Kitchen

Ship To Store (Act 1: The Beginning of the End)

early February…

When it came time to buy the microwave for the remodeled kitchen, Amazon had it available for $130 with free shipping, but Wal-Mart online had it for $100. If I had the microwave shipped to me it would have cost $15 and then I would have to worry about the UPS man leaving the package on the doorstep at home or having it come to work and then toting it home. I could save that shipping cost by having it delivered to the Wal-Mart just down the street and get it at my convenience.

When the microwave got to the store I received an email letting me know I could pick it up. So after dinner one night Donna and I made the short trip. When I walked in I was unsure exactly where to go to pick it up, so I started at the Service Desk. Of course I was first in line, but both CSRs were helping people. They were already helping them when I walked up and they were still helping them after 3 or 4 minutes. Finally the one closest to me has to page a supervisor, so when she puts down the phone to wait for a response, I butt in, “Excuse me. I’m here to pick up an internet order. Is this where I should be?” “No,” she says, “It is in the back of the store.”

As we walk to the back of the store we see the giant lettering on the back wall “e-Store” or something like that. There is a big alcove back there that looks like it used to be used for Layaway. Unfortunately it also looks like it used to be used for the “e-Store” as well, as it is vacant. Attached to one of the cash registers is an 8-1/2 x 11″ sheet of paper with the phrase “Pick Up Internet Orders In Electronics” hand lettered on it.

When we get to Electronics there is no one manning the desk, so we hover for a minute or so when we notice a lady just standing there. Eye contact is made and she offers up, “He’s in the back checking on something for me.” After a minute or so the store employee shows back up and when his short conversation with the women is over, turns to us and asks how he can help. We’re here to pick up an internet order.

“What’s the order number?” I hand him the email. “I don’t see the order number on here. What’s your phone number?” I give him our home phone number. “I still don’t see anything.” I volunteer my work phone, still nothing. “What’s your last name?” I spell it for him. “Email address?” I’m not sure if he found anything or not, because he asks what size box is he looking for. I say, “Small microwave,” and off he goes.

We wait for his return. We wait. And we wait. Finally after about 5 minutes (which seems like 15) he comes back with our box.

Liquid Plumber

We had breakfast at Fatz. The restaurant itself doesn’t do breakfast, but they do allow worthy causes to use the building, with their guidance, to raise money by holding pancake breakfasts. A coworker’s church was raising fund’s for missionary work, so we bought a couple tickets.

Afterwards we did our weekly grocery shopping. As Donna put away our purchases, I went to start painting the computer room, but I didn’t have a paint tray… I had tossed it out after the gray wall paint because I was going to buy a new larger one to match the larger liners I had accidentally bought and never did. Donna said while you are out, you might as well get some milk too because we forgot to get that on this morning’s shopping.

When I got home she greeted me at the door and said, “The kitchen sink isn’t draining.” We spent the next 15 minutes looking for the plunger we just knew we had. After checking everyplace we could think of, I was preparing to go to the store for the third time this morning, when Donna found it in an unexpected place in the garage.

After five minutes of upper body workout with the plunger with no success I got a bucket and loosened the waste line from the garbage disposal. It, along with the trap, were full of water, but no clog. I tried using my little barbed snake thing, but it only went in the line into the wall a little way before running into the 90 degree bend and stopping ineffectively. I then knew I was going to the store for the third time. Needed some Liquid Plumr. Put the waste line back together and grabbed the car keys.

I poured half a bottle of pungent viscous goo down the drain. Waited 15 minutes and the water level hadn’t moved down. So the other half of the bottle went in and another 15 minutes later, same results. Time to call in the other kind of liquid plumber (the human body being approximately 70% water.)

We first called our usual plumber and their on the phone estimate scared us off. Plumber #2 was an answering machine and plumber #3 spent 3 minutes explaining to me how expensive it would be for him to come out on a weekend. We bit the bullet, called plumber #1 and said come on out.

He spent the first hour on the roof running his mini-snake down the kitchen vent to no avail. Then he crawled under the house to see if there was a solution down there. And when I say crawl, I mean crawl. When you first go under our house there is about 4 feet of room from the dirt to the floor joists, but it shrinks quickly. By the time you get to the kitchen is is about a foot and a half and there is all that HVAC dust work to squeeze over or under to get there. The only option left was digging a hole. The kitchen drain is a separate line that goes out from the house and then it drops down and joins the main line, this is here the problem was. After 55 years this junction had become totally plugged. I guess because of the distance from the sink and the size of the pipe it could hold quite a bit of water so that we didn’t notice that gunk was building up and narrowing the opening.

It did cost us a chunk of change to have him come out, but we got our money’s worth. He spent almost 4 solid hours working on this fix and it was raining on him the whole time.

Kitchen Before & After Photos

From February 2nd:
Here is our soon to be remodeled kitchen. The cabinets are original to the house. As is the yellow tile counter top and back splash. The floor is currently covered in dark blue commercial grade carpet and there is at least 2 layers of vinyl under that, who knows what is further down. Currently the dishwasher is the old fashioned manual kind.

If all goes according to plan in about a dozen days this will be an empty room, maybe even just a skeleton. D-Day is February 11th.

Here is our newly remodeled kitchen. The cabinets are Shenandoah Breckenridge in Maple Spice. The counter top is Caledonia granite and the back splash is 3 x 6 white tiles in a subway pattern. The floor is 12 x 12 light gray tile laid in a staggered pattern. The dish­washer is a GE Top Control Dishwasher with Steam Cleaning.

If all goes accord­ing to plan we will never remodel another kitchen.

This morning I washed off the Miata car cover to get it clean in the hopes I can sell it for a few bucks. I placed it on top of the Emperor to spray it off then left it on to dry. This afternoon I removed the cover and washed the car underneath. Then I washed rinsed off the Sonata too.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1219

Dish Washer Tries To Escape – Officially Done

Dish Washer Tries To Escape

Earlier this week we agreed, after some bantering back and forth, to a figure for the contractor’s overages. He was to come over this evening to settle up and take some pictures for his business’s facebook page. On Wednesday he emailed to ask if he could do it on Thursday which was fine by us because Wednesday night while emptying the dishwasher, it tried to escape from under the counter top. We wanted it re-restrained.

Contractor guy decided that instead of using the screwed in bracket the counter top installers had mounted to the cabinets it would be nicer to attach a piece of the cabinet trim with construction adhesive to the counter top and screw the dishwasher mounting tabs to it. We agreed because it would look nicer. The adhesive held for 2 weeks.

Contractor guy arrived on Thursday carrying a small tool bag and an idea on how to fix the problem. He would drill at angle through the wood trim piece into the cabinet and use a couple of long wood screws to hold it in place. He drilled one hole and then realized he needed an extension for the drill to get a screwdriver bit in there to tighten the screw. He asked if I had one one and could he borrow it. I went out in the garage and brought it back to him.

Halfway thru screwing in the first screw the battery in his screw driver wound down. “Do you have a driver I could borrow?” Back to the garage for that too. He drills the second hole and then starts rooting around in his bag. “Do you have a longer wood screw than this?” I turn to head to the garage for a third time when he says, “Never mind, found one.” He tests the sturdiness of his work and hands me back my stuff.

Contractor guy takes several pictures with his phone, asks if we are happy with the kitchen (yes we are) and we settle up. He drives off and I go get the vacuum cleaner to suck up all the wood shavings from his drilling. If you just look at the dishwasher standing in the kitchen it looks fine. But if you open the dishwasher door and look up at the workmanship just finished, it looks kind of sloppy.

And that is pretty much a microcosm of the entire kitchen remodel project. No real planning of the project beforehand, borrow the homeowner’s tools, do some satisfactory work, get paid and leave the clean up to someone else.

White Paint

White Paint

Last night the ceiling and tonight the door/window trim got one coat of white paint. For the ceiling that might be all it takes, but the trim is going to need at least one more coat, probably two.

The transition from yellow wall to white ceiling looks dirty, cabinet crown molding to ceiling it looks fine. I’m pretty sure it is just shadow, but Donna is not happy, so we are exploring options. First thought is to paint a 1″ section of the ceiling with the same yellow as the wall. If that looks weird we will go with an idea from cabinet guy, paint the ceiling a lighter shade of the wall color.

We have a busy day tomorrow, but I hope to finish the painting on Sunday, even if it means one coat in the morning and a second coat that night.

Disappearing Dumpster

No Dumpster

For the first time in 61 days the Emperor could park in his Throne Room. It was supposed to be gone last Friday, and then it was supposed to be yesterday, so quite frankly we were surprised to find it actually gone when we pulled into the driveway after work today. Even though pine pollen season isn’t exactly over, the Miata got a washing before being driven into the garage.

We have been driving the Miata for the last couple weeks, so the Sonata has been just parked under the awning gathering a layer of pine pollen. To keep both siblings happy, I was going to wash the Purple Whale too, but dinner was nearly ready, so Donna insisted that I put the wash bucket away and after eating we’d run the Sonata through Lu Lu’s, a local car wash. It felt like cheating and it cost $10, but man that was easy.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1215

A Yellower Shade of Bright

Yellow

Painted the visible sections of the kitchen walls yellow today. It is definitely a bit brighter than the yellow we had. It is almost the same as the old tile. Took two coats and even with the fancy Valspar paint + primer stuff I think I need a third coat to cover the 3″ of blue color along the ceiling that was hidden by the old border. Tomorrow I’ll do the ceiling, then Tuesday and Wednesday I will paint the trim around window and doors a gloss white.

If you count the bagels bought there last Tuesday and consumed at work on Wednesday (and I do) we have eaten Dunkin Donuts every morning since last Sunday. Tomorrow the streak ends. Maybe…

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1213