so did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving?

We sure did! All 21 of us! (Or was it 22? Hard to say since little Matthew was hardly in one place for very long. Which is understandable, considering the number of ladies he had to charm... Wait, I can always list everyone who was there... ehh, I'll just show the pictures and you can count for yourselves)







and as a warning to all family out there, THIS is what happens when you leave a camera unattended near uncle bob for too long:

the saga of the dishwasher, resolved

So my new best friend Frank, in the appliance department of Lowes, solved the dishwasher problem. And it's being delivered today between 11 and 3! Yay Lowes! Suck it, Sears!

Though it was funny to call to cancel the order at Sears and have the nice lady ask me why I needed to cancel this order. I was like, oh honey, scroll down on the computer and take a good hard look at the notes section, which I am sure details my tirade, crying jag, and subsequent phone calls. Then she was all "oh, my, oh, oh, I'm sorry. Ok, oh, I'm--ok, I'll just cancel thi--I'm sorry!" Yeah.

In other news, JBB is back from his week long biz trip! And he's busy cleaning the house! I however, am at work. Ehh, better than cleaning.

And I think I need to go see Happy Feet, despite my Robin Williams Moritorium, just to see the wee fuzzy penguin rap "The Message." AWESOME.

Or maybe I'll just go to the site and play the beginning of the trailer over and over.
http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet/

sears can suck it

seriously. they can really just suck it.

we were supposed to have our shiny new dishwasher delivered this morning (between 9:45 and 11:45). I get a call at 7 am from Sears telling me that oh, right. Delivery? Not so much. Oooopsy! I mean, maybe we'll call you in a few days to reschedule delivery, not that we can give you a timeline of any sort.

Way to give me two hours notice TWO DAYS before Thanksgiving, ya jackasses.

So after several phone calls to customer service and being asked, very politely, to please stop saying "So you're telling me you're screwing me over two days before Thanksgiving?" at every turn, and learning that supervisors don't arrive until 7 am central time, and apparently dishwashers just don't arrive at all, Sears can suck it.

(poor call center guy, I apparently really offended him by telling him that he was screwing me over. I however, am like what? This is the 7 pm show my friend, this is for the kiddies. I normally work blue with you people.)

So I called my dad and let him know that he didn't need to show up to wait for the non-existent delivery. He was all excited to write a nasty letter to the chairman. And I called JBB to let him know about the non-existent delivery. He had better luck with the customer service folks--apparently the supervisors are now on duty--but still nada.

And I am back to: Sears can suck it.

It's all about expectations. It's no big deal to do the dishes by hand, but I'd just been expecting to have it in and done. If I'd have known they couldn't pull their heads out of their asses last week, I would have either sucked up my expectations, or just gotten it from some other store. But finding out TWO hours before it was supposed to arrive?

Sears can suck it.

Kitchen!

(I just noticed I use a lot of exclamation points in my post titles. I need to work on that. But this one deserves it!)

We have kitchen! A functioning kitchen with doors (save two) and food in it and everything! It's kind of amazing to me. I was beginning to think that this day would never come, but lo and behold, here it is.

Just in time too, as we are back up to 21 for Thanksgiving.

On Thursday, the plumbers came and proved themselves to indeed by my new best friends by hooking up the sink. Yes, they came a day early. And now, running water, whoo! And also, they are the freaking cutest guys ever, because they took all the dirty dishes that had been in the "bitchen" (bathroom + kitchen), and moved them to the sink. And they took the dish rack from the bitchen, and moved it to the kitchen. Awww!

Friday I hit the shelves and finished assembly of the drawers. Thank god IKEA assumes you're going to screw things up and give you a way to de-attach things after they've been attached. Cause I put the drawer faces on upside down twice.

Saturday, Mom and Dad came by to move the old fridge to it's place in the basement to hold the Thanksgiving feastage. Turns out the sucker's on wheels, which makes it a lot easier to move. Nice work old fridge!

Then dad and I got cranking on putting on the doors while mom attacked the little wee bit of unpainted trim in the living room that was going to drive her insane until it was done. That's why I love my mom--she's just as nuts as I am.

Once we figured out the hinges, it was pretty straightforward. And dad only busted one set before he figured out that you need to tap the suckers into the holes BEFORE attacking it with the drill. And so after they took off, I loaded the food and kitchen crap into the drawers and shelves etc.

Granted, it's still an unholy mess and there's no shade on the ceiling fan (it cracked and we have yet to get a replacement), there are a few holes in the walls still that need to be patched, there are blue tape pulls instead of the pretty shiny lee valley pulls, two missing fronts, and a ton of boxes and crap and trash sitting around, but... we have kitchen!

Now I just gotta go cook...

more progress!

ok, I lied. We're not 19 for Thanksgiving anymore. It looks like it'll be about 12-14, which is a little easier since it means one turkey, not two. whoo!

But it's still a weeeeee bit stressful, considering that we don't have the kitchen done yet. we're close though!

We have juice! The 'lectricans came and 'lectrified stuff, and added in 4 canister lights without doing any damage to the ceiling or the walls. I am amazed. then they returned yesterday and installed the lights--I can see things! Clearly! Well-lit things! We have can lights, and a ceiling fan (with a cracked globe that needs replacing, but still works), and undercabinet lights! Just like a real kitchen!

And my favorite part: The kitchen has WALLS. Walls, people! Walls with drywall! Last week, they guys came and did the drywall, so when the weekend came around we were all ready to have cabinets attached. But the day they were there, when I came home from work after the guys had been there, I just about fell to my knees and cried. Not only was the wall drywalled, the ceiling patched, but THEY FIXED THE PLASTER! Part of the wall was cracked and crumbling, and the night before I'd patched and done a light skim coat over about 40% of the crappy wall, expecting to finish up the really crappy 60% the next night. But no! the guys did it for me. Oh sweet heaven.

So then it was time for the ikea cabinets. JBB and my dad (aka Mr. Tom) installed them this past weekend. It only took two trys for each run.

I should clarify, lest I give the impression JBB and Mr. Tom did anything wrong, which they did not. First, JBB had most of the cabinets assembled. The uppers are hung on a pretty ingenious rail system, that while like a french cleat, isn't one. So JBB and Mr. Tom leveled the rail, screwed it in, and hung (but not screwed in) two of the wall uppers on Sat. evening. They were at standard height, but Mr. Tom thought they might be too low. Keep in mind Mr. Tom is something like 6'1", and I am 5'5". I have heard this "too low" arguement before, and not always agreed. knowing this, they waited until I returned from my friend's 30th birthday party (whoo karaoke!) to consult me. Yeah, too low. They had to re-do.

The next day, they were leveling the lowers, and had them all leveled to be 36" high, sans countertops (which are the ikea butcherblock and 1 1/2" thick). Yet again, I had issues. Yeah, too high guys. So uncomfortable. So they had to re-do.

But then they were in and bolted together and to the wall! Like a real kitchen!

Monday night, Mr. Tom came by again, and they cut the pieces for the countertop, in the dining room. There was only minor panic when we couldn't find the instructions or the template for the sink cutout (which is huge--you cut out underneath the integrated drainboard too). Interwebs to the rescue there. So JBB got that laid out, and then had to go pack for his week long biz trip.

Leaving me and Mr. Tom to actually make the sink cutout last night--it works! it fits! I'm still a little shocked! And screw the support "cover panel" to the wall by the dishwasher. Dad took the corner pieces of the countertop back to his shop to attach them. Yay for biscuit joins and clamps!

Tonight? Counter gets attached. Sink gets attached. Because Friday the plumber comes to hook that sucker up, and I can once again do the damn dishes in a real sink! Maybe I can even put doors up, dare I even think it....


And, as if wonders will never cease, we finally chose pulls. And when I say "we" I mean me. Both JBB and I are happy with satin nickel/brushed nickel bin pulls and knobs, but I was having the damndest time making a decision. I had lists and lists and lists. Do you even know how many folks out there sell satin nickel/brushed nickel bin pulls and knobs (with a slight line/reveal, please)? Jeeze. In the end it came down to Restoration Hardware (surprisingly reasonable in price), and Lee Valley (views A and G). Of course we went with the Lee Valley--and also got these label pulls for two of the wee drawers on the 9-inch wide cabinet.

bad blogger, no biscuit!

Guess what chickens?

Despite the complete and utter lack of postings, and a weekend trip to Vegas (craftsteak is officially the best restaurant ever; don't believe me? Ask my brother how his kobe filet was!), we have made PROGRESS! I have bathroom, kitchen and my office updates. And why the flurry of activity you ask?

Well, we're hosting Thanksgiving. For 19 people. Because we're crazy (hadn't everyone figured that out already?). So we kind of need things like a kitchen with a sink, and room for folks to sleep over.

But first, the bathroom!

This has been done for a while, but I am a slacker.

Here, may I present the skimcoated wall without tile:


And the newly tiled wall!


Yeah, the non-matching tiles are a little sketch. It's also a little uneven, because the backing was uneven. But, it's tiled! And, even though I tiled the sucker like 3 weeks ago, I have yet to grout. I am a bad diy-er. What did I just say about slacking?

And right before Halloween, JBB put up the shower riser. I never knew how much I loved showers until this sucker went in. Love.


We also added a soap dish onto the riser.

It's super cutie. There's a surprising amount of room in there-I think it even tops our last bathroom's traditional tiled wall shower curtain thingamabob for size. And no more puddling of the shower curtain on the floor! I feel like singing along to George Michael's Freedom right here. (Yeah, that dates me. I know).

I need to upload the actual pictures of the actual bathroom, so you all can see the new shower curtains we bought for the occasion! That and the fact that the cat had poked holes in the old ratty ones from Target. Not that the new curtains aren't from Target. Because Target rules.

Speaking of Target, I have to get myself over there and get a folding table for Thanksgiving. Oy.