whole 'nother story though.

Mike took off one electrical plug and installed another on the dishwasher and we were up and running on that applicance.

Then I helped him muscle in the stove/oven from the garage and he got that all hooked up. It was actually fun to help him do what he does for a living. I helped hold different sides of the oven up so he could adjust the legs accordingly, and at one point he said "I smell gas". Not only did I not smell it myself, I had NO CLUE what to do at that point (besides flick my bic, lol). He wanted a squirt bottle with some soap and water in in but the only squirt bottle we possess is one with 100% water and used as a non-harmful pet deterrent. No way was I going to put soap in that thing! He figured out that Windex would do the trick too. You squirt the gas line at the joins (joints?) and if you see bubbles (not the bubbles the Windex or soapy water makes, but different ones - you'll know when you see them) then there is a leak. A few squirts later and *I* saw the bubbles. Yay me, HA.

That left the last major appliance to be dealt with. The 'fridge.

This is our 'fridge that has travelled to a few homes on the central coast, to Porterville and back again this last time. It's always worked Aces and we love it. When we cleaned it out and moved it to its spot last Saturday we got a rude surprise. It was only chilling the bottom quarter of each side (fridge/freezer, double doors, whatever that's called). That meant that anything we put in there could only go on the bottom shelves/spaces.

We put up with this for a week, because we were afraid to hear a diagnosis from a professional.

Putting up with it meant eating out most meals. Now I am a firm believer that "a person" can eat on the cheap away from home, and eat pretty good. Both Quizno's and Subway have good deals and I love both of them. Back when I was single I ate out almost every meal and hardly spent any money.

Mike though. Mike eats like an elephant with an extra stomach. And a hollow leg. No lie. A trip to Taco Bell can cost over $20 for him. Alone. Extra this and extra that and double meat blahblahblah. Anything more pricey than Taco Bell, you get the picture.

This last week has been a financial doozy in the eating department. Finally, we had to decide to spend the money on a fridge repair/replacement or just eating out all the galldarn time.

This morning I Goozoogled "Appliance Repair San Luis Obispo" and called the first listing.

I cannot sing the praises of The Best Appliance Guy enough.

He came, he looked, he poked and prodded and he fixed our problem lickety-split. All that was wrong was the little motorized fan that circulates The Cold was not working. Once he pinpointed the problem, he said he couldn't in all good conscious try and sell us on a replacement one because ours actually works really well. He thinks that the sitting unplugged for three weeks made something stick and the motor is so low horsepower and it can't kick itself into spinning (you know - something like that).

He is charging us the $60 service call fee which is absolutely fair. Thing is though? He wants to come back in a day or so just to make sure it really is working, before we pay him for his diagnosis.

Oh, and you know what else he did, just because? He checked out our other appliances and gave us pointers on them. Seriously. For nothing. Just because he's that kind of guy.

Now THAT is some customer service.

You live on the Central Coast and need some appliance repair? Please call Todd first.

Tonight, or *first* meal at home was . . .

DRUMROLL PLEASE . . .









A "take and bake" pizza from Von's.

Tomorrow is the real deal! On the menu is Chicken & Dumplings.

After all the hulabaloo of today's activities (bear in mind I also put my kitchen in order, did three dishwasher loads and four laundry loads during all this) I'm freak'n DONE. Tonight I'm going to drink some wine, paint my toes and knit some more rug.

I'll be grinning ear-to-ear every time I go into my kitchen though!