Sunday, December 28, 2008

Not Yet

Well, I guess you could say I lied. I haven't started anything yet in the cupboard area. My last entry was right before Christmas and as always, there are things to do.

Another very important point that I failed to mention is that on the Friday morning before Christmas, about 2 in the morning, three of us got what appears to be a case of food poisoning. We had gone with a niece on Wednesday to assist in the purchase of a new TV. We went to her first choice (price drove us there) for her purchase and she saw why I kept saying "not a good idea". She tried two sales associates [get the hint of the location] and neither one could answer her questions or even find the remotes so she could check some things out. We made the decision to leave and to go to a place that specializes in the product she wanted. "How may we help you" couldn't do anything for her. Well, we left and decided to eat first. I made a choice on quick service and price. It was Mexican and that 's all I will say. We got seated quickly but waited on slowly. Plenty of servers standing around because we were ahead of the rush. When we did get our food, the niece and the wife said their foods were either tasting funny or not hot enough. I liked my food. Remember this is Wed. evening.

About 3 AM my wife disturbed me. She told me she had been up since 1 or 2. I got up to see if I could do anything for her and then went to the family room so I wouldn't disturb her if she got comfortable. It only took about a half hr. to hit me. Around 8 or so the niece called and said she wasn't' going to work, she wanted us to be sure not to get what she had......too late. We had not seen her for days before we got sick. The fact that we all got it within a couple of hours and that we had eaten at the same place a day and a half before just said food poisoning. We called the county health office and they took all of our individual statements and agreed that it sounded like the food was the issue. They are doing an investigation. I'm not, for some dumb reason, looking for restitution but there is a waiter or cook that needs to go home, south of the boarder.

To show someone how bad it was, we almost didn't have Christmas dinner because food made us sick and I didn't take one picture...........now that is unheard of. Just ask anyone in the family. They'll tell you.

I can safely say that it probably won't be for another week or so before I get to it. You know, when you're retired you never have time to do things. You even wonder how you got things done before.

Back soon, I hope.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Sup?

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted anything. Nov. 18th. I guess that since the official crash of the economy took place and I vented in my last post that there hasn't really been too much happening. After all, winter has arrived and the cold has been just that, cold! We've gone through Thanksgiving, that was good as usual. The economy still sucks. Congress has made a fool out of themselves again. This time they tried to cover it up by challenging the car companies while ignoring the outcries of what went wrong and where did the money go for the banking institutions. I will post more on this as I do have opinions, biased in some ways and just plain American in others. Remember, I am a car guy, all cars, but I do have feelings, American.

Now, on to more important issues. I do have a new project that I am going to take on. I will have pictures of the progression. It is a cabinet remodel, just one, but important. It starts out like this.

After we moved in and were here for a bit the wife kept complaining about a few things in the kitchen. One was a switch to the disposal. It was located six feet to the right of the sink while a foot on either side of the sink was receptacle. This I took care of by replacing the one on the left with a combo switch/receptacle setup. The switch parts flips sideways instead of up and down. I replaced the switch that to the disposal with a receptacle. Cut back all wiring and marked it for new owners in the future and ran a new cable to the disposal.

Next issue was the complaint that the dishwasher was too far from the sink. There is a bend in the counter top when moving from the sink to the right. Then there is a narrow cabinet for cookie sheets and then the dishwasher and then a lazy-susan corner cabinet. I looked at pictures I had taken of the model home so that we could try to make some decorating plans etc. When I went back and looked at them I discovered that the dishwasher and cookie sheet cabinet were reversed in our home. When our ten month inspection and repair came along I asked the contractor if the cabinet installer could make changes or if they had to go by a print or layout. He said layout. I pointed the issue out and he said he would move everything around. After this was done he said he was not satisfied with the number of holes in the cabinet and that he would order a new one and replace it. It did have two large holes in the back down low for the water and drain lines to go through. There was also extra holes where they ran some screws in to mount it....they weren't needed. The cabinet arrived and was replaced. When the guy left I noticed a split face on one side. I called them back real quick and he returned, took a look at his boo boo and said he would order a new on. The third cabinet comes and gets installed. This whole time the contractor doesn't want the old cabinets or doors. I now have, what I consider, two perfectly good cabinets that I am eventually going to use in my workshop.

Now to the point of the project..............................finally. I have one cabinet up on a bench and plan on using it as a template to make everything so that the cabinet in the kitchen can be used (1) easier (2) kept more neatly and (3) be more user friendly, hence ergonomically. I am going to build a slide out bottom with a divider so that the small hot divots, cutting boards and racks can be separated from the larger cookie sheets, racks and cutting boards. I will have pictures as I go as usual. Hopefully I will have this started shortly after the first of the year. Gotta celebrate Christmas and 40 years of marriage first. Also need to talk the wife into letting me take the table saw into the basement for the winter. Too cold in the garage.