Is it Safe to Come Out?

After last week, I'm almost afraid to peek my head out from underneath the covers. I'm happy it's behind me. It's not the same here without Roo following my every step, her happy wag of the tail and just general being here. We had her for twelve years, and it's going to take a while getting used to a house without her. The cats are trying their best to fill her shoes though. Dave is feeling much better this morning and is actually scrapping with Bella. Bella is attacking poor Abby who screams bloody murder each time she does. I'm hoping to get some normalcy back into this haphazard place we call home. Thanks to my friends who helped me collect acorns last weekend by Mobile Bay. This is my fall decor this year, I'm afraid. It does bring a smile to my face though with memories of a wonderful weekend with special friends.

{WARNING: Rant ON}When I found barely any work having been done {in the kitchen} in my eleven-day absence, I just about blew a gasket. Well, actually I did. Maybe even two. As the hub says, "I ripped them a new one," if you get my drift. The entire kitchen could have been finished in that time. Truthfully. And it was supposed to have been. I had been promised the tiling of the back splash would begin that Friday and finished the following Monday. Therefore, I Fedx'd (as in almost $40 to overnight) the switch plates for the light switches. Do you think it was done? Don't think I have to answer that question for ya. Was anything done? Well, one thing. All of my cabinet doors are inset, meaning they are flush with the cabinets. I then ordered panels for all of my appliances so they looked like part of the cabinets. Do you think they were flush? Nope. So, the entire wall of cabinets where the refrigerator is had to be pulled out. Yep. Pulled out. They tried to tell me it was supposed to look like that. The appliance folks told them otherwise. It seems the entire project is three steps forward, ten steps back. My blood pressure goes up just talking about it. Today, they have to come out and move the island because it is not centered with the stove. OMG. They tried to tell me IT was right also because they used the measurements from the ALMIGHTY BOOK. OMG. Do I have IDIOT written on my forehead??? I don't care what the flipping book says, open your eyes and take a look. Do they not eye the stuff also? Guess not. C'mon. Another gasket lost on stupidity. Friday, I had to call them twice to make sure they were coming out. They had promised everything would be finished on Friday. I had to call them TWICE. OMG. They finally arrived and finally connected the dishwasher and ice maker. Do you think they worked? Forgot to take the plug out of the dishwasher drain so my first load never drained, just sat in the muck and dingy water sat in the tub all weekend. Loverly. The ice maker was on all weekend and never produced a cube of ice. It has almost become comical. That is, if I weren't living through it. I threw my hands up on Friday and just began putting things away. Finished or not. Over it. When I put my mixing bowls away, the door wouldn't close. Yep. They are not deep enough (with the inset doors) to fit my mixing bowls. An 11 inch plate? Nope, they don't fit either. When I called the woman, she said "well your plates are too big." Hehe. I could have reached through the phone for her throat. These are plates from Pfaltzgraff. Normal dinner plates that I have had for over 17 years. Tried another set that I had bought from Target several years ago. Again, pretty standard plates. No go. OMG! I then gave her a lesson in kitchen remodeling. 1. If you suggest to a customer they get inset doors, explain to them that normal things like mixing bowls and plates do NOT fit in a 12-inch cabinet because the door takes 3/4 inches of the depth of the cabinets. 2. If a customer orders inset doors and order panels for their appliances, adjustments need to be made, either by the manufacturer of the cabinets or by the designer, that compensates for the panels and makes them flush with the rest of the cabinets. (At this point, the guys have to finagle the wires behind the dishwasher and ice maker in order to push them back to the wall so the doors are flush. What a waste of time.) You can see the dishwasher drawer panels are not flush at this point in the picture above. (They're supposed to look like that--NOT!) They better well be by the end of the day.

I haven't mentioned the countertops, have I? They were installed the day before I left for Riverside. After coming home and ordering a pizza, I noticed the oil was actually staining the Silestone. Yes, Silestone. The substance that has no upkeep whatsoever. I wanted marble or soapstone but the woman talked me out of it--too much upkeep. OMG! Are you kidding me? So the countertop people came back and rubbed and rubbed, brought out the special cleaner I had never heard of--nothing. Then brought out the bottle of alcohol. After really rubbing it, some of the fingerprints came out. Then he wanted to seal it. Seal Silestone? Wha??? He did. He left. The fingerprints are back. I'll be damned if I'm going to walk around with two bottles of cleaner and scrub each finger print that shows up. The manufacturer just happens to be coming in from Italy this week. He's going to bring him by. The kitchen people want to tear it out and start over. OMG. I'm beside myself. Remember Billy Crystal's character on Saturday Night Live, Fernando? "It's not how you feel, darling, it's how you look. And you look marvelous." I guess that's my kitchen. Functional? No. But it will look marvelous. Just shoot me now.

PS I just received a phone call from the appliance folks. The refrigerator that was installed a month ago--yes a whole month--that had a broken shelf has yet to be fixed. They were scheduled to come by this morning (second trip because they didn't have the right parts last time they ordered them) and fix the shelving unit, again. They looked at the parts this morning and figured out they still don't have the right parts. OMG. If I hadn't already shot myself, I would have to do it again. OMG. Pass the Advil, please.{Rant off.}

I kicked myself this morning and am pushing myself to get back into the swing of things. Halloween is a couple of days away. This is my all-time favorite time of year. I need to enjoy it. I am trying to keep a happy face, but last week was just one of those weeks.

Congrats to my Pammy who is a big Red Sox fan. Wooohooo. What a game last night. I stayed up to see if the Rockies could pull out, but it wasn't to be. I was rooting for the Red Sox, but it would have been fun to watch a couple more games. Bet there's some hangovers this morning up Boston way, ya think? How fun for them. Did you see all the players wearing goggles in the locker room when the champagne was flying. How funny is that! I guess it would burn the eyes. Think I'd rather drink the stuff, myself. Pass the bottle please. Please?