Bellyaching

The appliance guy is here, again. The refrigerator's fancy electric shelf never has worked. I don't know how the salesperson talked me into buying this junk heap--probably only because it sat flush in with the cabinets. The shelf was broken when it arrived but "they" didn't discover it (conveniently) until after it was installed. They've been back three or four times trying to fix the thing. At Thanksgiving, when I put all my wonderful fresh milk from the farm on the top shelf and tried to adjust it, showing it off to my brother--eeeeerrrrrggggghhhhh. Grinding noise. When I called the store, the guy knew exactly what it was. Well, if he knew exactly what it was, why wasn't it fixed last time? Today, he was packing up ready to leave and (I've learned) I go to test it--eeerrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhh. Lord have mercy. So, he's still in there working on the thing. "Aw, to be stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again."

Last week, another set of "appliance" guys came in to replace a grate on the AGA that was defective (don't know why it took two guys). They brought the wrong grate, par for the course--and if that weren't enough, they chipped the middle grate somehow. Lord have mercy. They too were walking out the door when I went to put the old grate back and saw the chip. Weren't even going to tell me. I'm on to these kitchen people, let me tell you.

Ok, enough bellyaching about the kitchen. I am loving my kitchen. I still curse the "kitchen idiots" at times when I see something blatantly wrong; but I know that will eventually pass when the newness of the space passes. The flow is there and it fully functions unlike the kitchen of old. It is gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I again enjoy decorating it, changing a little something every day to make it look fresh like I used to do in my old kitchen in Virginia. It's a joy to work in, if only I could bake! I'm working on it though. I'm going to get that down this year if it kills me.

Yesterday, I took all these pictures of various things I was doing--cleaning up my potted plants, making vanilla sugar and finally cleaning up the kitchen and setting out a new little scene on the island. Poof! Gone! My computer jammed right at the end of downloading them and I always delete the pics from my camera so it's fresh and ready for my next burst of shots; and I lost everything! I had even taken pictures of the boys for the New Year's cards! Grrrrrr. Finally got those two together and dressed only to lose them. About 11 p.m. last night, I had to regroup them and get some more. They didn't look as good--guess everyone was tired at that point. I'm hoping it's not a "new" iPhoto deal. That wouldn't be nice. I have never lost pictures in a download before. I'm still hoping I can recover them from somewhere. In the meantime, I retook some for your viewing pleasure. (Look at the flour jar in the middle and see the difference between bleached and unbleached flour. There was just a tad of the bleached in the bottom of the jar when I refilled it. Amazing.)

These are what I put out on the island. I found these darling little bird cages in NYC at the American Folk Art Museum. The little gnomes were purchased from my last trip to Alabama at the World Market. They were 70% off meaning they were barely $1 each. I love their little sweaters. I wish I knitted, these would be fun to make out of, say, a wooden thread spool.

The weather has warmed here quite a bit. I think it's supposed to be in the 70s today. I'm taking mom out to get her hair cut since it is warmer. I'm still afraid to take her to get her B12 shot. I haven't taken her since before Christmas. With all this sickness running amuck, I'm afraid to take her to the melting pot of germs known as the doctor's office. I am doubling up on her B vitamins hoping that will suffice. She seems fine. One of my biggest fears is her coming down with something and it turning into pneumonia. I pretty much quarantine everyone if they come down with something which has done the trick. Better hush up before I jinx it.

Ok, looks like the shelf is fixed for now. And the sun just peeked out from a cloud. Time to hit the road! See ya!