I picked up Mother around 1:30 this afternoon. We drove up to Oklahoma and went to the brand new Red River Casino. The only ones that got lucky were the Casino owners. Isn't that always the case? Mom dropped about $35-40 and I dropped $30 in just one hour!! Mom also decided that she doesn't want to return. She definitely likes Las Vegas better. You don't win quarters on these machines, you just win credits which you can then print out on a piece of paper to be taken to the cashier's cage. As you all know, Mother has a difficult time seeing just exactly what is going on with the machine after the push of each bet and start button. I pretty much got on her nerves with a running litany of how many credits she had left after each push of the button. :)
At last, by 5:00pm today I have an oven and cooktop again! I couldn't cook anything right away, because I had to go to the grocery store and buy food. I decided on beef and cheese nachos. That way I could use both appliances in one evening. I haven't completely read my owners' manuals yet. I set the oven at 275 degrees and when it beeped I thought something was wrong, but the oven was just letting me know that it was preheated. As to what I'm going to bake next, I've been thinking along the lines of Tollhouse cookies or a chocolate sheet cake. Decisions, decisions
The cutout work has been done to the countertop for the cooktop. Both appliances await the arrival of the plumber who is supposed to show up this afternoon at 4:30 to do the hook-ups. I've been without an oven now for over a month and without the cooktop for over a week. I sorely miss cooking and I'm sure I will rejoice when my appliances become useable. I got off work this AM at 7:00. After getting a few hours sleep the wait won't seem like such a long time. Update to come....
Kevin (with my help, of course) managed to get the countertop set and anchored in place. He also added the necessary blocking for support of the wall oven. Oven is now in place with some minor blocking left to be put in and it still needs to be hooked up. When I went to open the box that held the cooktop to retrieve the template, I discovered they had shipped the incorrect size and model. Dam*, I was so disappointed. I was looking forward to at least having the cooktop in place and hooked up for use. Jeremy and I returned it to Sears. The salesman reordered it and said it wouldn't be in their warehouse for pickup until Friday. "Friday, you mean I have to go another five days before I can cook?", I asked the saleman. He certaintly was apologetic, but apologies don't feed the bulldog. The only good thing about that is I get another week of not having to do any cooking even if I was kind of looking forward to using our new appliances
...After sweeping the floor and hauling out all demolitioned parts it is time for lunch. We head to Taco Bell eat a quick lunch (although it is now at least 6:00pm) and return home. Kevin and Jeremy muscle the entire lower cabinet into the kitchen from the garage and set it in place. Another 2 hour project is about to take place. Kevin had to cut down a section of melamine for the partition between the lower cabinet and walloven that runs from the base of the cabinet to the ceiling. It then needed to be sanded, glued, and formicaed. The previous owners of the house had that section and the wall behind the cooktop wallpapered. They must have been bloomin' idiots to have put wallpaper there. Our day is now done as far as the cabinets are concerned. With any luck (if I'm not too tired) there will be another entry on how the rest of the install goes tomorrow. Tata....
We had a busy and productive day, although we did get a late start since Kevin had to work until noon. He had been awake since 5:30am and decided he needed to take a nap before starting work on the kitchen cabinets. In the mean time Jeremy and I watched one of the movies we had rented the night before titled, "Welcome To Collinwood." Finally, it is 2:30pm and we start ripping out the lower cabinets that hold the cooktop and walloven. With hammer in hand and a lot of determination I tackle the doors and all the front trim. Next step was to unhook the gas to the cooktop. What a fiasco that turned out to be. I had to call a plumber to get information on how to do this. We followed his instructions to the letter, but the gas could not be turned off. I finally called the plumber again and he came out to see if he could figure out what the problem could be. Turned out to be a faulty valve on the gas meter. While he was there he went ahead and unhooked the gas line to the cooktop, capped it off, and unhooked the walloven as well. Luckily there was a shutoff valve for the walloven. I bet he wasn't there for 30 minutes and charged us $65.00. Kevin took his 'Baby Huey' (that is what he calls his 5lb sledge hammer) and commenced to tearing out the countertop itself and then the floor to ceiling cabinet partition. All that is left is the base and dividers. Another problem insues. A copper tubing that runs from the icemaker through the wall in the garage also runs through the entire lower cabinets. Time to get out the Dewalt cutout tool and cut the corners of all the dividers in the lower cabinets. Afterwards the base came up with a little persuasion with a prybar....
I talked myself into a break from doing cabinets this morning and went to play bingo. That is something I rarely get to do anymore. There were several games that I was set with one number for a bingo, but no such luck. I think it is their way of trying to hook me back in on a regular basis. Who knows? I just might go back on Friday.
The next section of cabinets that holds the cooktop and walloven in place is almost ready for install. Kevin put all the front trim (with the exception of the walloven section) in place this evening. All I have to do is wood putty the holes, sand it down, and stain it. The base section of the cabinets is nearly six and a half feet long. I'm quite sure that it already weighs over 200 lbs. We will have to wait till Jeremy comes over this weekend to install that section. I just don't think I have the muscle or will power to lift my end of all that weight.
I received my first IM from Bryan last night while online....DUH! We had a really nice long type to type chat. Bryan told me he was going to contact Stepan about getting a blog in KarlHub Home. At this time I still don't even know if he has e-mailed Stepan. Jenny, you could probably help me out with this one. There is a high probablility that Bryan did e-mail Stepan, but Stepan not knowing Bryan or his e-mail address possibly deleted it.
Finally...Sunday, the first day of my vacation has arrived. I didn't think (because I had to work Fri. and Sat.) this day would ever arrive. I also had plenty of good intentions with what I would do on my first day, but they flew out the window pretty quickly. Although Kevin and I did manage to get the first of several sections of cabinets installed today. When I look at the new cabinet and then the rest of the kitchen, I think we still have a long way to go. I really dread the period of time it will take to finish building and installing the cabinets surrounding the cooktop and walloven. There is one good thing about it....I won't have to do any cooking at all until that section is completed and the new appliances installed. If I could just get my darn digital camera to upload pictures to the computer, I could show all step by step the before and after progress of the kitchen. One thing I'm going to do for sure this week and take my computer to the shop to get it debugged. Hopefully, it isn't anything serious and won't cost an arm and a leg to remedy my problems.